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Manitou Tri 2010 – Race Report // Review

Dr. TriRunner — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 01:59:40 +0000

Currently: Sitting at coffee shop. With el chico. In front of fire place. Feet up. Still in desperate need of compression/recovery socks. Other-than-that, SOLID.

Gonna let the photos do the talking here – I’m pretty much all talked-out for today. Essentially, I had a less than stellar race today: I couldn’t feel my feet until 15 minutes after the race ended, and I had a T1 that leaves me hoping I won’t be disowned by my family. Or Peace Coffee Racing. Or UMN TRI. So… definitely not my A-game. But I still placed (2nd in my AG), so it’s hard to complain too much. If you want more coverage from this weekend’s action, check these out:

Manitou 2010 Official Results Online

Minnesota Tri News’ Coverage

In terms of a race REVIEW, here’s what’s up: Manitou. Is. Awesome. The course? Awesome. The swag? Awesome. The fans? Awesome. The race organization/management? Awesome. The transition being closed for 1:45 before my wave even entered the water? Not so awesome, but I’ll plan for that next year. Yeah… NEXT YEAR! I’ll be back.

And before I get to the photos, I need to do a several major mad props shoutouts.UMN (University of Minnesota) TRI is really cleaning up this summer. Andrew Turner, David Preston, Cody Stadler, Sam Janicki, Tom Kandiko, Matt Dodds, Matthew Priess, Aaron Barlow, Claire Chandler, Tracy Powell, Megan Brandes, Susanne Gabrielson (reppin’ overseas!), and hey, I’ll throw myself in, Erika Sperl-Imhoff. Look out for these names. We’re comin’ at you.

Another big up to el chico, my boyfriend, who also raced today at Trinona and finished 7th overall (!!) and 3rd in his age group! It makes me nervous to do the same race as you…!

This is an exact copy of my album on facebook. All photo credit goes to my mamacita – I am so happy and thankful you came!! You should be able to click on the image for the full size. Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Ciao!

-E

THE. END.

Until 2011.

semi-solids. a pre-race.

Dr. TriRunner — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 16:22:55 +0000

I’m sure you’ve heard it before… TWO nights before the race is the most critical time for getting good sleep. Be it that I’m racing TOMORROW, I wanted to make sure last night was extra solid. The following precautions were taken:

I OD’ed on Hershey’s Special Dark Pieces. And that’s coming from a chick who really doesn’t enjoy chocolate. The question is… why did I buy the bag in the first place? And… bag? Yes. The whole bag. My bad.
Because my body was so busy digesting a whole bag of said pieces, I was hotter than a mo-fo. And I’m pretty sure they contain a hidden diuretic, because I was up to pee like 3 times.
My sister texted me at 6:20 am (which for her benefit was 7:20 her time). She was excited about something at work. I’m excited for ya chica, but I promise, I’d be more excited in a couple of hours.
My neighbor decided to mow the lawn at 6:43. I suppose he wanted to get it done before the rain came? It’s 10:19… it’s still not raining buddy.
My mom called me at 7:20 asking if I wanted to run this morning. I love running with you mamacita. I would wake up at 5am and run an out and back to the Panama Canal with you. But tomorrow is a special day….

7 straight servings of crack.

I would estimate a total of somewhere between 5 and 6 hours. We can call it semi-solid. Some of the worlds greatest creations are found in a semi-solid state – delicious sorbet from Sebastian Joe’s, imitation crab meat, and mother nature’s tubby baby: watermelon. Unfortunately, I do not think pre-race sleep makes that list.

Also not invited to join the world’s greatest semi-solids list is your pre-race mentality. But I’ll be straight with you – that’s where mine is at. All day yesterday, I was just mentally fried. On edge, tense, and I couldn’t make decisions about a damn-thing. Several things are contributing to my less-than-stellar feelings about tomorrow’s Manitou Tri, but instead of bringing myself down, I’m going to [try to] focus on the positives:

Official results were posted from last weekend’s New Bri Tri. I found out that of the four girls who finished ahead of me in my AG, I had a faster run than all of them, and a faster swim than three of the four. My average swim pace was 1:41 per 100, and my average BIKE pace was 20.0 mph. 5th or not, I was pumped seeing those times. If you’ve been reading regularly, you might know that my bike times were frustrating the heck outta me because they just weren’t getting any faster. Obviously “fast” is relative, because for some people 20 mph is their cruisin’ speed, but I was happy with it. And 1:41 pace in the water? Given that it was a stretch for me to even call swimming “sporadic”, I’ll take it!
I’ve run races in much less favorable [sick, injured, sleep-deprived, post-surgery] conditions.
The forecast for tomorrow is pretty darn near ideal for racing.
I’m over whatever germ infestation hit me last week.
I get to spend the entire day with feet up, ♪ chillin out maxin, relaxin all cool ♪, with family at my cousin’s graduation party.

Good lookin’

Feet aren’t up quite yet though. I am currently mid-stride in a little shake-out // pre-race workout. I may or may not have felt several Special Dark Pieces pop out of my pores. Then a little core. THEN the feet go up. Maybe I can even sleep a little in the car on the drive up….! Although truthfully, that aint gonna happen. My mom and I are way to chatty for any Zzzs to be attained.

Leavin’ you here kids. I’m feeling slightly more towards the solid end of the spectrum than when I first started writing this. I hope all my teammates and buddies who raced LIBERTY today had a blast, and good luck to anyone and everyone racing tomorrow!! Once again, I’ll be donning my Peace Coffee Racing kit. If you see me out there, say hello! Catch ya’ on the other side.

