Busy busy busy

First of all:
This is Jack. Our new puppy. He is a springer spaniel and the best puppy in the worl :-) We have had him for about a week now and he is potty trained, can do 3 tricks, walks on the leash and doesn't chew on things other then his toys!!! And he is only nine weeks old!!!
He might be the smartest puppy in the world ;-)
We originally wanted to name him Steve-Steve is our friend who introduced us to springers!!! But Jack just did not loock like a Steve.

On the training front:

I have been so busy with working and then felt like I was getting sick the beginning of last week. So I cancelled the Longhorn 70.3 and the SOMA Halfironman as well.

This week I am working every day, probably including Saturday, so I am not sure if I will start at the AMICA Championships in Phoenix on Sunday, even though I would love to.

But what I can tell you is that I am already really excited about the 2010 season. It will includes lots of great racing and training. More info coming in the next few weeks.

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Fall is just great!!!

Mhhh, the smell of leaves when you are in the forest-GREAT. Even though in Flagstaff we have mostly Pine trees, there are some Aspens and those are changing and letting go of their leaves right now. It is beautiful. I have to take picture of Snowbowl and post them later.

Right now is the time of the year where I wish I would have a MTB, so I could ride in the forest :-) But that would add another bike to our "bike store/house". Maybe in 2010.

This week has been very exhausting with training and working a lot. I now know why it is either or. Either work full time and don't train full time or work part time (like me starting next week) and train full time!!!

But I love work. Again I learned so much and it was so interesting!!!

I have 2 more weeks until the Longhorn 70.3. Like I said, I was really exhausted by the time Friday rolled around, my feet were hurting and I wasn't so sure anymore if I should go to Austin. BUT then I:
1. watched Kona
2. got all fired up
3. had a great TT long ride/workout
4. had an awesome long and fast run

Now I feel confident again, and I am ready to book my ticket. I am super excited about going to Austin.

2 more races and the season is over. That is crazy, this season went by sooo fast!!! But I have to admit: I am already hungry for the 2010 season :-)

Not sure when exactly my season will start, but here in AZ you can end your season with a Triathlon in December and start back up with the PF Chang's Halfmarathon in January!!!

Off to take a nap, so that I can go out later today and enjoy the sunset on top of Snowbowl.

USA Cycling certified coach

I am now a USA Cycling Certified Coach!!! Whohooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Payson Halfmarathon

I started training at the Flagstaff Medical Center as a PT Tech last week. It was a full time work week, with a full time training week. I did all my training early in the morning and after work at night. Since the sun is starting to go down earlier, I had to jump on the bike right after work, instead of relaxing for a second. It was a stressfull week, but I loved every second of it. Work is really great and training is so much fun. But I have to admit, by the time Friday rolled around I was almost ready to back out of running a halfmarathon :-) But the training plans said: HALFMARATHON RACE. No backing out now. It really helps that I have my friend Pam, who is ALWAYS up for crazy things like getting up at 4:30 to run a half or getting up at 5am to do a long ride :-)

So at 4:30 am the alarm went off and I thought I would be tired, but going to bed at 9 pm and 4 shots of espresso really helped :-)

I picked up Pam and off we went to Payson, AZ. Pam had asked me about the course when we first came up with the idea of running it and I said: There are like 2 little hills, it is not that bad.


OOOPS. The race went up and down with the lowest elevation of 4000 ft and the highest being 5150 ft.

The first seven miles were all uphill with about.75 of a mile at 12 percent (we didn't think it was thaaaaaaaaat steep, but a guy who has ran it before told us). After that it is super steep downhills and some uphills again. We actually decided after the race that the downhills are harder and slower to run then the uphills. You had to focus on every step to prevent knee injuries (it sure would have been nice to ride down those hills on a bike :-)

I ended up winning the women's division by 4 minutes and getting 4th overall men and women. The great thing was that the number one man was actually in sight until mile 10!!! That was a great fealing. The winning men's time was only 3 minutes faster then my time. Whohooooo.

It was definitely the toughest halfmarathon I have ever done, but it is great practice for the rest of the season and I am glad that we did it.

Here is Pam finishing up her Half:

Me at awards:
Today feels like a real fall day: it is cold, rainy, leaves are falling. I love it. And the best part: It is a recovery day with just and easy swim :-) Yippie.

JR and I are going to get a Pumpkin for our door today!!! Exciting!!!

Nathan's Triathlon

...after returning from the Splash and Dash on Thursday night, I ended up driving back down to Phoenix on Friday afternoon for the Nathan's Triathlon :-)

The race was in Tempe/Phoenix, and the predicted temperature was 107!!! degrees.
I spend Saturday getting my bike checked out by the TRIBE Crew, and they did a great job - the shifters worked great.

I heard that about 4 professional females will race in the event, but when I went into transition on Saturday evening to put my bike on the rack, I was THE ONLY ONE on the rack. Confusion confusion confusion.

