Tag Archive for race

The Triathlon Rx | June 4, 2010
6 comments

Pre-Race // the New Bri Tri

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

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The Triathlon Rx | April 18, 2010
16 comments

Peace Coffee Racing + 5K RR

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. :D 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

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The Triathlon Rx | March 25, 2010
16 comments

Get Lucky 7K Race Report

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 44th 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 10th (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 15th. 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. :D 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 1st and 2nd, 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? :D

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? ;)

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The Triathlon Rx | March 22, 2010
13 comments

“pre-cap” … ?

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

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The Triathlon Rx | January 31, 2010
6 comments

2010 Race Calendar

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)

TRI RACE OPTIONS 2010

St. Croix Valley Triathlon 2009

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:

Apple Raceberry Jam

Vacation Sports

Midwest Events

SCS Multisport

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

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The Triathlon Rx | September 10, 2009
8 comments

Victory Memorial 10K & 5K Race Report

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!

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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!

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

 

Gettin' pumped

Gettin' pumped pre-10K

Stretchin out the muscles pre-5K

Stretchin out the muscles pre-5K

 

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

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

Bringin in the 5K

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!

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The Triathlon Rx | September 5, 2009
7 comments

St. Croix Valley Triathlon Race Report!

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…

DSCN1912

DSCN1925

DSCN1911

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!

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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!

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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…. !!

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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…

Photo 15

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:

Photo 21

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!

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

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The Triathlon Rx | August 22, 2009
5 comments

Ragnar Relay Packing List

I’m not quite ready to post my Ragnar race recap just yet, but I can say WOW it was so much fun! I am 50% exhausted and 50% still pumped! We are already planning next year’s race. In the mean time… I’ll leave you with this:

 

When I was trying to think of everything I needed to bring along for the Ragnar Relay.. I felt like I kept forgetting things, or thinking of new things! The whole trip I found myself saying, “I wish I would have thought of that!” I had searched on Ragnar’s site for a “packing list”, but all I came up with were some suggestions of a few food items, and the mandatory items you needed to run (reflective vest, headlamps, etc.)

 

I’m putting this list up so that if anyone else is googling trying to find a Ragnar packing list, they might stumble upon this and I can be of help! Of course not all of these things are necessary, and some of them are just personal preference items that I wanted to have along, but at least it’s a good place to start!

 

CLOTHES:

  • Running top (3 – one for each leg)
  • Running shorts (3 – one for each leg)
  • Socks (3 pairs)
  • Shoes (I recommend 2 pairs in case it is raining during one of your legs)
  • Sports bras (3)
  • COMFY CLOTHES (to wear in between legs)
  • Sweatshirt
  • Sweatpants
  • T-shirt
  • Flip flops
  • Hat/visor
  • Running belt
  • Jacket or windbreaker

 

COSMETICS:

  • Baby wipes
  • Deodorant
  • IcyHot
  • Ibuprofin
  • Inhaler (if you have asthma)
  • Contact case / solution / glasses (if you wear them)
  • Hair brush (hair gets super tangled in the humidity)
  • Bandaids
  • TUMS
  • Toothpaste / toothbrush (your teeth start to feel furry after all that Gatorade)
  • Shampoo / soap (several of the major exchanges have OUTDOOR showers. Read: cold)

ETC:

  • Garmin/watch
  • Cell phone
  • RACE BIBLE (at least 2 copies – one per van)
  • Reflective vests (2+ – Mandatory. At least one per van, but they get sweaty – I would bring your own)
  • Head lamps (2+ – see above)
  • Flashers for back side (2+ – see above)
  • Camera & batteries
  • iPod
  • Sleeping bag or blanket
  • Pillow (though you’re not going to be getting much sleep!) 
  • Ear plugs (see above)
  • Money
  • FOOD & BEVERAGE (see below)
  • Swiss army knife
  • First aid kit
  • Towel
  • Glow sticks
  • Sidewalk chalk (to write on the road ahead of your runners.. it’s so fun to see a message to kick a$$ when you’re dying on mile 7 trying to peak the hill!)
  • Book / magazine (I brought them.. but honestly you’re having too much fun with your team to have time to read)
  • Walkie Talkies (if you want em’… cell phone coverage is spotty)
  • Cooler
  • Sharpie (I wanted it.. I feel like it’s always a good thing to have along!)
  • Window paint markers (for your van)
  • Safety pins (for pinning on numbers.. taking care of blisters.. you get the picture)

 

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my lovely artwork

 

FOOD & BEVERAGE:

  • Water bottles (bring more than you think you’ll need. You’ll need them.)
  • Gatorade or Powerade
  • Bananas
  • Bagels
  • Peanut butter
  • Apples
  • Grapes
  • Bars (clif/power/granola/etc.)
  • Gu/Sports beans/Shot Blocks/etc.
  • Raisinettes
  • Cereal
  • String cheese
  • Crackers
  • Gum
  • Trail mix
  • Pretzels
  • COFFEE (you don’t need to have it with you, but if you are one of those people who need coffee to keep going, make sure you have a plan of where you will get it!)