-E

New Bri Tri Race Report

Dr. TriRunner — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 23:07:14 +0000

For there to actually be a race report, that means that I did indeed race!! And for there to be exclamation points following that statement, that means I “got a smile on”! Here we go…

Fell asleep by about 10:30 pm last night, and the alarm went off at 5:00 am this morning. 6.5 hours obviously isn’t isn’t ideal, but it’s pretty good for the night before a race. That, and I was telling myself my 12.5 hours from Wednesday would hold me over a little bit. I had gone over my check list (which I will post soon, along with adding it to the Train On Top files!!) and all I had left to do was load my bike in the car, grab my coffee, and GO!

Taken at 5:42 this morning.

I drove up with Tom and Cody – two guys on my UMN Tri Team. Tom was nice enough to drive (the fact that bikes fit slightly better in his Pathfinder has nothing to do with it…) so I got to his house around 6:00, made a quick transfer of items from my Accord, and we were off! We took a slight detour on the way to the race, following someone with bikes on the back of their car thinking that they obviously know where they’re going. Until they turned into their garage… FAIL! We still got there in plenty of time, and pulled into the Long Lake Park lot just as many other athletes were arriving.

Myself, sandwiched between Pretty and Muscles. Hahahahha!

Re-attached wheels… gathered bags… and suddenly a wave of terror swept over me. “My helmet is in your trunk… right?” says the ingenious redhead who checked her check list three times. “Nottttt that I’m seeing…” says fellow teammate who now must really now I’m an idiot. REALLY!?! Who forgets their helmet?!? Oh wait.. the girl who also forgot her SHOES for the marathon. Awesome. At that moment, I was seriously thinking I was not going to be racing today. People bring spare goggles, they’ll let you borrow an extra watch, they’ll even share their body glide. But NO ONE brings an extra helmet.

Except Randy, the God-sent jolly man behind Vacation Sports who was putting on the race. In fact, he had several spares, for the rest of the numskulls who forgot this critical (and mandatory!!) item. So with that taken care of, I went to go set up in Transition.

After I racked up my bike and was heading off to warm up, I hear “Dr. TriRunner?” No joke guys.. this MADE MY DAY! I know there are at least a few regular readers, but it feels so awesome to know that there are local triathletes (or at least one!!) out there reading along! And it doubly made my day that he is a he, because for whatever reason my first assumption is that most of “you” are female. Not that I have anything against the ladies – nothing at all – but since 80% of my friends are of the male variety, it’s almost comforting to know some hombres are reading too.

This is getting wayy too long, and I haven’t even gotten to the race yet, so I’m going to [try to] keep it to the facts:

Pre-Race Fuel:

Gluten free apple cinnamon granola, and dried apple rings. New combo to me (don’t try anything new on race day…? pshhhh), and it was PERFECT!!! And delicious. Along with Tanzania Peace Coffee, of course!

Race Conditions/Gear:

Cloudy, off and on sprinkles, and somewhere in the mid 60s. Virtually NO wind. AKA ideal. Wore my QRoo wetsuit, Peace Coffee tri kit, and stripped to just my homemade PCR sports bra for the run. Haha – Sarah called me an overachiever? Made this on my “sick day” on the couch. Was glad I did, because I would have felt too hot running with the tri top on. This is the first time I’ve used a shoelace as a racebelt, after seeing this amazing lady do it, and let me tell you – LOVED it. I hate the feeling of anything extra around my waist, and you can’t get much more minimal than a shoelace. And of course Gomer and Rilo were in on the action.

I did take home-ec back in the day…

The Swim:

1/2 mile. Despite starting in the front of the pack, there was lots of face kicking and breast stroking going on. >:( Maybe I need to run out farther into the water? Oh wait.. here’s a better idea. Maybe I need to be more consistent with my swimming. Ding ding ding!! We have a winner. Anyways… I could feel myself getting frustrated on the way out. And then I reminded myself – this is essentially a free workout. I had a free race certificate, and I was sick all last week. I didn’t have expectations for this race other than to shake out the race nerves and have fun, and there was no way I was going to let negative thoughts take over. So I decided to take charge and slapped myself back into reality. Today will not be wasted was the mantra of the day. (Haha, yes. I am considering Sports Psychology.) With that mindset I went ahead, and felt like things finally settled down at turn around buoy. And the 1/4 mile swim back to shore honestly felt awesome. I have this “kayak theory” but I’ll post more on that later. Passed some wave 2 and 3 swimmers (I was wave 4)… which gave me some [possibly false] hope that maybe I’m actually a decent swimmer? Orrr maybe the wave 2 and 3 people that I passed, well, swimming just isn’t their strength.

T1:

Note to self… work on taking off wet suit!!

The Bike:

14 miles. Basically, I loved the course. There were a few hills, but they were all rolling. There were two girls on the Tri Kings team that, little did they know, really helped me push myself. We were passing each other back and forth, sometimes on an uphill, sometimes going down. I also took note of some really sick bikes out there, and some really amazing athletes riding them. I talked about training with your friends and using them as inspiration… and believe me, I drew in plenty of inspiration today. Felt good and strong throughout, and I know I’m not fast. I’ve accepted that [for now], and I know where to work.

T2:

Already had my shoe-lace-race-belt on… ripped off the helmet and threw on the hat, threw on my happy-feet shoes, and bounced! Would also like to make note that I was wearing the Sof Sole socks I won, and LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Felt like my feet were on clouds.

The Run:

5k. What I was really looking forward to. Despite the steel infused shins of yester-year, I was confident that today was a better day. Not going to hide this one… I passed 53 people on the run. Yes. I counted. It gave me something to think about during the run, but honestly, if I’m going to be a slow swimmer and biker, then damnit I’m going to be proud of my run. I know my mile splits weren’t anywhere near my “just running” 5k times, but I still ran sub 7s, and I still felt strong. And with that, I’m happy.