After a little "research" I found out that Katie Ellis (a local pro) is also competing in the race.

My friends Pam and Shannon and I had a hotel room about 2 blocks away from the start: PERFECT!!! No searching for parking!!!

We got up and got going.

My race started at 6:46 am and the mixed elite wave was fast!!! We swam right into the sun, I just followed feet, because I wasn't able to see any bouyes.

I raced without a watch, so I had no clue if I was fast or slow (as it turned out all the times were slow, because the course was about 400 m longer). I jumped on the bike and started passing a lot of the Sprint Distance Triathletes. I have to say it was a little chaotic out there with that many people (1600 is the cut off). Many people also didn't know that you shoudl stay on the right unless you pass athletes. Mhhh...
I thought my time was pretty slow, because the effort-level didn't feel too high, but I ended up having the fastest female bikesplit by 2 min. (13th fastes in the guys race).
I passed Katie Ellies with about 5 km to go and was hoping to keep it like that until the finish.

The run felt great!!! The first lap was just awesome and I felt really fast. But this is Phoenix and it is hot, so going into lap two I got a little thirsty. I kept dumping water on myself, and tried to drink as much as I could, but ou know how much you actually get into your mouth :-)

I finished in 1st place overall females, including pros and amateurs, and 8th or 9th in the guys (pro and amateurs). Too bad the race announcer didn't see me cross the line about a minute ahead of Katie. So he announced her as the winner, but it ended up being right on the results.

RED ROCK RACING did a great job putting on the race and taking care of our equipment, us and all the spectators.
I can only highly recommend the events they are putting on.

After the race we drove back to Flagstaff immediately, I kept falling asleep the entire time. Early wakeup calls do that.

I am planning on racing in a Halfmarathon next weekend. It will be great training for the upcoming Longhorn 70.3.

HAPPY TRAINING!!!

Splash and Dash

Pam and I made our way down to Phoenix (again) to get some good training in by competing in the Splash and Dash. It consits of a 1000 m swim and a 3km run. Phoenix was, as always, HOT, but it is getting cooler everyday and in the evening at 6:30 pm, when the race started, it was actually really nice. The water was warm though (84 degrees), and most people swam without a wetsuit. We started 2 min behind the guys, but after about 400 m we had caught up to some of them. The next 600 m were like a washing machine, with people all over, going left right, doing breast and backstroke :-) Luckily I got a good line and a good stroke going and I was out of the water first. The run was a 3k out and back and I finished it in 10 min, which makes me think it might have been a little short. But then again, with all the modern technology they should beable to measure the course down to the centimeter :-)

After the race it was back up the hill to Flagstaff, just so we can drive back down today for the next race.

It was a lot of fun, and great practice for this weekends Nathan's Triathlon. I am really excited to race as the course is completely flat swim (hahaha), bike, as well as run. Time to test out the speed. I hope the temperature will stay under 100 degrees.

JR will be competing in the Pines to the Mines, 80 mile, MTB race sponsored by PAY and TAKE. I bet it will be a lot of fun. Hopefully next year all the events will be on different weekends and then I can race a MTB race as well.

Off to do some packing for the weekend.

Some great training days...

Friday night JR and I drove to Phoenix for a Saturday morning swim race in Saguaro Lake. I haven't been in my wetsuit OR in a Lake/Open water for some time now...mhhh...actually I can't remember the last time :-) Well it was time!!!

Squeezing into the wetsuit when the outside temperature is 100 degrees is a great warm up.

Then it was off into the lake which felt really nice. The gun went off for the 2 k wetsuit swim and I decided to go the shortest distance instead of following this guy who went a little off course. Turns out that I should have drafted off him. I was all alone and it would have been great draft training. Oh well. I enjoyed every second of the swim. I finished second (behind the guy) overall and first in the women's division!!! Whohoo, I won my first swim race!!!

The race organizers (DCB ADVENTURES) did a great job putting on the event. WHat a great way to get a good effort in!!! Thanks a lot again for the great venue and the support. I can't wait to race the next one!!!

My friends Pam and Shannon had a blast too. With the boats making HUGE waves, it was great practice of sighting and breathing when you go up and down :-)

Here they are after the swim:

It was nice to have JR at the race helping us get ready for the swim and being there after the race. THANKS JR!!!

Good bye Saguaro Lake!!!

Yesterday I enjoyed a long ride on my Parkpre TT bike, all by myself, only listening to music, which by the way is a very interesting combination if you put it on "shuffle all songs".

This morning I ran with JR. It was my long run. I was a little scared to run with him. HE IS FAST!!! But I didn't show weakness and ended up having a great run.

Now I am off to the pool. For a LONG workout.

I am already looking forward to the appointment I have with my pillow at around 9:30 pm :-)