Carolina Olympic

This past weekend I had the opportunity to race locally, not just nearby, but in Davidson. On my turf, on the roads that I bike everyday and on roads that I run everyday.  This is a rare opportunity and I was excited to race! I knew it would be a well run race as Jones Racing Company was hosting the event and they are top notch.  And with so many friends and ICE teammates racing I knew it was going to be a really fun race!

Swim: 25:45 (includes wetsuit off/shoes on) / 1st AG / 1st Overall

My brand new Blue Seventy Helix Wetsuit arrived just in time for the race and I couldn't wait to try it out.  I've never really "raced" the swim portion of  a triathlon, so I decided this would be my debut.  All of the Age Group Females started together.  As soon as the horn sounded I took off fast, I wanted to get away from as many people as possible and figured I'd try to stay close to any group that formed in the front.  As I settled into a somewhat comfortable, yet uncomfortable pace I noticed only 1 person slightly ahead of me.  I've never tried to swim on someone's feet, but decided to give it a go.  I swam on her feet for a bit, but found she wasn't swimming a straight line, then when sighting she was breast stroking and I'd run into her.  After the 3rd or so round of this I made my move when she stopped to sight, putting in a surge and hopefully preventing her from getting on my feet.  As I continued to swim I kept looking for anyone else ahead of me, but couldn't find anyone.  Doubting that this was actually correct,  I did start to get a little excited at the possibility of being the first age group female out of the water.

The run to T1 was 1/3 of a mile and over some significant gravel, many people placed a 2nd pair of running shoes by the timing mats for the run up to T1. Best decision I made all day! I ran out of the water, wetsuit off & shoes on then over the timing mat and up to T1.  As I was getting out of my wetsuit a spectator told me I was the first female out of the water! Sweet!  Turns out the female I was swimming with was a novice, so kudos to her on a great swim.

Longest run to T1 ever.

T1: 4:17

Long run and apparently took my sweet little time here. I ran into my buddy Tristan (who started 5 minutes ahead of me) and I made a point to heckle him a bit knowing he'd hand it right back to me as he blazed past me on the bike soon after.

Bike: 1:29:34 / 1st AG / 18th Overall

Not much to say about the bike except that it was really nice knowing the roads and knowing exactly where I was at all times.  I'm not a strong cyclist (clearly by the 18th overall time) so I just tried to stay relaxed, in aero position and with a comfortable effort.  It wasn't long before the ladies started to catch me and I could say my hellos as friends passed me on the bike.  Tristan at mile 4 and Tara at mile 16 blew by me like I was literally sitting still.

I felt good about my ride, my pace and was relatively ok with my watts until we hit the neighborhood (River Run) to make our way to Bailey Park/T2.  I lost a ton of speed through here and on the climbs to Bailey Park and just tried to minimize the damage as much as possible.

Just out for a little cruise on my bike.

T2: 1:14

As always, one of the happiest parts of a triathlon...off my bike and on 2 feet! I forgot my gel leaving transition, but knew with 200 calories on the bike I'd be ok or could grab something on the course if needed.

Run: 50:43 / 1st AG / 5th Overall

My goal was to run about 8:15 pace on this hilly course and to push the pace slightly since I felt I ran too easy at Belews.  Right out of the gate my pace was sub 8:00 but I felt ok so I went with it.  I felt fantastic on the run and loved seeing friends running on the course as well as the crew of spectators at the Patrick Johnson Hill.  The last 1 mile climb back up to Bailey Park about broke me, but again I was just trying to minimize the damage of this one mile.  Of course Ashley finally found me at this point and I could hear his footsteps running behind me the entire way up the series of hills.  I was appreciative of his support, but was mildly irritated with him taunting me up the hill as I knew he'd already finished his race.  I was too out of breath to even ask how his race went.  

I love running downhill.

I crossed the finish line in 2:51:33, 1st in my Age Group and 7th overall.  I was excited about my overall result, but the highlights of the day were 1st Overall Female on the swim (should've been 2nd but my dear friend Carrie decided to swim the Half Course vs the Olympic Course) and a 10K PR by 1:40 from just 3 weeks ago and 8:09 pace.  That's 3 consecutive 10K PRs in my last 3 Olympic distance triathlons.  Let's see if I can make it a 4th at Stumpy Creek later this summer!

My IM training besties Tristan & Tara.

Ashley finished First Overall with his ICE buddies Ross and Fletch close behind with 2nd & 3rd.  Congrats to all of my friends who raced that day, they all had fantastic results.  I loved this local race and hope that it grows year after year with JRC. We had quite a lot to celebrate that afternoon with the entire crew by the pool.  This was Sunday Funday at it's finest.

Top 3 Overall: Ashley, Ross, Fletch & Coach.

Victory is sweet!