The Finish:

1:22:?? Says my watch… I’m waiting for official results online. I didn’t want to try and dig my way through the crowd of people that always surround the print-outs, so I just went for a cool down. With this guy!!

No, he didn’t race in basketball shorts. I made him put his sweaty jersey back on for the photo.

I didn’t know that another Peace Coffee Racing teammate was going to be here, so I was super pumped when I saw Justin before the start of the race. I went on a cool-down jog with him and some of his buddies, and called it a day!

THE. END.

The greatest thing about these early morning races (well, at least when they’re this short…) is that you’re DONE and home by like 10:30, and you have the whole day ahead of you. My mom called as I was driving back to la casa and asked if I wanted to go to CostCo, to which I replied, damn straight (I do understand why learning English is so frustrating…), and I was home, unpacked, showered, and at her house within 45 minutes. We stopped for an obligatory coffee on the way, and hit Costco, Trader Joe’s, and the local Co-Op so she could get all the ingredients for a special dinner she’s making tonight. I was just along for the ride!

The view from the shower.

Tonight I have nothing planned other than putting my feet UP, and chillaxin. The weather did eventually turn icky, but I’m giving a HUGE thanks to mother nature for waiting until the race was done. I hope THIS GIRL got her race in before conditions turned soggy too, and I can’t wait to hear her recap!!

I will most definitely be returning to race New Bri again. It was very well put on, just like all the other Vacation Sports races I’ve done. HUGE UPS to todays winners, Jenny Wilcox and Carl Shultz. Like I said, there were a lot of really outstanding finishes today! You can read all about it at Minnesota Tri News’ new website!! I was a little disappointed with my finish, and especially that I didn’t place in the top three in my age group. Thankfully my UMN teammate hit me with a dose of reality and said “you better get used to it!” 20-24 is a lot more competitive, and I have lots of work to do if I want to still have a “title” to defend.

POSTS TO COME:

Tri packing list
A…. Kayak?
Motivation
A review!!

And with that, I’m out for the night. No work, no obligations other than enjoying myself. Sounds great. Have a lovely night, and a great rest of your weekend!!

-E

p.s. I just realized how much link love is goin’ on in this post. Sorry… a little much!!

Pre-Race // the New Bri Tri

Dr. TriRunner — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 00:08:07 +0000

Well heyo kids. By the time you will read this, it will either be the night before race day, or the race will have already come and gone. And hopefully, I will have actually been there. ¿Por que, you ask? I have spent the last five days being mistaken for a 2-pack a day smoker on the phone, hacking up a lung, and trying to keep my hands out of the candy jar sudafed. I am starting this on WEDNESDAY and I will update each day until the RACE on SATURDAY… trust me, I’m sendin’ a prayer! So here is my somewhat un-conventional pre-race report for the New Bri Tri:

_______________________

WEDNESDAY 06.02.2010

I first started feeling bad last Saturday. Or Friday? Ahhh, it’s all a blur now. (Looks like my sense of humor is one thing I actually can keep down right now.) Made it through the memorial day weekend and work, and actually thought I was feeling pretty darn good on TUESDAY (yesterday). Even had a stellar workout, swim included (!!) and a nice night out with el chico. Yeah, I still sounded like a teenaged boy in puberty who lost his voice at a football game (do boys lose their voices at football games ever? Now that I think about it……), but I was feeling better. So I thought.

Today (Wednesday): Fever, and killer pain that feels like its literally JUST superficial to my frontal bone. It’s not deep in my head.. it’s like it’s right on the surface. And I feel it any time I cough/sneeze/lean over/stand up/breathe (ok, drama – done). I skipped practice. I went to work, was turned right around and sent home. I have been trying to drink lots and lots, and really get in some vitamins and solid nutrition. But I’m not going to lie – I took home a cookie from work and ate that for “breakfast”, and am currently seeking solid comfort in the form of my couch, a blanket, a movie, and Loaded Waffle Cone ice cream. No joke:

However, I am fully confident that by Saturday morning, this junk that’s overruling my system will be GONE. Let’s GO t-cells!! B-cells, get your butt in gear! I will be racing on Saturday dagnabbit!!

_______________________

THURSDAY 06.03.2010

Hmmm… I’m not so sure what to say, since today’s events gave me mixed messages. On the sickyness scale, I am definitely feeling better. I went to bed at 9:00 last night and slept until 9:15 this morning…. 12.25 hours? Ammmen to that my friends!! But judging by my runFAIL this morning… I’m a little nervous. Here’s how it went down:

I set no alarm, because I figured if my body needed sleep, it’d take it. So after a little putzing around in the morning, I was ready to head out for an easy run. I wasn’t sure how far I’d go, but I figured at least a lake or two. Good thing I went the short way first, because at two miles, I literally could NOT go any farther. Not because I felt sick, or my cardio was off or something. My fracking SHINS and ANKLE MUSCLES were literally wound so tight it was like I was club footed. I was definitely feeling the tibialis anterior muscle (think “shin splints”), but it was like it was also in all the tendons around the ankle (peroneus brevis, peroneus longus… for all my fellow anatomy lovers!), and felt all around not good. So I walked a little, turned around at two miles, and went home frustrated beyond belief.

And jumped on my bike.

30 miles to be exact. It was a gorgeous day, and I didn’t want to waste it inside, but at the same time I didn’t want to overextend myself two days before my race. There was definitely a day when 30 miles sounded “so far”, but at this point it’s a NBD. Not to mention I didn’t have any of my “fast friends” riding with me to burn me into the ground.

You know you’re a runner when you fold over your bike shorts, because their “too long.” C’mon guys… I already have a permanent shorts tan. I don’t need to make it two-toned from two different length shorts.

