Spring Classic Du

I like to write up my race reports ASAP so that nothing gets forgotten. I just got home from the Spring Classic Duathlon (Formula 1 distance) in Mendon, NY. Now I love Mendon Ponds Park. I run there all the time, I ride there all the time, I've done both road races and trail races there.. but that being said, it is hilly there!

Last night my internet/cable went down for several hours. Of course I freaked out for 2 reason: 1) what if my cable didn't come back on for the LOST series finale!!! and less importantly (haha) 2) I needed to get my race plan for this morning! I called Andy and had him log into my trainingpeaks account to see if the plan was in there but it wasn't, sure I figured it was in my email. I had to go to the Great Harvest Bread Co. (which sucks ass by the way) to use their free Wifi in order to look at it! There was a guy in there with boxes of Dungeons and Dragons cards and a trophy sitting on his table, but hey, I try to pee on myself - I don't judge.

Back to the race. Saw Solveig, Gretchen, and Joe C. there. The 3 of us girls wore our new unis (Joe does not have one). Here we are after the race!


Here we are with Joe C. who did not match and who is WAY TALLER than any of us!


Got there early, racked my bike. This duathlon is early in the season and is super laidback. I didn't put my race wheels on or anything because the road is pretty bumpy in places. It's a 2 mile run/10mile bike/1 mile run/10 mile bike/2 mile run. The run course is partially on trails. I don't care for duathlons but I really wanted to get out on my bike for a race, and I did this race last year so I would be able to compare my times. I do enjoy setting PRs :).

Here is the start of the race. You can tell it's me from the kit (green top/blue shorts) and my big ass.


I tried to hold back a little on the first run. It went fine. I came into transition with at least 5 women ahead of me. Last year I was 5th OA women and I wanted to better that this year. Unfortunately all of these women were pretty far ahead of me. And one was right behind me on the run who just flew away from me on the bike. I remember her from last year and the same thing happened. I managed to pass 2 women on the first bike leg. They both passed me back during the 2nd run (it was only a mile!). I caught one on the 2nd bike and then ANOTHER chick passed me and kept going. I started getting annoyed. Who were all of these women!? I usually go top 10 in olympic distance tris and I very rarely get passed by chicks and 3 passed me at a duathlon in freaking May! Anyways, I managed to hold this position for the final run (although the fast runner girl who was wearing GIGANTIC shorts that passed me in run #2 was right behind me) and I booked it in. I think I was 7th overall (official results will be posted later) and 1st (out of 2 - yuck) in my AG. So this is the 2nd year in a row I've won my age group. I can add another plaque to the dresser. I still LOVE getting awards but I have 3 plaques from the 3 Fleet Feet duathlons that I've done.

Here I am coming in from the first run.


I did not feel great racing today. I've had a week of recovery but my legs felt heavy, tired, and stiff. And I'm groggy from coming off stupid overnights. Instead of lining up at the start I wanted to crawl in the back of my car and take a nap. It was pretty humid during the race and definitely warm enough, and the new tri top does not breathe as well as my old one did. I wish we had been able to order the crop tops! Also I think my tri shorts are too big! I ordered smalls instead of XS because I have big quads and big ass, but I think I need to get smaller ones (especially since when they get wet they will be flopping around). It was still fun to run in the kit though! I saw Mary with her banner heading back into the park, and Kim and (I think) Ken at bike in.. so thanks to the 3 of you who came out to cheer!!

My time this year was 1:44:23 and last year it was 1:45:55. So although I do not feel like I raced well today, at least I did better than last year. I KNOW I am in better shape this year! However I am concentrating on long course and a setup like today favors people who can really hammer for a short amount of time. I can't. A 10 mile bike course and a 2 mile run course are just not long enough for me.

My 2 mile runs were 16:30 and 16:32 ( the first run was longer due to the starting line placement) with paces of 8:00 and 8:16. My 1 mile run was 8:56 (YUCK - I should have picked it up here). My first 2 runs were faster last year but last year I felt like shit on the 2nd bike, today I didn't.

My bike legs were 29:46 and 32:12 (19.7 mph and 18.2 mph). I was alone for a lot of bike 2. I was supposed to get these bike splits within a minute of each other. Whoops. These are similar to last year's times (30:xx and 31:xx).

