Where'd that come from?

I've been slacking. Chicago was over a week ago and I still haven't updated this thing. Everything has been in whirlwind mode since we got back, meaning work is busy and people are starting to buy skis in droves, which of course is a very good thing! Speaking of which, what will you be skiing on this season? It'll be here before you know it and I know this great little online shop...

Anyway... Chicago.

While Jordan got to snooze for another 4 hours or so, us amateurs (Cyrus, his friend Dan whom we stayed with, and I) were up before the crack of down, pedaling ourselves through the empty downtown streets to the transition area beside Lake Michigan. The transition area was huge, I think they said the size of 6 football fields, so I was extra attentive to where my stuff was. If I got lost in there I might never make it out!

I was in the 46th wave, leaving me with a solid 3 hours to kill after getting my stuff in to transition. Luckily, we had some connections at the Fleet Feet tent, so I just crashed there in a state of tired numbness.

When the elite amateurs went off I wandered over and took some pictures...



A couple hours later it was my turn, and after some Ludicris, Flobots, and an easy run, I was ready to go.

The swim was a total disaster. I tried to squeeze my way into the front row of my wave, but ended up in the second row, close to the wall. People were everywhere and I felt like I had been floundering around for an eternity. Picture a water park wave pool (sans waves) on a 110 degree day...that's the population density I'm talking about.

Finally! Out in the air and a white cap a few steps ahead of me (20-24 females wore white swim caps, don't mistake me and think I was trying to take down an 80 year old). I hustled to pass her on the 1/4 mile run to transition. Then, as I ran off with my bike a few minutes later I saw her ever so calmly toweling off her legs. Classic.

Out on the bike I stayed relaxed, watched the time, and kept the cadence high. I always have a problem staying focused on the bike, but somehow not today. Every time I looked at my watch my confidence grew. Instead of seeing the sub-2:30 slowly slip out of reach, it became more and more of sure bet. About 3/4 of the way through the first loop a lady passed me. She got about 50m on me, then I did something I've never done before: reeled her back in, and passed her. In my head I pleaded with her to not let me drop her...I wanted her to come back for more so I would have a reason to push harder. And she did. And again she took off. And again, I got her back. This time for good.

The first mile of the run was mostly on grass and it felt just like XC. Just like on the bike I felt light and fresh and ready to go. A sidestitch developed about a 1/2 mile in, but unlike at Boulder Peak, I was relaxed and it disappeared on its own. I tried to push myself the last 3 miles because I knew I would be close to sub-2:20, but I couldn't do it on my own and came up just shy by 10 seconds. Obviously happy nonetheless, an Olympic distance PR by over 11 minutes, and pretty much all due to my long time nemesis: The Bike.

Everything about this race was really relaxed and I've come to realize that is the key to good races. When it comes down to it nothing else matters except what's going on in your head when it's go time.

So of course right after finishing I grabbed my camera from the Fleet Feet tent and ran to catch Jordan come in off the bike. What timing we have:



I chased him around the run course, but only got some scenery:


And the fourth leg of the triathlon? Ever determined to not live up to his nickname of Old Man Jonesy, he and I managed to stay out until a not-so-respectable 10:30. We did see Wrigley Field though:

It's been awhile...

I still haven't written about my trip to NJ and the good times with my family, friends, and jellyfish, but that's coming. Right now I'm in Chicago and 12 hours away from the Chicago Accenture Triathlon.

We flew in from Denver last night and are staying right in the city with a friend of a friend. This is the first time I've traveled to do a triathlon and this is by far bigger than any I have done, so it's pretty exciting. There was a bit of anxiety last night during the cab ride from the airport when I was told my bike hadn't arrived at where we are staying. I called UPS (it might be a bit embarrassing, but I know the UPS number by heart since I call them often with shipping dilemmas for work). They said the box was delivered at 1:18pm that afternoon and was sitting by the door. Not a good sign, since it obviously wasn't. I figured it had most certainly walked. The cab pulled up to the address and right away Cyrus realized the address he was given was off by 10. We hunted around for a bit, and sure enough my bike was sitting at the coach house 5 houses down the street. Elation.

This morning [after an amazing breakfast of blueberry pancakes] we ran over to Lake Michigan and went for one of the nicest swims. Ever. It was amazing...I can't believe how nice it is here! The water was warm (77) and clean. And best of all: to get in we jumped off of the edge of a seawall about 6 feet above the surface.

