The other side!!! (of Hawaii)

What to do on our last day in Hawaii...exploring the other side :-) Only a 30 min drive from us and you could see green grass, cows, a running creek, slight rain and rainforest like plants:

Kind of looks like hiking in the alps. We kept going to Hilo and discovered the wild side of Hawaii:

 Sea creatures!!!

 The roots of the plants were fascinating...never thought I would take pics of roots, but I had also never seen roots so big that you could build a house in them...

 Jurassic park plants!!! The leaves of most plants were bigger then me!!!

 This guy wasn't scared. 

 In Phoenix we can buy things like this at Home Depot. But they are made out of metal. Here it is a plant :-)

 That is me!!! Just kidding.

 A local told me that the air force flies along the coast whenever there is an earthquake or something going on with the volcano...so I showed him this picture...I am pretty sure that this is an air force airplane :-)

 Macademia nuts!!! EVERYWHERE!!!

Yes, this is Lava. At first it looked like someone just turned on some lights.

We are now back in Phoenix and thanks to Tribike transport we didn't have to deal with packing our bikes so JR and I had some extra time snorkeling. Tribike transport really really helps not being stressed out!!!

Next up: some training in the heat, a trip to Rhode Island with my friend Amber for some racing and then I am off to Europe. Antwerp 70.3 for the first time. An all downtown 70.3 (then again, Belgium is kind of small, so pretty much the entire country is one town :-) I am really excited to escape the heat for a few weeks and to be able to train mid day instead of early in the morning. 

Hawaii

Hawaii is AWESOME. This is my first trip to Hawaii and the farthest away from Germany I have ever been. I actually think during the race I swam so far out that I could see Japan. But I am not sure, it could have been Maui ;-)

The race was a great training day. Going into the race I was hoping for a good swim, a great bike and just to finish the run.  I took a solid three weeks off of running and then had about one week to prepare for this race...yeah, very smart I know, so the plan was to go hard during swim and bike.

My good friends, who know of my fear of fish, probably wonder if I actually went deeper then knee deep in the water...YES!!! I couldn't do it the first day here, so I just stood by the beach with my goggles on, looked at the water and 10 min later I decided: not today.   

                                     

The next dayI actually swam in the ocean and it was pretty. Every once in a while I had thoughts like: if I would be shark, I would hang out right here...or...cold pocket here, that is most likely where the sharks are...and I swam back to shore in record time.

                                     

Race morning was super windy and my fear-priorities changed. I love waves, so the swim was so much fun!!! I actually had feet to draft off, almost the entire time, just once the feet went out and I kept going straight so I caught up to some other feet.

The bike was crazy. The winds were blowing hard and now I know why in the pre race meeting they said: "Well, you professionals have probably been here for the past few weeks to get used to the wind..."...yeah, that would have been nice, but unfortunately not possible for this girl. So I spend 99% of the ride NOT in my aero bars, instead I got blown over the yellow line twice and was just hoping not to crash. I honestly have to say that I have never biked that slow in a race, but there was no way I could have gone faster without crashing. Maybe next year I can come out "a few weeks" early :-) HA

The run was fun. Up and down and up and down. I had coke at every aid stations since I only ate one gel on the bike and one going out of T2. I didn't know how far I could actually run so I just tried to enjoy. My time was at that point secondary as long as I could finish pain free AND be pain free after the race.               

                                                   

I finished 9th and had happy feet!!! No socks used, no pain, no blisters.

The most amazing story to me was my husband JR. He has been working a lot and has trained the absolute minimum for this race. And I am talking: 5 swims since IMAZ, runs, but no workouts, rides twice a week. He is just a really busy guy and had no time to prepare for this. However, he ended up with this: 

                                   

Here is the funny part: He swims a 33 something, passes me on the bike (smiling) and he was riding with the first amateurs and some pro males. He didn't know. We didn't get calf marks, so he was not sure what age group people where in. He started the run and got passed about 200 m before the finish. Turns out the guy who passed him got a KONA slot!!! Unfortunately he was in JR's age group, so JR, finishing third did not get one :-( He was 16 seconds away from a KONA SLOT. Unbelievable. He did however take the Las Vegas Slot and told me he would train for it (I think he mentioned a swim twice a week!!!). Watching him kick ass was cool.

                                                   

After the race the vacation began: 

                                                   

Me and my new friend. 

 BANANAS!!!

 CRAB PEOPLE!!!

 JR back at the harbor. Maybe I should sign him up for another IM :-)

 Our snorkeling/swimming beach. Yesterday I swam around the boat 3 times!!! I even made it out and back once going butterfly (with fins) :-) Yeah, that left me pooped.

 Climbing trees.

 This guy hangs out on our porch every day. 

 Hawaii is definitely a very beautiful place with so much to do. I wish we would have time to go to the other side and see all the green - ness and waterfalls. Or go to the other islands. One thing is for sure. As soon as I set foot on this island I was hungry for training and racing!!! This place has so much positive energy. 2 more days to explore!!!

Trigger Point Performance Therapy

I am really excited to be working with Trigger Point Performance Therapy in 2012 and the future. 