So apparently I am just not getting any faster. I'm more fit, I can ride for longer, my swimming has improved, my weight is down. I SHOULD BE FASTER! :(

superb day!

I had a very good day today. Very very VERY good! I think it's the rest week. I have physically and mentally recovered from my big 4 week block! I have a duathlon on Saturday and I am so ready to rock the shit out of it!

I woke up at around noon (please keep in mind that I am not sleeping until the afternoon because I am super lazy - I am working overnights!) and checked facebook/email in bed via my ipod touch (addiction, anyone?). I saw emails and facebook posts with photos of our NEW UNIFORMS! They had arrived! We have been waiting on these uniforms since like February so you can imagine how excited everyone on our team is! I was so excited that I could barely fall back asleep! I picked mine up when I met with Mary at Starbucks (more on this later) and they are frickin SWEEET! Not quite lime green/blue, more of a kelly green/blue, but they are sharp looking. I tried all of the pieces on when I got home and everything fits really well! I ordered a tri top, tri shorts, jersey, running singlet, and arm warmers. I do think I am going to order a jacket because I saw Mary's and it's REALLY NICE! I will post photos when I get some good ones.

Before all of this uniform trying on happened, I had to do my swim test. Our swim test is 2x400 yds at max effort. 4 weeks ago I did it in 6:12. Today, I did it in 6:02 (actually the first one was 6:09 and the 2nd one was 6:02). Holy FREAKING 10 second improvement!! I am shocked and psyched and stunned! As much as I dread swimming every Tues/Thurs I will NEVER skip a swim (I've only skipped 1 swim since I started in January anyways) because it's obviously working! I am feeling better about the Ironman swim distance; I am still a little worried about the mass swim start because I tend to panic in situations like that (it took me an entire season of triathlon to calm down during the swim). But I was on a serious high from the swim test, and I went to Starbucks to meet with Mary just because I had some questions and whatnot.

She answered my questions which were mostly about what was coming up training-wise, training camp, and Tinman (because they are a week apart). I am still a bit worried FREAKING OUT about my nutrition. I am ok on the bike but still not so much on the run. Mary told me today that she thought I was the type of athlete who would "continue racing with shit running down your legs"(her words, not mine). Now I know that this is disgusting and probably you people don't want to hear about this. Believe me, I know it's gross. But we are triathletes. We strip down to our underwear (and beyond) in public, we pee on ourselves while clothed going 20 mph on a bike, we drink out of water bottles that get washed once a year (maybe that's just me), we shoot snot rockets, and we have GI problems in 12 hour races. You race for 12 hours eating nothing but freaking Gatorade and gels and tell me what happens to your body. So don't judge me. I have GI issues. Everyone knows that. Lots of Ironman athletes struggle with it because your disgestion slows way down when you're racing for that long. And believe me, it SUCKS. I am doing my best to figure it out so that I won't have issues on race day. We're going to work on incorporating some longer runs after long rides so I can see how my bike nutrition affects my gut on the run. But when the time comes, I would rather finish the Ironman covered in my own crap/vomit/something else disgusting than not finish. Not finishing is much, much worse.

I have no shame. I am ready to race.

the Ironman tattoo debate

I think there are 2 opposing parties when it comes to the stereotypical "M-dot" tattoo. Either 1) you love them, have one already, or you only aspire to do an Ironman so that you can brand yourself, or 2) you can't believe that someone would tattoo a corporate trademarked label on their body.

Now I love tattoos. I have 3. I would have more if they didn't cost so much money or keep you out of the pool for 2 weeks while healing. My tattoos aren't anything artistic or meaningful. I have 2 horse tattoos (one is a MY LITTLE PONY!) and a Harry Potter one. I know. Nerd alert. Whatever - I don't care. Most of the time people don't even notice my tattoos for months.