Next weekend we head to Chattanooga for 3 days of training on the IM course!! I'm hugely intimidated, but thoroughly excited!! #DOTHECHOO

Then, Eagleman 70.3 in less than 1 month! Time to get excited about my 2nd go at the Half Distance!

Monday Motivation

"Dust off the cobwebs"

This year, with my commitment to IMCHOO, I also have a commitment to some pretty serious training.  I have a coach, I train a lot, I work hard and with that I put extra pressure on myself.  If I'm training this much, then shouldn't I have great race results? I feel that pressure, but I know that I only put that pressure on myself.  Belews Olympic Triathlon would be the first race of the season for me and I was feeling the pressure.

Wednesday before the race I thought it would be a good idea to throw on the wetsuit for a very quick open water swim.  A couple of friends came over and we very slowly eased our way into the lake. It was 6pm on a not so warm day day. They were in long sleeve wetsuits, I was in sleeveless.  It never occurred to me the water would be too cold for sleeveless.  I put my head in the water and made it about 100 yards before coming up for air and saying "I can't do this!"  We swam an additional 100 yards and my head/brain/arms/face/hands/feet felt frozen.  I threw in the towel.  If I had to guess, I'd say that evening the water was probably about 58 degrees.  I suddenly had massive anxiety about the swim portion of this race, something that typically comes kind of easy to me.  Although that quick jaunt in the water created some anxiety, I was glad to know what I was possibly getting myself into so that I could make some changes.  Melissa Bell saved me by loaning me a long-sleeve sweet Blue Seventy Helix wetsuit, I decided I'd wear 2 swim caps and also earplugs to keep the cold water out of my inner ears.

Friday night James and Jenny came to Davidson for dinner, to spend the night and so that we could make the 90 minute drive to Stokesdale, NC together.  Wednesday through Friday I was still feeling the anxiety over this race in general. I'll be honest, I was at the point of not wanting to do the race at all.  James (my coach) is not one to give big pep talks, he's more of the HTFU kind of guy and honestly my husband kind of is too. I guess that's why it works because I'm used to it.  Without realizing it, James gave me the best advice possible and changed my attitude completely about the race.  I will paraphrase here, but at dinner James basically said: "Just go dust off the cobwebs.  We (he and Jenny) had to do it last week in New Orleans, now it's your turn."  This completely changed my attitude about the race.  He was right.  James and Jenny are phenomenal athletes, but even they had to dust off the cobwebs at that first race of the year.  His comment was also a huge reminder that I participate in these races for fun and my eye is on the prize of IMCHOO.  All of the races in between are to challenge my fitness, to test out race strategies, but most importantly for fun!  I went to bed feeling a little more at ease about my expectations.

Who takes advice from these two guys?

Belews is a fantastic race.  It is a time trial start where you take off by two's according to a 100yd swim time submitted at registration. I was number 50 and started 7 minutes after number 1 (Jenny of course).  To ease my anxiety about the water I made a point to jump in for a few minutes before the start.  It felt cold, but not nearly as cold as Lake Davidson earlier in the week.  As we lined up I was paired with number 51, a fellow 35-39 female in my age group.  If I'd been able to see her "runner legs" outside of her wetsuit I'd have known she was going to crush me on the run!

Lined up to swim.

Swim: 1500 / 25:54 / 4th

The time trial start was incredible.  It's rare to have such calm, clean water in a triathlon.  There was absolutely no reason not to go fast! I just tried to keep my head down, pull as much water as possible and remember to kick.  For some reason in the wetsuit I forget to kick, normally I'm a big kicker.  I had a small mishap in the water missing a buoy and had to turn around. It was completely my fault and I own up to the mistake. I'd say it cost me about 30 seconds or so.  I had a good swim considering, but never felt like I was pushing too hard.  I think I can or should be swimming faster, but overall I was pleased with the swim.

T1: 2:04

Usually uneventful, however quite comical.  I absolutely could not get the wetsuit off of my left foot.  The gentleman next to me was trying to give me advice and I'm going "I know, I know, I just can't get it off!"  I also decided to put socks on. I've only ever worn socks in August HIM, but I didn't want my feet to be cold and I really really didn't want to deal with blisters for the next week so I took the time to put my socks on.  I can say that it was a smart decision as I sit here blister free.  So, here's the problem with my friends doing the relay....Ashley and Jenny were actually in T1 with me during this debacle of wetsuit stripping and sock donning and they were videoing it.  So unfair! How often are your friends/spouse sitting in T1 to watch you panic? James was very kind to edit out what was probably the most embarrassing part of this video.

Bike: 27 miles / 1:30:27 / 18mph / 5th

Immediately I felt like I had very little power in my legs.   Cardiovascularly I was very very comfortable, but my legs just would not do what I was telling them to do.  The bike is my weakest sport.  I'm trying to get better, but it does not happen overnight. It's going to take time and patience. I'm not disappointed with my bike, but not particularly pleased.  I am however pleased that I rode 90% of the course in the aero position. I do not like riding aero and honestly I do not ride aero much at all unless I'm trying desperately to chase down my friends who have dropped me on a ride.  So, I'll take that as my win on the bike for the day.

