MPI IMFL Training Camp

Last weekend me and Matt had the chance to help out with a training camp for Ironman Florida that my coaches at Multisport Performance Institute put on.  There were 10 athletes from 3 different states (one all the way from Missouri) that attended the camp, none of whom had raced the iron distance before.  The camp ran from Friday through Sunday and was held in Panama City Beach.  It was basically a primer for athletes that are preparing to do the Ironman Florida race in November either this year or next.   It was a chance for the athletes to see the course, get some tips from veterans who have done the race before, and get all of their questions answered. 

The first event planned for Friday was a run along the first part of the race course.  Unfortunately Matt had to work that day, so we weren't able to make it in time for that.  We got to Panama City Beach around 6:30, just in time to meet everyone for dinner at the Boatyard Restaurant.  During dinner, we were able to get to know the athletes, enjoy some great seafood, and go over some of the logistics of the camp. 

At 5:45 on Saturday morning, me and Matt met Coaches John and Mark down at the beach to get ready for the first open water swim session.  We carried the kayaks down to the water and put the buoys in to mark the course.  Around 6:30, Mark and John gave a lecture on open water swimming and then the athletes were able to get in the water and practice what they had learned.  While they were swimming, me and Matt were in the kayaks watching over everyone and giving people a place to rest if they wanted to.  The water was absolutely beautiful, crystal clear and we even saw some dolphins pretty close by.

 Once everyone got into dry clothes, we all caravaned about 25 miles away to the middle of the bike course.  Everyone set off for a 60 mile loop, which was the back half of the course and me and Matt were the sag wagons.  We leap frogged the riders in a van and a truck and stopped at different places so they could refuel, fill up their water bottles, or get any help they needed.  It was a good ride, only one rider got a flat that we were able to get changed quickly.  Everyone did great and seemed to really enjoy it.

By the time we were through with that, everyone was starving, so after getting quick showers, we met at Mellow Mushroom for lunch.  Now that everyone's stomachs were full, we were ready for something a little less intense.  We headed back to the condo for a lecture on the race week schedule and all of the little intricacies that go with racing an ironman.  Afterwards we did a walk through of the transition area and went over how everything goes from changing tents, to picking up T1 and T2 bags, to other details that go into racing the iron distance. It was a great opportunity to discuss some things that the athletes otherwise would probably never have thought of.

Now that our food had settled and the sun was starting to go down we were ready to get back at it for the last event of the day.  We drove over to the back side of the run course and ran the loop through St Andrews Park.  It was just a couple of miles and we kept it pretty easy, I think everyone's legs were pretty beat up from the ride earlier.  Since I hadn't ridden, I was feeling pretty good and decided to add on a couple of extra miles.  Matt patiently waited for me to get through and then we decided to pick up Subway for dinner and take it back to the condo.  We were beat and Matt wanted to catch some of the football games. 
We met at the same time on Sunday morning to set up everything for the open water swim.  Mark and John gave a brief lecture on entry/exit of the water and then the athletes got a chance to practice.  Once in the water, Mark and John discussed and demonstrated how to draft and then gave the athletes an opportunity to practice.  They finished the session with a relay race that ended in a photo finish :-).

The last session of the camp was a ride on the front half of the bike course.  We took off from the hotel, which is where the transition area is on race day, and basically rode an out and back course.  Since the course was a little simpler, we only needed one sag wagon and I got to ride.  The whole group stayed together for the first 8-10 miles before we started splitting up.  I stayed with Coach John through the first half, tucked right behind him for most of the way.  It was a good hard effort for me, though I'm sure it felt like a piece of cake to him.  The way back I took it a little easier, stayed with another guy for about a third of the way, and then just rode alone.  We did about 50 miles total.

This camp was fantastic.  I heard nothing but good remarks from the campers about how glad they were to get the experience of seeing the entire course and the opportunity to learn from Coach Mark and Coach John.  I learned so much from being a part of it and know that I would feel much more confident after having gone through it if I were planning on doing the race.  We were pretty tired by the end of it, but we had so much fun.  The athletes were all a blast to be around and had great attitudes.  Good luck to you all as you race this year and next!!   

World Championship

As many of you know, last year I qualified for the Age Group World Championship in Beijing, China and was planning on racing in it, but decided not to.  Once I found out that next year's World Championship was in Auckland, New Zealand, I decided I'd rather risk it and wait and try to qualify for it instead.  If we were going to make that big of a trip for a race, we figured we'd rather go to Auckland than Beijing.  So I raced in the Age Group National Championship, the qualifier for Worlds, in August and I found out last week that the gamble paid off.  I got a spot on Team USA to race in New Zealand next October (2012).  I accepted the spot and am just praying that all of the details and financing works out.  Thanks for all of the support and encouragement that I've received along the way.

