windy day before race

Today we shifted our focus completely to race prep. We woke up early and did our last work out. We did a short little swim, then transitioned on the bike for a short 20 min ride then ran 10 minutes. Seems simple and short... Not when the wind is blowing so hard that I could only go 10 mph on the flats. The was really choppy on the swim, then horrendous headwind on the ride out and strong tail wind on the way back. The tail wind was great but it as a little sketchy to turn out of the wind. I stayed loose and figured it was good training but it was hard with the headwind. Then the run was again a headwind out and tail wind back. I was able to keep my pace in the headwind a bit better but it just made my legs feel extra heavy.
Afterwards I iced my legs, showered and got my run stuff together for registration. We rode our bikes over to the hotel to avoid the traffic/parking. So got some more practice riding in the wind and it had warmed up some more as well. We picked up our packets after signing our lives away then prepared our bike to run bags.



Next was getting our bikes ready to check in at T1 area at Hapuna Beach State Park. My bike felt great - may switch out my front wheel for one of Kyle's training wheels if it is windy but we are going to do that in the morning. Kyle's bike was making weird noises so we decided to take it in to the local bike shop to have them look at it just to be safe and sure. They made afew tweets and we were heading back to the beach to check them in. My transition area is very close to the exit of the T1 area which is cool and it is on the far side so it will be easier to find.
Kyle is about midway through the transition area.
Now the wind had picked up quite a lot - some of the gusts were so strong it was hard to stand up straight. This brought the first set of butterflies to my stomach. It only got worse once I saw the white caps on the beach/swim course. You may not be able to see in the picture but there are white caps and big orange buoys that mark the course. I was getting really uneasy about the race..

We headed back for the Athlete meeting where they tell us a little about the course and talk about the rues - especially the no drafting rule on the bike course. My guess is if it is windy the refs will be handing out a lot of red cards for drafting tomorrow but that is just a guess.
On the way back to the condo we walked along the beach and took a bit of a breather and hung out with the turtles for a bit.


Once back I laid down a little nap before dinner. I visualized my race and went though all my positive thoughts I will pull from tomorrow when the wind blows or in the full heat of the run. I know I am strong and I don't need to waste energy worrying about things I have no control of like the wind. No matter what I will do my best and I won't be the only one - weather equally effects everyone. If it is windy I will be ok.

After eating dinner I sat and watched the sun set and just cleared my mind and breathed.


I have all my swim and bike stuff ready, all my nutrition stuff ready. Everything is ready for a good day no matter what happens. Time to go to bed, go back over my race plan one last time and think positive thoughts. Kyle as usual is ahead of me - already has his eyes closed as as he is "watching" the Giro lol

hot ugly run

Yesterday we got up sort of early and ran part of the course - from the finish line 2 miles out then 2 miles back. Kyle lead out and forgot to turn so re ran a different route then me. I ran out to the hottest part of the run course - a long ugly out and back that goes out into the lava fields. It will be around mile 11 or so of the course and is a killer - or was last year anyway. It was sort of hard to warm up with out riding before running. But once I got on the out and back I felt alright. It is a gradual downhill on the way out then you have to climb back. It was very hot but I managed. Once I was back on the flat I picked up the pace and visualized crossing the finish line on Saturday. It was a good run I proved to myself once again that it is not as bad as I remembered. last year it took forever because I had to walk - this year I can run out of there and straight o the last half mile to the finish.

The rest of the day we relaxed mostly. We did go down to the beach to check out the turtles and even got to swim with a couple in super shallow water.. which was quite the challenge but well worth seeing them swim around.




Later in the evening we went out on a Night Manta Ray Snorkel - well I snorkeled and Kyle did a dive. It was amazing. I wish we got more pictures. Kyle took the little video camera we have but since he drove to about 50 ft the pressure was to much for it and he did not get any video. I was on teh surface and also had a great video. There were about 6 Manta rays at the dive site. They did flips below eating all the photoplankton that our lights attracted. They came so close it was amazing. I highly recommend it..
The only downfall was that since I was snorkeling I was just floating on the surface and it was kind of wavy I started to feel a little sick. Then of course a lady on the boat was sick up when we got back on.. So the boat ride back was a little iffy at times but I focused on the lights on shore because they did not move and that kept me from feeling any worse.
We got back around 9ish and we both passed out almost immediately lol.

the other side

This morning we decided to get up early and drive across the island to explore Hilo via the Saddle road. Kyle loved it - he had a blast driving the winding narrow road while I thought I was going to be sick. The views were pretty good though there was quite a bit of haze/clouds so we could not really see very far. We even drove through some rain - it felt like we were at home for a second.
We made it to Hilo in one piece. We checked out the park in downtown.


