Saturday, March 31, 2012
lap 3 of umstead
Well it's not often that you can post on a blog, text family and friends updates and listen to an audobook during a race. Lao 3 has been a little less fun but it's still going by quickly. 34 miles in 6:35
Race Morning
Less than 2 hours until race start and it's raining. Not just a drizzle, but real rain! Well I went into this expecting the unexpected so things are getting off to a good start!
Friday, March 30, 2012
Umstead 100 3/31/2012
The count down to the 2012 Umstead 100 mile ultra is about at an end. Tomorrow is the big day when 283 runners will sprint off the starting line at 6:00am to run a 12.5 mile loop 8 times most likely finishing up the following day. I will be attempting to blog from the course and Alex will no doubt be sending updates about my progress. Looking forward to the adventure. Please post encouraging words or send "your crazy" text messages to keep my entertained. :)
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Pinehurst Triathlon
Woohoo! Last race of the season and boy was it a great event. Drove out the day before and was really liking the Pinehurst area. Dinner was interesting though and I have to write this down here just so you can appreciate "other" parts of North Carolina. I carpooled with some friends to Pinehurst who knew the area better than me so I let them pick the place for dinner. We settled on a large, local Italian restaurant that one of them had been to a couple years before. We were finally shown to a table after a 45 minute wait, despite the 25 minute wait we were quoted. Starving and pre-race, we all ordered large portions of pasta (or at least that's what we were expecting), but we were sadly disappointed when the waiter brought out 4 small bowls containing our dinner. Disappointed, we asked for our checks and got ready to go. And that's when we finally saw the most surprising sign I've ever seen - "No credit cards or debit cards accepted." wtf? We were all shocked and without enough cash to pay our bill. I might still be working in the kitchen washing dishes to pay off my dinner if it hadn't turned out that one of the girls with us happened to have her checkbook. And surprisingly the restaurant accepted personal checks. Just not credit cards or debit cards.
Back to racing though. Even though it was already mid-October the day started off at 75 degrees. I was actually a little hot getting into my wetsuit and was happy to get into the water, which was still cooler than the air temperature. The race went off on time at 8:00am and I was off to finish my final race of the season. Sadly I have no exciting events to report really except that it was a good race and I enjoyed the day! The bike was beautiful with rolling hills. The run was a little surprise though. I knew it was going to be a little hilly, but I wasn't expecting the constant hills nor the heat (it was pushing mid-80s by 10:30) in the October so I have to admit I was ill-prepared for the run. I will take the hills more seriously next year. No more training on flat courses.
Anyway, I finished 3rd open female (and would have been 4th in AG) with a time of 3:12:40.
Back to racing though. Even though it was already mid-October the day started off at 75 degrees. I was actually a little hot getting into my wetsuit and was happy to get into the water, which was still cooler than the air temperature. The race went off on time at 8:00am and I was off to finish my final race of the season. Sadly I have no exciting events to report really except that it was a good race and I enjoyed the day! The bike was beautiful with rolling hills. The run was a little surprise though. I knew it was going to be a little hilly, but I wasn't expecting the constant hills nor the heat (it was pushing mid-80s by 10:30) in the October so I have to admit I was ill-prepared for the run. I will take the hills more seriously next year. No more training on flat courses.
Anyway, I finished 3rd open female (and would have been 4th in AG) with a time of 3:12:40.
Monday, July 27, 2009
2009 New York City Triathlon Race Report
My 5th New York City Triathlon and the last thing I was expecting was rain. That's mostly because it hasn't rained or even been close to raining during the last 4 years I've done the race. The rain continued while we set up our gear in the transition zone, but started to clear up about an hour before race start. It was going to be a great race day.
We watched as a bottle flew down the river while we waited for our wave to go off. The current was moving and we were all looking forward to a fast swim time. Another athlete on my team who usually beats me out of the water got out just after me. She's a friend on and off the course, but it still felt good to have beaten her for once. Not that it was about beating her. It just meant that my training had been worthwhile. I was getting faster.