So the ride was good. Felt strong all throughout, and even played with some mile intervals for the last 1o miles. I actually have a running job on Fridays (and Wednesdays, although this week that was canceled due to above sick-cell-infestation), so I don’t really have a choice about running tomorrow! We’ll see how it feels…. bed time!

_______________________

FRIDAY 06.05.2010

Race. Tomorrow.

Run? Meh. I ran slower than a stampede of turtles running through peanut butter, but luckily my doggy sidekick was OK with that today. She is a Weimaraner for the record, and this girl can RUN. 20 miles? No problem. But today we only did seven, and seven slowly. The shins/ankles were obviously not debilitating like yesterday, but they were also not just “normal.”

I rubbed a pack of muscle relief gel (thanks you very much Mr. PT!!) into my shins and calfs, and thighs for good measure and then headed to work. While at work for about the first hour, my left tibialis anterior actually “hurt.” Standing on it was painful. And let me tell you, we do some standing in the waitressing world. Standing and walking. It slowly faded after a while though, and I didn’t notice it too much by the time my shift was over.

Now we’re sitting on two minutes to 7:00 pm… I’m planning on going to sleep around 9:00, and I AM waking up tomorrow to race. Got the checklist out, and just need to do a once over, pack up some food for the morning, and set up the coffee.

This is a sprint triathlon BTW. Honestly, worst case scenario I just decide I can’t do it. More likely scenario is I’ll spend about an hour and a half of my life in the not-most-pleasant state, but I’ll be fine. I’ve dealt with much worse for over and hour and a half… it’ll be fine. Were this a race I was more invested in, maybe a different story, but this one I am doing really to just get my feet wet this season.

I’ll take all the prayers and good vibes I can get, and I’m not too big to ask for them! Over and out!

-E

Peace Coffee Racing + 5K RR

Dr. TriRunner — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:19:14 +0000

Pretty sure that this is the first time ever in D.T.R. history that a race report is being posted day-of. But before I get to that, I have some very important people to introduce:

Above you will find about half of the members of Peace Coffee Racing. Road riders, mountain bikers, and triathletes alike… we all have one thing in common: an awesome sponsor with equally awesome caffeinated products of joy.

You’ve heard me mention Peace Coffee probably more than enough times, but you also may have seen the little turtle elsewhere, such as Whole Foods Markets, Lunds, Byerlys, pedaling their coffee-wagon down the Greenway, at Birchwood cafe, and more. And although Peace Coffee is a local deal, don’t think it’s just us midwesterners who luck out! Check out this map and you’ll see you can get your Peace Coffee fix on the west coast, the east coast, the southern coast, or truthfully any place you please since you can order online!

From Peace Coffee’s website, they are…

A cultural, social and consumable revolution with grounds firmly fixed in a Farmer Friendly, Fair Trade reality.

There is obviously so much more that could be said, but that does a pretty good job in setting straight their values.

So who is Peace Coffee RACING?

Well, you can check out their website, or you can look at the photo above!! There are “two teams” – a mountain bike team, and an endurance/road team, but truthfully.. we are all one. (Look out.. here comes that team spirit!) Yesterday was the team open house, aka caffeinated gear party, and it was a blast! Not everyone was able to make it, and especially a lot of the triathletes who are stationed down in Rochester, MN (or on an airplane to Boston to beast a marathon)… but it was awesome to meat some of my teammates who I haven’t met before! Thank you to Birchwood Cafe for providing the pre-ride fuel, and THANK YOU Peace Coffee for having the Pollinator blend on hand!! Quickly becoming one of my favorites!

Not going to lie.. the team kits are SICK.

And because of such flashy team kits, I felt it necessary to break them in with a ride. Many of the crew went out to mountain bike (it’s about an 80/20 split in terms of mountain bikers to endurance/tri), but four of us decided to hit the roads:

Yes.. that is a pretty sick Salsa bike. No… sadly it is not mine.

Stephen and I with our top-secretly-engineered road fuel. ie Quaker Oatmeal Squares and Nana Nut Cheerios.

Peace Coffee Racing has not traditionally included running as part of their whole shebang, but I am clearly trying to change that!

Get Lucky 7K – 03/17/2010

Which brings me to today…

Recycle Run 5K Race Report!

As I mentioned in the last post, you better believe I was going to race this weekend if I wasn’t going to be down racing in Texas. This morning I ran the Recycle Run 5K at Lake Harriet – about a mile from my house (1.34 to be exact) and a lake I run all the time. Lake Harriet 5Ks and 10Ks are some of my favorite because they just feel like they go by so fast! Home-course-advantage for sure. Taking into account yesterdays 43 mile ride (I won’t go into details… all I will say as look at my 3 accompanying riders – I was making every effort not to be dropped…) I was honestly not sure how this morning was going to go. For 0.325 seconds I considered not going, but then remembered I was already registered, and repping a team. Not as much flexibility to flake anymore I suppose. So my convenient 1.34 miles I trotted over to the lake, extending it out and back a bit to make an even 2 mile warm-up. Several things to mention, and hopefully convince you to participate next year:

1. SUPER awesome shirts!! A) They had size XS. Thankkk you race-director-Gods. B) They had two different design options. C) They’re all AnvilRecycled – 69% recycled cotton, 29% acrylic, 2% “other fibers” – seems pretty fitting for the Minneapolis Recycle Run. I know having huuuge size “small” race shirts is not only something I take issue with.

2. Excellent choices of post-race goodies: Water … Peace Coffee (of course!) … granola bars … Wheaties FUEL cereal … naners … various Aveda trial sized goodies (random?? but appreciated!) … and I saw someone with Snicker’s Marathon bars – I didn’t see them but they might have run out.

