FLORIDA 70.3 RACE REPORT

I had a good taper and really expected to have a good race. I didn't have the race I wanted but had some positives to take away with me. We got to the race site around 12:30 on Saturday so we could register, rack the bikes then check in to the hotel and relax. We stayed at the Contemporary Resort right across the lake which was nice. No issues with registration, went quickly. Glad we arrived early in the day because the bike racks were first come, first serve and a lot of bikes were already racked. I got an ok spot but the transition area seemed huge. We ate dinner at the hotel and I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible heartburn and didn't sleep well the remainder of the night. We walked to the race from our hotel which took about 30 minutes so that was a nice time to get the legs moving and get the motivational juices flowing. I was in wave #11 out of about 15 so way in the back of the pack. I put on my new Blueseventy Pointzero3 skin suit and toed the line with the other girls; we had the women 40-44 and 18-24 in our wave. I had an awesome start. Got out really quickly and felt good about that. I saw the girls on my left coming by and tried to stick to their feet but went too anaerobic doing this so I had to let them go - that was the demise of my race!! They got away from me and were too fast to catch up to later. I kept thinking how long the swim seemed but it went ok overall (everyone swam slower this year, ?long course). Since our wave was later, we had a ton of slower people to navigate through but I stayed pretty aggressive. I hit the beach and was shocked how slow my time was and immediately went into damage control. Got through transition pretty well and got on the bike and started hammering. It was quite windy, blowing about 10-20mph all morning. I have been doing plenty of speed work bike sessions in the wind at Fort Desoto and was glad for that. I rode really aggressively because I was so ticked about my horrible swim. The bike was pretty uneventful overall. A lot of slower riders to pass and some serious drafting trains coming around me from the men 30-39 AG's! I didn't see a race marshall all day but tried not to get concerned with other poeple not racing legally. I probably didn't drink enough on the bike but didn't have any real problems. I got into T2 and completely lost my rack! Eeeeek. I did find it right behind me eventually and got going on the run. I made sure to hit my watch out of T2 just to see how I was running the first few miles. I ran 6:47 for the first mile and felt pretty good, didn't feel too fast but I knew I would slow down. I quit looking at mile splits around mile 4 when I was averaging 7:05-7:10 pace. I had some good periods and some bad periods in the run but it went by relatively quickly. I knew the girl who ended up winning my AG was way out in front but I wasn't really aware of anyone else, just concentrated on my personal race. I ended up 4th which I wasn't happy about but I lost the race in the swim. The positive I took from the race was my bike, which was a little faster than last year under much tougher conditions (wind) and my run was a bit faster off the faster bike. I'm not going to lose sleep over a slow swim but will do underwater video session the end of June and try and improve my technique. I am really sore today and am glad I have only a four day work week before Memorial Day weekend! I'm going to take the next four weeks and get back into the gym a lot and try and ride a lot before we get into ironman training for IM Florida. I talked quite a few people about the race and most did around what they thought, not all. The Dane did pretty well, 10th in the AG and got a slot to Clearwater 70.3 World Championships (I declined my slot since IM Florida is a week prior). We had fun hanging out afterwards and trading war stories. Now, time for a little R&R!!

TAPER

We are well into tapering for Florida 70.3 this Sunday (be sure to tune in to ironman.com to follow along). I have a love-hate relationship with the taper. On the one hand, I'm happy to cut back on the training and not be tired constantly and worry about fitting workouts into my busy day. But, on the other hand I LOVE to train and I love to push myself in workouts. I will take the compromise of pushing myself in the race and be rested enough to do that. I will have my work cut out for me on Sunday but I plan to just focus on my race and not worry about those around me. I've had some really solid training with MarkAllenOnline and am confident in my fitness. In fact, I emailed Mark with some taper questions and he gave good answers to help me feel confident in what I'm doing. Imagine, the Grip himself answering all my neurotic questions! This program rocks! Hopefully, it will be hot but we're supposed to get a "cold" front today/tomorrow so who knows. Can't control the weather so I won't worry about it. Good luck to everyone who will be battling out there on Sunday. I got some nice Belgian beer from my surprise party to celebrate with afterwards (thanks May-Li)! Race strong everyone.....

FRIENDS...

It's late but I just wanted to say how completely grateful I am to have such wonderful friends. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world right now because the people I hold close to my heart were kind enough to show up and surprise me with a birthday party. I don't know what I did in life to deserve such wonderful people in my life but I do appreciate the fact they were there. Thanks to everyone and I was truly surprised!! Forty, here I come....................

