Lifetime Tri Oceanside

I had my grand finale race last Sunday in Oceanside, CA. First of all, GREAT venue! Lifetime Fitness did a great job with another well run race. I loved it. I had never been to southern CA so it was neat to see mountains, then the ocean, and all the palm trees! 3 of my favorite things. Oceanside was also the final stop for the Toyota Triple Crown, which Alicia Kaye ended up winning!
Before the race, Ross and I met up with college friends Laura and Tyrus who live east of LA. It was so fun to catch up! Then Meghan from grad school who also moved out to CA was able to come a cheer at the race with her husband, Ron. It was so fun to see them and what great friends to arrange their weekend to come see Ross and I. Thanks so much!!
Anyway, the race! Well, I had been going after the Lifetime Fitness series all season to try and get top 5. Top 5 in the series earn bonus money. I had a really good chance, but my races in Tempe, AZ and Dallas didn't go so well. I wasn't myself and just had off races. Not sure what happened there. Coming into Oceanside I was 2 points out of 5th place so I had to beat Jillian Peterson. We had been going back and forth at several of the races, but she moved  just ahead of me in points after Tempe and Dallas. I had a really calm and clear mind going into Oceanside as I gave anything I couldn't control over to God. It was seriously a really freeing feeling. I had been holding onto issues from my previous races, but when I finally let it go, wow, it felt amazing!
Coming into race morning, I remained calm, but focused. I knew what I needed to do. It was a wetsuit swim so I wore my full sleeve Xterra wetsuit. I was really glad I had it as the air temp was 50 and water temp was 65. It was chilly even for a Michigander! I had a really strong swim. I came out with Lauren Goss and Helle Fredricksen who are very strong. I came out right where I wanted to. I settled into the coldest bike I have ever had! It was foggy so we were never able to dry off. I had water dripping from my helmet too. My bare arms and legs were so numb! Taking my UCAN flask on the bike got a little tricky too since I could hardly squeeze it since my hands were so cold. Yikes! Despite the cold, I was able to settle into a good groove and was able to build throughout just like I had wanted! I was also ahead of Jill, but not by a ton...about a minute. I knew she was there, but remained calm and stuck to my targets. I knew I was going to have to go for it on the run to keep my distance. It was hard to not get a little scared...haha. Once I dismounted, it was quite the experience to run on numb feet. I found them back pretty quickly though. :) I felt really good starting the run, but saw Jill creeping up on me. Ahh. I continued to stick to my race targets and built through the run. I knew I wasn't the strongest at sprint finishes so I kept trying to keep distance on Jill. However, coming into the last mile she was getting closer. My gap was closing and I was trying to push a little more as she crept closer. I rolled down the hills and tried to get my heart rate down a couple beats to get ready to push again. Then I saw Ross about 1-2' before the finish and he yelled to keep pushing! Keep pushing! I was breathing really hard and I could tell my legs were nearing their end. It was getting harder to get speech changes. I did my best to keep pushing and I chose not to look back as I knew Jill was there (maybe I should have looked back to see if it would have helped me anticipate exactly when to put the kick in). AND here's the kicker...coming down the finish shoot it came to a sprint finish and she reeled me in. I gave it what I had (can't wait to see the race photos as my face will explain the fight!) and she got me by 3 seconds. 3 seconds!! It was unreal. She had a really great run as she made up about a minute. But I didn't quite know how to react as I lost the $5,000 for being 5th in the series right there in the finish shoot. I was like crying and laughing. It was surreal. So in the end I have to say it was bittersweet as I did have a good race. I felt so happy that I was myself again after my previous 2 races, but just couldn't believe that I had it and boom-it was gone! I guess that is how racing goes! God always has a plan. :) So I have a lot I will take from this race experience. It makes me want to race one more yet this season. Hmm...
If you find yourself reading this--have you ever been in a sprint finish before? Comment about it! They can be exciting!
Anyway, to conclude a great day of racing, Lifetime put together a pro after party so I got to get to know some of the competitors in a relaxed setting. Fun to see pro athletes let loose. :) It was a great weekend and I would highly recommend this race if you like to travel for races. It is going to be the championship race again next year for the Lifetime Fitness Series.
Thanks for reading!!

Lifetime Tri Oceanside

It is going to be a great weekend of racing in Oceanside, CA! This is the championship race for the Lifetime Tri Series and the Toyota Triple Crown Series. This race is worth double points for the Lifetime Series! I am excited to end my 2013 race season with a strong performance at this amazing looking venue. The Lifetime Tri Series has been fun to be a part of. The staff really takes care of their athletes to make sure they have a safe, fair, and fun race. I am also looking forward to hopefully catching up with friend, Meghan and Laura, who moved out to CA. I haven't been able to see either of them in quite awhile! California...here I come!