Working in the healthcare field I know how important it is to keep your body happy and healthy and the only way to do so is to get enough rest, eat healthy foods and spoil your body with therapy. We use Trigger Point products at work to help patients get rid of tightness, decrease the chance of injury and keep them going.

Triathlon, running and cycling can be very tough on your body ( I bet swimming can be too :-), so it is really important to use the TP tools at home on a daily basis as well as during travel. You bet I will roll on my TP products on my flight to Hawaii and Germany this summer :-)

My feet hurt after a tough track run or a race and even sometimes on normal runs and to prevent injury I try to roll out everything that might be upset with me from my quads, hamstrings, IT Band to plantar fascia,...and many more.

After a long ride my back is definitely loving the Grid to roll on.

The TP Massage ball is also a great tool to get "things back in place". Since my accident in January I have had some SI problems and just simply lying on the TP Massage ball has helped me get rid of discomfort.

I am looking forward to working with Trigger Point!!!

May happenings

May happenings...

Positive and negative. 

Negative first: I injured my foot somehow and am now baby - ing my foot with ice and rest and PT. Running is my favorite thing to do because it is just so easy...shoes on and go. Anywhere. Nothing else needed!!! I think it happened during the last storm we had in Phoenix. I ran 11 miles, and after 5 this crazy rain storm started. I ran back having to jump a lot because by now all the streets were flooded. I think I probably landed wrong and crrrrrc, there it is. Injury.

Positive: Thanks to the best PT's...ENDURANCE REAHB...my foot is getting better and better. The problem is the cuboid. It did not like the jumping. The Endurance Rehab PT's are amazing. All of them are so passionate about their work. I think every single PT there has now evaluated my foot...even after bike rides. They are not afraid of stinky, sweaty feet. They are just interested in getting their patients better. 

OK, moving on to pictures. Jack and I drove to Las Vegas to visit JR (3 weeks of Vegas work for him), Friday am drive there, Tuesday morning drive back (followed by going to work immediately). 5 hrs of driving, but very worth it. It feels like a mini weekend vacation. Jack is always exhausted after driving for such a long time because he is surfing for 5 hrs. He refuses to sit down. He wants to check out the scenery :-) So this is what he did all weekend long:

Sleep.

Sleep.

On the Vegas strip: Horse police!!! If it wouldn't be for all the lights and water that they use, I think Vegas would be an environmentally friendly city ;-)

Notice: no tail lights!!! And a car is flying right by her...they actually pulled a car over on their horses!!!

Anniversary food :-) JR and I have been married for 3 years now!!! 5/5/09 Off course there was more food involved in our anniversary dinner, but it was gone by the time I had the idea to take a picture of it.

The next morning I got to test out my Paparazzi skills. This is the airport...and there is smoke...I hope this is not an.......

...luckily not. It was a bunch of wooden stuff that was on fire. But I bet they had to shutdown the airport for a while.

Driving back from Vegas. Even though there is NOTHING there...it is still beautiful. The desert is so unique...and really pretty during flowering season aka spring!!!

Back home. Jack and his new toy. He was so happy to get out of the car!!!

My garden: a nice relaxing hobby between training, school and work. Everything is loving the temperatures. Here are: Melon, Bell Pepper, Tomatoes and Strawberries. The Tomatoes are getting so big that I need to built poles for them. And how do they hold those heavy tomatoes up? I will figure it out :-) I have about 40 tomatoes (the fruit not the plant) growing and growing and growing...

YUMMMMMMM!!!

New coach

Well, it has happened. Nick and I worked well together over the last 1.5 years, but it was time to move on. I am very thankful for all of his advice and all of his time dedicated into making me a better athlete.

Unfortunately there is a point where things have to change. I am really busy with work, classes and training lately and I needed someone who could help me maximize my time. I looked into many different coaches. A big factor for me for picking a coach is the prize. Let's be honest. We spend so many $ on traveling and equipment (OK, mostly traveling and BIKE FEES), there is not much left over of the original "budget". However, coaches need to live as well and put food on their plates.

But, I finally came to the conclusion that a coach is THE most important tool in the equation and I needed to go for it.

But who?

I have a great friend here, Amy Kloner, who is also a professional triathlete, works full time, but most importantly: kicks ass in races. I kept bugging her to tell me her secret. How does she put all of that in one day? And she kept telling me that she has a genius coach. So I investigated. 

http://www.thesportfactory.com/site/index.shtml

I got in touch with Amy's coach Matt Russ. We talked for about an hour, he asked me questions, I asked him questions. After we hung up we investigated each other: he researched my times and performances, I researched his background and experience. What I immediately liked was that he is a very friendly and calm person, but also really knowledgeable!!!

After a few more emails and phone calls it was clear to me that we would be a good fit. His scientific approach to coaching and the fact that he explains everything to me convinced me - there is a purpose for every workout. Every single one. 

My race season will look a little different then it used to. Instead of racing a lot, I will focus on a few races only, but I will be bringing my A game to those:

Florida 70.3

Honu 70.3

Antwerp 70.3

Wiesbaden 70.3

are the main focus. 