I'm already thinking how can I get more aero?

T2: 1:37

Uneventful, except that I went the wrong way to exit for the run.  Rookie mistake but probably only cost me 5 seconds or so.

Run: 10k / 52:24 / 8:26 pace / 2nd

The run starts up a pretty significant hill that Ashley and James were at the top of.  I'm sure they were cheering for me, but in my mind they were heckling me as I tried to make it up the hill.  The entire run is a rolling course that I heard many complain about.  I actually thoroughly enjoyed the 2 loop course and wasn't bothered by the hills or the heat.  I realize now that I still probably wasn't running hard enough.  Other than the first mile uphill, I was really never uncomfortable on the run.  It will be interesting to push a little harder next time.  I still ended up with a 45 second 10k PR and I was pleased that I had the 2nd fastest run of my age group.  Lucky for any of you still reading this, Ashley was there for video on the run as well.

I ended up 3rd Age Group which felt like a good result for my first race of the year as I "dusted off the cobwebs".  Here's a clip of the video from the race:  

VIDEO of LORI vs BELEWS

And if you haven't seen it yet, here's a a video of the ICE RACING Relay.  Thanks to James for the videos.

VIDEO of ICE RACING vs BELEWS

The best part of the race was seeing some of my closest friends out on the course.  Tristan was dusting off the cobwebs as well and I've challenged him to crush me at Carolina Olympic in 3 weeks. Tristan's brother was in town from South Africa and with more real estate he would've caught me on the run for sure.  Biggest success story goes to Hope who completed her first Olympic distance race as she trains for her first Half Ironman.  Lots of other friendly faces out on the course and really a fantastic day for a race.

Wilmington Half Marathon

Sometime in Decemeber, shortly after Ironman Cozumel, I received a calendar invitation from Ashley that said "Wilmington Marathon".  His favorite thing to do after an Ironman is to sign up for a race, think back to Frosty 50k post Ironman Wisconsin.  (A week before the 50k he switched to the 25k.)  Soon after a handful of friends also decided to race in Wilmington and we decided to make a long beach weekend out of the race. Since I was going to be there anyway, I decided I'd sign up for the Half Marathon.  Fast forward to March and hamstring strains, flu-bugs, bike crashes/broken bones and other illnesses prevented the entire crew from racing and I was suddenly the only one headed to Wilmington for this race that I hadn't even chosen. Ashley came down with the Flu the Wednesday before the race and was a trooper all weekend despite feeling horrible.  Luckily, there was a good DART crew also planning to race so I looked forward to seeing them on the course.

The week prior to the race the weather looked fantastic with mid 60's and sunshine Friday-Monday.  Then suddenly a few days prior the recent 3 day rain storm finally showed up on the weather forecast.  We were able to enjoy a beautiful Friday evening and Saturday at the beach and we washed away Sunday and Monday.

Friday Evening

In December I raced the hilly Huntersville Half marathon and was lucky enough to have a 5 minute PR with a relaxed effort.  My race plan was to stay with the 1:50 pace group as long as possible.  I had a great day and finished 30 seconds ahead of the 1:50 group.  I was now interested to see what I could do on a flat course.  I originally had some lofty goals, but wasn't able to aggressively train for the race.  I've been training a lot with my eye on the prize of #IMCHOO instead of half marathon PR's.  I asked James what he thought I could do and he said to attempt an 8:05 pace. I thought I'd be more comfortable starting with an 8:15 and hopefully speed up at the end.  During the race I could hear James saying "a flat half doesn't necessarily mean an easy half".  That was certainly a true statement!

Race morning we made the 40 mile drive from Ocean Isle Beach to Wrightsville Beach for the point to point start.  We parked across the bridge and would jog to the start line. Ashley said he'd take my gel, water bottle and ipod to the start. He said, "don't go left, go to the right, to the field".  That's exactly what I did.  Unfortunately, Ashley went to the left and I spent 30 minutes in panic mode looking for him before the start.  With 5 minutes before the gun would fire I decided to find my place several rows behind the 1:45 pace group.  Thank goodness I spotted Ashley within those 5 minutes and was able to grab my gel, drink some water and snag my trusty ipod.  I had a feeling this could be a lonely half, so the day before I spent hours uploading new music to my ipod.   I hadn't updated my music in a year and was really looking forward to jamming to my new tunes!