Then we were off to find a good snorkel/swim beach - Leleiwi Beach Park. It had some big waves and lots of fish. It was actually pretty tuff swimming back to shore - I think we were out there for a good 35 min or so. It was fun I worked on my form and really had to work on my pull to make it though the waves. There we actually quite a few people swimming "laps" so I felt right at home lol



Once we got a little sun and dried off we headed back and stopped at Rainbow Falls, and the Boiling Pots. It was so humid we almost jumped in.. but so pretty.





It took a while to drive back and both of us were kind of fading. Not to mention both our legs were a bit tight from being in the car. It took a shower and a snack to get motivated to go for a bike ride. But eventually we did. Nothing long just 10 miles but it was windy.. and I beat it. I did not let it get to me I rode strong and stayed relaxed. I even played around in the wind with sticking my front wheel into the wind and what happened. It was exactly what I needed to feel better about the bike and it only took 33 minutes :)

The rest of the night we have spent with our feet up, I iced my legs a bit just to be safe, and watch the 2007 Ironman Championships on dvd - no better inspiration exists.

12 mph winds

This morning after a lovely breakfast and taking our time to get ready we did a 45 min bike ride to run brick... No big deal right.. The palm trees were being blown around a little bit but nothing to bad. Once we got out on our bikes I got pushed around like crazy, first a head wind, then the dreaded side wind, maybe a tail wind for a little bit in there but only in combination with a side wind. I knew there is always a chance for it to be windy on the the Queen K - you hear lots of horror stories. It freaked me out. I have ridden across I90 bridge in the wind a few times and this was more scary. Maybe because I let the thought of being blown into the lava creep into my head.. At first I tuffed it out in my aero bars as much as I could but it started to hurt my left shoulder a bit and then a gush came and I had to go out on the flight deck. It would at will grab my front wheel and pull me around. Instead of going with it (like I would in skiing) I let it freak me out.
As he should be Kyle was pretty far out in front of me - I could see him but with no hope of catching him.. I stopped at 24 minutes and waited to see him coming back. Once I saw a little red speck in the distance I turned around heading back. He was nice enough to ride on windy side to offer some block on the way back but still it would catch my front wheel from time to time and I was riding way to stiff. We talked a little bit about ways to deal with or go with the wind a bit to keep my wheels from making me in to a kite. I played with different things on the way back. Nothing totally perfect or anything but at least helped me focus a bit more.
After 48 min of riding in the wind I was soo ready to transition to a run.. I did a fast transition - practicing what I will do for the race. Even a full race belt with gels just to test comfort.. I did forget my sunglasses but after running with out I have decided I will not wear them anyways - they make my face way to hot. I completely let my legs determine the pace - not pushing to hard or forcing them to slow down. I ran 1.5 miles in 12 min out on the road surrounded by the lava - it was soo hot and of course on the way back there was a head wind.. But I felt good. I was able to let go completely of the frustrating/windy ride and just run. Which is exactly my plan for the race - live in the moment and do my best in that moment.
After an ice bath to cool off - Kyle and I talked a lot about riding in the wind. He did not really have any issues with it and actually sees it as a strength. I have a ton of experience skiing in the wind and know how to deal with it - I really just need to apply that knowledge to when I'm on the bike. Don't tense up and stay loose enough to be able to adapt. I have really good balance - I just need to use it and most of all stay calm don't let the wind beat me. Everyone will have to deal with the same conditions - wind, heat, all of it so I just ned to do what I can and keep going. I ride again tomorrow so I maybe able to get some more practice in wonderful wind.. At the same time I'm really hoping it is calm on Saturday till I'm done then it can do what ever it wants.

We spent the rest of the day doing random things - my bike saddle bag broke, and Kyle accidentally cut my aero bottle straw (thinking it was his) so we had to go back to the bike shop again.. Traffic sucked and there was a lot of "vog" - we could even smell sulfur a couple times from the volcano which did not really makes up want to do much activity...
We did go for a walk in evening and saw a bunch of sea turtles (Kyle's favorite animal).