HURRICANE MAN SWIM REPORT

Well, we hoped for better water conditions for this 2.4 mile open water swim, and we got them, sort of. The water was much less rough than last year, a little chop for the first mile then smooth. Unfortunately, the current was decent and going against us, especially the second half. I got out pretty good and got to the Don Cesar in about 26 minutes and thought I was going to PR here for sure. Well, I'm glad I never looked at my watch again because it would have killed my attitude as I ended up coming out of the water a little over a minute slower than last year. The good news is, so did everyone else I spoke with but most by more than a minute, more like 4-5 minutes. The good things I can take out of this swim are I kept pretty focused on my technique pretty much the whole way, didn't space out to much and stand up wondering how much further like last year. I got the household trophy back as I passed the Dane (who started 2 minutes ahead of me in men's wave) shortly after the halfway point. He jumped on my feet for a bit and I had visions of us coming out of the water together sprinting to the line in attempt to beat the other! Didn't happen, I put a little surge in after I passed him and he couldn't hang on to my feet. I navigated very well, swam pretty straight, to the point where I almost forgot I had to pop my head up every now and then to check where I was! I finished fourth again in my AG but don't really care about that. The Dane and I then embarked on our long ride which wasn't as long as it was scheduled because I got truly sick of doing loops inside Fort Desoto with a million vehicles whizzing by too close for comfort. We rode about 48 miles though, all aerobic, in the heat - good prep for Florida 70.3! After the ride we trotted out for 30 minute brick which was not much fun. It was a little after 1pm by this time, the sun high in the sky and baking us already. We ran pretty fast because I chose to ignore my "heart machine" (as Linda M. calls it!) and get it over with. Can I just say, it was pretty hot. Again, good prep for Florida 70.3 in two weeks. The good part comes next, celebrating Cinco de Mayo with a few Coronas looking at the beautiful Gulf with my favorite person. I love weekends here! Taper time is here......finally!

ST ANTHONY'S RACE REPORT

I haven't done this race in 6-7 years as far as I can recall but since I qualified for the elite amatuer division this year, I thought I would give it a shot. I knew there were going to be some blazing fast women in this group but didn't want that to detract from my goal of racing my own race. This was, afterall, a training race in my build up for Florida 70.3 in 3 weeks so didn't have any delusions of a high placing or anything. I wanted to get a good idea where my fitness was right now and compete as well as I could. Did a couple days pretty easy last week to allow my wrecked body chance to rest a bit for this race since I felt so bad at the last race two weeks ago. We spent a bit of time in Outspokin booth at the expo on Sat and this tired the legs out a bit but we wanted to help out since they sponsor us. Since I was in an early wave, we wanted to get down there pretty early to get set up and walk over to swim start. I ended up jogging to the swim start because I miscalculated how long it would take to walk over there! No worries. Wet suit on, lubed up, couple minutes in the water to situate the wet suit better and we were off. The weather was absolutely perfect for a race, we were really lucky with that! There were about 40 women in the wave so the start was super clean, no clobberfest like normal! I concentrated on my stroke mechanics and really never breathed hard during the swim, felt really good. I sighted well, swam straight but never got on any feet to draft so was pretty much on my own which would prove to be the theme of the day! I thought I could swim around 22 minutes if I was having a good day. If I hadn't had so much trouble getting up the steps, I would have broken 22! Very happy with the swim. Unfortunately, half the girls in my wave were already on the bike course. I basically did most of the bike all by my lonesome, worried about being on the right course at some points! This was nice but I would have liked to have a few people to pace off of! Oh well. Legs felt pretty tired on the bike but I really wanted to get under 1:10 and managed to accomplish that on my solo time trial (I was happy I did my speed bike workouts all by my lonesome at Fort Desoto)! When I got off the bike, my quads were cooked! I went into auto pilot for the first part of the run, even though I wanted to try and run with Cosgrove who was in front of me. I managed to keep the pace under 7:00/mile which wasn't fast but ok for how I felt. I finished in 2:16 for 15th in the elite category (placing went higher due to a couple DQ's). I am happy because this is a huge PR for me and I kept competing and pushing even though I had nobody to really key off of which can be difficult mentally. Today I feel really sore so I know I raced hard. I don't have the best swim, bike or run but I feel I'm getting to be pretty even in all three which is what I have been working on. I have a relatively hard training week this week then will start into 2-week taper for the half ironman on 5/20. We are planning to do a 2.4 mile open water swim race on Sat which should be fun, if that's possible! Congrats to everyone who raced on Sunday, it was a great day!