I am probably the first person you would expect to go out and get an M-dot tattoo the day after my first Ironman. And I'm not going to deny that I have the urge. But I just do not want that stupid M-dot. Everyone has it, some of them are crappy, and I don't want to be that girl with the M-dot tattoo on my calf because I have to brag about my Ironman (that's what Ironman-relate facebook status updates are for). It's not even cool looking. I don't judge people with M-dot tattoos, unless it looks like you scratched it on with your fingernail. I considered one for a while but I personally like my tattoos to be more original (hello, My Little Pony anyone?).

I thought for a while about getting an actual Ironman tattoo (you know, the comic book character played by the ever-so-dreamy Robert Downey Jr.). Which would be badass but I just don't have the balls to do that.

I think I have actually come up with my real Ironman tattoo idea which I am keeping a secret until I do it. First I have to finish the stupid race!

my first love

I started this blog post several weeks ago and never finished it. Couldn't connect 2 sentences together for some reason but today I'm going to try it again..

I am a recent triathlon convert. Before triathlon it was strictly running, and before running it was horses.

Horseback riding is probably my favorite thing to do in the entire world. I have been riding since I was 10 and I have owned my horse Cherry since I was 11. I've dabbled in a lot of disciplines. For most of my childhood I was a barrel racer, and then for a few years I was a 3 day eventer. I did all of this on my crazy pony, Cherry. Now, Cherry has been retired from horse shows and for the past year I did not ride at all. I'm slowly trying to resurrect my riding because I miss it. It's hard to balance with triathlon. I don't think it's possible to excel at one thing when you're trying to do too many activities, and because of that I let my riding fall by the wayside.

I've ridden Cherry twice in the past 2 months, which is better than nothing but still not enough. The last time I hopped on her I automatically went to start my Garmin (which I was not wearing). Apparently just straddling something (although it was a fat horse and not a bike) was enough to make me think I had to keep track of what I was doing!

I see photos of friends jumping cross country courses or I catch some of the Rolex Kentucky 3 day event on TV and it honestly makes me ache, because that is how much I miss it. You have no idea what a rush of adrenaline feels like until you're galloping a horse across a field and jumping over shit, BIG shit and you know that if that horse decided that it didn't want to jump, you'd be screwed. But let me tell you, owning a horse is ridiculous and I already own one. I'd have to get ANOTHER horse if I wanted to event again.. just won't happen.

Ironman 1, Alexa 0

I just finished up a big 4 week training block. Big for me at least! I finished it up with a 6 hour ride/30 min run yesterday and a 1 hr 45 min run today. All I can say is.. my legs are DEAD. Unfortunately I had to come into work at 11 pm Sunday night so I don't feel like my legs are getting adequate recovery at the moment. I am sitting at my desk and wearing my compression sleeves (I wear them every day at work) and my legs are just ACHING. I'm hoping I can sleep well when I get home. Then I have a 20 minute WALK to do after I wake up, which is very exciting and the start of my REST WEEK! Thank god for the rest week.

I could tell it was time for a recovery week. I just cannot get my heart rate down on any runs. Usually I have no problem running in my zone 2 but today (and mostly the past 2 weeks) I couldn't do it! I averaged 9 min pace on my long run today and my HR was tempo zone the entire time. Alternatively, I could not hit tempo on the bike on Saturday to save my life..

I have nothing inspirational or introspective to add. I am basically a zombie and have been like this since my run. I had to go to Park Ave Bike Shop to get a new tire (to replace the one that has a huge chunk missing from my flat last weekend) and I knew the girl that was working and she was talking to me and I was just staring blankly at her. I lost 5 lbs over the weekend and I am just exhausted. I am sunburnt, windburnt, chafed, sore, and just completely drained in every possible way. Only 6 more hours until I can go to bed. :(

I do have some plans for my rest week. My apartment looks like a tornado hit it (this is the norm) but it's even worse than normal. Clothes, mail, and empty Gatorade bottles are EVERYWHERE. So I am going to clean like I have never cleaned before. Nobody has been in my apartment (except me) in ~3 months until yesterday when I had to let my neighbor in and I almost died of embarassment. I also am going to get my Zipp wheels set up with my new tires. Perhaps I will even venture out of my tri-cave and see some people (or perhaps not; I am quite the hermit).

