Two races, two places!

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I raced again this weekend (I know, you're asking yourself "holy heck, does this chick race all the time?" - yeah, kind of).  I love racing... and I have the ability to race a lot so I do.  I know it's not the way some people do it, but it floats my boat.  So we had one race on the schedule for Sunday, but on Friday, we went for a run and swim at the local state park and they were setting up for the weekend.  There was a women's only sprint on Saturday and I debated entering.  I had decided not to by Friday night since money was an issue and I didn't need to race two days in a row, but Tom convinced me and I'm glad I did.

Saturday was the Greenswell Tri for Hope benefiting the Stephanie Spielman Fund.  I love women's only events.  There is just a great buzz all day long, lots of "You Go Girl's" which I love, and a great feeling of camaraderie.  You just can't beat it.  And they had a good turn out for it - 179 women.  I like it!  Tom played sherpa (which I secretly love too) and got some great photos throughout the day.  Short swim (.25 miles), short bike (12 miles) and short run (2 miles).  Just the right distance to go hard, but not so hard that I would be toast the next day.  The swim was uneventful - too warm for a wetsuit and a little frustrating with everyone walking and dolphin diving the whole thing, but I was 5th in my AG coming out of the water (and in wave 4 of 6 so lots of people in front of me). On a side note - I like that the swim cap matches my outfit (yep, it's the little things), but that will come back to bite me tomorrow...

I passed a crap ton of people on the bike (this is normal... not saying that I'm an awesome biker, but it is definitely my strength and I know that and I also know that this is a very beginner friendly race).  As a matter of fact, I came into transition after the bike and it looked like this:

:)  Of course I was a total putz and racked my bike, only to have it fall off the rack.  What the heck?  Tom yelled "leave it" but I couldn't and wouldn't leave Papa Smurf laying on the grass (plus I didn't hear him!).  I knew that there were three girls in front of me, (because coach Tom was scouting them), but I also knew that 3 waves went before me so I just ran.  Felt a little sluggish on the run and it might have been a wee bit long, but ended up crossing the finish line in 1:00:51.  Good enough for 2nd overall!  The lady that won was pretty tough (and 12 years older than me... which is really cool... I feel like there is hope for me to get faster as I age gracefully), but she only had me by about 40 seconds.  Maybe I should have left my bike on the ground in T2! Just kidding... I was pretty stoked about second, especially since this race company does overall awards (not all Columbus race companies do that).  And they did an awards ceremony which was cool.  Got a plaque and some organic soap. (Which totally random side note, but why does organic soap smell so bad?  I'm all about doing your thang with natural stuff and whatnot, but I could not wash myself with this stuff and be happy. Maybe it's just me).

Went home and plopped my butt on the couch with a really bad movie and my Recovery Pump.  We'd see how these bad boys helped my legs for the Olympic weird ass distance race I'd be doing on Sunday.

Sunday was the Greenswell Wellness Tri.  I knew it wasn't going to be a true Olympic, but it was close - 1.5km swim, 38km bike and 8km run. With this being a new race and race company, we didn't know how many people would be out there.  Turns out, not too many.  I think there were 47 total doing the "long" race (while 167 people did the sprint du and tri!)  There were only two long course waves - men and women. Fairly simple huh? We all lined up for the swim and it seemed long.  Like really long.  I know that sights can be deceiving and we were all hoping that was the case (but I swim here 2 days a week and knew our hopes were about to be crushed)... all 19 of us women!  I opted to not wear my wetsuit because of the warm water and wasn't alone.  The horn went off and we entered the swim for the two loop rectangle.  Now, I suck at swimming.  I'll be the first to admit it.  I'm usually not last, but I'm much closer to last out of the water than first.  I know that.  I am working on it.  After one lap I looked at my watch and holy hell, either I'm not swimming, or the course is long.  And the sprint started after us and when we were on our second lap it was total chaos.  And the buoys were the same color as the swim caps. Green swim caps and green buoys are all I saw when I sighted, but which was which??? And lots of people dolphin diving again.  The whole swim.  I was so frustrated.  I usually swim between a 28-32 minutes for an 1500m swim.  I exited the water in 41 something.  Totally defeated, I made my way to transition.  Lots of other people were at their bikes, mumbling and grumbling about the swim.  At least I wasn't alone.