FEELING GOOD AGAIN

Well, I've gotten over the disappointing race at Fort Desoto and have had some good workouts since then. Most notably, during the past weekend. Rode in the hills Saturday for a little over 80 miles at a steady clip with a small group and felt pretty strong. I rode conservatively (because of St Anthony's triathlon 4/29) but felt strong on the climbs, flats and in the wind. I did a 30 minute brick solo afterwards and felt pretty strong there too, about 4.2 miles covered. I broke a cardinal rule of training with the MarkAllenOnline program and forgot my HR monitor but it was nice just to listen to my body and instead of constantly staring at my heart rate! On Sunday, I ran 1:50 aerobic run and felt quite good. I was able to hold much faster average pace with same aerobic heart rate as compared to previous runs this Spring. Things are looking up! Like I said, we have St Anthony's tri this coming Sunday which is a huge race. It is not my goal race so not much taper for this but I feel good about my fitness right now in build up for the half ironman in May. I have chosen to race in the new elite amateur division which is quite stacked so my goal is to stay within myself and race my own race and see what happens. The Dane is back from Denmark and all is right with the world on this, our six-month anniversary! It's sushi night! Yum..

I just want to say how disturbed I am for the families that have lost loved ones at Virginia Tech. I don't know any of them personally but feel terrible just the same. I have watched the video of the young man that committed these terrible murders and am saddened for all of them. Seems to me something could have been done as there were numerous warning signs. None the less, we deal with tragedy and, hopefully, move on. I am lucky to go on with 'life as usual' and do my work and my training and complain about races. I am lucky. Thank and hug the ones you love as much as possible because you can, while they're here. I do think of this often and try to do it as much as possible but get 'caught up', as we all do. So, to my friends and family, never forget I love you and think of you often. Peace...

N JOUR SANS

For those of you who don't speak French, like myself, I'll translate.........."A DAY WITHOUT". That describes my race today. I would end my blog there but then you all would hang at the ends of your collective seats and I don't want that. Yah, right! Kidding, of course.
I had a little, well, mishap, stupid kind of injury that occurred on my Wednesday run that affected the rest of my week and my mental psyche for this race. No excuses and I won't discuss this further unless it becomes an issue in my training for my actual goal race, IM FLORIDA 70.3. None the less, I decided to race in the elite wave for this race because, time-wise, I was third overall last year and won my AG by quite a bit last year and feel I'm in better shape at this time. However, I'm doing a different program this year with max-weight sessions and hard speed sessions currently. I am probably more fatigued than I like to admit to, being someone who enjoys training until I drop. Unfortunately, I will be 40 in a month and it's possible that my body is not hip to this to the same degree any longer......that doesn't stop me from trying! Anyway, I wasn't sure that I was going to race until I got in a good warm up run this morning and felt things weren't 100% but good enough for a C race. I had a decent swim (.5 miles), 3rd overall, which is quite an achievement for a former non-swimmer such as myself! I'll suffice to say it went all downhill from there. I felt absolutely horrible on the bike (10miles), worst ever, I can honestly say. Got passed by girls that shouldn't be anywhere near me and dealt with it, thinking all along, I'll see you on the run. Not happening..... I got off the bike and it didn't get any better, only worse. The run, for me, was more of the same.......LACTATE NIRVANA. The run is usually my strength but today was just a prolongation of agony. I had no race gears, no pep, no body. It was like my mind wasn't connected to my body. Asking for more power but the body said no with authority. So, I took what the day and body gave and was extremely happy that this was my C race and not my A race! I've beaten myself up enough about being beaten by those who normally don't beat me and will take this as a good workout and a good assessment of my current swim fitness, which I feel isn't too bad. Got to take positive out of every situation......even though I hate losing! I will regroup, recover, reassess, retreat (not really) and really get onto the business of getting my ass in proper condition for IM FLORIDA 70.3. Don't lose hope, I haven't.....and never will!!!!!!!

APRIL ALREADY?