If you happen to see this post and are able and wanting to race in Oceanside-there is still time!!! Check out this promotion!

20% discount code: TriClub20 + the first 1000 registrants get a free backpack

#LifeTimeTri #Oceanside

 

Hope to see you there!

20% discount code: TriClub20 + the first 1000 registrants get a free backpack

http://www.oceansidetri.com/

Lifetime Tri Chicago

This will be my 5th year doing Lifetime Tri Chicago! The first time I did the race was as an elite amateur in 2009. Then it was my first pro race in 2010. It is always fun to come back and it is nice that it is so close to home! I am looking forward to racing in the windy city again on August 25th. This will be my 3rd race in the Liftetime Fitness Race Series. This race will be in the equalizer format where the women get a head start from the males. (There is a pretty intricate process that happens to determine how far ahead the women get to start to make it fair between the genders). Then whoever crosses the finish line first (male or female) gets $50,000 and the Toyota Triple Crown Trophy. Pretty fun! Also, I love how spectators can walk along Monroe Harbor for the entire swim-so you can watch it all with a pretty good view! That is unique to this course. You can check out more about The Chicago Triathlon here: lifetimetri.com
And learn more about the Toyota Triple Crown here: http://www.chicagotriathlon.com/news_article/show/240534?referrer_id=647971

The experience @ Frankenmuth

Last weekend I raced in Frankenmuth, MI that was put on by Tri for Life triathlon team and 3Disciplines. Tri for Life is founded by 3 brothers who race for the 4th brother who lost his life in a car accident. They put on triathlons to raise awareness for organ donation. Well, upon my arrival, I have to say that I was greeted by friendly staff from the team and race when I went to packet pick up. The staff at the event was very friendly and helpful, which added to my experience!
I traveled solo to the race and met up with Sam and Todd Kennedy for a pre-race dinner (weird to not have Ross with me at a race!). I had a great time hanging out with Sam and Todd. We hung out the next day after the race and wandered around the town. We even got to see a dog show...haha...never been to one of those! Collie's are fast!
But back to the race...
The swim was in the Cass River and we were corralled onto a Ferry boat before the start-kinda fun and unique! The swim was out and back down the river-nice calm water. I like that! There were several fast pro men that came out to race so the swim start was movin! The swim hurt right off the bat today-just never felt like I could really get into a good groove-just had to keep pushing it. There was a pretty good run up to transition-my legs were not coming at this point--just had to ignore that! I stumbled a bit when I got into transition as I had an issue getting my wetsuit off my bulky timing chip. Oops-didn't account for that. I learned my lesson as it was a slow T1! I haven't had an issue getting my wetsuit off before.
I set off on the bike and was the lead female. I felt ok, but not great. The body was just kinda heavy feeling all around today. I reminded myself of my race process and stuck to the plan and got my mind off of the feel. I was enjoying my first race on my new Rolf Prima disc wheel. I loved the feel of a disc-never had one before! Anyway, I kept my lead on the bike. I headed out on the run and there were some great cheerleaders around transition-thanks!! My legs felt surprisingly peppy--well more peppy than I thought they were going to feel. The pep wore off though--haha. :) The run hurt more than than usual too. Sometimes you just never know how your body will respond! I had a couple men to try and keep in sight on the run so that was helpful to keep me from dropping off. The run course had some portions that were pretty turny (it was a 2 loop run course), but this kept it interesting. I ended up winning the race and got a nice big check-one of those giant ones! How fun! Ben Collins won for the males. Sam was 2nd female! Also, it was great having Tri4Him teammate, Ryan Rau, racing too. Again, everyone was so friendly around the race and the course was marked very well. It was a fun town to race in and I hope the race continues to grow. Great first time race!

Tridot Coaching

Since joining the Tri4him triathlon team, I have learned about a training system called, Tridot. Tridot is a scientific triathlon training system that is research based that takes the guess work out of training. Do you ever feel that you are guessing with your training? You know what you need to do: swim, bike, and run with some hard efforts and some easy. But do you ever wonder how much to do for each discipline? And at what intensity and for how long or how often? Do you ever wonder what you should really be spending your time on? I was in that boat before I started working with former Olympic triathlete, Barb Lindquist. Simply training will create results, especially when individuals are new at the sport, but this isn't long lasting. Eventually, we plateau with training, which can be mentally defeating. Tridot takes out all the guess work. It is scientific and individualized. With Tridot you will find results with training less and more effectively. You will be better able to utilize your time (get more bang for your buck!) and will know the training "hows" (how long, how often, hard hard, etc.). It is awesome to have this effective approach to training as it can help you get the results you want while balancing your time. This scientific training helps open the door to more time outside of training so you aren't sacrificing the things that really matter in life! You won't have to guess any more if what you are doing is actually going to help you reach your goals. Pretty neat! Check it out! www.tridot.com