3. RECYCLED SHOE DROP! So bummed I didn’t know about this ahead of time, because I definitely have a few pair of shoes to pass on! They were giving out BlueSky Guides to those that donated a pair of shoes too! If you’re not familiar with the BlueSky Guide (maybe it’s just local..?) you can score tons of great deals on natural/organic/local goodies, restaurants, and stores. Yeah – I’m bummed I missed that. I asked the woman collecting and she said I could drop off shoes at their HQs though, so I’m in luck.

4. This was one of Anderson Races races! I didn’t know that ahead of time, but was super happy to see the familiar Anderson Races tent and Mary Anderson (owner)’s face when I got there! I had the delight of interviewing Mary Anderson a few years ago for a Sports Management class, and the rest is history. Not only does she help put together fantastic races, but she’s about the nicest person you will ever meet in Minnesota. Look for her table at expos. (Twin Cities Marathon and Grandma’s runners – I’m talking to you!)

5. And because all good things come in odd numbers (hahah Karyn did that just make you cringe?) it was very family friendly! They offered a kids race – xx miles – and I LOVE watching those little totts make their way to the finish line! That’s how I got my start running (thanks Mom!) and I just feel like it is SO GOOD for these kids to have this physical activity made FUN, and crowds cheering and supporting them at a young age! (I’m NOT saying they should get rid of “winners” at T-ball games or get rid of the competition aspect of youth sports. It’s important to learn how to win and lose. But that’s for another post…)

Ok… time for the real RACE REPORT part of this. Short I promise – it was only a 5K so there’s not too much to report!

Ran with one of the guys I’ve trained with a bit over the summer! Glad he was there because I already know how he runs, and otherwise I was going to just pick one of the lead guys and try and hang on! Keep in mind.. this wasn’t a huge race. No chips, no official times recorded (thankful for that one…).

Mile 1 – 6:36
Mile 2 – 6:22
Mile 3 – 6:25
Last 0.1 – 62 seconds

Finish time: 20:15

You math kids will be able to see pretty quickly that the numbers don’t add up perfectly, but that’s what happens without chips, and a starting gun that is as official as yelling the word “GO!” Those are the times Gomer’s giving me, so that’s what I’m taking. Definitely not a 5K PR, but it was the first time I’ve outright won a race for the XY half! Also a first – there was legitimately a dildo on the road right around mile 2.6. No lies. At first I thought it was a super awkward stick, or a potato, when I was running up on it. A day full of firsts I suppose…

Doin’ a mighty fine job of reppin’ if I do say so myself!

I also want to give a shoutout to my good buddy Dave who ALSO won his first 5K today! We lead these parallel racing lives.. it’s crazy. Only that is a very hopeful statement on my part because this kid is wicked fast. He ran the 5K over in St. Paul, and *hopefully* he will be pacing me at a race in the near future. Bahaha – secrecy!

Alright, well it’s time for this fish to flip over and brown the other side! I hope everyone has had a splendid weekend and an awesome week to come! GOOD LUCK TOMORROW MY BOSTON BUDDIES!!

-E

Get Lucky 7K Race Report

Dr. TriRunner — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:43:30 +0000

First things first… a big hey hey to any of you who clicked on over to Dr.TriRunner from MinnesotaTriNews!! I know there are at least a few of you, because someone stopped me yesterday around Lake Calhoun saying “hey… you’re that girl that was on…..” I invite you to sit down, make a drink sip some PowerDew, and stay a while! If you see me out around the lakes… down on my aero bars attempting to look fast on the bike… at Whole Foods… wherever – say hi!

And for the Twin Cities tri-kids who are regulars here but haven’t checked out Minnesota Tri News yet… climb out from under that rock and hop on it! Moving on to business…

Get Lucky 7K Race Report

From start to finish…

I’m pretty sure I signed up for the GL7K within the first 20 minutes registration was open. At only $29.80 (for those that are on top of their game…) it was a steal, especially compared to certain other possibly St. Patty’s Day related races. Extra-especially given all the sweet swag… a HOODIE? Medal? Flag? Post-race party + Free drinks? Yep.. the Irish know how to party. And clearly, so does Team Ortho, because yet again they blew away my expectations with another epic race.

Pre-Race…

… went basically as planned. The GL7K offered plenty of pre-race packet pickup hours. As an added benefit for me, it was at the local running store that I grew up with, and my still-favorite: Gear Running Store on 44^th and France Ave. Not only did I get to chit-chat with the owners (one of which Paul Horan, who did very well in the 7K himself!), but I got to check out some sweet sales. Further solidifying the fact that 87% 89% of my wardrobe is indeed intended for athletics.

I also picked up a Peace Coffee Racing jersey the day before – this was my first “official” race for PCR, no pressure though

Complete Pre-Race Preparation Instructions: Click here.

All the necessities to start the day off right

Due to said pre-race protocols, race morning ran pretty effortlessly.

Packet: check
Outfit: check, with a slightly warmer option in the bag, bib pinned on.
Fuel: check! I hate bananas, but Banana Nut Cheerios are another story. Topped off with plenty of Peace Coffee and I was good to go.
Sleep: check. One of the only people I’d share my bed with – Tylenol PM.
Plan: CHECK! See below…

Aright.. if you read the pre-race preparations post, OR if you know me in real life, OR if you’ve been reading Dr.TriRunner for a while at all… you’d know I fall slightly more on the Type-A end of the spectrum. In that post I stated that I will either have 1 or 0 plans, but you better believe a “plan of 0″ – meaning I’m going to race for fun – is still a plan.

“To race, or not to race. That is the question.”