I'm just glad it is still early in the week. Though they are setting up the race headquarters in the hotel which mean s it is coming .. but there is still plenty of time to enjoy Hawaii and more important be ready to race on Saturday :) Ok time to get some good recovery sleep... the more the better right.

another day in paradise

This morning I woke up around 4 am to a huge cramp in my left calf... I screamed and completly freaked Kyle out but it hurt sooo much I almost fell off the bed. It took about a minute to subside a bit but it never really went away. I tossed and turned till about 6:30a and just got up and had some breakfast. I talked Kyle into getting up eventually and we headed to the beach for a morning swim. It was really windy... Though I was glad we were not riding in it swimming was also pretty difficult - the water was super choppy.
Kyle tested out his speed suit for the swim.


We swam out to the boat and back 6 times - based on the time I think it is about 400 yds out and back so I'm estimating about 2400 yds give or take a few. I felt really good and mostly focus on swimming straight and not getting water up my nose.

Afterwards Kyle made his favorite Banana Macadamia Nut Pancakes for breakfast. Then we were off to pick up some more CO2, a tube, and some other random things in town. Kyle wound up getting some new snorkel fins that are split and easier on his knee...e got back to the condo to eat some lunch. We spent a couple hours tinkering with bikes and relaxing. Kyle put fresh bar tape on my bike - it looks awesome with baby blue :) (you can't really tell in the pic but trust me it looks awesome and makes me very happy)

I wanted to go swimming again and Kyle wanted to try out his new snorkel gear. We fallowed fish for about a half an hour - Kyle spent most of it video taping them lol.

My calf was still bothering me so I wanted to warm the muscles up a bit and hope it would loosen up some. We rode down to the long out and back of the run.. It was amazing as we started down it the temp went up a few degrees. It was great to ride down there - it is a gradual downhill on the way out and then you climb out. It was not as bad as I remember it from last year which is awesome. I know to take advantage of the down hill and then just stay strong on the way back and get out of it as fast as I can lol. I don't have to be afraid of it - it is only a mile or so and I can get through it :) I'll run in one of the days this week to prove it to myself again. and best of all my calf did loosen up enough to not hurt when I walk...

Ok that covers another day in Hawaii.. and a whole week to go :) hehe

we have arrived

Last night after 2 flights at abut 9pm Hawaii time (or midnight in Seattle) we finally landed then had to wait about an hour for our bags since they had 3 planes land at about the same time. Though even though the flight was long it was not to bad - we met a group of other triathletes from Bellevue who are staying near by us. As soon as we got our rental car (Kyle upgraded to an F150 truck of course lol) we headed to the condo and passed out.
This morning we were up at 5 am local time and before anything unpacked the bikes. By 9ish we rode our bikes to Starbucks to grab some breakfast and much needed coffee. It was so warm out I wore shorts and tank top - it was wonderful :) My aero bars were a bit uneven and both our de-railers needed some tweaking.. It felt nice just to loosen the legs up a bit after sitting for so long yesterday. We went in to Kona to get CO2, some tubes and random other things. I got a new pair of spuik sunglasses that are soo comfortable that I can wear with both my aero helmet and a running hat. Kyle got a pair of tri bike shoes and drooled over a Liger TT bike for a while...

Eventually we got back and got ready to do a little triathlon to work on transitions. We swam down at the beach down the street for about 15 min, then transitioned to the bike.
Which of the being the first time this year to do this it went pretty quickly.
We rode out to the Queen K and rode the course out to the turn up to Hawi. Since we started later in the day it was pretty hot and windy so I really had to face my fear of going down hill in the wind.. I completely rocked it.. No brakes and actually stayed most of the time down in my aero bars. I had a blast - I did not push to hard or anything but just rode how I felt. Kyle got a flat just after we started on the way back but he is super fast so no big deal. The rest of the way back felt good. I practiced my nutrition plan and mental race plan as well. The last couple of miles I alternated a few pick ups with spinning my legs out. It felt really good when I got back and transitioned to the run.
I did make the mistake of drinking a bit to much liquids so my first mile my stomach was a little sloshy but the heat burned that up fast. We ran about 2.5 miles in 18 min all out in the middle of the lava fields. It was sooooo hot. I was shocked at how good my legs felt - they just seemed to keep the same cadence as when I was on the bike.
Once done I quickly soaked myself in a cold bath to get my body temperature down which felt wonderful. Then had a recovery drink and put my feet/legs up till we went to dinner.

