Busy busy busy

Life down here in Phoenix is very different. I love sleeping in but down here you have no choice but to get up early to hit the track or to ride a bike. It just gets too hot!!!

I have to say that I am enjoying it though. I finally get things done. By 9 am I am done with my workouts, then I go to work and at around 9 pm I am in bed to recharge for the next day.

Unfortunately we are still waiting on our house. But we are not giving up on the thought that we can move in by the end of june.

Racing down here is great too. I finally don't need to search for a hotel anymore :-) Or get up at 2 am...

I competed in 2 local races lately the Tempe International Triathlon and the Tribal Triathlon and one out of state triathlon the Columbia Triathlon.

Tempe International Triathlon:
I had an OK swim, go onto the bike and rode the 2 laps with lots of corners like a crit. Katie Ellis was in front of me (as usualy she comes out of the water in front of me), but I gained every lap on the bike on her. Unfortunately she crashed going around one of the tight corners and was out of the race. This is always sad, because she is such a great competitor. She can push herself really hard and therefore make me work really hard. Good thing was that she walked away with roadrash only. I got on the run and finished the race in first place. It was a lot of fun to have the entire Tribe crew out there cheering. My team, Tribe, also won the award for "best looking team"!!! We totally deserved it :-)

The next weekend I went off to the Columbia Triathlon jn Maryland. The start list was the following:
Natascha Badmann
Margie Shapiro
Rebeccah Wassner
Laurel Wassner
Desiree Ficker
Amanda Lovato
and...ME
The lake was super tiny and full of algae. The water temperature was at 68 degrees (which is right at the cut off for wetsuits for Pro's). Race morning it measured 69!!! WHAT!!!??? No wetsuit...=bad for Angi. Everyone (except for me) wore one of the "thin wetsuits" which I thought where illegal in 2010...but I guess not. The gun went off and even going as hard as I could, I could not even stay with the "swimmers" for the first 100 m. I swam with Natascha Badmann for the entire swim which was very cool :-) I hit her on the head a few times too...sorry...I came out of the water and jumped on the bike. Since it had been raining all night/morning, the transition turned into a mud field!!! After about 10 min on the bike I was approaching a roundabout. Unfortunately I must have had a leak in my tires and ended up sliding on the pavement because my wheel didn't grab. Yeah, more roadrash. My race was over which was very unfortunate. Not only did I travel around the US to get there, but also if I would have finished in my "normal"speed, I would have won around 1000 $ which I could have used for more travel.

On my trip home I got chosen to be in the naked scanner at the airport!!! Yeah!!! Since my hip was swollen they kept asking me what I have in my shorts. I told them I crashed, I have nothing in my shorts. I don't even have pockets!!! So I got padded down by a lady who kept going over my roadrash...trust me...it is just a swollen hip!!!

Not that that was enough bad luck. I arrived in Phoenix, just to find out that US Airways failed to close the bike box right after inspection and now the box is broken. The claim is in the mail, but who knows if I will ever see a reimbursement.

I jumped right back into training on Monday to prepare for the most recent race. The Tribal Triathlon. My favourite race in AZ!!! 1000 m swim, 23 km hilly bike and a 3.6 mile trail run. This was the 4th time I had done this race. The first time was when I was still a college runner. I PR'd by 2 min on the course and won the race. After the tri I jumped back into my wetsuit and completed the 2000 m open water swim. It was a great day of training, racing and being around fun peeps!!!

The day after the race was a long ride which was really fun too.

Monday I had a long run. JR and I found a great area to run at. Reach 11. It is a 12 mile trail system in Phoenix with non rocky trails, mostly flat. Perfect for intervals and long runs. And some of it is shaded. It is great!!! Who knew that Phoenix has this much to offer for athletes?