Race Prep Update

Since I am healthy, I find I am in a new spot this season! An exciting spot! Ross and I quickly reflected after our morning swim and pointed out what a blessing it was to be getting ready for Lifetime Minneapolis (www.lifetimetri.com) and not having to figure out if I was going to be able to complete the run or not. Last year I was battling another injury and had to take the race one step at a time and determine on the spot if I was going to be okay to run. Not fun. But at this time last year, I just wanted to race so badly. It has been a learning curve with juggling training in between races that are pretty close together, but a good learning curve. :) Lifetime Minneapolis is one of my favorite races-it was where I qualified for my pro card in 2010! Anyway, I can't say enough about the course. I know I have posted about it before, but the bike course is pretty fun as it has a lot of turns to keep things interesting! The two loop run course makes it fun for spectators as they can see you multiple times. This helps me too-who doesn't like cheering?! :) The Minneapolis area really reminds Ross and I of East Grand Rapids--so a familiar feel for us. The race staff is also very supportive and excited to be putting on a race. I know athletes are well taken care of at Lifetime races! I will be posting updates as I continue my prep for the upcoming race! Thanks for checking in!

5150 St. Louis

Let me just start by saying what a blessing it has been to be healthy and able to fully train! Praise God for that! This is my first season being able to race this much at this time of the year. Anyway, Ross and I enjoyed another weekend together traveling through the country. (Ross helps so much with all the race travel--I couldn't do this without his help!) After Muskoka, which was a hilly course, we were sure that St. Louis was going to be flat. The profile on line didn't look that intimidating. Well, it fooled us! The run at St. Louis was crazy hilly! ha. Soo...the flat race plan went out the window.
The race took place at Innsbrook Resort just outside of St. Louis. The resort was woodsy and hilly with long gradual hills and long steep hills...you got it all! We saw deer, horses, turtles, and lots of little lakes on this resort. It was neat. Oh and there was a golf course in there as well! The lake we swam is was non-motorized, which was so nice. It was warm too-my kinda swim! I had fun warming up the day before the race with friend and pro triathlete, Amanda Hahn-Peters and Ross.
The morning of the race came and I didn't sleep well at all! I usually can sleep pretty decent, but not this time for some reason. I went through my pre-race warm ups and felt quite loose--sweet! I was really focused and ready to rock. (I decided to wear my xterra speed suit for the swim even though the water was quite warm. I feel it gives a bit more buoyancy in the water and I like the feel of it.)

I had a great start to the swim and could see the leader for the first half of the swim. I settled into my groove and came out of the water about 4-5th! I headed out for the bike and was pretty cautious to not over smash my legs since the was so hilly. I had to be smart and I felt I accomplished just that. I was controlled on this ride, which allowed me to be ready to run off the bike. I haven't felt this good off the bike yet so I was pretty excited. I remained focused and process driven. I started out strong and controlled and built as best as I could in the middle third of the run. There were some killer hills in there where I wondered if I would have to walk..for real. Going down a couple of them felt like my quads were going to jiggle right off! My feet were just slapping the ground like crazy-it was like I had to put the "breaks" on a bit to keep from falling. The run went on quite a bit of gravel roads, which I liked. It was better to have that soft surface especially on the downhill portions.

I passed 2 girls ahead of me on the run, which was super exciting. I really didn't know where I was at place wise. So I just stayed focused because I knew Laurel Wassner was not far behind! Once I saw 2 miles left, I tried to be risky and let myself go. I knew there were a couple more big hills toward the end so I had to be smart not to loose it on these. I hit one hill towards the end and was like, "holy cow, what do I do? I feel like I am walking...do I just move my feet faster? drive my knees harder? ahh!" haha, it was pretty steep feeling at this point! I made it-whew! I also visualized being pulled upt he hill-that actually kinda helps. The next hill was long, but more gradual so I was able to tackle this one as I recovered some on the downhill that was right before. The finish was mostly downhill with a really short steep section up the grassy part rounding the finish line. Those short steep hills are killer! I was really bent over just trying to muscle up this little thing...haha. I was bent at the hips-bad form! ;)

Anyway, I powered through and ended up 3rd. I was excited about this! I was able to stay in the zone mentally and managed to stay process driven. It was a cool feeling! I was happy to sport the Tri4Him jersey on the podium too. The race announcer pointed out to the crowd during awards that I was wearing Tri4him gear. Neat! Thank you Champion Systems for providing our gear! The race was run very well-definitely want to try and do it again!

I am now prepping for Lifetime Fitness Minneapolis on July 13th ( www.lifetimetri.com). This is a familiar race for me. Fun race venue with a great bike course. There are a lot of turns, which keeps it interesting! Now I know the run course is flat for sure. :)