Race Schedule and Results

Monday, May 26, 2008

Is it Sunday or Monday?

While I love holiday weekends, it throws me off completely! For the rest of the week, I'll be thinking it's yesterday (if you can follow me on that one!) We had a great weekend though so I can't complain. Here's some stuff that's been going on:
  • This weekend we did an 85 mile ride on Saturday. At the half way point, Tom looked at me and said "this is probably the hardest ride I've ever done". Although Ohio tends to be pancake flat (at least in our part of the woods) we somehow found hills, and lots of them. Oh and the wind (I'll get to that in a minute). We had a good ride, but we're happy to be home after 85. We averaged a little over 17.2mph and we were really pleased with that. The runs Sunday and this morning were fun too - still felt those hills! :)
  • Speaking of wind though - if you are doing IMFL this year, I'm apologizing in advance. It will be windy and miserable so prepare yourselves. It's become a known fact that if I'm on the bike, it will be MUCH windier (is that a word?) than the always accurate weather report. And if you have a headwind and are on an out and back course, the wind will shift so that you get a headwind on the way back too. So I just wanted to give you a heads up so you can train for the wind. It will be swirling in PCB on November 1st. Last year was perfect because I wasn't doing it!
  • So we rode this weekend to the Utica Ice Cream Festival. It's a little Podunk kind of festival, you know the ones with pageant queens and greasy food. Gotta love it. Tom's dad's band was playing so it made for a nice stop at 42.5 miles. We sat around and I got molested by an 85 year old man who was part blind. He was cute at first, talking to Tom and I about how built Tom was and that we'll have 3 kids because he can see the happiness in my eyes (I thought that maybe he was not all there mentally so I humored him, as did Tom) He then asked me to dance with him and I agreed but when he starting making comments about putting his leg between my thighs and removing his keys from his pocket so I didn't get poked, I was completely grossed out. The whole time, Tom sat smiling, thinking that I was just making this little man's day. Yeah, I was, but not the way little old men usually get excited about young girls. Ew... I still get the hebby-jebbies thinking about it! ;(
  • Our first tri is in 20 days. I'm very excited to race, although a bit worried about getting into Alum for the swim. It's only a 750 meter swim so you hate wearing a wetsuit, but it's so unseasonably cold in Ohio that the water isn't going to be pleasant (see... global warming at it's best!)
  • Above said tri is the one where last year I was swimming my hardest, on a course that runs parallel to the beach for any newbies. They don't have to worry about drowning. As I'm working my little tush off, I sight a girl walking along the shore, numbered, larger and obviously beating me. Always reassuring, let me tell you.
  • Weight watchers is going well - I'm down 10.8 pounds, although I know a lot of that is not only due to my eating less but also increasing my workouts. I'm really working on my post workout foods (I love chocolate milk!!!) and eating things throughout the day that will keep me energized. I'm really happy with the results and believe it or not, have had no knee pain at all lately. I'm attributing that to my smaller size. Only 6.2 pounds until I'm at my goal for race day!
  • Tom got his Team Type 1 uniform the other day. I'm jealous - 'nuff said!
  • T-minus only a few more days until Vegas!!! I CANNOT WAIT TO GO TO VEGAS! I NEED A VACATION!

Um, so that's about all that's new with me. Sorry my updates haven't been too exciting. Hopefully they will get better once I start racing?!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Just a quickie -

post to say hi and that yes I'm still alive. I know it's been a while since I posted last. Nothing is really new - we're just busy! Between training, working and playing travel agent for our races and trips planned, I've been a bit preoccupied. :) This weekend it's supposed to be beautiful in Ohio (which is really a shocker since it always rains on Memorial Day weekend) so we're taking full advantage. We're doing an 80+ mile bike ride on Saturday to the Utica Ice Cream Festival (gotta love destination rides like that) and then Sunday enjoying some time with my mom and dad and their friend's for a BBQ. Should be a great weekend and the bike will be a good test of where I'm at right now in training. We're pleased that it's only May and we're already hitting up an 80 miler, although with my training the way it's been going it shouldn't shock me too much that this is what we have planned. We've really been pushing ourselves and I can see the improvements!!!