Only it wasn’t, because I knew I wanted to [attempt to] go fast. My last race before the GL7K was the Victory Memorial 10K/5K… in September. And then I found out I fractured my femoral neck… again… right before Twin Cities Marathon, so it was speed work no more. Given the OK to start running again on November 10^th (good lord.. how many posts am I going to have titled “CLEARED!!”) but didn’t really hit specific speed work again until… oh… Monday March 15^th. Yassos, to be exact, and they felt good. I wanted to see if there were any fast twitch fibers left in there, so racing was indeed the plan.

That also meant I was going to ditch the 15 miler with my group of guys… which they did before the race. You know I love my long runs, but I don’t think I would have been able to race quite the same with 15 already down for the morning.

Pacing?

Yeah, you tell me. I’ve obviously I’ve never run a timed 7K, so I wasn’t so sure. Having an internal sense of pace is something that takes a logn time to develop, and I’d like to think that in the last 7 years of racing (I don’t think an asthmatic 5 year old attempt at the 1 mile counts) I’ve at least started to crack that code. I ended up taking my 10K pace, 6:40, and my 5K pace, 6:20, and split the difference.

Given that my average pace for the 7K turned out to be 6:31, I’d say that worked pretty well. Funny thing is though, aside from the first mile I didn’t really check my splits on Gomer throughout the race. I know what 10K feels like, and I knew I needed to be running harder than that. No kidding – there was a time around mile 3 when I said (out loud), “C’mon Erika… HTFU.” (And that’s a shoutout to YOU my Boston Buddies!!)

ANYWAYS… there are many more words in this brief recap than I intended. Too much coffee this morning. Dirty details:

FINSIH TIME: 28:23
AVG. PACE: 6:31
OVERALL PLACE (females): 3/1722
DIVISION PLACE: 2/133

How did I feel?

Pretty damn good! Only too hot in the last mile.5. Thirsty. Ready to run the slow easy cool down to make Saturday a long run day and take Sunday off. Hip felt solid throughout – success! There were two AMAZING runners who took 1^st and 2^nd, Amy Lyons and Jenni Wilcox, and I’m honored to even be in their company. And that’s the 100% non-butt-kissing-truth! Mizz Lyons and I are also now in the same age group , something I realized the night before the race (!!), but not for long. Until then, looks like I gotta pick a different race get my fast feet on and step my game up!

Would I sign up for the GL7K again?

Heck. Yes. I ❤ you Team Ortho. As a matter of fact.. I already have several other 2010 Team Ortho races on the calendar!

Photo time!!

This is like a where’s waldo of race photos. Can you find me?

Some of the MN Running Wild crew

Tom & I (repping the U of MN Triathlon Team!) // Dave & I (Repping… 3rd place finishers? Hahah!)

Post race warm car felt so good!

That is one sharp & pointy medal! Love the flag. Love the hoodie. Love the medal. LOVED the race!

As always, you’ll be able to find this and all other race reports under the “RUN hard” tab on the top of the page! Catch you soon – I’m off to spin.

-E

p.s. I’m a redhead.. you know I’m sun sensitive. And that goes for my EYES too! Erica’s gonna hook me up… right?

“pre-cap” … ?

Dr. TriRunner — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:13:13 +0000

That would be this lame-o pre-race recap. But I promise the full report is coming!! I had a job interview and an kinesiology exam this morning, and I have a speech to give tomorrow afternoon (goooodbye spring break). >=/ But after that I’m golden (for a brief moment). In short.. the first day of spring started off right: it was a great race, had an awesome time repping Peace Coffee Racing, and a nice way to start to the 2010 season! Preeeview:

Rest of todays agenda:

practice speech
7 mile run with the guys
practice speech
practice speech
eat
practice speech
eat
practice speech
pass out

Though it would seem it should be my tongue that should break off with all this speech’n, my left arm quite possibly may fall out of it’s socket. And that’s from this MORNING’s strength workout. Putting dishes on the 2nd shelf was a definiteFAIL, and I’m just hoping this wears off by the time I’m sposed’ to be in the pool tomorrow. Time to get changed for the run! And YAYYY Joe!

-E

2010 Race Calendar

Dr. TriRunner — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:57:34 +0000

If you and I are buddies on Facebook, you know my most recent status update sounded a little something like this: That’s right.. it’s race calendar time – early registration fee deadlines are passing, prices are going up, spots are filling up, and I need to figure out which races I want to dedicate my time and efforts to before I miss my chance! As much as I would love to just do as many races as possible this summer, there are several inhibiting factors to that ideal:

$$
time
the preservation of my bones, muscles, and what’s left of my left hip

If you really know me though, you know I’m mostly just talkin’ $$ here. Training alone isn’t free, but racing takes a big bite out of my Sperly-Financial-Pie. There are several things I take into consideration when building my yearly racing calendar:

Distance of race
Date of race
Cost of registration
Location
Cost of traveling to ^ location
Size of race
Who else do I know racing?
Have I done this race before? Did I do well?
Race’s history (race day conditions? organized well? course support? crowd support?)

Given those considerations, here are the races I’m considering for 2010. I would LOVELOVELOVE any and all input from you, especially if you have done one of these races before or heard good (or bad!) things about it. Some of these races I’ve done before – you can check out some of my RACE REPORTS – others would be a first time. If you’re a fellow runner / triathlete from Minnesota and still trying to build YOUR race calendar, maybe some of these will give you ideas!