Cycling here is a different story, and there's even more stop and go than in Boston. I'm actually fine riding in the city, but compared to driving in Denver, people here are insane. I felt like I was in Lima again last night when we to get pizza. I guess it's only taken a year to go from Bostonian to Westerner. What's the rush?

PS - Happy Birthday, Dad!

Bust a Mile

Triathlons are great and all, but part of me still misses running. Somehow suffering through a 10k at the end of a triathlon doesn't really cut it. Two weeks ago after running 5:44 for one of my mile repeats I decided I would hop in the Pearl Street Mile to see what I could bust out. Aside from 20x200 on the cinders last Thursday I went into today solely on tri training, where my running workouts consist mostly of 4xmile every other week.

I drove up to Boulder with Ofer who also ran the race just for kicks. Pearl Street was hopping, and after the kids, family & friends, and masters' waves went off I took to the line with the Elite Women. My starts are still sticking with me from my 800m days, and when the siren went off I bolted without a thought and found myself leading (!) the first 100m. I settled in around 250m and tried to maintain my spot in 4th place. Top 5 were awarded prize money. Went through the 1/2 somewhere around 2:37 and then started the gradual hill up to the finish. I dropped back into 7th or so, my legs wondering what was going on. I crossed in 5:32 and my lungs KILLED. For the next 15 minutes I thought I had done permanent damage. Imagine the feeling after racing indoors, but then amplify it by a magnitude of about 100. All in all not too shabby for a mile on a whim.

Boulder Peak

So yesterday didn't go as I had hoped, or had even expected, but that's ok. Really!

Here's the breakdown:

Swim
My best swim ever, I got out really well and swam to the first buoy like the race finished there. Only a few strokes in I realized there was only one other girl around me and another that was coming in from the right. It was a weird, unexpected feeling especially because I couldn't see the second buoy due to the rising sun and there was no pack to follow! I saw some stragglers from the wave before me and followed a trail of bobbing heads to the second buoy. I kept the pace up, swimming about 20 ft to the side of another girl in my wave. I didn't want to get on her feet because we were swimming different lines and I was more confident in the one I had chosen. The swim seemed never ending and I was really knackered from about 3/4 on. Finally the hands started hit sand, I stood up and looked down: 22! Hot damn, where did that come from?! I crossed the mat in 23:10, tying for second fastest time in 20-24...the fastest was 23:09. Lately I've been really trying to stick with Jordan and some of the other Riptide guys in practice and it's apparently paying off.

Bike
Got on the bike thinking that this is going to be an amazing day. Suffered up the steep part of Old Stage and then started passing back people on the gradual incline and second hill. Then the sweet, sweet descent. I passed more people in Left-hand canyon and felt good going out onto 36. I kept track of my time and knew that a sub-2:30 would be in the cards easily if I got in by 1:40. I gradually realized that 1:45 was more likely. I came in in 1:46.

Run
It's ok though, I'm a runner -- I can pull off a sub-44 10k no problemo! Not a half mile in I got a wicked side stitch. I squeezed the hell out of it and slowed to a shuffle. My first mile was over 8 minutes. There was no other choice: I sat down and stretched it out. Got up, and voila! Gone! Now I could get to work. Not so fast. The rest of the run was a sufferfest with a few "No no I can turn this around!" thrown in for good measure. I finished the 10k in 46 something. Ugghh

There wasn't much time to lament my disappointing race, as shortly after finishing I made my way to the bike-in to wait for Jordan. As he came tearing in off the bike in 11th place all thoughts of my race vanished and I ran to cheer for him on the 3-loop run course. He had his best tri of his life and finished in 8th place in a really competitive field.

On a day when I wasn't able to race as well as I would've liked, nothing was better than seeing Jordan succeed. He's had his fair share of disappointing races (see: Boulder Peak last year) and mechanical issues, but none of that mattered yesterday. That's the cool thing about racing, sometimes you are up and sometimes you are down, but you can't let either affect you much in any direction and Jordan does a better job at that than anyone else I know. Yea, it's a bummer to finish 10 minutes behind where you would've liked to, or to get a flat, but those days happen. When they do, you have to fix what you can, stay confident in your training, and eventually, maybe not the next race, or the race after that, or even the race after that, you'll pull it all together and none of the disappointing races will matter.