I am so counting the days until Vegas though - I haven't been this excited about a get-a-way for a long time. We both can use the break!!!

Everyone have a great holiday weekend - be careful, especially if you are going to any BBQ's, enjoying some adult beverages and then need to get home. If your city is anything like Columbus, the cops will be out in full force!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Month of Awards (and rewards)

Just when things started kind of getting blah for me (I don't know why... maybe the rainy weather, the hope of summer, the need for a vacation, some flaky people, the list could go on and on), things get good.

First, I received this in the mail:
Now this is exciting for two reasons - first because I love getting plaques and whatnot and saying that I "placed" in a race (it doesn't matter to me that there were only 4 women in my division and that it was the "chunky chicks" division... I'm still proud). Second, because I know that I can't enter races as an Athena anymore. For those of you that don't know Athena categories are for women over 150 pounds. For this race, it was women over 140. I'm about to be out of the 140's and am SO excited. So this award lets me remember where I was at the start of the year and how far I've come!

Then, after needing a major vacation and booking a single crappy night at the local Riverboat casino (it's smoky and not nearly the vacation I really had in mind, but it would do), I get an offer in the mail for Vegas. We love Vegas... and usually got for our Anniversary in July. I do a little research, make a few calls and I end up with 4 nights compted at a suite at Palazzo (the NEWEST hotel on the strip). I'm told the suite has 3 flat screen tv's, a sunken living room, a marble bathroom and is 720 sq. ft. We had airline miles too so that means I'm going to Vegas (with my hubby of course) for a little R&R for 5 days, 4 nights and all we have to pay for is food and gambling. NICE. We're planning on starting our trip with a long run down the strip and then a good day of hiking at Red Rock so we don't fall behind (and probably to flush some of the alcohol out of our systems!!!) So things are starting to look up, way up!

THEN, today, we get invited to the Central Ohio Diabetes Association Board meeting. Just a little background - my wonderful hubby of almost 3 years (the Ironman one... you know... yeah, him) well he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 28 - about a year after we met. He's taken the diagnosis and changed his life completely. He has never once used his disease as an excuse for anything in life and has really pushed himself athletically even more than before (he did play college football and ran 10 or so marathons prior to the diagnosis). He decided that he really needed to spread the message that Type 1 diabetes definitely doesn't mean that your life is limited, and thus partnered with the Central Ohio Diabetes Association last year in conjunction with the Ironman. He raised funds though his website (http://www.runningoninsulin.com/), gave speeches about his disease and the agency, put on a 4 Mile Run/Walk to raise funds and we volunteered as much as we could with them for the past year. They are a stellar group of people and have become truly great friends. So anyway, we go to the board meeting today and got honored with this:
We were named the Agency's Volunteers Of the Year!! How fun! We were so shocked and completely honored for the award!!! The picture on the top is even from our race at the finish line (two of the participants... not Tom and I)! How cool! I joked that it's always easy to get recognized as a kid, but as a grownup to be recognized for something like this - well, it's kind of big!!! :) We're going to continue to fund raise for the agency and through Tom's website - hint hint... if you'd like to support him or know anyone that might like to hear his story, please visit it! Also, Tom just found out that he's be chosen to be a member of Team Type 1 Triathlon Team. Team Type 1 is a big group of Type 1 Diabetics that are doing amazing things through athletics and endurance sports, and speak about their experiences across the US. The bike team has won the last two RAM races (Ride Across America) and they've been competing with non-diabetics each year. They are hoping to someday get a team in the Tour de France. So Tom's one of 6 on the Triathlon Team. He never ceases to amaze me!

So all in all - things are going well! Training is keeping me busy, tired and fit and I am loving every minute of it!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

I have my work cut out for me!

The results are in from the Cinco de Mayo run and I came in 4th out of 45 girls in my age group! :) That made me happy! I'm slowly getting closer and closer to the top three. I'm anxious to see where my competitiveness takes me next year. I had a couple of top 5 placings last year, but usually there were only 10 or so in my age group! HA! Oh well.