RUNNING RACE OPTIONS 2010

Med City Marathon 2008

(5Ks not included.. those are all last minute registrations)

May 30th – Med City Marathon (See my race report from when I last did that one!)
June 6th – Minneapolis Marathon (A fairly new race.. I hear good things)
July 19th – Grandma’s Marathon (My race report on it. Plus, THIS girl might be there for her birthday?)
August 7th – Urban Wildland Half Marathon (One of my faves for sure! Race report)
August 14th – Gopher to Badger Half (had a buddy end up in an ambulance during this one…)
August 21st-22nd – Ragnar Great River Relay (WILL be doing this one again! Pre-Race)
September 7th - Victory Memorial 10K/5K Double Header (Will for sure do again. Race Report)
October 3rd - Twin Cities Marathon (The country’s most beautiful urban marathon, obviously!)
October 30th – Monster Dash Half Marathon (Wasn’t blogging yet when I ran this for the first time. Home course.. fast.. love Team Ortho races!)
October XX – Moose Mountain Trail Marathon (don’t see a 2010 official date yet…)

TRI RACE OPTIONS 2010

St. Croix Valley Triathlon 2009

April 17th – USAT Collegiate Nationals – Lubbock, TX (Already registered. CAN’T WAIT!)
June 12th – Liberty Half Iron
June 19th – High Clif Half Iron
August 14th-15th – Green Lake Olympic (Didn’t do a race report, just a photo. LOVED it.)
August 22nd – St. Paul International
September 5th – St. Croix Valley Olympic (Race Report. Froze my a$$ off during the bike, but loved it!)
September 12th – Square Lake Half Iron (Buddy on the team did this last year – I went up to cheer and run the race course. There was great race support!)

So obviously I have some hang-ups here… some races are on the same day (Grandma’s Marathon & High Cliff Half Iron, Gopher to Badger Half and Green Lake Tri)… I wouldn’t do two half iron’s two weekends in a row (Liberty Half and High Cliff)… and I don’t have the money to register for all of these even if I wanted to! It would be pretty damn cool to just eat, train, race, and repeat (and get paid to do it), but there are two little things I need to keep in mind – finishing up with Kinesiology and Med School. And paying for both of them. Anyways, these are just ideas that I have circling around in my head. I told a girl on my team that I want to report back tomorrow and have registered for at least TWO of my summer races, so we’ll see where that goes but I’ll keep you posted!

If you need help figuring out your race calendar, and are from Minneapolis/St. Paul or our lovely state of Minnesota, I would be more than happy to give my opinion on the local races I’ve done (they’re definitely all not listed or accounted for under the RUNhard tab)! I also want to share some great resources to get you started:

Good luck to you, good luck to me, I’ll report back soon with any decisions!
-E

Victory Memorial 10K & 5K Race Report

Dr. TriRunner — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:27:23 +0000

Well… I said I was racing a lot this year, and I wasn’t lyin’! On Labor day I did not one, but two races – the Victory Memorial 10K and 5K – ohhh yes – enter the double headers. This was not your run of the mill lil race – there was some SERIOUS runnin’ going on. Lots of very. competitive. runners. Luckily though, not so many in my age group.

But looking at the results only proves my birthday fear – I will not be so highly ranked once I move up into the next age group! Check out the RESULTS and you’ll see what I mean! For the 10K WOMEN, the top time in the age group ahead of me (20-24) was a freaking amazing finish by Amy Lyons with a time of 36:31. That’s a 5:53 average pace!! Annnd.. look just down a little and there is a new Minnesota record – a 41:12 (6:38 avg) for a 55 year old!! She finished 3 places ahead of me, and MAN was she looking strong!

So my race: I ran the 10K in 41:33 (6:41 avg pace), which was good enough to get me 20th overall, and 1st in my age group! I won’t even tell you about the 5K, because race it – I did not. I was under the impression that the 10K awards were after the 5K, so I thought WTH, I’ll do the 5K as a cool down. It was only 5 extra bucks for the double header, so I paid, got a 2nd number, and hopped to it! I was running with two other ladies from one of my training groups who had also run the 10K, and were were running pretty easy. Then at mile 2.5, Jackie reminded me that there was a prize for best overall combined time for anyone doubling that day, and she suggested I go for it. So with only half a mile left, I kicked it up a bit and ran in with an average of 7:20. Unfortunately, I wasn’t elligible for the double-header category since I wasn’t preregistered for both. But apparently there were no 19 and under females running the 5K faster than I did, because I took that age group too!

getting my gift certificates!

OK.. enough about races – I’m going to give you the whole shebang in photos, and get to homework! I have two posts that I really want to get out, but I thought I better post this before it’s like a month later!

The rest of team MED (which is now MED-B) also ran the 10K!

Gettin' pumped pre-10K

Stretchin out the muscles pre-5K

Two of the ladies and I.. oh J, sorry

Bringin in the 5K

And that is that my friends! I honestly had no expectations going into this race.. I legit went to bed at 1:15 because I was hanging out with the guys downstairs, and I woke up at 6:00. But hey – adversity training, right?

No more races (that I know of!) until TWIN CITIES MARATHON which is only 24 days away! I have my last 20 miler this Saturday which I’m super pumped for, and then I belllieve I’m headed up to watch/cheer/volunteer at the Square Lake Triathlon. Several of my TEAMMATES are competing in the half course! More on that to come…

And one quick word – SCHOOOOL. ?!?! Ahhh! Back at it. I am having some class scheduling/changing/dropping/switching difficulties ATM, but other than that, good stuff. Feels great to be back!

Love you all, and see you soon.

-E

p.s. I feel like cookies would be a very very good pre/post run fuel! And perfect for being on the go at school!

St. Croix Valley Triathlon Race Report!