Hard to believe it's April already. The unofficial beginning to the tri season in our area is one week away at Escape From Fort Desoto Sprint Tri. It's a big traditional first race for most around here. I'm looking forward to it for several reasons. For one, I enjoy racing, it breaks up the training and gives me some handle on where my fitness is currently. Two, I get a little break in training which I likely need! Swam 5000 yards this morning before work which is the most I've ever swam at one time! I calculated out, it's 2.84 miles of swimming. When I looked ahead in my MAO program several weeks ago and saw I had a couple 5000 yard swims I just laughed and thought, "no way am I going to be able to do that"! Note to self, never underestimate the program! Obviously, I've built the yardage up enough to be able to tackle this volume in a single workout which is one of the great things about this program. I never would have done this type of yardage on my own but, being a runner prior to my tri career, I understand about doing overdistance training. I never really did that swimming but did running and cycling. The great thing about overdistance swimming is it doesn't take a huge toll on the body as do running and, somewhat, cycling. And, it doesn't take a ton of time as the others. I finished the workout in less than 90 minutes, got ready for work in 20 minutes and out the door! Thank goodness the Dane makes lunch for me everyday! I'm so lucky! I'm on track for a 16,000 yard swim week, which is a lot for me. I need to improve my times out of the water to better compete with the girls that are at the pointy end of the age group! I think my cycling is improving and my run training is going well. All of this leaves me excited for the upcoming races. Unfortunately, we are getting a cold front this weekend so not going to ride in the hills Saturday because it's going to be too cold. Oh well, it's a swim-focus week anyway. I think the long swim for Ironman build with MAO is 6000 yards (which I never did in prep for IM Hawaii, mistake) and now I feel like I can definitely do that volume as long as I can find the time! Wish the days were about 26 hours long! LIVE FULL, DIE EMPTY! (my new favorite saying)

TOUGH WEEK

I looked ahead in my MAO program last week and saw that this week was going to be tough. Not only was I coming off a race but beginning speed work and power work in the weight room. We decided to try to do bike speedwork in Fort Desoto (instead of the trainer), site of many races and beautiful park to just spend time in. Did that onTuesday which was windy, almost as much as the race on Sat! Got going around 6:15 pm and rode hard speedwork for about an hour total then went for sushi after which was a nice treat. Did run speedwork on Weds PM which, for some reason, I found quite tough. I pushed myself probably too hard, which, normally, is not an issue. Went to the gym afterwards for weights and had a stiff/sore neck. Didn't really think too much of it since Advil relieved it. Actually, comparing to last summer when I did the same speed session gearing for IM Hawaii, I was running faster this time but suffered to do it! Got up on Thursday 4:30 for 1:15 run in the quiet of the early morning and felt not too terrible, just slow to keep the HR down. I started to notice my body not feeling right, neck sore and some blemishes on my face and knew I was getting some recurrence of the shingles I had the same time last year. I don't know why but I must be pushing things a bit and work has been a bit of stress, but I never use that as an excuse. So, we decided not to go to the hills Sat and rode here instead. Luckily, it was quite breezy for our ride so it was a good 3.5 hr effort with nice brick afterwards. Our long run today, 2 hours, felt quite special but we actually knocked it out better than the last one we did. This week proved to be quite tough and one that, if we recover well, will definitely elevate our fitness. I remarked to the Dane as we embarked on our 2 hour, 14.6 mile aerobic run this morning that, I never used to train this much for an Ironman, much less a half Ironman (before last summer and the MAO progam)! So, things are rolling along. My health is a bit on the razor's edge but that's training as working age-grouper. I'm feeling a bit better and expect to be quite well for the upcoming week. My Jayhawks are out, but the Gators are still in so Final Four is one to watch again this year. Go Gators!

