Travel time - Germany part I

For the Memphis in May Triathlon I attempted a new kind of travel. The in-n-out travel (no In n Out Burgers in my bags). I flew to Memphis on Saturday and home on Sunday after the race. That was the plan at least.

Well here is how it went, including the mistakes I made:

When travelling at 4 am, no breakfast is NOT a good idea. I thought I could eat on the airplane, but a Clif Bar is just not enough...

When travelling through lunch time, bring a snack just in case...I thought I had enough time to get a sandwich in Charlotte, but we had a delay and therefore I had to run to the plane that got me to Memphis...no sandwich...again, a Clif Bar...not enough for lunch either.

I got to Memphis and got picked up by my very nice homestay. We built my bike on the way to the Pro meeting, listened to the rules and went for a ride/run. Sweaty but happy we went to April's house (homestay coordinator and very good cook) for delicious FOOD.

The next day was one of the craziest days in Triathlon that I have ever seen. A HUGE storm rolled in and half way through the start of the age groupers thunder and lightning was everywhere...I hid in the car and was still scared of getting hit!!! Damie, my homestay is so brave. She did great out there and even rode a flat for 5 miles!!!

We started with an hour delay...after sitting around without food or water or a blanket. I am not sure where my race mode and my battle instinct went but it seemed to be gone for the swim. I got on the bike and was just worried about crashing or getting hit by lightning in this storm, so I rode careful. I still managed to get a sub 1 hr time, which I was super happy with.

The run was very scary again, with lightning everywhere...I have been in storms before, but this was the scariest thing I have ever raced in. I got 8th place and was really happy with it!!! Turns out that the same storm was the reason I had to spend the night at the Chicago airport a few hours later. JR got me a room (it was paid and I had a confirmation number) and when I arrived they told me they no longer had the room...soooo...soaked from the rain I went back to the airport to sleep on a bench. Nice.

I couldn't leave Chicago until noon, so I even missed work. But I got to meet some super nice people who were also stuck and I tried pretty much all the coffee places at the airport!!! Yeah!!!

At home I unpacked...then packed. For GERMANY!!!

The flight was great, Continental/United are great with bike boxes. I went for a run and felt great after the long flight...the forest and the endless trails are great. I have been a runner for a long time and I have to say no matter where I tried different trails (Spain, Italy, Switzerland, USA, ...) Germany has the best trail system!!! No single trail, but the best trails for a "normal-terrain" runner like me.

I have tried the pool as well...multiple times...in hopes it would get warmer. It is 65 degrees in the water. Today I did a 1500 m TT and I wasn't able to feel my left hand anymore after 1000 m :-) Ooops. The good part is: The pool is very empty. Usually in Germany the problem is all the people swimming in the pool...I have had 20 people in my lane before. At 65 degrees, even German's stay out (except for the 3 in my neighbor lane with wetsuits on).

On Sunday I get to compete at the Germany 5150. As of now we are not a lot of people in the race, but the 6 that I saw are super stars in Europe. I have to admit I am a little nervous, but VERY excited to race. The work is done...all I can do is go hard and enjoy!!!

Good puppy!!!

I love this dog!!! He is more human then dog. We have so much in common. We both:

• love napping



• can go from sleeping to running in 3 seconds



• are a little afraid of water



• like shoes (he for chewing, me for running)

and much more. The napping part is our favorite :-)

I took Jack on my run yesterday. He is not the best listener (it works 1 out if 3 times :-). The snakes are out in the Mountains in Phoenix this time of the year, so I am always worried we will run into one. Yesterday we ran into coyotes. 2 of them about 20 meters in front of us. Immediately I yelled: Jack, stay!!! (Thinking, as good as he is listening to me, we will see what happens). But to my surprise he waited and did not go after them!!! Yeah- good dog. Coyotes are a little scary...they were about the same size as Jack...and two of them...but everything turned out good. He got a big reward at home (and probably didn't even know why :-)