HyVee Championship

A week and a half ago on Thursday evening, me and my mom set off for Des Moines, Iowa so that I could race in the HyVee 5150 Series Championship.  Unfortunately Matt and Dad couldn't come because of work responsibilities.  I was not really looking forward to the drive (16 hrs) especially after having driven to Vermont and back two weeks before, but splitting it up into two days at least made it a little better.  The first night went great, we made good time and got about 5 hours of driving done.  The hardest part was searching for a hotel since we were driving on back highways through Mississippi.  We were relieved to finally find a Holiday Inn Express and were able to get a good night's rest.  We didn't get up too early on Friday and when we started out our predicted arrival time in Des Moines was 7:30 and we couldn't wait to get it over with. 
The drive was going pretty smoothly until after lunch.  After we ate, we stopped to get gas and while I was pumping, I set my wallet on top of my car so I could wash the front window.  Only problem was that I forgot to pick up my wallet before we drove off and didn't realize it until we stopped to get gas again about 4 hours later.  Needless to say, I was not very happy.  I called Matt so that he could handle getting my debit and credit cards canceled, thankfully no one had used them.  The other problem was that I now had no picture ID which you need to check in for the race.  Matt came to the rescue again and emailed me a copy of my passport.  By the time the panicking, trying to get a hold of the gas station where I lost the wallet, and deciding what to do was over with we had burnt quite a bit of time and didn't end up getting to the hotel until about ten o'clock.
On Saturday morning, I did a quick ride on the trainer followed by a short run and mom went out on her own run.  Which by the way, she scared me a little because their were some shady parts around our hotel and she was gone longer than she had planned to be, but it ended up she had just gotten a little lost.  After breakfast, we headed over to the expo and packet pick-up.  I hadn't brought any warm clothes with me, didn't even think about it, but when I heard the overnight low was going to be around 50, I figured I should probably get some long sleeves or something to wear before the race.  We found some good deals at the expo and I got a long sleeve shirt and pants which I was so happy to have the next morning. 

Reading in the law library

After we got lunch, we went to the state Capitol building and took one of their tours.  It was about 1 1/2 hours long, a little longer than we were expecting, but it was really interesting.  The building was amazing, though we had to climb a ton of stairs.  Afterwards, we took my bike down to the transition area to check it in and then drove the bike course.

Race start time was 6:45 and we got over to the race site at about 5:30.  Mom dropped me off and I had about a 15 minute walk over to transition.  When I got their I heard over the loudspeaker that the unexpected happened and the water temp dropped 7 degrees over night (it had rained all day Saturday) and the swim was now wetsuit legal.  Of course, I had left mine in the hotel after they said it would take a blizzard to drop the water temp enough to allow wetsuits.  I called my mom and she was able to run back to the hotel and grab it for me, luckily our hotel was less than 2 miles away.

After standing around for awhile trying not to freeze, it was time for the race to start.  They started with the elites and then I was in the 9th wave.  The swim was in a pretty nice lake and I didn't have much trouble sighting the buoys.  I was able to get into a pretty comfortable rhythm, but wasn't too happy with my time when I got out.

Once on the bike, I was ready to make up some time.  The course had some rolling hills, but none that were too bad.  The worst part was we had a bad headwind.  It was a one loop course and wasn't too crowded which was nice.  It was the first race I used my aero bottle that my parents had gotten me a few weeks earlier, which I really liked and felt like I did a better job of drinking more.

The run was pretty flat which I was happy about because my legs were dead.  I think I was feeling some of the effects of racing two weeks earlier, they felt like they were 1,000 pounds each.  They loosened up a little, but I didn't have my best run. The course was beautiful though.  We started by running across a bridge that went over the lake that we had swam in, went along a bike path, over two other bridges that crossed the river that's downtown, and then ended with a half mile stretch directly in front of the capital building which was a cool view.  The worst part was that they put the hardest hill in the last quarter of a mile leading up to the finish line.

The race finished at the Capital building

They posted the results pretty quickly afterwards and I was excited to see that I had gotten second place in my age group with a time of 2:30:32 (30:06 swim/1:13 bike/42:29 run).  We stayed around for the awards ceremony where I was awarded with a Timex GPS watch.  This race was top notch and really a great experience, the whole city seemed excited about it, there were banners about it everywhere.  They also had some great sponsors that gave away some great stuff in the race packets as well as awards.  The overall winners got a brand new Mini Cooper and a $7,000 gift certificate.

