Project 5, task 1

There are many benefits of blogging.  Blogging is a way is an important way to communicate and share with key stakeholders, parents, and students in a classroom setting.  Students can create a web presence to share some of their ideas and projects. Students and teachers  have the ability to use a variety of files on their site like images, docs, videos, and more.  Sites and public or private.  Blogging is a great way for students to create projects like an e-Portfolio or WebQuest. 

Click on the link below to access PDC
https://www.pdcourses.net/

Marine Corps Marathon

Last Sunday I had the awesome experience of competing in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C.  I flew out Saturday afternoon and picked up my packet at the D.C. Armory.  I took the Metrorail all both Saturday and Sunday.  It was very convenient.  On the train I met a lady who was volunteering to help out.  Thank goodness I ran into her because I for sure would have got off at the wrong stop. Packet pick-up was like other packet pick-ups other than the Marines are all over the expo helping out.  One part that was funny was when I was in the Brooks store shopping.  I was looking for a shirt with the date on it that was not obnoxiously priced.  I was able to find one, the lady who was working felt bad because they only had extra larges left.  The shirt was a women's cut and I always have to go one or two sizes up in women's cut shirts.  So I was happy.

Going back to check into the hotel I met another gentleman named Bill. Unfortunately Bill lead me the wrong way when we got off the train to go to the hotel.  We walked a mile in the wrong direction before we realized we were going the wrong way.  Oh well.  The hotel I stayed at was the Capital Skyline, which did have a very nice view of the capital.  However, the lady checking me in was not friendly and when I do Marine Corps again I will not stay there.  I asked for late check out, she wanted to charge me $75, that is the most expensive shower I have taken, they wouldn't hold my luggage, etc.  I grabbed dinner and made my way to my room for some rest.

Typical me, I got up early to eat and get on the train to head to the Pentagon.  I met another lady, who insisted that only the blue line of the train was open, so I followed her. We talked to a gentleman on the train who told us to get off and transfer to the yellow line.  By the time the yellow line got there we could have been there on the blue line.  No matter.  Once we got off the train we had to walk about a mile to get into the starting area.  Once inside I took my back to the gear check and went to the white tent where they held a non-domination service. The gentleman giving the service was awesome and told us some motivational stories before we set out on our journey.

I walked from the tent to the starting line.  As the choir sang the Star Spangled Banner, wounded vets skydrived down with American Flags.  Talk about getting choked up.  One of the flags was so big that it could be seen miles away by people. The race got started and it was packed. I figured after a few miles it would spread out.  That would be the one thing I would say, I never felt like I got into a rhythm during the race.  I would feel like I would get going and be right back in a pack of people.  The Marines lined the course the whole way, handing out water and Gatorade, along with nutrition.  People lined the course cheering us along the way. 

The part of the race that struck me the most was between miles 12 and 13.  For at least a half mile, maybe longer, there was a row of service pictures of men and women that were killed in action.  One of the many times I lost it during the race.  This was followed by a row of people lining the course with American Flags.  During the race everyone was awesome, moving to one side or another as participants using cycles or wheelchairs would pass us.  Many of those participants were vets wounded in action.  The course passes through all the site of DC.  We did not see any politicians which was plenty fine with me.

I did see some really funny signs.  "You run better than the government." " You have stamina, call me." " You are almost there, that's what she said." People were very creative.  I managed to keep my pace in the 9's until after the half marathon  At mile 21, I decided I would walk a mile, well that turned into 4.  At mile 22, I was trying to focus and I had my head down, a gentlemen called out to me and said hey Tri Smart, you got this, you are doing to do this.  I smiled and gave him a fist pump.  I know when I saw the line of military personnel killed in action that I was finishing this race.  It might not have been pretty, but I was going to finish.  I got to mile 25 and said I am running this in. The last part of the race finishes at the Iwo Jima Memorial.  It is uphill.  The Marines lined the finished cheering us the whole way to the finish and through the finish.  They arranged so young children could run in and finish with their parents.  I was overwhelmed and in total awe of my experience.  I totally want to run this race again for many reasons, but the commrodary  was awesome. Everyone was so nice and there to help one another. 

Now that I have been on a break I am going to start to workout again, still taking time away from running and biking. Might explore some other exercise avenues for a little bit. 

