Calaveras Long Course Duathlon, VICTORY!

First place medal for my Age Group

 The day started out doomy and gloomy but ended up bright and cheery. Of course winning your age group and placing 5th over all in a race will do that!
     With the weather all week being rainy and chilly I was more then discouraged when the weekend forecast was still calling for rain and wind. But not being deterred I went through all my mid-week training and preparation as normal. I took Friday off from work to get an extra long weekend including having Monday off for Presidents day. Friday I packed up my gear, loaded the truck with the family, including MeMee and headed South to San Antonio for a relaxing night in a hotel with 5 people (note sarcasm). Actually it wasn't bad if you throw out my brief freak out when Lilly wouldn't stop running back and forth in the room. So after having dinner at Cracker Barrel which included, chicken tenders, a blue berry pancake, a regular pancake, french fries, biscuits with gravy, biscuits with honey, a hard boiled egg and lots with water. We headed back to the hotel to catch the end of Gold Rush and call it a night.
     We agreed that we needed to be at the race site between 6 and 6:30 for a 7:30 race start. It's pretty common for the kids to get up bright eyed and bushy tailed on race day as I think they are just as excited as I am, this race day was no different. We were promptly out the door headed to Starbucks for a morning jolt for the ladies.
     While driving to the race site it didn't look promising. There was lightning off in the distances and it was still raining. At this point I wasn't sure the race would happen. They aren't going to let 100+ people off on to the bike course with standing puddles and slippery roads. At the race site I went about my business of checking in, getting my bike inspected, body markings and setting up my transition. As dark gave way to light the rain stopped falling and the wind stopped, my first signs of hope. In preparation of a timely race start I take my pre-race drink mixture of Genesis PURE E2 Performance drink and two Moomiyo Edge capsules. Both of these supplements help with providing energy and oxygen to the body while exercising. At 7:15 we had our racers meeting and were told the storm had passed and there was no need to delay the race. However, we were also told to use caution of the bike course, point taken. This Duathlon was a 5K run, a 21 mile bike and finishes with another 5K run.

Cheering crew

     And we're off. Now I suck at running and Carrie makes fun of my running posture. My mother says "you have a unique style, we can pick you right out in a crowd". Within 50 yards there is my family cheering for me and holding signs. As the faster runners take off I know better then try to keep up. As my GPS watch beeps and vibrates to alert me I've just run a mile I resist temptation to look at it and just go by how I feel. I felt pretty good, it was a pace I could continue for another 2.1 miles. As I head for the finishing chute the timers clocks showed 24:26, that's a pretty decent run for me. I make a fast transition to the bike and head out on to the course. I had one goal in mind 'over the next 21 miles I'm going to go as fast as I can and pass all those fast runner'. The bike course is two loops of 10.5 miles a piece. I was hammering on the bike, head down and legs are pumping. I was passing people like they were standing still. I was having a great ride....then it started to rain, heavy rain. The kind of rain that stings when it hits. I just decided to keep my head down and keeping going. At one point on my second loop I realized I was passing people doing the short course and they were on their 10.5 mile loop. I was lapping them. Carrie said when I came through after my first lap "you were hauling ass!" The roads were so rough with the chip seal pavement it actually rattled loose one of my CO2 cartridges and it fell off. After 59 minutes of all out sprint, I entered transition for the second 5K.  I'll help you with some math, 21 miles in 59 minutes is an average of 21 MPH. After a shoe change and a quick Honey Stinger Gel I was out for the last 5K. The first mile off the bike is always interesting, my legs felt tired but strong. I just went with it, again not looking at my watch. I could see down the road a few other runners, but not a lot of them. The run course is two loops of 1.5 miles, so you see your competition as you run the loops. After my first loop I passed Carrie, mom and the kids and saw a runner coming towards me. I shouted to Carrie and pointed to the runner "that's the winner, isn't it?" She confirmed, I just kept running. As I rounded the corner and headed towards the finishing chute the clock showed 1:51:xx, for the first time I looked at my watch to see my running time. It was almost identical to the first 5K, I was only slower by a few seconds. Another good run for me!

Award ceremony

     As I watched the electronic results board my name was at the top of my age group. Obviously something was wrong. I went over to tell Carrie that something must be wrong with the results as I was in first place. She told me "you had a great bike and there weren't a lot of people in front of you" I went back over to the board. Again there was my name. I did this several times. Then I heard the race directory telling his staff the winners of my age group, he said my name first. I couldn't believe it! I won my age group and was 5th overall. 5th overall! I beat a lot of younger people I was stoked! At the awards ceremony they called my name and I got a pretty cool medal. As my friend said "that smiles tells it all" Yes it does Cornelia.
     On the way home I told mom and Carrie it was the first time I've come in first place since my first flag football team I played on when I was 7. The drought is over!
     Of course I do all the training and the races but my victories are never a solo effort. I say this at the end of all my blog posts but without the support and encouragement from my family and friends I could never achieve my goals. I have to give a HUGE thank you to my mom who came from Florida to take care of me and the kids for 10 days while Carrie took care of some family matters. Without her help and love I could not have continued to train for my IRONMAN dream in May. THANK YOU MOM, I LOVE YOU! I also need to thank, The Smiths, The Souzas, The Shaddix and The Kramers who watched Lilly and Reid over the weekend before mom arrived. You guys rock!!! Thank you!!
     Other folks who make it happen for me are Genesis PURE and their awesome superfruits and sports line. Fluid for whom I would never think of getting on my bike without their Performance drink and then using their Recovery drink afterwards. Honey Stinger is my favorite gel and energy bars during a race. Thank you all for making such great products!! I look forward to representing you more over this season.
     If you like to see all the pictures from the race click here