Ok that covers it for now I and going to crash.. Kyle is already asleep on the coach. It is going to be a good week ;) Tomorrow we are going to getup early and go swim then do some vacation sort of stuff the rest of the day.

4 days

and counting till we leave for Hawaii :)

But first I had a great weekend of training. Friday was bike to work day and since the weather was amazingly nice I had to ride in. I took it easy on the way in since there were sooo many people on the trail. It was great to see so many people on their bikes but a lot of them need to learn trail manners. It was so nice out I talked Kyle into leaving work early and we rode home together. It was good - I went a little harder up all the hills on the way home and then when we got home I put my running shoe son and ran 2 miles on tired legs for a little brick. It was really good heat training and I felt pretty good. Afterwards I put my legs up and took a little nap.

We figured out the Tour de Cure ride that we do every year was on Saturday. So we did day of registration and did the 45 mile route with the Lemond Fitness team. It was amazing we got to ride with Greg Lemond. It was a good training route for me - lots of rolling hills that forced me to shift. My garmin died at 11 miles or something - so the rest of the way I had no clue other than I wanted to stay up with Greg, Kyle and Bernie. It was perfect - I just focused on staying with them and not getting blocked by other people - every once and while I would get trapped in a pack of guys who would block me till I got so annoyed and broke free and passed them to catch back up. Greg was super friendly and knows sooo much. It was inspiring just to be riding his wheel - though I did pass him going up hill a few times. He went down a crazy turny downhill at about 50 mph. It was insane. The weather was hot again - it was about 90°F after we climbed to the top of Redmond Ridge - another perfect day of heat training. After the ride we hung out had a few tacos from one of the sponsors - Chipotle and a lot of Vitamin water. Kyle got his single speed signed by Greg.
We headed home I took an extra cold ice bath, fallowed by a nap with my legs up. Later we headed to the gym to do a swim. I was tired but it felt good to be in the water.

That night it was still crazy hot in our house and I slept horrible. I woke up early to go skiing with my brother but he was not feeling good and I could not justify the gas money to go ski by myself. So instead i focused on a 9 mile run. I planned it out and headed out. The route went past Bridal Trails park and after 3 miles on the road I just could not resist heading into the park to do some trail running. It was exactly what I needed - I let all the stress of the past week go and just ran. It was so much fun. In the end I ran about 5 mile of trail and 4 miles on the road. I fallowed it up with another extra icy ice bath, recovery drink and a nap.

I got a strong swim in tonight even though my legs are tired in a very good way. It was totally worth it I'm really happy with my cycling this weekend - I wanted to get on my bike a bit more and that is what I did. I feel strong and ready. I have my race plan and goals and just keep going through them in my head.

This week is mostly about juggling my schedule and getting ready to travel. Then we have a full week in Hawaii to get used to the heat, get a little training in and generally have a fun vacation :)
ok back to making my packing list...

in progress

It has not even been almost 2 weeks since my last race and I only have 9 days till we leave for Hawaii for my next race. Happily I am starting to feel about 75% recovered and even better I feel like I have been getting some good training in this week (with out over doing it).
I'm especially looking forward to some long training the next couple of days in 80 °F weather. Actually I'm thinking of leaving work early tomorrow (Friday) to go do a long ride in the heat and then do my long run on Saturday again in the heat. Then I can go skiing on Sunday (yes I know how weird that sounds). The only downfall of this plan is that I can't find anyone else who can go ride long tomorrow so I would be riding alone - not a deal breaker but not as fun. The other thing is that it is Bike to work day so I feel compelled to ride my bike...
In other thoughts - I can't believe the airlines charge sooo much to bring a bike. Last year it was $85 and that was dumb now it is $100... I could understand if it was by weight but Kyle and I can pack our bikes and get the weight under 50 lbs but no I guarantee we will still get charged the stupid fee. Way to support healthy lifestyle - right... But since we can go up to 80lbs believe me we will - get our money worth.
I have started my packing list, things we will need to buy once we get there, fun things to do list, and of course my all important race plan - none of which are completed but I have general ideas and maybe a few details..
ok that is all for now.. we will see if I decide to do tomorrow..