Award Ceremony

Later that afternoon, we watched the pro women's race.  It turned out to be a phenomenal race with an exciting finish.  This race has one of the biggest prize purses, so it attracts the best of the best.  It was cool to see the men and women that you read about in the magazines.  If you can believe it, the top male and female in the pro races each earned $150,000.

Unfortunately we had to start the trek home before the men's race began, though I heard it wasn't as exciting as the women's race.  We got a couple hours done that afternoon and then got home around 5:00 the next evening.  Thankfully our trip home was uneventful.  I can't say thank you enough to my mom, she was a lifesaver in so many aspects.  I couldn't have don it without her support, encouragement, and money :-) (after I lost my wallet).  Now I've got one more race before this season wraps up and I am so glad that it is local.  It is the Santa Rosa Island triathlon on Oct. 1.  It's one of the finest races around and right in our backyard. 

Vermont Part 2: Nationals Race Report

Saturday August 20th was race day.  I was in Burlington, VT for the USATriathlon Age Group Nationals race (1.5k swim/40k bike/10k run).  This was the third year in a row I've competed in this race (the first two were held in Alabama) and I always look forward to coming back to it.  It's fun to race against some of the best age group athletes and the competition is always fierce.

Transition stayed open until 7:30 and our hotel wasn't too far away, so we were able to sleep in until 6:00.  I had checked my bike in the day before, so I didn't even have to worry about getting it packed up.  Once we got to the race site, there wasn't any parking close, so Matt dropped me off and went to hunt down a parking spot.  By the time I got all of my stuff set up in transition, Matt was back and we headed over to the swim start.

Swim- 28:57 (47/77 in age group)

I was in the second to last wave, so I had to wait around for quite a while.  The one good thing about that was I got to see the first few waves go through the entire course which helped because it was a little confusing at first glance.  I grabbed a last minute GU and when it was finally time for my wave to go, we jumped in, treaded water for about five minutes, then took off.  About halfway through, we made a turn straight into the sun and I couldn't see a thing.  I started just following the group around me because I had no idea where the next bouy was.  I ended up going a little wide and wasted some time looking for the bouy which hurt a little, though I'm sure pretty much everyone had the same problem.  The swim was in Lake Chaplain and it was beautiful, though that wasn't something I  really got to appreciate until I saw the pictures afterwards :-). 

Bike- 1:10:23 (24/77)

I had driven the bike course the day before the race and was a little nervous after seeing how hilly it was.  It was a lollipop-shaped course and the first half was tough!  We had a little bit of a headwind and a lot of climbing, but once we hit the turnaround, it was pretty nice.  We still had a few climbs, but the majority was flat or downhill.  I was passing a lot of women, but most of them were from the 30-34 age group that had gone in the wave before us.  I only noticed about 8-10 girls in my age group that I passed and with the way that the course was, it was hard for me to get an idea of whether I was in the front, middle, or back of my wave.

Run- 40:59 (13/77)

Right out of T2 there was a killer hill.  For those of you who have done grandman, it was similar to that hill, but a little longer.  Once I got over that, got my legs under me, and took in a GU I felt surprisingly good.  I wasn't sure what to expect after the tough ride.  The run course wasn't too bad, after the first hill, there was just a gradual uphill until about halfway through after which it was pretty flat.  A lot of the run was on a bike path with some parts shaded which was nice.  The lack of humidity was great too!! 

Finish 2:22:49 (25/77 in my age group 112/664 overall females)

Once I finished, I really had no idea how I had done, I felt like I had a pretty decent bike and run, but didn't feel great about the swim.  The good thing about this race is that you can get a print out of your results as soon as you are finished.  When I got mine, I was a little disappointed that I didn't finish in the top 20 in my age group (my goal going into the race), but I was glad to see that there was still a chance that I could get a spot to go to the World Championship race next October which I should hopefully find out within a week or two.

We really had a great time in Vermont.  It was a cool little town and some of the mountains and lakes were breathtaking.  As always, the race was well organized and top notch. 

Vermont Part 1: Road Trip

Last week me and Matt set out for Burlington, VT where the USATriathlon Age Group Nationals race was being held.  After 3,317 miles, 7 days, 12 states, and a few visits with good friends and relatives we are thankfully home.  We had so much fun, but by the last day were tired of driving and ready to sleep in our own beds again.