Dr. TriRunner — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 21:35:16 +0000

Goooood lord. It is only like 3:45 and I swear it feels like 8:00! It’s not that I really feel tired, but it has definitely been a long day! Here we go.. start to finish! The St. Croix Valley Triathon:

I decided not to go out to Hudson last night. For some reason I had in my mind that it took like an hour and a half to get there.. but then I put it in googleMaps and it said it only took 40 minutes. So I nixed the plans with my mom’s friend (where I was planning on staying overnight) and decided I’d just drive out in the morning. It was a early morning! I haven’t seen 4:30am in a looong time. But it was well worth it – my mom’s friend has a dog, and I have allergies, and that wouldn’t have been a good idea the night before a race!

So I was out the door by 5:15, stopped for coffee (I had my coffee pot all set up to brew this morning.. but I set it for 5PM instead of 5am! doh!!) and was on my way! It was pitch black when I left, but I got to watch the sun rise as I was driving east to Hudson! SO PRETTY! Hhaha annnnd.. I swear the only people out on the roads at that time were people going to the tri! Every car I saw had a racing bike on the back or a TriHarder bumper sticker… it made me smile every time!

Got there, got my transition area all set up, got my packet, my “small” shirt (which goes down to my knees… who makes these!?) and got tatted…

and then had a while to wait for the start. I was nervous because my feet and hands were COLD. I’ve always had bad circulation.. but i was thinking if they’re cold now and I haven’t even touched the water yet.. then I’m in trouble! The water even looked cold!

The race started at 7:30, but since I was in wave 5 (women 29 and under) I didn’t start until like 7:45. There were some competitive looking girls out there.. but at this race they didn’t mark your age on your calf like they usually do, so I couldn’t tell who I was up against! Maybe a good thing…

The gun went off and so did we. The water was actually not bad – I think it was probably about 70°.. so the water temperature was not the problem. Especially because I did this in more clothes than I did Green Lake… I was wearing a full length tri top and shorts. Little teeny shorts.. but shorts none the less. Honestly though.. I think I panicked a bit in the lake. Open water swimming is really different than swimming in a pool.. and the sighting thing just wasn’t working for me today. I had to breast stroke a bit in the beginning just to calm myself down, and by the time I reached the turn around bouey I was pretty much fine. It definitely slowed my swim time down though!

Thennnn the bike. I have two conflicting factors here when I try to compare to my last tri: 1. I was on a much better/faster bike. 2. I. was. FREEZING. I said the water temperature wasn’t a problem.. but the air temperature was. It was still too early for the sun to shine on the road, so the air temp was still like 55°. Take that, plus being soaking wet, plus going 22 mph = froze my ass off. Hahha I can’t wait to see the pictures from the professional photographer.. my face was like locked in one position that I’m sure was disgusting very attractive… I’ll have to wait and see.

And then, my love – the run. This was a 4 mile run.. where as Green Lake was just a 5K. I actually like this run way better though. And finally my face and arms and core warmed up because the sun was finally peaking through! My legs from the knees down though were just numb.. it was ridiculous! But I knew they were still attached, and damnit, they had a job to do, so I got to it. I definitely started out slower than usual, but ended up picking it up a lot at the 2 mile turn around. My time out was 15:42 (!!! wtf) and coming back it was 13:44. All for a grand average pace of 7:21 (according to Gomer). Which for me.. is still ridiculously slow for a 4 mile run. But with frozen feet and being a newbie up and coming triathlete, I’ll take it. My friend Cyndi is the only other person I knew up there… she is from the Splashers team I train with (hard core name.. no?) and she is a great athlete! She says she is not a runner.. but I told her that is the great amazing thing about individual sports. You can be whatever you want to be. You can improve, and it’s easy to forget that sometimes! I love this lady’s attitude. She is definitely kick ass and will help remind you that you are too!

My total time was something along the lines of 1:20:xx… PickleEvents does the chip timing and they haven’t posted the results online yet. What I can say is that despite feeling like it wasn’t my best race.. it definitely wasn’t.. I took 2nd in my age group (and contradictory to my age-group-upgrade-fears, would have taken 2nd in the 20-25 devision too). I came home with an amazing medal engraved with St. Croix Valley Tri a .. stop watch? Mmm yep. Not kidding. Note to Race Director.. hopefully you’ll see this somehow – I LOVED your race. Everything. But a stop watch? Even Green Lake did medals.. they were just dog tags engraved but actually I like that the best! Then you can actually wear it without looking like you’re trying to be a show off. I can promise you that I wont be wearing my St. Croix Valley stop watch out to dinner tonight. My mom actually said she needs one for school, so…. !!

The after celebration was nice – it was a Luau theme so they had leis and pineapple and what not.. but the main “event” for the food was pulled pork. I am not one of those PITA vegetarians, but I would have appreciated sommmme sort of meat-free option! I wasn’t kidding about the shirt being huge.. and I hate that because half the point of doing a race is to get free shirts.. and I like to be able to WEAR them! Here is me, trying to jump up on my couch before Photo Booth counts down…

Please ignore the crazed look on my face.. and I promise. I am completely G rated in posting this.. there are shorts on under there! And Chad.. this is all for you buddy – the shorts:

I was actually looking for racing buns.. but no where keeps them in stock! They’re mostly for team orders.. so this was the closest I could get. And I LOVE them. And bought two pairs.

I met my mom and some family friends at Dunn Bros on my way home. It was really nice to see them all.. and MAN was I ready for a cup of coffee!! That brings me to here.. all done with a triathlon before 9:30am and saying now what? for the rest of the day! I think I am meeting up with someone to buy the calc book I need for this year (craigslist – in case I go missing) (Kidding!! Sorta… =/ ) and then I think I am going to go spend the rest of the day helping my mom set up for our YARD SALE we are having in two weeks. So this my friends concludes my St Croix Valley Tri race report, and overall I’d say it was a success. If I’m in town, I’ll be back there next year!

I’m out!

See you soon love bugs. Race on Monday.. school starts Tuesday! YIKES! Live it up while you can!