FIRST TRI OF '07

Well, the first tri of the '07 season was interesting to say the least. I signed up elite because there was prize money and you never know who will/won't show up to contest it. I also wanted to get a chance to race out front in this new race (international distance tri at Ft Desoto) and, since I made the qualifying time to do this, why not? Anyhow, the weather was the story of the day. We had a front come through on Friday which made Saturday morning quite windy (20-25mph) which is always worse at the Fort. It was also quite chilly, around 62* at home. The good thing was that the water temp was near 70*! The race directors were trying to decide whether to cancel the swim and make everyone do a duathlon which is not what I wanted to do and I sure whined about it! The problem was the water was quite rough with serious current. The powers that be decided to cut it to 1/2 mile (from .9 mile) and just walked us up the beach so we could swim back with the current which I was happy with. So, we finally got going in the "swim". There wasn't much actual swimming for me as I was just getting clobbered by waves then trying to dolphin-dive back out into deep enough water to try and swim some more; this was killing my legs! Got out of the water, happily, with numb feet to take on the wind on the bike. I was happy that the Dane suggested using my Zipp 303 on the front because I was able to spend more time in the aerobars being able to control the bike in the cross winds. Out of the water behind 3 other girls, I had a sluggish start on the bike for some reason but rode the second loop much stronger, into T2 in second. I charged out of T2 with still numb feet in attempt to catch the next competitor. I was able to catch her just after the first mile split and didn't look back. I was able to catch up to the Dane on the second loop ( he passed me on the bike with an awesome ride) and we ran together for a bit. I tried to press on not wanting to be caught by anyone and was elated to cross the finish line as the first woman. The Dane was very gracious not to try and outsprint me at the end which was wonderful of him! We did hear from someone who GPS'd the run that it was closer to 7 miles than the scheduled 6.2 which explains the slow run splits. I was really happy to win this race and feel my fitness is in a good place with a lot of room for improvement still having not begun speedwork yet. I didn't get to see where my swim was too much because of the conditions but it was good enough. We start speed work this week in the build up towards Florida 70.3 and hopefully this will give a further boost to the run and bike fitness. I feel stronger than I did at this time last year and have the MarkAllenOnline program to thank, it's paying off already! We were able to celebrate a bit with friends for St Paddy's Day and slept in today which rarely happens! Thanks to everyone who gave me words of encouragement it all helps! Next race is Escape from Fort Desoto on 4/15 which is the traditional "beginning" of the tri season and one of the funnest races of the year. Hope everyone had a fun St Paddy's day, we sure did.

BACK TO THE FORT

Seems like the weeks are just flying by. Pushing the clock ahead one hour doesn't help this perception! Anyway, last weekend we did a ride to Fort Destructo (also know more commonly as Fort Desoto). We enjoy this ride because we can get in some true solo TT (Time Trial) work in the Fort without fearing being run over or stopping for lights! The TT loop is about 10 miles, flat and always windy. Not much "true" TT work due to my HR restrictions as I am abiding to my Mark Allen Online HR zones, but still some good work into the wind. When I finished the TT loop, I stated to the Dane and Marky Mark that that was the most enjoyable loop I've ever done there! I can say that only because I'm usually only racing (and in pain) there and it isn't pleasant. We have done other training there as well but I haven't been back since seriously following the HR ceilings in my program. I will say that I felt a bit stronger and didn't mind the wind as much and, consequently, had a much more positive experience as a result. I would call that progress, mentally if nothing else. We'll see this weekend as we have a race at the Fort on St Paddy's day. It's an "almost" Olympic distance race (the bike is 23 miles, not the standard 25). I am looking forward to racing in my new 2XU wetsuit which I just got; did an short open water swim on Monday with it and loved it. So far, so good. Water's cold but not too bad, 67* now. We do have a front coming through the next couple days so the weather could be interesting. It'll be windy, always is. The water may be rough but it's rough for everyone. I'm looking forward to racing and leaving my HR monitor at home! Happy St Paddy's Day.....and GO JAYHAWKS & SEMO (in womens NCAA Tourney (and Gators)!

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE.....blah, blah, blah

Last weekend (I'm getting lazy with this blog thing), we went back to the hills for 3 hour scheduled ride. It was finally not too cold so decided no time is too early to start riding out in the sticks, plus we are getting sick of our local sites, or lack thereof. Anyhow, haven't been to the hills since probably September of last year so this was going to be difficult, for me anyway. We had a nice, small, sane group (I know, hard to believe) so that was nice. I didn't obey my MAHR because this is truly impossible for me going uphill with any speed. I also don't know my way around and it's easy to get lost so getting dropped from the others was not an option. We took a different way back to add on about an hour after about 30-something miles and it was really fun. The wind was howling and the hills were solid with some steady climbs. I was jacked because it reminded me so much of Kona, without the heat. Here, I dropped back from the main group to have, invite if you will, the wind into my face and actually enjoyed it. Riding into the wind is a skill and attitude has everyting to do with how you approach it. It can be very defeating if you let it get into your psyche and taunt you, however, it can be powerful to look at it in a different light and embrace the fact that you are getting stronger just for the wind being there. This will only really make sense (or not) to those who ride and especially to those who have ridden in Hawaii. 20-30 MPH winds here are a "nonwindy" day in Hawaii, in my experience. So, I've gotten into a new place in my psyche (scary) and plan to work on that and embrace the wind with this newfound joy. Wonder how long this will last! I truly feel my experience in Kona last October will strengthen me in many ways. I look forward to our trip to the hills this weekend, weather permitting. Like the Dane says "the wind is your friend".....unless it's in the form of a hurricane, tornado, blizzard, etc!