Off to a great start

 Ironman Texas training is in full swing! May 19th in The Woodlands of Houston Texas I make my Ironman debut. Since December 1st I've been gradually increasing my training time and distance for swim, bike and run. At this point I've been pre-loading my training with 4 days in the pool a week. Doing mostly indoor training rides in my garage watching NetFlix on my computer and doing some pretty easy outdoor running. I've been doing double workouts at least 3 days a week. Usually swimming and running on the same day. After building a good base for swimming I'll back off on the number of days in the pool and increase my time on the bike and running. Last week I logged 710 minutes (that's almost 12 hours) over the course of 90 miles for the week. From here the training only getting longer and more intense. So far keeping a balance of home, work and training has been going pretty smooth. Of course it helps I get up most mornings between 4:30-4:45 to begin my workouts.

     My next race is a Duathlon in San Antonio. It's called Calaveras Duathlon. I did the race last year. It is a 5K run, 20 mile bike and finishes with another 5K run. It's going to be fun to see how this year compares to last year. Last year my times were: 24:11, 1:04, 26:57. I'm hoping to do at least the same on the runs and take at least 4 minutes off the bike time.

     April Fool's! It's down to Galveston Texas for the Ironman Lonestar 70.3 race. I'll be using this race as a training marker. It'll be a good practice day to work on swimming in a pack, transition from swim to bike and bike to run. It'll be good to work on my bike pacing to understand how hard I can go out on the bike and still have a good run afterwards. After racing in Austin last October in another 70.3 race even though I was sick for the race I learned some important lessons for future races. I have a better understanding of hydration and nutrition for such a long race. Here is the race description: "The day starts off with a 1.2-mile saltwater swim in the protected Offats Bayou followed by a 56-mile scenic one and a half loop bike course along the Gulf Coast of Texas. The 13.1-mile run takes athletes through Moody Gardens, along Offats Bayou and Palm Beach, before finishing near the Discovery Pyramid." Sounds like a great course. I'm really looking forward to the ride along the course. 

     Last weekend I participated in the annual Speedo One Hour Postal Swim. The challenge is to swim in a pool for one hour to see how far you can go. During the last month in my Master's swim practices we have been increasing our constant swim times to prepare for swimming non-stop for an hour. We gradually increased from 15 minutes to 35 minutes. I mostly think was more for mental preparation as to how to stare at the bottom of the pool for so long. We used the buddy system, one person swims for an hour while the other records the split time for each 50 yards and the cumulative time. My partner went first, I wish I had gone first. Sitting there watching him swim non-stop makes you start to wonder "holy crap, swimming for one hour is going to be hard, I hope I can do that". My partner did 3650 yards. Then it was my turn...about half way through me swim I thought I caught a glimpse of Reid on the pool deck, I dismissed it.  Then a few minutes later I thought I saw Carrie. Now mind you I couldn't just stop and look around. So every couple of breathes I would take another look. Yup! There they were. It inspired me to swim faster and my time sheet proves it, my time per 50 dropped by 4 seconds. I was so happy they were there. I was the only person who's family came down on an early morning to watch me swim. I felt pretty special!!! My goal was to swim between 3600-4000 yards. I'm happy to report I swam 3600 yards, that is an average of 1:39 per 100 yards. That's about as fast as I could go for a solid hour. I'll look to improve on that for next year.

     Lastly, right before the end of the year I got confirmation from Honey Stinger and Fluid my sponsorship's would be renewed. I was totally thrilled! I religiously use both products daily. Before any given workout I use Honey Stinger as fuel source to get me through the workout. On long bikes I also use Honey Stinger, namely their Waffles . If you haven't had a Waffle get up right now and go get one! The Waffles are Lance Armstrong's favorite too.

     Fluid is a high quality recovery drink I use after every workout! Without question it restores my body so I can go out the next day and have another great workout. Fluid has changed my training and recovery cycles. Not sure what I would be using if it wasn't for Fluid. During some long runs and rides I crave the taste for their Berry and Tropical favors and can't wait to get home and have some. Recently they introduced a "during exercise" product called Fluid Performance. I was lucky enough to get a first shipment of the product to test it out. It is full of the "right stuff" to keep me going during the hardest of workouts. Now I never leave the house without at least one bottle of Fluid Performance.

     Well from here it's upward and onward to Ironman Texas. At this point my goal is to remain healthy enough to continue with my training.

     As always Carrie and the kids continue to love and support me! Reid keeps asking when he gets to swim-bike-run. I'm looking for a kid friend triathlon for him. I'm so happy my life style is a positive influence on my kids and they want to do what I'm doing....it's better then Reid asking me where the keg is...