Now back to last weekend: The Tempe International Triathlon

I competed in the sprint triathlon, because I wanted to get a speedy workout in before Memphis. The race was not very well organized, or maybe they just had a lot of bad luck putting it on. The start was delayed by 45 min (they kept telling us 5 more min, 5 more,...so we were standing around half in the water for 45 min). I had to swim around a boat and a kayak in the race (I am not even sure why they were in the middle of the course)...the bike was pretty uneventful. Onto the run I was in no mans land. I started 3 min behind the guys. I had 3 guys in front of me, but out of sight. I tried to follow the cones, but some of them were for car traffic...hmmm...not really sure how I am supposed to tell which are which...I ended up going the wrong way once on the way out. On the way back, on the other side of Tempe Town Lake we had to cross a bridge...too bad it was a little unclear WHICH bridge we have to run on...I asked a guy who was cheering and he said: I think you are on the right one :-)

Eventually we all made it to the finish!!! I heard from a lot of people afterwards that they went the wrong way at some point of the run.

The Phoenix Triathlon Community is amazing. Everyone is so friendly and there are so many racers out there. It was great to see how many people did the back to back weekend Triathlons (Rio Salado and Tempe International)!!!

Weekend fun...and another race :-)

For some reason my last blog post about the Rio Salado Triathlon and the Barnhardt Trail hike disappeared. I am hoping it will re-appear but until then, here are the pics of the trail again:

USAT Elite Duathlon Nationals

What a weekend. The original plan was to drive to Tucson on Friday, to be there for packet pick up and bike check in. Bike check in got cancelled due to high winds, so we ended up driving the 2 hrs south in the morning.

I went to bed at 10 pm, with my alarm set at 3:30!!! Uhhh...that is in the middle of the night. At midnight I heard a doorbell...oh no, what the heck.

I am glad my friends were staying with me or I would have called 911 immediatelly when I looked out the window and saw those two mysterious people in front of my door...I opened the window and all that came out of me was: do you know what time it is? Then they pulled out some ID and said: Angela? We are here from the WADA. Can we come in?

At midnight??? OK, I guess. I was sure I could pee, but when they said I had to fill a certain amount in the cup, I wasn't sure anymore. 1.5 hrs and 5 glasses of water later I finally could go. We sat around for 1.5 hrs and I got to ask all the questions I wanted about the Anti Doping Agency... did I mention this was between midnight and 1:39 am?

Back to bed with 1.5 hrs until my alarm would go off...but now that I drank so much water I constantly had to pee...at least I was well hydrated for the race, right?

Pam was so nice and drove me to Tucson. I set up transition, went for a jog, got to catch up with Tucson Elite Triathlete Teri Albertazzi, who I hadn't seen in a while. It was nice. I really didn't know what to expect for the day, but I guess it is out of our hands anyways...the training is done. I was nervous standing on the start line with all those great athletes, but somehow I (off course) found a story to tell :-) I actually think this is the part where someone asked me if I am eligible to become the National Champion and I said: yes, the rule book states that I count as a US national since I had been in the country for more then 3 years...more about that to come

The gun went off and we didn't mess around. Nicole LaSelle set the tempo high and we were all pretty close together going into T1. I actually think we were 4 people hopping on the bike at the same time.
The bike was 2 loops. I passed Nicole, she passed me back. I passed her right before the first turn around and somehow the gap grew. When I got off the bike I had a 1:50 min lead. But in my head the rest of them were RIGHT THERE...A 1:50 lead can shrink easily. You never know what happens in a race.

Off I go...

I managed to stay away and finished in 1:34:10, 1:59 min before Nicole. It was so much fun holding up a banner for the first time crossing the finish line. A minute later I got asked a whole bunch of questions - ahhh...that was a new experience.

JR- I WON!!!