The bike was two laps for us.  The first lap I passed a lot of sprint tri people.  At the entrance to the park at 12 miles, they turned in and we went straight.  Then there was no one around.  It literally was like the race had been canceled and I didn't get the memo.  Way up ahead I see a biker so I put my head down and hammer to catch them.  It took a while, but I did, but they weren't in the Olympic weird ass distance either.  Oye ve.  My legs were feeling the second lap a little (although the Recovery Pump was amazing as always in getting me recovered), but I still managed to have a good bike.  I got to T2 and literally lollygagged.  I felt like I was in lala land.  I'm never like that. Maybe my mind just wasn't right.  Ha... The run was a course that we run a lot... the same run that I've done in 2 other tri's this year.  The RD said to turn around at the end of the dam for the 8k.  The 2 mile mark (which was about .3 of a mile short of the end of the dam) is where we all turned around.  There were 3 teenagers volunteering who maybe weren't given the memo that we needed to run past the sign to the end and told us all to turn around.  I ended up finishing the run in like 34 minutes.  My results say I ran a 6:54.  Right.  In my dreams.  I think it was more like 4.1 miles which would make my pace closer to 8:20's - that's more like it.  In any event, I finished the Olympic weird ass distance tri in 2:24:40 and snagged 1st in my AG (by default, the third place overall was in my AG so they took her out, but whatevs).  Woo hoo!  No soap or awards ceremony this time, but a cool plaque.  And Tom won his age group!  Good day for Team Kingery!

We packed up our stuff, hopped on our bikes for another 25 miles and some great greasy diner food the next town over.  Nothing like racing hard, biking 12.5 miles, eating a grilled cheese and biking back.  Nomnomnom!

So like I said Greenswell is a new race company.  Well, kind of new.  The RD has been around a while in Columbus and had a old company (which we honestly loved racing with) that went out of business and started this one.  I really love that there are more options in Columbus for races, but I worry about the "newness" of the company at these races. They are very environmentally friendly (no plastic bags at check in, recycling throughout the venue, etc).  While I'm all for that, the course wasn't marked with paint, only green 4x4 signs with black arrows (which is fine, but we are in a very wooded part of town so you couldn't see them).  So that was a tad frustrating.  Luckily I knew the course like the back of my hand since we train here all the time, but others had a hard time with it.  The swim - WAAAAAAAY long.  A few people said that based on their times, they thought that it was at least 2km, if not a little longer (I would say 2km max). I did a true OLY at this same location three weeks ago so I know it's possible to have a 1.5k course.  And the matching swim caps / buoys is a huge pet peeve of mine (isn't this some rule in the RD bible that you don't do this?).  Tom had a really hard time with sprint waves running into the water to start their race as he was starting his second loop.  I guess some girls bullied him a bit, but being the gentleman that he is, he gave it back to them! I didn't have that as much, but ran into a lot of them my second time around.  The run was definitely less than 8k.  Results are based on that distance. And the results don't match up.  The finish times are right, but if you add up all the portions, they are long by about the T1 time.  Looks like they have the T1 time added to the bike which makes out averages seem lower - a pet peeve of Tom's since he actually biked 23.5mph and not 22.9mph.   I don't mean to bitch and moan, but I'd love for this company to make it. Just some things that need to be straighten out I guess.  They have another event in August (exact same course and everything) and although it's a great training day to get out there and just do it, Tom and I are debating if we will.

No more races for a little while.  I have some massive training in the works!

How was your weekend??? 

Sunday recap

It's been a busy week.  This was the first "hard" week of training - ie, 12+ hours and I felt it by the end of today.  It feels good to be back into the swing of a program though. I'm enjoying pushing myself and being spent by the time my workouts are done.  And not once did I sit and think to myself "why did I sign up for another Ironman". Always a good week when that happens.  I'm happy that I had my EFS Grape drink to get me through my workouts and then my First Endurance Cappuccino Ultragen for my recovery.  Seriously, if you are looking for a great tasting product that is easy on the belly, check out First Endurance.  Yes, they are a sponsor of my team, but I am a believer in their products.  I've only been using them for a month or two and I am really happy. Oh, and check out my testimonial about Recovery Pump on their newish website!  HA... love it!  Okay, enough product raving! :)

So my totals for last week looked like this:

Swim - 5100 meters

Bike - 76.4 miles

Run - 27.6 miles

I'm happy with that.  I feel like I'm getting stronger - it's a slow process and I have to be patient.  I have a half marathon in two weeks which will be a good test for me. I'm not looking to PR, but I'm hoping to feel confident going into it!