Day 1 (Wednesday)
We got kind of a late start leaving Pensacola because we had to stop at the tax collector's office on the way out of town.  We bought a new car the day before we left and had to get the registration and everything taken care of.  My old car's A/C was broken and it was on its last leg so we were happy to find something before we left for our trip.  We drove about 9 hrs to northeastern Tennessee where our friends the Osteens live.  Allison was my volleyball and basketball coach when I was in middle school.  We always have so much fun catching up with her an her husband and enjoy getting to see the kids so we were glad they were on the way.  It was nice to have a comfy bed and some delicious cookies right out of the oven.  We were spoiled.

Day 2 (Thursday)
Before we headed out, Jon and Allison made an awesome breakfast of whole wheat waffles and a ton of fresh fruit that we used to make fresh juice.  Unfortunately we couldn't hang around too long as this was our long day of driving.  It was a thirteen hour drive from their place to our hotel in Burlington.  The drive went pretty smoothly, it was just long.  We got to our hotel around 10:30 that night.

Day 3 (Friday)
I woke up Friday morning and did a quick spin on the trainer followed by a short run outside.  The weather was so much nicer than Pensacola, cooler and no humidity.  After breakfast, me and Matt drove to a lake that was about 45 minutes away from our hotel so I could get a short swim in.  The lake was beautiful, surrounded by trees and mountains. 

That afternoon, we drove over to the expo/packet pick-up to pick up my numbers, swim cap, chip, etc.  Then we went to check my bike in.  Once that was taken care of, we drove the bike course so I could get an idea of what to expect.  There were some beautiful views along the way that I made sure to enjoy because I knew I probably wouldn't even notice them during the race.  I also realized it was a pretty hilly course which made me a little nervous.

Checking my bike in

One of the views from the bike course

Day 4 (Saturday)
This was race day.  (I'll have more details about the race in my race report).  After the race was over, we went back to the hotel, got something to eat, and got cleaned up.  Then, we found a place where we could rent kayaks on Lake Champlain. That lake is huge and some of the views are breathtaking.  We paddled around for about an hour and a half before we headed over to the race award ceremony.

Day 5 (Sunday)
We checked out of our hotel on Sunday morning and headed out for Gales Ferry, CT where I lived until I was eight years old.  I hadn't been back there since 1998 so I had a blast driving around to all of the old, familiar places.  We stopped by our old house, my elementary school, the base my dad used to work at, and some of the places we used to go for fun.  Everything seemed so much smaller than I remembered.  That evening we stayed with my Aunt Janet and her husband Brian.  They made us an incredible dinner, which was a nice change from fast food.  We also got to see my cousin Robert and his wife who also happened to be passing through. 

Day 6 (Monday)
There is a reservoir right down the road from Janet and Brian's house, so me and Matt woke up around 5:30 and went for a run around it.  It was beautiful, we ran over the dam and mostly on trails as the sun was coming up.  After a quick breakfast, we headed out on what we figured would be about a five hour trip to Pennsylvania.  It ended up taking closer to eight hours due to some bad traffic. We were so happy to finally make it to my aunt and uncle's house.  We went to dinner with them and enjoyed a nice evening catching up.
They are always great hosts and made us feel like we were at home.

Day 7 (Tuesday)
The plan for today was to drive back to the Osteen's house in Tennessee, spend the night with them, and then finish the trip up on Wednesday.  However, we were making good time and when we got about an hour and a half away, we started contemplating just driving straight home.  As much as we hated not getting to visit with them again, we really liked the idea of not spending another full day in the car.  We decided to go for it and after a full day of driving, finally made it home at about one o'clock in the morning. It was late and we were exhausted, but glad to be back.

Music City Tri

I had the opportunity to travel to Nashville, TN this weekend to compete in the Music City Triathlon.  Me, my mom, and Matt drove up to Nashville on Saturday and stayed with my mom's friend Michelle.  She was an incredible hostess.  She made us a gourmet dinner of baked chicken, potatoes, grilled asparagus, and rolls, got us set up with fruit and bagels for race morning and the drive home, and even gave up her bed for us to sleep in.

The race was put on by a company called Team Magic who always do a phenomonal job.  The last time I did this race was three years ago, but it wasn't a very good experience.  There was a tropical storm on the way and on race morning it was really windy.  They ended up canceling the swim and the bike ride was awful, there was a bad crosswind and it was rainy.  This weekend, however, was much different.  On race morning, we woke up to skies that were a little overcast, but didn't look like they would turn into rain.  We drove downtown (transition was in one of the parking lots of the Tennessee Titans' staduim) and got everything ready to go.  I was racing the Olympic distance race (1500m swim/40k bike/10k run) and my mom was racing in the sprint distance (400 yd swim/20k bike/5k run).