Age Group Nationals-I am very humbled

Yesterday August 10th, I was honored to competed in age group nationals in Milwaukee.  To qualify you need to be in the top 10% of your age group in triathlon races or if the triathlon is a national qualifier then you need to be in the top 30%.   Last I was able to qualify, so that I could register as soon as it was open. I decided I would do the Olympic Distance (1500 swim, 24.8 bike, 10K), as it is my favorite triathlon distance.  I left for Milwaukee Friday afternoon.  The expo was held outside the Milwaukee Art Museum and Discovery World. I picked up my race packet and ran into my friend Jeff.  We chatted shortly and then I picked up my chip.  When I picked up my chip I was handed a clear plastic bag.  I was told this was what I was to bring my stuff for the race to transition, no backpacks or anything else.  This was for security reasons, post Boston Marathon and considering we have been under a terror threat since the beginning of August.  No big deal, well, the bag could have had handles or drawstrings. If that was the worse thing that happened this weekend, which is was, the weekend was pretty darn good.

I walked around the venue a little bit and listened to the race designers discuss the course. Lot of good information was presented and they answered questions.  It was there that I saw two ladies, both in their mid 70s.  They were competing in the Olympic Distance on Saturday. AWESOME!!!!!!!!! I hope I am still that energetic in my 70s. As I was walking back to my car, I saw my friend, Deb on a run.  We chatted shortly and then went our separate ways.  After checking into my hotel I met up with Jeff and Elizabeth for dinner. We ate a quiet little Italian place in Milwaukee. My nerves must have been going because I ate about half my meal before asking for a box.  Normally I would polish that down.

I slept well Friday night and got up at 4:30 to get ready to head over to the venue.  I arrived a little before 5:30, parked, and went to transition.  Of course I was early and there before they opened at 5:30.  Once they opened I went in and put my stuff down and set up.  I sat down for a while because I didn't want to go stand around outside of transition.  I met a nice lady in my age group named Deirdre.  We chatted about races and how were feeling, our families, etc.  A little before 7:00 I made a trip the little girls' room and then took what I was not going to use for the race and put it in my clear bag.  We could not leave the bags in transition and had to bring them to a gear check table.  A lot of people were upset at this whole idea.  Sorry folks, I would rather have a what I considered small inconvenience then have some thing major happen. 

The first wave was set to go off at 7:30.  Unfortunately they were not given clearance for about 15 minutes and didn't go off until 7:45, thus pushing back all the other waves.  Okay no big deal, the temperatures were not going to be obnoxiously hot and humid, high was 73 degrees when I was suppose to finish.  I don't know for sure what pushed the start back.  The only thing I can think of was that there was a stalled car on the bridge we were riding over, again probably security, safety first.

After the first wave went off, I hit the little girls' room again and met up with my friend Maxine, Jeff's wife.  I had a great spot right by the mount your bike line.  We got to see everyone we wanted.  Coolest thing I saw was this girl nail a flying mount on to her bike.  She got a lot of cheers from the crowd.  It was really neat because we saw a lot of people attempt, but for sure not nail it.  About 45 minutes before my wave I decided to head up by the pier.  I ran into Jennifer Garrison, who is a superstud.  We weren't sure of the time, but I told her that I thought we were still going off later than originally planned since we happened to be in the same wave.  After that I met up with Amy.  We talked a little bit before our wave was set to head onto the pier.  Finally we were up. 

I got in the water, they said that water was 69 degrees.  I think not.  I was freezing when I got in.  Before we were set to go some guy who was suppose to be in the wave before jumps over us excusing himself and takes off. I guess he was in the bathroom when his wave went.  So needless to say we were all set to catch him. The horn went off and I found a pack that I could swim with, just a little faster than me, but not so fast that I was sucking air on the swim.  There was of course a little bumping going on, nothing major.  Before I knew it we were turning around for the finish.  Every buoy was on the right except the last one.  We got to the last buoy right after going under the bridge and then I pushed in.  We had to use a make shift ramp that was really steep, but we had great volunteers there to help us out.  They said to lean forward, so I did, got right up the ramp.  I made my way to transition.  According to my results,  which are still messed up, I was 33 out of 150 in my age.  Okay, happy with that.  Scary, I have kind of reversed my events in triathlon.

I got my stuff ready for the bike, took a swig of my inhaler and a gel and off I went.  The bike course has some rolling hills, nothing bad and once you get up you are flying right back down.  Even on the flats I was able to hold a nice speed.  After the race I was chatting with a few friends and we all agreed that there was a headwind on the bike in every direction, which made sense because some clouds rolled in as I was getting ready to finish my ride.  Amy, is an awesome athlete, so it was a surprise to me that I came out of the swim before her. I was like when is she going to catch me on the bike. I would say about 3 miles. We cheered each other along the way when we would see it other.  I have said it many times, but I really love races where my Tri Smart teammates are there because we bring each other up.  I also saw Elizabeth going under the tunnel making her way to the finish of the bike while I was on my way out.  I made my way back and over the bridge and just let my legs get loose for the run after going up the bridge. I got passed by a number of ladies in my age group and a ton of 25-29 guys.  They were hauling!!!!