recovery week

After my kick ass race last week I got to have the past week to recover as much as I possibly could in one week. Monday after work I went for a super easy hour bike ride out on the trail to spin out my legs. I was pretty sore and it really did helped to warm them up. Tuesday i was more tired than sore so I would up cutting my swim short and going to bed early. Since I was so tired Coach Col gave me Wednesday off which was very nice. Except of course work became crazy and I wound up not getting my run in on Thursday - so 2 days off... Friday I barley made it to the pool before it closed and again had to cut it short because the pool was closing.
I did better on the weekend workouts - a nice and easy bike ride. I rode out to my moms house and hung out with her and Jerry for an hour of so before riding home. She was so happy playing in her garden all weekend :)
Today we had breakfast with Kyle's mom at Portage Bay cafe and the most yummy oatmeal with fresh fruit on top.. Then we went to REI and I got a smaller backpack for riding my bike into work - and they had a pair of sidi T2 2007 shoes on major clearance so I will need to start breaking them and my feet in. We also went to Speedy Reedy - Kyle got a 2XU tri top and shorts and I got the Giro Aero helmet since Kyle pretty much owns the one I got last year.
Kyle wanted to get a swim in so we went to the pool - I only swam maybe 1500 yrds but the fun part was we played with the video camera so I got to see how weak my catch and pull is. I do some weird things with my hand once it enters the water...
Afterwards we sat in the hot tub which was not really that warm and I stretched out my legs and relaxed. We came home and chilled for a couple hours before going for a 7 mile run around 7:30ish. I'm very happy I decided to run a flat route my legs felt kind of heavy and most of my body still felt kind of tired. I mostly just ran how I felt and did not push it o hard and still managed to stay round 8 min miles which is cool - finished in 58 min :)
I definitely don't feel completely recovered but I'm glad I got out there and got some good training in this weekend. I hoping that with some extra sleep and lots of good healthy food the next couple of weeks I will be good for Hawaii 70.3 - which is coming way to fast...

Vancouver International Half Marathon

Friday I felt anxious and generally a bit uneasy about the weekend. Work was stressful, I had to pick up a bunch of things after word for the weekend, the group was doing all sorts of hotel shuffling. Once I got home finally and packed up my things Kyle helped me think though my race plan which helped me focus and let everything else go. The plan was to warm up the first half mile then start picking it up into full pace, mile 2 through 6 I would go sub 8 min pace, then mile 6 and 7 ease up a bit to recover for the main hill. Run the hill strong - expect my pace to slow but stay strong. At the top of the hill pick the pace back up and enjoy the down hill. The last 4 miles keep my pace up and at or below 8 min pace. Finish strong! I planned to eat a gel before the race, mile 4, mile 7 and mile 10, and wear my fuel belt. The rest of the night I felt better and just knew what I needed to do - I slept well.

Saturday morning at 6:30a Kyle and I went for a short run to loosen up the legs. I took the first couple minutes easy then played with my leg speed with a few pick ups and then went easy the last couple minutes. I only ran 2.5 miles or so but it only took 17 min :)
We carpooled up to Vancouver with Coach Colleen, Bryan and Miss Piper dog. After checking into the hotel we got to the expo around 4p - the line to pick up the packets was crazy long - out through the lobby - it was messed up. Finally got out bibs and shirts and headed into the expo. We found that the running store that was at the expo carried Powerbar recovery shake - which had been discontinued in the US. So of course we bought 5 cases, and Bryan and Col bought 4 cases. It was cray the shop guys thought we were nuts.
The rest of the evening was pretty mellow - we found a yummy burrito place for dinner, I soaked in the hot tub just long enough to loosen my legs up a bit. Went through my race plan again in my head, including handing off stuff to Col along the course. Then laid out my stuff one last time and went off to bed - I wore my compression capris to bed - yes I'm a nerd - but it felt good. As always before a race I woke up a lot to check what time it was. look out the window and see the city lights.

Three alarms went off at 5:30a. I felt strangely calm still just got ready, nibbled on a bagel, sipped a doubleshot and put a little sunblock on my shoulders. We left the room somewhere around 6:15a to head down to the start. It was sunny out but still a little chilly so even I had not wanted to run I had to so I would not freeze. We got to the start with just enough time to find a good spot, have a gel, and a couple salts. Col took a couple cute pictures.