I am really excited about this new chapter. If you need any info about Sports Factory coaching, please click on the following link:

http://www.thesportfactory.com/site/index.shtml

Git-R-Done

I am I am. I am actually getting a lot of stuff done. Next to tests and essays to write for my online classes I try to fit in my work and training and I get it done :-) Thankfully I have a husband who understands when I am grumpy due to my load of stuff that I want to get done.

Last week was filled with reading, writing, riding, running, and sometimes swimming :-)

I got to enjoy a wonderful Saturday training with my friend Amy. Ride, Masters swim and more riding. Even though she just recently moved to Phoenix, she knows where the good rides are. She showed me a route with barely any traffic and huge bike lanes, which, right now, everyone in Phoenix is searching for. Unfortunately we have had some really really bad bike accidents in Phoenix lately. Some injuries are luckily just minor, but in most cases they are not...human vs car...the odds for the cyclist are not good.

Amy took me on I believe 7th ave north of deer valley and it was a beautiful safe ride that goes out to Daisey Mountain. If you life in North Phoenix, this is a good ride!!!

The wind was blowing like crazy and after 45 miles I decided to call JR to pick me up. LAME. But it wasn't because of the wind only. It was because I wanted to race Marquee the next day and have fresh legs. Luckily OR unfortunately he didn't pick up so I ended up riding back. Does it ever happen to other people that the wind switches and constantly comes from the front?

So I ended up racing Marquee on tired legs probably like many other athletes out there (Matt did a 6.5 hr ride Saturday - yikes). That is good practice too. Here are Matt Russel and I smiling and liking our 9 am start time :-) Red Rock, 9 am start is a great idea. I didn't even need an alarm.

All done. The race was great. 750 m swim, 20 k bike and a 5 k run. Probably my favorite distances EVER!!! All three of us took home a title. Bryan was 1st place in the Olympic distance race, and Matt and I were 1st in the Sprint race. WINNING :-)

Next up:

• Road race state championships for practice and for a great long ride in the heat
• Maybe a 50 mile Mountain bike race???
• Orlando 70.3

The Spectathlete

During Oceanside 70.3 I was a spectathlete (the sport of spectating off course). Man, let me tell you, not only is competing more fun and you get more accomplished during the day but it is also less exhausting then the sport of spectathlon (I can't speak for Ironman vs spectathlon, never done that).

Oceanside was a MUST. Even though I couldn't race, I just had to go to cheer on all the athletes, especially the one's I knew. 3:30 am wake up call at the Durapulse house it was. I was amazed how calm all of them were. Either they don't get nervous OR they are good actors.

I got to explore and watch the race with Allison, my teammates girlfriend. We had a ton of fun. Race morning was so cold and cloudy, but everyone looked great out there swimming biking and running. We most likely looked good too with our hot chocolate and jackets on:-)

We got to practice our photography skills and happened to see this, which I think is not supposed to happen 2 minutes before the pro men come out of the water:

BEFORE

AFTER - ooopsie, someone is in trouble

Everyone went everywhere trying to get on that bike. First I couldn't figure out why, but then I put one and one together...everyone was cold and had a really hard time feeling legs and arms!!!

So after a while it looked like this and I was happy not to be in it :-)

Oceanside spectating was so much fun. Everyone on my Durapulse team as well as my ZOOT team did really well. It definitely got me fired up for my next race.

Later in the day I got to meet my ZOOT team, which was probably one of the best experiences I have had in my triathlon life. The team is fantastic!!! Not only did I get to meet all my teammates from around the US, but we also got to know the people behind the scenes: designers, shoe engineers, managers, ...everyone you can think of. This company is amazing and I am so happy and thankful to be part of it. Everyone is very very nice. My racing teammates are fun, enthusiastic, friendly and very very giggly, which I love!!! The team in the office, at races, answering our questions and making sure we have everything we need was exactly the same way: friendly, open and they always had a smile on their face!!!

We also got to inspect the gear for the future :-) SO MUCH FUN. Color, design, material,...it is fun to see everything tha will be coming out.

I cannot wait until A.) I go to California again and get to visit ZOOT B.) I get to race with my teammates C.) Represent the Ultra team at races!!!

This week I got a new pair of shoes. And I mean NEW (as in Summer 2012 new)!!! These shoes are absolutely amazing. You would think that after many years of running my feet would be used to it...WRONG. Anyone who has trained or raced with me knows: Angi gets the most blisters a human could possibly get. I ran a track workout in these shoes. No socks, just like in a race. No blisters, no hot spots. AT ALL. These shoes are super light, yet really soft and nice to your feet. They feel light like the racing flats I used in college, but cushioned like a light weight trainer. Look out for them as they will come out this summer!!! Ask me about them at this weeks Marquee Triathlon in Phoenix. I will be wearing them:-)

Notice? The Colors? Almost like the German flag!!!

Running in the desert this time of the year is beautiful. Everything is blooming. Yes, even the cacti. Here is some evidence from our yard. I never knew the desert could be this colorful.

Jack has been doing well too. He goes for a run with me almost every day. He loves aquathlon. After we get back from our run, he immediately jumps in the pool and swims a few laps. Sometimes he has his run and swim done before me :-)