Lining up to get in the water

Swim- 31:10 (31st female)

The swim was a rectangle shaped course in the Cumberland River, which wasn't the cleanest river.  Half of it was against the current and half was with it.  The part that people had the most problems with were the short sides where we were perpendicular to the current.  Watching some of the people before me, they were getting pushed by the current and swimming way wide of the bouys, so I knew I would have to sight often and "crab" as my dad calls it or swim diagnolly so I would end up going straight.  I didn't feel that great and was disappointed with my time which was a few minutes slower than usual, but was happy to get on my bike.

Part of the swim course

                                                                                     Bike- 1:10:52 (7th female)

The bike was a 20k loop that the sprint distance racers did one loop of and we did two loops of.  The course had rolling hills throughout, with a couple pretty big ones in there.  It was really nice because the majority of the course was on a highway that was completely closed to traffic and had just recently been paved.  I took a GU at the beginning and drank about a half a bottle or so of HEED throughout.  I should've drank more, but I always feel like I'm drinking more than I am until I go to empty out my bottle after the race, something I need to work on.  Anyways, I felt good on the bike, was able to catch a few girls, and really  enjoyed the course.

Mom finishing up

Run- 44:22 (4th female)

By the time I got to the run, it was about 10:00 and it was sweltering.  The course went through downtown Nashville and there were some killer hills.  Again, it was a 5k course that the sprinters did once and we did twice.  We hit the first big hill in the first quarter of a mile, we ran up to the top of a walking bridge.  There were two other pretty big hills and by the time I was done with the first loop, I was not looking forward to tackling them again.  I didn't end up with my fastest run time ever, but I was happy with it considering the heat and the hills.

Heading up the bridge

Finish- 2:30:36 (8th female)

I was happy to see mom, who had finished her race earlier, Matt, and Michelle cheering me to the finish.  I got some cold water, a cold water soaked towel, and waited around for the award ceremony.  My goal going into the race was to finish in the top five, which I didn't quite do, but ended up as the eighth overall female and second in my age group.  My mom had a great race and got first in her age group.  Though I didn't quite have the race I had hoped for, I had a lot of fun and recognized some areas that need to be worked on.  I have about three and a half weeks left to prepare for nationals up in Vermont and I can't wait!

This past weekend I made another (much shorter) trip to Texas.  On Thursday evening, Me, Matt, and my parents left for Texas to celebrate my grandma's 90th birthday.  She has seven kids and they were all coming to my Aunt's house for the weekend.  It was the first time in I don't how long that they have all been together.  Some of my cousins that I hadn't seen in 5-10 years were there and I finally got to meet one of my cousins who lives in Australia and his family.  It was so much fun hanging out with everyone and catching up.  Me, Matt, Lindsey, Matt, and Eli were able to stay at Devon's house which Isaac was excited about, of course.  Over the weekend, we spent alot of time swimming with the kids, hanging out with everyone, and then on Saturday evening was the birthday party.  My grandma really enjoyed being around all of her family, though she wasn't thrilled about turning 90, she kept mentioning that she couldn't believe it.  She is in great health though and alot better off than most people 10-15 years younger.

Grandma and all her kids



Grandma and all the cousins (that were there)



Me, my parents, and my cousin Hayley decided last minute to do a local 10k on Saturday morning.  It was called the Toughest Texas 10k and it did a pretty good job of living up to its name.  We picked up Hayley and got to the race venue about an hour early so we would have time to register.  Registration took no time at all, so we had plenty of time for last minute trips to the bathroom, waiting around, and warming up.  The race didn't start until a little after 8 and it was already pretty hot by then.  That was one factor that contributed to the toughness, the other was that there were 13 hills within the 6 mile race.  These weren't little hills either, most of them had a pretty significant grade, definitely not what we're used to in Pensacola. 

It was a smaller race, I think there were about 300 people that ran including those that did the 5k and it wasn't too competitive.  I was able to stay with some of the top guys for about the first mile and could tell by then that I wasn't going to have too much difficulty finishing as the top female.  I ended up as the first female and ninth overall, my mom and Hayley both got second in their age groups, and my dad got fourth in his.  Not too bad of a way to start off the weekend.

Last week was a very low volume week for me trainingwise.  It was a good mental and physical break, but I was going crazy by the end of the week.  I had too much pent up energy and couldn't wait to get back at it.  This week I'm ramping back up and getting ready to race in Nashville on the 24th.