I'll chalk this race up under the big umbrella that is "learning experiences". Among the lessons learned today is that you can't fake focus nor nutrition for a race this long. Obviously my cycling can stand improvement, but my biggest problem in races is forgetting it's a race and letting my mind wander. On the nutritional front, a sidestitch really shouldn't happen. I wasn't smart about what I ate the day before the race and I didn't really watch what was going in me during the race (too much G-rade at the end of the bike). Don't eat Harribo Raspberries for lunch the day before a race, no matter how delicious they are.

der Besuch von Theresa

My roommate from my senior year at BU and one of my best friends, Theresa, has been traveling around the Western US since graduating in May. I was really pumped that she was able to spend some time in Denver before she returns home to Crailsheim, Germany for good on July 17th. It was a busy week, lots of hiking and driving, and one of the biggest weeks of training I've ever had. Fortunately Theresa is far from the sedentary type (she's run a 4:30 1500m), so it all worked out fine. We got in several bike rides together and I think now Theresa is hooked =)

Our first stop was to The Incline in Manitou Springs. I'd read an article in the Post about it a month or two ago and was lured by the tales of Apolo Ohno. What the article failed to mention is that The Incline is actually on private property and is technically illegal to climb. It passes through 3 separate properties. The lady at the visitor's center hesitated to give us directions there (although it's not exactly hard to figure out..you can see it from anywhere in town). So many people do it though that you won't get arrested for trespassing, but if you get hurt it's all on you.

The 1.5 mile former cog-railway took us a blazing 50 minutes to climb. People can do it in under 20. I can't see myself ever attempting it again, and if I do it will be at the same pedestrian pace.




Friday we were ready for hike #2, and headed out early to Mt. Yale. I had been up toward Mt. Yale before (once on a run from the Denny Creek TH to Mollie's camp in Buena Vista, and a second time trying to summit but turning back pretty early b/c of an ominous sky and tuckered legs..it was the day after my only tri last year), but had no idea that the climb got so steep toward the top. Steepness is fine going up, but coming down it is entirely unpleasant. Gulliver impressed the other hikers though, and aside from a few marmot-chasing incidents, stayed right with us off-leash. We were within 20m of the summit when Gull started crying -- he couldn't get past some big rocks and was stranded (the top of Yale is all big rocks). We turned back and I started our painful decent. Despite an evening shake-out run, the next day my legs felt the same as they had after Boston. I could barely walk down the stairs. Not good.





Sore legs go away though, and it was worth it without question =)

Can't wait to head to Crailsheim next summer for their annual triathlon!

"I'm talking about a little place called Asssspen"

Jordan and I motored up to Aspen on Thursday afternoon for a weekend of training, dining, and even a bit of relaxation. We met up with our friends Taylor and Martha who had driven from Park City and their friend, Doug, who had arrived at 8000 feet straight from Florida. We all stayed in a condo right on the mountain in Snowmass -- very sweet.

After 4 pretty mellow days of training I was ready to put the hammer down again and I got to work this weekend. Friday we rode up to Maroon Bells and I worked hard to stick with Jordan and Taylor for as much of the climb as possible. They chatted leisurely as I worked like mad until the gradual climb turned steep and in a matter of seconds they were 200m ahead.

Maroon Bells is beautiful, but just as cool is the Marmot X-ing sign:

Saturday Martha, Taylor, Doug, and I rode up along the Frying Pan River. I worked it hard again, riding paceline with Taylor and Doug for a while before hitting the hurt at the start of the steeper climb up to the res. Again, more amazing views.



Jordan and I were able to get a swim in at the Aspen Rec Center on Saturday night. I thought swimming up at that altitude would be torture, but it actually felt fine. Lowered my 200 yd PB to 2:37 -- can't complain about that..I don't think I broke 3:00 until February or so.

Cactus Corner: Conquered.

After countless attempts on the mountain bike to round a tight, uphill, cactus-flanked corner on BCLP over the last few months, I finally did it yesterday! Jordan and I headed out for a laid-back ride in the evening and he was able to show me how it's done. Every time I am in BCLP I am amazed by all of the open space and the creek running through it -- it's something I would have conjured up as a kid as absolute paradise. It's awesome to be able to appreciate it on a near daily basis as a 23-year-old kid.

Massive festivities were planned of the evening, as I very much anticipated Germany taking the Euro Cup title, but such fate was not in the cards. That didn't stop me from cooking up some spaetzle and rouladen and Jordan and I from dining like koenige.