Then the gun went off and it was time to start. Kyle was out of sight with in moments, and I was surprised Bryan dropped in behind me not next to me but I just went with the flow of the crowd. It was weird it was so easy, my breathing was so calm that I was surprised when I heard other people breathing hard. I barley noticed when I went past the first mile. My legs felt great, I already had my gloves off. My only issue was that my fuel belt kept sliding up - so I finally pulled my shirt out from under it and then it stayed in place. I drank some cytomax just to stay on my plan and when I was putting it back in my belt I dropped it and had to turn and grab it. Bryan was a few steps behind me the whole time, I told him it felt so easy. lol I got right back in my rhythm. By mile 2 I already had my arm warmers off and tucked into my belt. I ate my gel at mile 4, took a salt just in case at mile 5.
I was so happy to see Col at mile 5ish and tossed my arm warmers and gloves to her. She seemed almost surprised to see me so soon but who knows. I was just happy I was on pace - actually under pace :) The miles just kind of flew by, I was always surprised to hear my garmin beep at me, and see the mile markers. Mile 6 I let my legs slow down a bit and almost recover a bit. Even so I kept both Mile 6 and 7 under 8 min pace. I took another gel at mile 7 to get ready for the hill.
I forced myself to not be scared or the hill - honestly I did not really remember what it was like from last year other than there was an aid station at the top. So I kept telling myself stay strong, use your arms, keep going till you see the aid station - then you know it is the top. Go figure there was no aid station at the top this year. As planned mile 8 and 9 were slower.
The run down hill was wonderful - I used it to help loosen my legs up and lengthen my stride.
Before mile 10 I ate my final gel and some cytomax to wash it down with so that I knew I would be good the rest of the way to the finish. I saw Col again just after mile 10 and tossed her my fuel belt - which felt great to unload. Though I had to consitrate on holding my lower abs in with out the belt forcing them in esp as I finished the last bit of downhill.
It probably was not till around 11.5 miles that I started to feel my legs a bit - it was still not bad but definatly not as easy at teh first half of the race. I switched teh view on my garmin from pace, and mile time to overall time and focused on keeping my pace up as much as I could. I knew I was on track but am horrible at doing math when running so I was not compely sure I would make my 1:45 goal for sure. I knew I would be close and kept at it.
The last little uphill is short - last year they had a great steel drum band but this year nothing.. But you turn the corner and there starts to be a crowd of people lining teh course. It is almost like a false finish because people are cheering and yet you still have just under a mile to go. I just trie dto keep my pace even. I did not want to overdue it and not be able to finish strong.
The last mile definatly felt like the longest - I kept checking my time just to be sure. I saw Col just outside the finish shoot and she was cheering and remined me to smile (I think). I knew I had it or would be very very close. I picked up the pace a little bit once I hit the finish shoot. Kyle was about halfway and cheered and told me to pick it up and that I did it. I just kept going and smiled. It was funny I almost cried I was so happy that I did it.
I crossed the finish line and the clock read 1:45:49 but my chip time was 1:45:06! My overall place 652, place in gender 173/3583, and place in age group 38/643. Which is so cool I was in the top 40 - that is huge.

Kyle and I waited for Bryan then we all headed into the stadium to get some snacks and meet up with Col. We all reached a PR for the day and we happy and tired.


I am definatly going to save the memory of how wonderful it felt to cross that finish line right on my goal time for those days when I struggle in training or durring a hard race. Talk about positive reinforcement. The best part is that I stuck with both my physical and mental race plan - I never really stressed out or went to a negative place. I just stayed focused on what I needed to do next and did it. I feel like I just started to find or tap into my potential or believe in it - everyone else semms to have known already. This was really the first race I really truelly enjoyed as a race with a time goal. Mentally I feel I have turned a corner and now I am excited about what the summer and the next coupel of years may hold for me. I feel like I can own my goals and believe in myslef to achieve them and it is not just about finishing anymore. I can race and have fun racing :)


I have to say a HUGE thanks to Coach Colleen at Tri-Style. Also thanks to Monique at Elements Pilates for making me strong, and of course Kyle for letting me chase him in training and for sharing some of his speed with me.