Coming down from the Hy

The majority of this week was focused on recovery, and boy did I need it! I saw my massage therapist on Monday evening. I left there feeling good, but my quads were sore from those damn hills. All my recovery workouts went well, but the quads were still tight.

TP Quadballer time? Oh yeah....

Each time I found more knots. And with each knot, I shed a tear. *sniffle*

By Friday it was time to shift focus from recovery to Racine. Big brick - and the legs were just plain tired. It took almost an hour to get any kind of comfort with my cadence. Other than that, the ride went well, and then a successful run off the bike.

Again with the quads. A 2-hr drive home to see the parents didn't help with relieving the aches.

Ice bath. Quadballer. Stretching. Seems to be a theme for my last few days.

Saturday was a big day, but not for me!!! It was the day that my mom would run her first 5K!
(Check back soon, as she is going to be a guest blogger and post her race report!) My mom, my sister Becca, and my Aunt Patty all ran in the rain. They were all troopers, and I was very proud of the numbers they posted!!!

We had to celebrate with some post-race carbs and coffee at Panera.

This morning was the cap to my week - my supposed last long run before Racine. And guess what - yep, my quads were still sore and tired. Ugh. I kept telling myself "THIS is what you will feel like at Racine. PUSH THROUGH!" I don't know if I would say my run was successful or not. I attempted to execute the workout as prescribed but my "goal race pace" in the last 40 min was a far cry from spot-on. HA! But, my nutrition was, so I guess that is a minor win.

I spent the afternoon watching Steve at the State Crit Championships and sneaking off to an air conditioned venue to watch the replay of the Hy-Vee ITU race. That men's finish was so friggin' sweet!

All in all, a great weekend. Family, fun, and even some fireworks. I'm glad to be home and ready for bed though. Check back for my mom's race report!

Hy-Vee Triathlon - June 2009

Pre Race

My day started reeeeeally early. 2:30am. Funny that I had to get up earlier for this race which is right at home than I do for any other race. I had to take care of the boys before heading out the door to be at the athlete parking shuttles by 4am. Two frozen waffles and a cup of coffee, and I was out the door. The drive to Des Moines was quiet - the bar traffic had cleared out and the roads were pretty empty. :) By the time I loaded the bus and got to the race site, the coffee had kicked in and I was good to 'go' (if you know what I mean).

Getting body marked and transition set up was no different than any other race. I had time to chat it up with the many Tri Racers that were there, get my warmup in and get ready to go. Only, I just didn't have that feeling. You know, the anxious oh-my-god-I'm-about-to-put-the-hurt-on-but-I-love-it feeling in your stomach? The one that drives you through the race to the finish line? Yeah. I didn't have it. But, I did all of my normal stuff and got myself to the start line.

The Swim

I'm not gonna get too much into this. I had a crappy swim. I thought I had chosen a good place to start and would ride with the pack. Too bad the pack I ended up in went way off course and by the time I realized it, it was going to be a battle to get back on track. I fought the whole way. My time was over 6 minutes longer than my goal/predicted time. I was pissed.

T1: The run to T1 was quick - 100m I think I heard. I was in and out with little drama.

The Bike

I had ridden this course before and was prepared to get jostled on the bumpity bump of the crappy road ahead of me. I took off - finding my legs and settling into a good pace. There was a headwind going out that really wasn't noticeable until it was a tailwind going back. I was going at a good clip - the majority of the course is flat - when I suddenly dropped in speed. I didn't know what was going on. I checked my wheels - not flat. I checked my brakes - not rubbing. I figured it must just be me - I had lost my legs. So I took in more calories and water and tried to will them to move faster. Before the turnaround there were a few good hills. I've been happy with my races lately as I pass more people on the hills than pass me. Once I hit that turnaround and grabbed the tailwind, I was sailing home. Overall the bike was uneventful but once again, didn't hit my goal time.


T2: Shoes off before the dismount line, but still didn't do the flying dismount. I should have grabbed my last gel to take with me on the run but I didn't. I'm loving the fact that I'm not wearing socks anymore. Makes T2 much less stressful. Again, in and out with little drama.

The Run

As I left T2 my legs were totally there. I was passing people continuously on the run which is always nice. I saw so many Tri Racers and tried to give a shout out to everyone I could! Just before the turnaround I finally saw Tribeaner for the first time. She was 3 min ahead of me and I was hoping I could catch her before the finish, but that didn't happen. That course was way hillier than I anticipated. I knew it was hilly, but didn't realize that there were about 5 of those hills on both the out and the back. Despite that, I was pretty happy with my run (ha! the one thing about my day I was happy with!). I was able to negative split the course and really did leave it all out there.


The Finish

I was glad it was over. I was 9 min and change over my goal time for the race. It wasn't my day, but then again, I should be happy with this time. I barely slid in under 2:50 which I was happy about (it was a secondary goal) and compared to my time of 4:05:41 from 2007 (there was a bike crash involved)...yeah, in '07 I would have killed to have the time I had this year. I should be happy that on an off-day, I was able to pull this time out of my hind end. That says a lot about how physically prepared I was, thanks to ELF.

Post Race

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at the Tri Racer tents, walking around the race expo, and watching the team relay event on the jumbo-tron. One of our awesome club sponsors, Krueger Chiropractic, was there giving us exclusive massages and even an ice bath. It was so nice!!


Tribeaner and I got to meet Hunter Kemper and he signed our helmets!

Ok, and maybe I had a few beers and had too much fun with some free wristbands and my new Skins compression sleeves.


By 3:30pm I was home and taking a nap. It was a long day, and I was glad it was over. Time to move on and focus on my last race before IM Coz.

Whoa.

One more race before IM Coz.

Here we go!!!

Remember the time

I was so saddened to hear of Michael Jackson's passing yesterday. As I've listened and watched tributes to him on tv and radio, ALL of my most favorite MJ songs are being played, and I've been continually reminded of how much his music truly is the foundation of the soundtrack of my childhood.

One of my fondest memories, of course, is set to Thriller. As a child of the 80s, we didn't sit in front of a tv all night or play video games for hours - we played outside, made up games, or in our case - dances! My sister and I (and even my mom) were dancing fools. We'd put albums on the player, or turn on the radio, and the world was our stage. We would dance for hours. When Thriller came out, instantly we loved it. What a kickin' beat! Over the years, Becca and I tried to learn all the moves. We had so much fun!

To this day, if my sister and I are at a wedding reception and Thriller comes on, we bust out or moves. They are perfected after so many years of practice!

The music will never die.

Well done

Um....WTF??


With the storms that moved through this morning, and the lingering clouds that I had on my ride, I guess I forgot the sunscreen. I am cooked.

Oooops.

That's ok. I had a big training week this week, and to wrap it up, I nailed my brick and I'm really happy about it. I feel READY for Hy-Vee. CAN'T WAIT!!!