BRRRRRR WEEKEND

I know, it's nothing compared to you sorry souls north of where I am but for us, it was downright cold. Coldest ride of the winter on Saturday. If you dress right, it's not so bad but my poor feet always suffer no matter how much protection I give them. Anyway, did 3.5 hour ride with a 30 minute brick on Sat which was pretty good. Sunday was a 11.2 mile (1:35) run in the 20-30 mph winds, then a short swim (cut short because I was freezing) then weights. All in all, a good training weekend. Feel pretty tired but that's what's supposed to happen. The Dane was with me for all the workouts as usual and we suffered the cold together! So anyhow, more base training to come and hopefully, not much more cold temps! We'll be following the Tour of California on Versus for the next couple weeks, itching to watch some good bicycle racing again! Stay warm.....
P.S. I'm really not that heavy! All those clothes are not flattering to the figure!

CHILLY WILLY DU

Did Chilly Willy (www.chillywillydu.com)again this year and was able to squeek out another overall female victory but it wasn't easy. I figured I had a big target on my back this year and really wanted to defend my win from last year. I had a good opening run (5k) and went onto the bike (10 miles) with a lead but not very much of a lead. I lost that lead at around 6-7 mile mark (can't remember exactly when) and lost it bad! I have been riding the trainer quite a bit (see last post) and this leaves my legs quite tired which showed on the bike! I can run just fine with tired legs but pushing over big gears into the wind I don't do so well with tired legs! Anyway, the girl who passed me got a bit of a gap (probably 30+ seconds) which I had to deal with on the second run (another 5k). She is a good runner too so I really had my work cut out for me. The run route is on pavement for the first half and sand (some soft and some packed) for the second half. I'm not a very good sand runner so my plan was to run hard the first half of the second run and hold on for the second half in the sand. I managed to catch her just as we hit the sand and she held on pretty well. I went into the well pretty deep to hold the lead and won by only 6 seconds! Close battle......again! I hope this isn't how the whole season is going to go! I'm glad I was able to defend from last year. I think my fitness this early is pretty good and right about where it should be for mid-Feb so I'm happy about that. The Dane came in 5th overall (I was 12th overall for the whole field of 200++) which he did mostly on the bike because he came off the first run right behind me and rode like a madman on the bike! He did very well and I'm proud of him. Overall, a good race for both of us I think. The next race will be a new Olympic distance tri (1.5k swim/40k bike/10k run) at Fort Desoto on March 17th (one of my favorite holidays, St Pattie's). Looking forward to getting my new wetsuit (2XU) and trying it out on a few open water swims before then. Until then, will continue to slog away in the aerobic training zone! Looks like it's paying off!

WEEK OF TRAINER RIDES

Last week did all of my rides (only did 3, not 4 as scheduled) on the trainer. I used to be the person who would never ride the trainer because, for one, it's harder physically (no breaks) and also because it's tougher mentally (staring at the walls). I have become at peace with my Tacx Flow trainer and we are now quite friendly. I have to say, if not for Spinervals (I must have the entire library) I probably would never be able to write this! I'm starting to really feel recovered from last season and motivated for 2007. Sounds crazy that it took a few months but I think that's normal considering the level at which I competed at the end of the season (age is also a factor). Anyway, I get good quality rides on the trainer and I can be sure to stay under my MAHR because I control the intensity every moment. I did 2:10 on Sat due to rain outside and really didn't have a problem being on that long. I did feel it in my legs, of course, but mentally handled it well. Good signs. This weekend, we have the Chilly Willy duathlon which is fun. I have won it twice and would like to win again but it all depends on who shows up! Either way, I will compete as hard as I can and do the best I can. I found a new triathlon on St Patrick's Day at Fort Desoto, Olympic distance, which I think I will put into my schedule as a good prep for Florida 70.3 in May. Long run Sunday was 1:35 and my avg HR was good and low. The Dane got back last Friday so that was excellent to have him home! I'll report back after Chilly Willy.

