Superseal/Du Nationals

After my back to back to back racing weekend including a duathlon (or half of one), a running race and a bike race I decided it is time to start the travelling races. My buddy "Buddy" (yep, that is his name) and I started our drive to San Diego for the SuperSeal Triathlon. I wanted a 4th paddle!!! On our way there ther weather started to get bad and all of the sudden it looked like this:

I am glad I wasn't driving...but then Buddy told me that he can't see because he forgot his glasses...and then I tought: a.) I wish I would be driving and b.) I wish I would have some carrots that I could feed him to improve his eye sight.

We finally made it to San Diego safely :-) Saturday we spend picking up packets, checking the weather and eating fish tacos!!! The weather got more and more stormy and by the end of the day the swim was cancelled. YES!!! A duathlon!!! I love duathlons!!!

Unfortunatelly the next morning was super windy and wet with wind up to 35 mph. Bike = cancelled :-( But it was the only right thing to do for the race organizers as there would have been sooo many accidents in this crazy wind. They made the best out of the situation and we ended up doing a 5 k beach run.

Just a little windy :-)

Everyone ran really close together. I had absolutely no idea how to run in sand but it seemed like the harder you go the more you dig yourself in the sand, so nothing really happened in the race, except for a lot of giggling. I would take a stpe forward just to end up sliding half a step back. Amy and I bumped into each other a bit, just because we were sliding all over the sand. I ended up 2nd to Amy Marsh. I will be back in 2013 for this race for sure!!!

On our way back from San Diego we even went through some snow in the Mountains and it turned out that Buddy and I brought the rain back to Phoenix. And even a little bit of snow...yes, snow in Phoenix (while Minneapolis had 75 degrees and sun).

The weekend was still really fun. The volunteers were amazing, being out in the wet, cold wind for many many hours!!!

I took the week easy, got some riding and running in and on Thursday I was off to Duathlon Nationals in Alabama. We had a great and competitive field with many great Duathletes. It rained the two days leading up to the race (I think I brought the weather with me), lucky for me my homestay had EVERYTHING an athlete could wish for!!! Thank you guys so much!!! I ran on the treadmill, they had rollers, a trainer, and they took such good care of me!!! I even got to eat some fried pickles and learned some Alabamian slang :-)

Race morning was beautiful and the race went by way to fast. 2 loop run, 2 loop bike, 1 loop run. Hills hills and hills. And did I mention hills? The first run was great. D'Ann (the eventual winner) took off and was out of sight within the first lap. She is an amazing runner!!! I came into T2 in second and felt great. I had a great first run which put me in a great position, with a little bit of a gap to the rest of the field.

Onto the bike: the bike felt Ok, but not at my best. I rode by myself, which is good so that I don't have to worry about the rules, but bad since I had no sense of how fast everyone else was going. Turns out D'Ann, me and Amy (eventual third place) all went within seconds of each other.

The secon run felt really bad at first, coming off the bike, but that was to expect in a duathlon. I just kept reminding myself to push and that everyone most likely feels like that. It was an out and back which was nice. The turnaround came up and I knew D'Ann had a good gap to me but I also saw that I had a good gap to Amy. It was a great race and I finished 2nd with over a minute to first and a minute to third.

Team Magic did a great job putting on the race making it challenging, safe and fair!!! Duathlons are great. Team Arizona did a fantastic job of representing with Matt Russell in 2nd on the mens side, Amy Kloner 3rd on the womens side and me, we took 3 out of the 6 podium spots!!!

This weekend I am off to Oceanside 70.3. No racing, but a lot of cheering and our ZOOT TEAM CAMP. So excited to get to know my teammates and all the peeps behind the scenes!!!

And I am not bringing rain with me :-)

Spring time racing

Spring is great. The temperatures here in Phoenix are perfect, racing is starting and there is so much excitement for 2012 in the air.

Since I was not able to do Panama I changed my plans for 2012 slightly. No Panama means no points towards worlds. Which means that I would need at least 5 70.3 races between now and July. Which is pretty much impossible for me, since I also have other racing plans. Instead I will be focusing on Olympic Distance racing for the first half of the year and then go longer towards the end. I will compete at 70.3 Hawaii for sure since everything is already booked...and it is Hawaii...and there are beaches...and boogieboards. And I love boogieboards.

I will be racing in part of the Lifetime Fitness series, which will include Texas, Minneapolis, Chicago, LA and Dallas for me. I will also jump into the Xterra Las Vegas next month. It is within driving distance and I always wanted to try it out.

Last weekend was a crazy weekend of racing which left me pooped (and it is Friday now). On Saturday I got up at 5:30 am to drive to the DESERT DUATHLON. I felt great and had a fantastic day. The competition was great, the weather was perfect. I ran the first run at a comfortably hard (hahahaha) pace, which ment getting to T1 20 sec behind Linsey Corbin. I jumped on my bike and rode the legal distance behind her. I thought that since she has been in the sport for a while, I could learn from her by staying behind her. It was fun to compare RPM, position,... ABout 8 miles into the race my front tire felt a little flat, so I had to take it easy on the downhills (because I did not want to kiss the pavement). By the time I got to mile 17 my front tire was completely flat and I got to cheer from the sidelines. Still I got a good effort in and am happy with what I did in the 1/2 race.

After the race I went to the Grand opening of IRON GEAR SPORTS. The store is about 4 times as big as before, which means 4 times the fun and equipment in there :-)

Then I was off to South Mountain to watch bike races until about 6 pm (yep, still unshowered...but I did change clothing!!!) JR did great in his 3 races, looking strong and powerful despite minimal training. Unfortunately our good friend Eric crashed. Poor guy is in a sling. We hope he recovers fast!!!

Sunday was even more crazy. Endurance Rehab had an entry to do the Mountain to Fountain 15 k. ME ME ME!!! 5:30 am wake up call. 7 am start. McDowell Mountain park again :-) This time I got to run the Duathlon Bike part, which means I couldn't get a flat :-) The first 5 k were mostly downhill, bad for my short legs, but good practice. I went through the 10 k in 36:40 which was surprising to me, after being on my feet all day the day before. The last 5 k are hilly. VERY HILLY. I am talking half a mile uphill steep followed by half a mile downhill steep. I finished in 56 min, which gave me 11th place and 1st amateur female (there were some crazy fast elite racers. Really cool!!!). After the race we drove home to get our bikes and then we were off to the FOCUS CRITERIUM.

JR and I both had great races with really hard efforts. I ended up 2nd in the Cat 1/2. So fun.

This weekend I am off to my favorite race: SUPERSEAL SAN DIEGO. I love the race and the organization...and the beach off course :-) Californiaaaaaaaaa here we come!!!