P.S. I'd like to add that as enjoyable work is on overnights (sense the sarcasm) it just got even better as the smell of skunk is somehow wafting into our lab.

sweet sweet burnout

Today was just one of those days. A day where all I want to do is stay in bed. I did not want to go to work. I did anyways. When I got home, I just wanted to lay on the couch in my sweatpants. I seriously considered skipping my workouts and doing just that. But I knew I would regret it. I had no legitimate reason - no injury, no illness, and I've recovered from my big miles this weekend. It was just kind of dreary and chilly, but shit happens. I am attributing it to a slight burnout. But I need to push through this burnout! So I got dressed and forced myself out the door for my bike ride. Once I was on the bike, I was fine. My ride was only so-so but I FINALLY had a good run. 8:40 pace for a little over 5 miles and I felt good. Heart rate was right where it was supposed to be. My legs felt a little tired but nothing too bad.

I came home from work to find a package from Amazon waiting for me. It contained the book "Duel in the Sun" which is about an epic Boston Marathon, and the movie "American Flyers" which is a 1980s movie (with KEVIN COSTNER) about cycling. Yes I know "Breaking Away" is the requisite cycling movie but I hated Breaking Away, I thought the kid was annoying and I was bored throughout the entire movie. American Flyers is a zillion times better and if you haven't seen it - Netflix it! It's got cycling, sweet 80s tunes, ridiculous slang, and Kevin Costner with the most awesome mustache you've ever seen.

I'm still waiting for my Michelin Pro3 race tires to arrive! Tonight I think I will order a LOST shirt for the LOST finale party that BETTER HAPPEN! Also I registered for the Formula 1 Spring Classic Duathlon in a week and a half!

Also can I say I got a straight up shout out in Mary's blog. Not about training, or Ironman, or about how I am such a hardcore athlete that I am going to win Lake Placid as an amateur and dominate Kona. No no.. about my obsession with LOST. Mary is the cause of this obsession. And I thank her for it because TV does not get any better than this show. It has everything. Time travel, love triangles, monsters, hot guys, people shooting people, I could go on and on and on.. (which I have already done enough of in this blog post)..

long time

I have not written a post in a long time. Mainly because I have been very busy and nothing interesting has happened to me in a while.

Until last week. Which is when I got offered a full-time job at OCD! I took it! Totally un-related to tri but it's a big relief that I FINALLY have a stable job and I won't have to constantly worry that I may not have a paycheck. So I'm psyched about all of the benefits that come with a full-time job.

I went to my parents' house for Mother's Day weekend. So did my brother. I had a 6 hour ride scheduled for Saturday. My brother and I rode together. It was windy as hell but at least it was 70 degrees or so out when we started.



It was super flat for a while and we were keeping a really good pace (I rode the first 56 miles of the ride in under 3 hours, compared to my bike split at Musselman 1/2 IM last year when I biked ~3:02 or something similar). So I was pretty psyched because I figured we would go 112 miles, or more. And then we turned around. And then we realized the the wind was blowing even harder on the way back AND we had a big hill to ride up. And then it started to get colder. We were 5 hours in and we realized how late it was and Grant (my brother) had to be on a train to go back to NYC at 6:35. So we called my parents and had my mom come get him ASAP, and I instructed my dad to come get me at 5 pm which is when my 6 hrs was up (we had slowed down a lot due to the wind and by this time there was NO WAY I was going to make it back to the house in 6 hours). And then it started to rain. And then I ran over a wire and got a flat tire, which I had Grant change because I figured he'd be faster. While he was changing the tire, it started to SLEET. It was nuts. My mom picked up Grant at 100 miles. I made it 106.5. I was dead by the end. At the end of my 20 mins of tempo at the 5 hr mark, I just did NOT want to pedal anymore.



Although the weather did not fully cooperate, I think it's good to ride in all sorts of conditions. You never know what is going to get thrown at you in a race! Also, this was my first century ride! I hit 100 miles in about 5:33. I'm pretty psyched about that! Now I just have to work on getting a little more comfortable with the distance so I can finish feeling a little stronger!

My bike was a filthy mess which I cleaned today.

And that is the story of my life. Work, sleep, train. That's pretty much it. It's 9:40 pm and this is the last thing I'm doing before I go to sleep. Hopefully I will have more interesting posts sometime soon..