After the race I got asked if I wanted to go to worlds...are you kidding? YES!!! Spain, World Championships? Off course. Before Pam and I rolled out of the parking lot I wanted to make sure that they counted me as the National Champion...I asked the person in charge and he said: sorry, you are the winner of the race, but you are not being awarded the National Champion Title...wow, that was disappointing and a little shock. I asked him about the rule, that clearly states that I can be the Champ if I had lived here for 3 years...Well I have been here since 2003, am a legal alien, have a house, a husband and a dog (:-) in the US, started my triathlon career here, work here,...due to a hidden rule that states that I needed to be released from Germany (I am still trying to find it) I do not count as the National Champion...

It was still a ton of fun and am super happy about the race, the result and how the day went!!!

I am still hoping this will be resolved and I get to go to Spain and race at the World Championships :-(

We stayed until awards, and I kept searching on my phone for this rule until my battery died...

At awards being called up as the winner of the USAT Elite Duathlon Championships

The race was a ton of fun. I am glad my one week-no-racing week is over and I get to compete the next 4 weekends again!!! Only 4 more weeks before I pack my bags to go to Germany, visiting my family and racing in Germany and Austria!!! Exciting times!!!

Open water swimming

Like most people I fear something in open water. For some it is waves, others are afraid of the darkness in the water and would rather see what is down there, for me it is FISH. I have never had a bad experience with fish, but they just freak me out.

I can block it out during races, but it takes a lot to get me in a lake for practice (I think the words OCEAN, PRACTICE and ANGI will never be in one sentence!!!).

Yesterday I had my scariest swimming experience ever. Phoenix has a bunch of beautiful lakes. Lake Pleasant is my favorite for racing. And I might actually consider going there for training. It is mostly calm (except for last week's race), the water is beautiful and there is no stuff...aka..see weed, sticks,...we also have Bartlett Lake...maybe my 2nd favorite one. Then there is Saguaro Lake. It looks beautiful, but the lake is surrounded by cliffs and that freaks me out a little.

We had a tri clinic at Lake Rosevelt yesterday. The Lake is beautiful and I believe it is the biggest Lake in AZ. One end looks very nice, the other end is big fish habitat as trees were flooded there...there is no way we would swim there...I thought. Off course I was wrong and as we put on our wetsuits to go into the foresty lake I already started to freak out. Who knows how big the fish can get in there!!! It seriousely is like a forest in the water and you have to find your way out to the swimmable part. It was scary. I held onto the kayak until I thought we were out of trees. And the I touched one!!! I started screaming!!! This swim was crazy- everytime I finally put my head unter water I saw another scary looking tree. And every once in a while you would touch one...SCARY. I was so happy once I was out of the water. From now on I will really appreciate clean, big lakes with no vegetation in them!!! I promise!!!

Phoenix Triathlon

2k swim - 20 mile bike - 8k run = Phoenix Triathlon...long swim, GREAT :-) But hey, you can only get better at something if you keep trying, right? Week number 5 of racing rolled around and I have to say that the nervouseness was way less then at the first race of the season...actually it felt a little bit like "just" going out for a swim/bike/run.

Pam and I arrived at the race with plenty of time to set up our transition. It was crazy windy out there (the picture doesn't do the real conditions justice!!!). We started the swim and I saw one guy turn around after only 100 m. I like waves, so to me it was fun. It makes me forget about my fish fear and helps me think I am on the beach body surfing :-)

I made a bad goggle decision and had to stop 3 times to clear my goggles...Lesson learned. I got out of the watre in 4th and I have to say this was the most fun I have ever had swimming in open water. I love waves!!!

On the bike it was a lot of up and down and up and down. No highlights, except for a dead donkey on the side of the road :-( Poor donkey. I passed the girls in front of me and just settled in a good pace. It is always fun to race at Lake Pleasant, the course is very hilly which makes it a good workout.

Onto the run: I had 5 guys in front of me starting the run. I wasn't planning on going after them, instead just racing my own race. At mile one I passed 2 guys and I was in 4th place in the mens :-)

The run was VERY hilly and walking the course would have been NICE :-)

At the finish with Nick.