 

the goodie bag

the goodie bag

 

 

Like I said, some of these things are just things I wanted to have along for personal comfort. You obviously don’t need chalk to write on the road, but it is something I wish I had brought along when I saw “Kick It In!!” written on the road ahead of me! 

I’m off to bed mis amigos. I started my first leg at like 3:00 yesterday afternoon, ran somewhere around midnight, and finished my last leg at like 9:00 this morning (Saturday). There were probably about 3 hours of sporadic sleep thrown in there.. and as far as I’m concerned, it feels like its already Tuesday. 

And I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

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The Triathlon Rx | August 20, 2009
5 comments

Ragnar Relay – Great River 2009 – prerace!

Want to get this up super fast.. intended on actually posting about it before I left, but you know how that goes! 

Tomorrow at 7am I’m off to go relay it up from WI to MN – the Ragnar Great River Relay! (Actually.. it is starting in Winona MN this year due to some construction or something, crossing over to WI, and then ending in Minneapolis.) We’re a regular 12 person team.. no ultras here this year! I’m super excited but to be honest the logistics of the whole thing are kinda stressing me out. Either way, I know it will be a ton of fun! I have enough food to feed an army (of one.. ME!), 3 sets of running clothes, 2 pairs of shoes, my camera, 8 batteries and 2 flash cards, and a crapload more! 

I promise many many photos and a full recap when I get back! Have a great weekend everyone!

-E

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The Triathlon Rx | August 15, 2009
6 comments

Twin Cities Marathon Countdown!

 

Hard to believe, but Twin Cities Marathon is only 7 weeks away! And just now as I wrote that.. I said WTH. 7 weeks is a lonnng time. Honestly though, I know it’s going to fly. My schedule for the next month is crazy busy. I’m traveling the next three weekends, and then school starts up right after that! 

 

What really prompted this post was this morning’s run – I did the first 20 miler of this training period. If you haven’t read my blog before, I’ll fill you in pretty quickly: in December I had 3 pins put in my hip, and then in April I got hit by a car while running. SO… after PT and rehab I’ve pretty much had to start from scratch with my running. I went from being a 3:19 marathoner to a maybe-I-should-only-do-3 runner pretty quickly.

 

 

the pins of doom

the pins of doom

 

 

 

With caution and guidance from my medical team, I built back up. Slow as the process was, it was doable. My surgeons told me I could run again. That I can. What they didn’t make any promises about was racing, and that brings me to where I am right now. 

 

Initially, I had some pretty high hopes from TCM. Ultimately I want to run a sub 3 some day, but for Twin Cities I was thinking I’d shoot for more like a 3:15 or 3:10. Then surgery happened and a car happened and I found myself needing to reevaluate. Right now, I would be stoked to pull a 3:19 again. For today’s 20 miler I held an 8 minute pace (which would be like a 3:30 marathon) but if I’m honest with myself, I don’t know if I could have gone a whole lot faster. Not to mention, I would have still had a 10K to do to finish. 

 

My “plan” thus far for October 4th is to line up with the 3:20 pace group. If I feel better than that at the half, I’ll take off. If I feel like I need to pull back, I’ll pull back. The human body is an amazing thing even without running 26.2 miles, so the fact that it will even still let me do that with three pins in my hip is truly a blessing. I will let my body dictate the rest. 

 

So I guess my point of this whole thing is that it’s OK to change your goals. It’s OK to reassess plan. For anyone who is more towards the type-A side of the spectrum (coughMEcough) this can sometimes be a difficult notion to accept. It’s either black or white, right or wrong. I like to know the schedule ahead of time, and I want to stick to that schedule damnit, so don’t go changing the game plan! ;) Hahha honestly though… it does get better. Sometimes I need to force myself to be flexible, and this is one of those times. Ya feel me?

 

So I leave you here my friends. Gotta work dinner tonight, but just a short shift. I’m going to try and get a nap here before that. :) For any readers that are still around.. I know a lot of you are runners – what do you have on your race calendar? I’ll try and post mine soon – I have a lot coming up! Trying to fit in whatever I can before my birthday.. ie before I move up into the next age group!

 

-E

 

P.S. My dad visited! And I’m going out to see him two weekends from now. Here’s an update on our tat’s :D

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*ETA* Run To The Finish is probably the greatest. I hope I can do something like this on MY birthday!!

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