In transition again, I grabbed a swig from my inhaler and a gel.  Off to the run. My legs were a little heavy from the bike, so I started off slower than I wanted, but that was okay because after a couple miles I felt strong.  I saw Amy a couple times on the run and we cheer each other and go.  I was able to pass some people and I got passed by some people.  I would see people along the way and then it became a little game for me to see if I could hold them off until the finish.  During the course of the run I saw three ladies, all 70+ years.  Amazing.  As I would go by, I would tell them great job and how they were an inspiration to me. The run was flat, so it was great because I could pick up the pace as a I went along.  The closer I got to the finish, the faster I wanted to go, but I could only go so fast, speed is still coming back.   I got within a quarter mile of the finish and just left whatever I could out there. They announced my name as I was coming in.  I let the guy take my chip after I finished and then walked up to a lady and said "Oh you look like you want to give me a medal." She told  me  " No, but Chrissie Wellington does." For those that do not know who Chrissie Wellington is she won every Ironman competition she competed in, I believe that is 9 or 10, with three or four of them being the Kona World Championships.  So I got my medal from her and said "well thank you Chrissie Wellington. " I then made my way out of the finish area and chatted with my friend Dan for a little bit, before feeling cold and going to grab my sweats.

I have to say I know it is the national championships, but there are some mega fast people there, not only in my age group, but in general.   It is an honor to get to compete there and very humbling.  I enjoyed the venue a lot  and since I am qualified for next year's event, I plan to compete there again.  So much for taking it easy next year.  :D

Muncie 70.3

This weekend I competed in the Muncie Ironman 70.3.  My friend Maxine picked me up and we were on the road before 8:00 Friday morning.  It took a little over 4 hours to get to the convention center where packet pick-up was.  We got there looked around for a little bit, brought a few things and then went back outside to eat some lunch.  At 2:30 we went to the athlete's briefing to listen to the race director talk.  He was hysterial giving us the rules relating to the events and what we should expect during the race. After were done there we went to the race venue to look around and rack our bikes for the night. There was not any rain predicted so it was okay for that night.

Afterwards we checked into our hotel and then made our way to dinner with Team Tri Smart.  We went to a local Italian place called Johnny Carino.  Food was good and company was even better.  At dinner we shared a lot of laughs with those who came and stories of other races we have done.

Maxine and I are very similar in the fact that we like to be early to transition in the morning.  Believe it or not we were not the first ones there at 4:30 in the morning.  There were at least 20 other cars that were parked ahead of us.  We hung out in the car until 5 and then made our way into transition and got our stuff set up. 

Before the race started I met up my friends from Tri Smart friends to wish each other good luck. We listened to the national anthem and then the pros went off. I got in line to get ready for my wave to take off and chatted a little more with Maxine.  The announcer was calling out names of people, most of whom had served in our military. My wave entered the water and the announcer calls out my name as I am talking to my friend Courtney. I was raisied my hand as he tells everyone that I have been a special education teacher for 12 years.  I immediately felt my face turn bright red. I had forgot that I filled that out. Although I am sure at the time I filled it out I wasn't thinking my name would be called out. The horn for my wave went off. Those girls went out like they were swimming a 100 yard swim. Now the director said the water temperature was 75.5 degrees.  I had a difference of opinion on that. I am one that likes to be hot and I was like whoa, this is way hotter than 75.5 degrees.  In the process I let some of the girls that took off go, got myself together and calmed down.  That helped a ton.  As the swim continued I passed girls in my wave and guys from the wave in front of me.  Now I know that some of those guys I passed were going to fly by me on the bike, but it is still fun to chase them down.  I made the final turn into the finish and the sun was blinding. I was still able to look up and find my way to the finish area.  I got out of the water feeling a bit discombobulated between taking in some water that also had a nice gas taste to it and running up to transition on a carpet that covered the stones.  Since I was just getting over an injury in my hamstring I was looking down as I was running. All the sudden I heard "Go Lisa" from my friend MJ. I looked up to see where she was, but didn't see her until a few steps later.  She asked how I was doing, but all I could muster was a thumbs up.  I felt bad because I thought I was being rude. Usually I try to smile and say something. I got into transition and got ready to go out on the bike. I was happy with my swim of 33:55. My bike was not far from the bike out. 