Tom ran the New Jersey Ultra marathon this past weekend with the Team Type 1 Running Team.  Mad props to these guys.  You all know that they are all type 1 diabetics, yada, yada, yada.  But, one of the guys came in 2nd in the marathon with a 2:55, one of them came in 1st in the 100k in 8:55 and one of them came in 4th in the 100 miler in 17:28.  The team had a great debut - I can't wait to see what they all do the rest of the season! By the way, check out the team's new website (here).  I may be a little biased since I'm married to him, but I think the web guy did a great job with the new site! :)

Team Trakkers totally rocked this weekend too.  Tons of teammates racing and training all over the place - 70.3's in exotic locations, the new 5150 series, half marathons, 10 milers, 100+mile bikes, 4050m swims.  So motivating! Congrats to everyone.  I can't believe that it's only 56 days until my first tri with these guys.  Not only is it a huge eek because it's my first tri of the season, but also because it's a half Ironman.  In May.  What was I thinking???

I keep an eye on my followers and I've been stuck on 143 for a while.  If you read my blog and I don't know about it (through you being a follower or commenting), come out of the woodwork. I'd love to know!  So many people say "I saw your picture on your blog", but they never comment or aren't followers. I want to know that you are out there!  

And I'll leave you with a quote that I saw on twitter today that totally made me laugh:

"Every time you fart as you're walking through first class getting on a plane, Jesus high-fives your grandmother."

 

It's Wednesday already?

I swear I keep thinking it's Tuesday. I haven't blogged in over a week.  Definitely not for lack of things to write about - more like work is kicking my butt (yay!) and by the time my day is done, I don't have the energy to put a sentence or ten together for a blog.  So here I am, squeaking in a little time before my day gets away from me.  Probably best to update in randoms (but I have pictures so that makes up for it, right?)...

• Didn't do the 15 miler this past weekend.  I had all intentions of it, but my Achilles/ankle/foot has been bothering me and I was worried what kind of damage pounding on it for 15 miles would do.  I woke up Sunday morning, ran about 2 houses down from ours to "test" it, burst into tears and came home.  I really wanted to run with Tom.  I ended up hopping on the bike for 1:45 and then heading to the race to sherpa for him.  He ran 5 before the race and then rocked the 15 hilly windy miles by himself.  I couldn't have kept up anyway!

• I always have a hard time recovering and with another 140.6 on the schedule, I know how hard the long training days become.  You never quite feel recovered.  Team Trakkers recently found out we are sponsored by Recovery Pump.  When we received this news, I was super excited.  I had no clue what it was going to be like, but I received mine in the mail yesterday.  AWESOME!  I sat with these bad boys on for just a few minutes to see what they are all about and I can honestly say there might not be anything that I'm more excited about this year.  They may look silly, but my legs are sooooo happy.  And yes, I have freakishly long legs.  This picture exaggerated them a lot though. :)  Thanks Recovery Pump!!! 

• I'm over hearing my hubby say "you smell like the pool.  Did you shower?".  Um.. yes I showered, but our pool dumps gallons upon gallons of chlorine in it to ward off the nasty from it being a community pool and no matter how much I scrub, inevitably I smell like the pool.  I received this little gem of a package in the mail the other day from our sponsor SBR Sports, Inc.  My teammates swear by this stuff and I kept thinking "how good can it really be?".  I used it after my last swim and I'll just leave it with, I'm a fan.  If you swim in a pool, get some of this stuff.  For real.  I'm anxious to try the Foggle and the TriSlide too.

• My new favorite meal is a spinach salad with cottage cheese as the dressing.  If you know me, you know I love me some cheese.  This is a great way to top my salad... no guilt of dressing and some added protein!  YUMMO! (and yes, those are crouton... you take some and you leave some.  I know they are little squares of fat.  Baby steps people... baby steps)

• I'm hoping to get out on the bike tomorrow.  It's supposed to be near 60 here in Columbus.  The Kestrel comes any day and unfortunately it won't be ready for tomorrow, but I'm fine with riding Flica a time or two more in February... outside!  I'm so stinking excited.  With the Kestrel being shipped, that means I should have some bike porn in the next few days... I know you can't wait! :)
• My Buddy Boy is too sweet.  He's starting to get older and I think as he gets older, he gets cuter and cuter.  This is his place each and every night before dinner (right under foot at the counter by the stove).  Just waiting, hoping that mommy drops something.  Usually I accidently on purpose make sure he knows he's loved... that's why he's about 20 pounds overweight.  But he's happy.

• We're heading off to see my grandparents this weekend in North Carolina.  They are the ones with Alzheimer's.  God love them.  I know it's going to be a hard trip since I know they don't remember Tom and I'm not sure they know who I am, but I'm glad that I'm getting out there.  I'm bringing my chocoholic grandma some homemade chocolate dipped pretzels.  I'm bound to win her over with those if she doesn't recognize me, right? :)

Sorry for being MIA lately and I'm trying my best to get caught up with all of your lives. I'm working on it... I really am! Happy Wednesday everyone!