Race started at 6:45am just before Sunrise

The race started with a loop around Wrightsville Beach then headed over the bridge, down Military Cutoff and to a neighborhood for 5 or so miles before spitting us out back on Military Cutoff for the finish.  The miles clicked off easily and I made a point to slow in the beginning from what felt like an easy 8:00-8:05 to a more comfortable 8:10-8:15.  By my watch my miles were fairly consistent, my splits really only slowed by 10-15 seconds or so around the few water stops that I grabbed from.  I am terrible at drinking while running and actually accomplished this far better in this race than any prior races.  The entire race my watch showed 8:12 pace.  I was pleased and new this would have me finish around 1:47:30, a 2 minute PR.  Some mile splits occurred slightly ahead of the course and others were right on.  I had no reason to doubt my watch.

Heading out Military Cutoff Rd early in the race.

I enjoyed seeing Ashley just over the bridge in Wrightsville, again along Military Cuttoff, once back in the neighborhood and then again headed to the finish.  This is an extremely spectator friendly race.  The course was just as flat as expected.  I tried to keep my mile splits at 8:12 or better and decided I'd give it all I had for the last 5k.  I was surprised that by about 1/2 way I was growing tired of the flat terrain.  I was almost begging for an uphill so I could change up my stride and push the downhills.  No such luck.  I felt my hip flexors begin to fatigue and it required much more focus and effort to keep decent form.  As the final 5k approached I was eager to push the pace, but did not have much left in the tank.  

I was still showing an average of 8:12 pace on my watch and decided I would be more than happy with the 1:47:xx result.  Unfortunately, the finish line just couldn't come soon enough.  My watch registered the course at almost 13.3.  I maintained the 8:12 pace but had a finish time of 1:48:54.  Still a PR, but I couldn't help but feel some disappointment.  I made a conscious decision not to be disapointed for 3 reasons:

1.  I had a lot of fun! Goal #1 is always to have fun. If it's not fun, then what's the point?

2.  A PR is a PR!

3.  Progress! I'm in better shape than this time last year & I can't be disappointed with that.

Almost to the Finish.

After the race we jogged to the car where I did a quick change into warm clothes.  Conveniently Ashley was parked next to the Dunkin Donuts.  At one point during the race all I could think of was a warm cup of coffee.  Ashley was quick to inform me that I need to focus more when I'm racing rather than allow my mind to wander to things such as coffee.  Fortunately I did not also have a craving for a donut and passed it up pretty easily.  With my steaming hot latte in hand we crossed the street to spectate the marathon. We'd calculated that we were  at mile 17.5 and Johane and Joey should be cruising by in the next 15 minutes. They passed just when expected and looked happy and relaxed.  Shortly after Chas cruised by at mile 24.5.  He barely managed a smile and we knew he was focused on that finish line less than 2 miles away.

A huge shout out to the marathoners!  Johane Hirschfield had a fantastic day qualifying for Boston by over 6 minutes with a 3:48:49.  Joey Noto ran a perfectly paced first marathon, picking up the pace for the final 10k and finishing with a 3:44:51.  Chas Willimon came up slightly short of his goal, but ran an impressive 3:11:04, his 2nd fastest marathon time. (He proceeded to run Ellerbe Marathon just 6 days later and a sub 20 min 5k as a shake out run 7 days later. Ridiculous!!) Jennifer Senos who's been battling some injuries had a strong result with 3:48:03.  And finally Roberta Villneff raced the half at marathon pace as a Boston training run and impressively won her age group.  For a relatively small race, the finish line was a lot of fun.  The Finish Party was also quite impressive with a large heated tent, an assortment of good food and two beer tents.

Finished!

Luckily the heavy rain held off until we were already back in Ocean Isle.  It was a great weekend and a great race that I'd highly recommend.  I've already informed Ashley that I may have to return next year for a little revenge on that course.  He agreed since he was unable to race.

Next Up: Belews Olympic Triathlon in 3 weeks! Can't wait!

DART Crew!

Monday Motivation by James Haycraft

I'm lucky to have a special guest contributor for Monday Motivation this week.  Not only is he our local professional triathlete, but he's our local professional videographer as well.  When asked what motivates him he created this special gem.

Follow James Haycraft for some motivation

Blog: http://jameshaycraft.blogspot.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jkhayc/videos
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/user22153274
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jkhayc

On this incredibly dreary Monday, I ask what motivates you to GTWD? 

I find music incredibly motivating.  With some down-time/taper time this past weekend I updated my workout playlist for the first time in a year.  I'm pretty pumped to hit the trainer and to have some solid run workouts with my new music!

Tell me what motivates you! Happy Training!

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

“THERE'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

INTEREST AND COMMITMENT

WHEN YOU'RE INTERESTED IN DOING 

SOMETHING YOU DO IT ONLY 

WHEN IT'S CONVENIENT  

WHEN YOU'RE COMMITTED TO SOMETHING 

YOU ACCEPT NO EXCUSES ONLY RESULTS."

-Kenneth Blancard