As I head out to the bike, the street was a little bumpy,  but manageable. I got about 8 or 9 miles into the bike when fellow Tri Smart friend, Ryan came passed me. I gave him a go Ryan and continued to focus on my ride.  Finally out to Highway 35.  Awesome stretch of road. I was able to consistently keep my bike betweeen 18-20 mph.  Loved it.  Along the way came Courtney and we played cat and mouse most of the ride. There was one stretch of the ride that was a no passsing, of course people still did.  Little did I know that at this point I had a bunch of guys behind, probably the ones I flew passed on the swim.  Once we got off the stretch they switched gears and return the favor by flying pass me.  Now this stretch off road was awful.  Totally bumpy. Again Courtney and I were still playing cat and mouse. Each time we would go passed each other we would chat about our feelings on the road.  General consenus we both had, the road sucked and really hurt our whoha.  Finally made the turnaround and dealt with the bumpy road until we finally got back on 35 to head in.  YAY, now I could cruise again. Maxine came by me at mile 40 with a bunch of guys drafting on her. I wanted to say something, but I chose to just say hi Max, keep it going.  I hit the last aid station on the bike and grabbed some water. As I did a guy cut me off. Luckily I was able to gain control. I thought for sure I was going down.  I regained my composure as well because believe me there were choice words that went through my head.   On the way back I met up with Dario and Nora. I told them both that they were tough to catch.I got back into the bike in. Bike in was at a different spot than bike out.  I had a bit of a trek to my area, so I walked my bike in and slowly got myself together.  Bike time was 2:59:39. I was happy because my split were pretty even.

As I got ready for the run, I was a little nervous about it. My leg felt find, but I had not run a lot since mid June. I felt I would be okay to run 13.1 miles after biking because I knew I had trained hard with some added bike rides for this. Truthfully I wanted to just be done after the bike, but I knew deep down that the only reason I wanted to be done was because my stomach was starting to get screwed up. Well, too bad, I was not quitting because of that. For anyone who knows me, there are times in races or Bernie's basement that I just get sick and throw up. It is not something I plan for, but it happens. Of course who really plans to throw up in races. All my nutrition was the same as training. I don't know if I get so jacked up in races or what, but it happens.  So anyway, I did a run/walk for the 13.1, seeing teammates and friends along the way. On my way out of transition I saw MJ with her camera ready to go.  I smiled and gave her a thumbs up. She asked how I felt, I responded I'm a little tired, but I will be okay.  This course has rolling hills that whole way. The volunteers were awesome. I took a few sprays of water from the hose and grabbed water and ice. My plan was originally to run until I hit the aid stations. That worked through the first four miles, then I would run/walk when I felt okay.  As soon as I would feel nauseated I would walk again. Nora came by and bless her heart was willing to stay with. I told her to go ahead as I knew she was having an awesome race.  Another issue I dealt was probably being dehydrated, which I don't understand since I drank the whole ride.  I became a little nervous at the turnaround of the run because I had stopped sweating.  That was not going to stop me. I saw Debbie before the turnaround and she was having an awesome run.  After the turnaround Claire came by, also having an awesome run and looking solid. On the way back I also saw my BFF, Jim, Mike, Diane, Lee, Tim, and Kelly. I love doing races where the team is there because it is great to have that encouragement.  With about 1 mile to go Dario came by and encouraged me. I made it through the last mile and got to the finish where I saw the team tent.  I got some high fives from those at the tent and made my way to the finish.  After I got done I walked back to the tent and took off my shoes as quickly as I could.  I knew I had a blister on my left side heal of my left food. It was great to hang out with the team and watch everyone coming in.

We had a great showing at Muncie and was a ton of fun.  I was so glad for all the encouragement and team spirit.  A special thanks to MJ was being such an awesome and encouraging friend. I know just staying at the start was probably not how you wanted to watch the race, but it was great to have you out there. Big thanks to Maxine for an awesome weekend of friendship and putting all my stuff back in the car. I was for sure procrastinating on that one.

I am looking forward to getting my run back in order. It is kind of funny that when I started triathlon I got better as the race went on, now I have kind of reversed roles a little bit.   

Expect the unexpected and roll with it.

Easier said than done sometimes, but this weekend I was able to just roll with everything.  I had planned to race Tri Shark Triathlon and Leon's. I had signed up for those by the start of April. At the end of April a co-worker invited me to her wedding. So add that to the two races for this weekend.