We did a 21.75 mile sprint yesterday on the bike (well sprint for me... Tom was just lolly gagging next to me or so it seemed). He said that he could definitely see improvement in my bike - we averaged a little over 18.5mph, although it was a little windy and then ran a 3 miler averaging 9:01. I'm hoping that I can keep up as the season goes on and fatigue sets in a little more! :)

Wendy's International Tri is our first race and it's on June 15th. Last year I finished the tri (0.5 mile swim, 16.8 mile bike, 3.1 mile run) in 1:36:48 (swim = 13:44, bike ave. = 18.47mph, run pace = 8:47). That was good enough for 9th out of 35. I'm really going to have to push it to break that this year. Guess my work's cut out for me!

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Cinco de Mayo Quatro Miler Report

I have to start by saying I fully feel that I'm in Ironman training. We did the 4 mile race yesterday but ran 4 miles BEFORE leaving the house. That's how I know that I'm doing an Ironman. In the past, I would have run my 4 miles and just come home - no need in wasting extra energy right? Onto the race -

The weather was horrible yesterday here in C-bus. Rainy, windy, yuck! Very typical of most race days though. My mom and dad were debating whether or not they would come out for it. About 2 hours before the race, the skies cleared and it was beautiful. Maybe luck was going to be on our side. I felt kind of blah all day though and our 4 miles prior to the race were nothing to gawk over. We headed to the race site, got there super early and met mom and dad. It was still super windy, but at least the sun was shining and it was warm enough to be in shorts and a short sleeve shirt. Tom left us when we were waiting around and ran another 2 miles before the race (he's a nut like that and can't stand still). We lined up when they told us to and took off. I've run the course before and it's nice - on a trail and in a park. I felt really good and was just kind of in my groove. Tom ran with me, but kind of just let me lead the pace depending on how I felt (which he usually does - he's good like that). I got to the first mile and my watch said 8:52. Hum... not bad especially since I didn't really feel like I was pushing it. Tom had the Garmin and said that at one point he saw us running a 7:30. Anyway, the race went well, I felt great and I finished in 34:48! My splits were:

Mile 1 - 8:52
Mile 2 - 8:49
Mile 3 - 8:43
Mile 4 - 8:23

That was definitely a PR for me and I was so excited. We sat around at the finish and waited for my mom and dad who were walking/running. My mom wanted to finish in under 52 minutes and I think they came in at 51:13. They did AWESOME! We all went inside, enjoyed some margaritas, chips and salsa (some of us had a few more than others, right dad and Tom?!) and came back to our house. We enjoyed just relaxing for the evening, all with smiles on from the excitement of good races!

Now we're off to complete our "rest week" with a 2.5 hour bike. This coming week is a long one - 16.5 hours I think. And the countdown is on - only 180 days until IMFL. I'm getting so excited!!!

Friday, May 2, 2008

Real Quick

Yay for me as I lost another 3.6 pounds yesterday at Weight Watchers. Looks like I'm down 7.2 in the past two weeks. I actually don't want to lose those kinds of numbers anymore though and I have a feeling that this could be a little trickier of a week, but we'll see! I might actually hit my goal nearer to the beginning of the summer which would be AWESOME! Just wanted to brag a little! ;) Have a great weekend!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Happy May

And with May, comes Cinco de Mayo right? Yeah, sad, I know. That's what I associate with May. It's not really, but it's on my mind. On Saturday, we're running the Cinco de Mayo Quatro Miler. It's a John Bingham race that started last year and is SO much fun. It's a 4 mile race and then when you finish, you get one of his huge metals with a Mexican themed penguin, a giant sombrero, chips and salsa and the best part - 2 Jose Cuervo Margaritas! Gotta love any race that provides adult entertainment afterward!!! My mom and dad will be joining us again this year! So fun! Of course I'll have to work out in the morning too in order to justify the chips, salsa and margaritas, but it's so worth it!

Happy May!