Pam and I after the race.

The FLAGSTAFF crew. Sad, but I am now considered a Phoenician...It was great to see Chris and Ryan at the race!!!

My DURAPULSE crew.

Successful day at the race.

The rest of the day was full of fun, non triathlony things. Shopping, good food and a match of tennis. Pam and I got our butts kicked by Mr. Tennis. It was him vs us...we held him off for a while before he used his tennis tricks to show us how it is done. It was so much fun. I am still sore from playing (three days after) :-)

Sunday we went to Tucson for the Old Pueblo Criterium. My race was 50 min. We all stand at the start line when I realize...aehhh...my rear brake just fell off. That might be a problem. As they were doing call ups (yes about 1 min from race start) I tried to find a tool to fix it. Luckily I was successfull. The race was very uneventful. I had no legs to try to get away, I was very tired from training and racing (the 3 hr workout the day before the triathlon might have been helpful with that). I just held on and tried not to hit the pavement (cyclists are kind of mean...I had a few close calls, but thankfully I was able to rescue myself). I ended up 7th in the field sprint, 8th overall and I was seriousely just happy to finish. I love crits: I love the speed and the corners and the attacks. Hopefully I can do one soon with fresh legs.

Next weekend is a weekend off racing but with a lot of training. It will be fun and help me get ready for Duathlon Nationals coming up soon.

Marquee Tri...I mean Duathlon

The swim at the SuperSeal Triathlon almost got cancelled...due to high E Coli levels...but the morning of the race they announced that we would have a swim. Now I am in the Valley of the sun, preparing for my race last Sunday. It rained all day Saturday, so that...tataaaa...the city couldn't allow us to swim in the water because of possibly high E Coli levels. The Marquee Triathlon turned into a Duathlon. Like at SuperSeal I had mixed feelings...but I think there was more happiness then sadness involved ;-)

I warmed up for about 5 min (note to self...more warm up needed :-) and then started the race with the men's elite/under 40 wave. We went out at a nice pace, so that I finished the first 3.1 miles in 18:09. I went into transition with 2 guys, and I believe there were 3 more guys in front of me, but I wasn't sure. At this point I was just hoping to have a good race and not get left in the dust by those guys.

I was somewhere in lala-land on the bike. I passed a few guys and one guy passed me, which made me think: oh yeah. We are racing...I have to push a little harder. Sometimes I have a hard time focusing on the bike. It feels fast, but once someone goes by me I realize that I have more gears left and I can push harder. The bike went by fast and it was fun to ride on part of the IM Arizona course.

I got onto the second run and saw 2 guys in fron of me. I caught one about .5 miles into the run. He was funny. He told me he is a swimmer, duathlons are really not fitting for him :-) I told him to come with me and we can push each other, but he decided not to. At mile two I caught the first place guy. I decided to pass him and keep the momentum going-because I knew I had some good runners behind me and needed that cushion. At mile 4 I looked back for the first time...and saw that one guy was closing in on me. The gap got smaller and smaller and the feeling of knowing you are going to be swallowed up is not fun. Your mind tries to mess with you :-) You can't do it...oh yes you can...no...yes...At mile 5 I turned my brain off and pushed hard...I must have looked back 20 times in the last mile and it seemed like he was RIGHT THERE...but I held him off and finished the race with a 37:XX run.

I found out later that there was one more guy in the 40 + wave who finished ahead of me, but I am super happy with the result. I have never been that far up in the men's results!!! Here is Coach, happy to see I was holding off the guys...if you could zoom in on me you would see that at this point I was still worried about getting caught :-) This might have been the first time Nick saw me without a smile on my face!!!

Happy but glad it is over :-)

Time to get ready for this weekends PHOENIX TRIATHLON as well as the Old Pueblo Criterium.

Next weekend will be NO racing (after 5 races in a row), before I make the trip down to Tucson for Elite Duathlon Nationals.