With a sub-20 minute 1500 meter swim and I was back on land moving to the transition zone. I noted that a lot of bikes were still racked when I got back into the red transition area. A good sign that I was somewhere in the front of the pack. I switched out my running leg for my bike leg and grabbed my bike to start the 25 mile course down the Westside Highway.
A few drops of rain sprinkled down during the bike, but for the most part the roads had dried up, leaving the course fairly safe. I gunned it as soon as I hit the highway and just kept moving, passing scores of people who had gone off in the waves before me. The course was pretty much an out-and-back with only a couple technical turns, but with so many people on such a narrow course, bike handling skills were imperative.
The bike was relatively uneventful for me. I just put my head down and pumped my legs. It felt good to pull back into the transition zone. My dad and sister were there cheering me on and my boyfriend had managed to snag a PC handler credential so he was right there with me as I switched out my run leg for my bike leg. Usually at this point during the NYCT my energy has been sapped by the sun and I feel like I just have to survive the run. But not this year. Thanks to the cloud cover it was much cooler than usual and I was still feeling full of energy.
Running up 72nd from Riverside Park to Central Park is usually the hottest part of the run, but also the most supported by excited fans who gather on both sides of the road. Mile 1 brings you to the entrance of Central Park and the 3rd aid station and the first shaded part of the run. Then it's just another 5.2 miles up and down around the park to Dead End Rd and the finish line. I found a comfortable, yet challenging pace and held it, finally passing the one other female PC athlete who was in front of me. I didn't even know it until I finished that I was the champion. The ribbon was pulled out in front of me at the finish line and I put my hands up. A personal best by 7 minutes, 2009 PC National Champion, and first female PC overall finisher. And I would have finished 3rd in my old age group and was top 20 of 270 athletes in my latest 25-30 age group.
We watched as a bottle flew down the river while we waited for our wave to go off. The current was moving and we were all looking forward to a fast swim time. Another athlete on my team who usually beats me out of the water got out just after me. She's a friend on and off the course, but it still felt good to have beaten her for once. Not that it was about beating her. It just meant that my training had been worthwhile. I was getting faster.
With a sub-20 minute 1500 meter swim and I was back on land moving to the transition zone. I noted that a lot of bikes were still racked when I got back into the red transition area. A good sign that I was somewhere in the front of the pack. I switched out my running leg for my bike leg and grabbed my bike to start the 25 mile course down the Westside Highway.
A few drops of rain sprinkled down during the bike, but for the most part the roads had dried up, leaving the course fairly safe. I gunned it as soon as I hit the highway and just kept moving, passing scores of people who had gone off in the waves before me. The course was pretty much an out-and-back with only a couple technical turns, but with so many people on such a narrow course, bike handling skills were imperative.
The bike was relatively uneventful for me. I just put my head down and pumped my legs. It felt good to pull back into the transition zone. My dad and sister were there cheering me on and my boyfriend had managed to snag a PC handler credential so he was right there with me as I switched out my run leg for my bike leg. Usually at this point during the NYCT my energy has been sapped by the sun and I feel like I just have to survive the run. But not this year. Thanks to the cloud cover it was much cooler than usual and I was still feeling full of energy.
Running up 72nd from Riverside Park to Central Park is usually the hottest part of the run, but also the most supported by excited fans who gather on both sides of the road. Mile 1 brings you to the entrance of Central Park and the 3rd aid station and the first shaded part of the run. Then it's just another 5.2 miles up and down around the park to Dead End Rd and the finish line. I found a comfortable, yet challenging pace and held it, finally passing the one other female PC athlete who was in front of me. I didn't even know it until I finished that I was the champion. The ribbon was pulled out in front of me at the finish line and I put my hands up. A personal best by 7 minutes, 2009 PC National Champion, and first female PC overall finisher. And I would have finished 3rd in my old age group and was top 20 of 270 athletes in my latest 25-30 age group.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Counting Down to NYCT
Just a week and a half out before on of my big races of the season and training is going well. These days workouts have been challenging and yet rewarding. I feel comfortable with the distances so at this point I'm mostly focusing on speed. So pretty much my whole body is sore from all of the intense workouts and I'm looking forward to my day off. More to come...
Monday, July 6, 2009
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