NOTHING NEW

Nothing special going on this past weekend. The Dane left on Saturday for Europe for a week so on my own for this week. We had a nice ride Sat, 3 hours in the saddle. I kept it under my MAHR except for the brief spike when we almost got sideswiped by some old guy in an SUV! For those wondering, MAHR means Maximum Aerobic Heart Rate which is the basis of most of the Mark Allen Online training. I'm trying to be more compliant with it this winter. Not as hard on the bike as it is on the run! I ran 9 miles in the cool wind on Sunday which was pretty boring by myself. By mile 5, I could feel the soreness from the 1/2 marathon last weekend - not totally recovered yet! Swimming was chilly this morning. I had one good session last week where I felt things were coming around in the water but now I feel back to slogging away mode! Need to add more swims but don't have the facility or time this point. We're working on that for February. Stay warm....

JANUARY HALF MARATHON

http://www.clearwaterhalf.info/

I wanted to write this while I still had the fresh sting of pain in my legs. Let's just say any worries I had about losing my mental toughness after last weekend's 10K are gone. We (the Dane and I) always treat this half marathon as a catered long training run. We're typically not prepared, ie. no long runs, for it and just want to measure anyway. Unfortunately for us, others are quite prepared for this "race". I use the term "race" losely however, I raced until the last inch of this one. You see, I ran toe to toe, shoulder to shoulder with one of my biggest tri AG competitors Sharon B. for whom I have the utmost respect. We started the race and ended it together and pushed each other the entire way and took no prisoners the whole time. I would not have pushed as hard if it wasn't her on my shoulder but I felt the need to represent, if you will. She is one classy competitor and neither one of us wanted to "win" over the other after the 13.1 miles we covered together but,someone had to outsprint the other and I have clearly lost any footspeed I once had!! The best part is we both had a big smile at the finish and she actually apologized for winning this battle. Class act in my book. The reason I mention mental toughness is that we began the race with a solid 7 minute per mile pace which I, personally, knew I wasn't prepared to handle but was willing to stick with my racemate as long as she was willing. We held this until about mile 11 when the stiff headwind and final bridge became a cruel reality and we both were suffering and slowed. The final stretch was pretty funny because I tried to actually sprint but I am far from the days of 58 second 400meters and it showed. We took one and two in the AG so it's all good. In the end, after talking to her, we both elevated our effort above what we felt was possible on the day and we will both improve for the effort in the long run. So, thanks to Sharon B. for pushing me today. I still believe so greatly in the aerobic training that I'm doing through Markallenonline.com and will continue to swear by it. I ran almost one minute faster than last year with less actual running mileage and ALL of it being aerobic other than two 10K's. Props to all who showed up today and bettered themselves on a tough, windy day. The Dane was the proud winner of his AG.......I'm not worthy! So, will try and recover from this and move on to the next challenge, Chilly Willy Duathlon which is super hard/fun. I hope that everyone gets to challenge their own previously determined barriers, it's painful but well worth it.........

I MADE THE TEAM!!

I was so happy to find out this morning that I was accepted (or invited, if you will) to the MarkAllenOnline.com elite triathlon team for 2007. I really wanted to get on this team but didn't know if I'd make it because they have so many really fast girls in/around my AG. I really believe in the coaching system they have put together and am using it again this year. We'll see how everything goes. Yipee!

ANOTHER 10K

This one didn't feel very good. Ran in the St Pete Beach Classic 10K on Saturday hoping to see some improvement in my fitness although I haven't done anything other than aerobic work the past month or so (running-wise). I did run a little bit faster than the 10K in Dec but really had problems with side stitches again which really slows me down. I ran 41:19 but really didn't feel very good. I was 8th overall woman but only fourth in my AG, tough going! I did run a little faster at a lower average heart rate so I guess that means my engine is improving, who knows. I'm starting my Peak Performance program with Markallenonline.com this week, 18 weeks out from Florida 70.3. Decided to scrap IM Coeur d'Alene due to the Dane's heavy work commitments and will do IM Florida in Nov which we're already signed up for. We may do Buffalo Springs 70.3 in June instead which is pretty competitive and does have a few Kona slots. So, I have a schedule to follow now but am quite sore today so today's run will get moved to tomorrow. We have a 1/2 marathon this coming Sunday which I'm looking less forward to after this 10K but it's just a long-run workout.