Well, lets start with Tri Shark. On Friday I was at school helping out with a leadership conference. During our lunch I checked my email on the phone. I had two messages from the race directors at Tri Shark. The first one stated that they did not want to cancel the race and they would post pone as long as they could considering the weather conditions. The next one was canceling the swim due to ecoli levels being really high in the lake we were suppose to swim in. Okay, not happy, but a duathlon, sure why not. This was the second time I had signed up for a triathlon and it became a duathlon. The first was Steelhead in 2008 before it was Ironman branded.

I woke up early Saturday and meet BFF (Jim Quirk) and Amber to head down to the race.  We had an awesome showing by Tri Smart there. We get there set up, take a team picture and then get ready for the race. I was in wave 5 and I lined myself in the front as running is my strongest of the three, well two areas yesterday. We take off and there were some fast girls out there. My wave consisted off all females 39 and below. I was happy with the first run, two miles, I averaged 7:32s. Great. Got on my bike and off I went. OH DEAR LORD!!!!!!!!! It was so windy out there.  I of course didn't mind when it was at my back pushing me along.  There was one point I went to pass a girl and I told her I was coming on her left. She apologized and I said why because the cross wind is pushing you to the left.  She laughed and we went back and forth the rest of the race.  The tailwind was so strong that when we had it, I ran out of gears.  Then on to run number 2. I started off strong, but when I went to make the turnaround I could feel the first run in my legs. None the less I pushed through the finish and maintained 8:13 pace. It was great to see all the Tri Smart people on the turnaround and at the finish.  In the end I took 4th in my age group and got a nice trophy from the race.  From there I left with BFF to go pick up my packet at Leon's.

Due to security everyone had to pick up their packets in person. So we got there and I was feeling miserable. I started with a small headache at the end of Tri Shark and it just got massive by the time we got to Leon's. I decided to get my packet and head back home since I was going to a wedding. When I got home I took some Tylenol and laid down for just a few minutes. Then I got ready and off I went.  The wedding was beautiful, loved the colors they chose. I danced for a few songs, namely Gangdam Style, yes I know it is lost its luster, but it is still fun and anyone who saw my Facebook post from Quarryman knows how well I dance.  Slow songs came on and that is always my cue to exit the dance floor. All good. Time came for the bouquet toss and I caught it again. This is my 5th time catching a bouquet.  I kind of had an advantage, everyone else was wearing stilettos. I wore slippers, needless to say I could run back and forth, which I did. Danced for a few more songs, then decided I was tired, time to go home and get rested

Woke up early again, got gas in my car and picked up Maxine. I was glad to have someone to ride along with.  We got to the race sight and Maxine helped me put my rear wheel on my bike ( I suck at that stuff). We walked into transition after I got body marked and found a spot for my bike.  We also got to chat with our old master swim coach, Steve. People from Tri Smart started to make their way into the transition area and we chatted, then all the sudden the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. I was like are you kidding me.  Normally people wait to put their wetsuits on, nope we put them on to stay warm.  We made out way off transition and took a team picture. Leon's does a great job paying honor to our country and service men and women. The girl that sang the Star Spangled Banner was awesome, then we had a fly over from the Lima Lima planes.  Most of the guys from Tri Smart were in the same wave as me, so we hung out and talked until we got into the water. Now you know there is a problem when the water is the warmest part of your race. Today was that case and it was not because we were all peeing in it, that just helped.  I jumped in and got myself positioned for the swim start and off we went.  All the sudden I was like where the hell am I, the bouys are way to my left. So I swam that direction and got on course. I had talked to Maxine before the race because she had just been in the water and asked how it was. CHOPPY and she wasn't kidding. I felt like I drank half the lake. We made our first left turn and I could smell and taste the gas from the boats. I was like great, I am going to puke at some point in this race. As we made the last turn, Leon's has a huge American Flag at the finish, perfect for sighting. Got out of the water and made my way to transition with BFF, MJ, Maxine, and other cheering all the Tri Smart people on. I start to take my wetsuit off and I said to two other Tri Smart teammates, "umm you know it is cold when there is steam coming off your wetsuit and you after the swim.  This is going to be an interesting bike ride." AND IT WAS. I didn't bring anything for my arms and to be honest I don't think it would have made a different because I am Captain Wimpy when it comes to the cold. CAN'T STAND IT. So I'm on my way and I see BFF and I was like hey by the way it is cold, he told me to speed up.  The bike is a two loop course( although,it was long again this year, not by too much). Part of the bike course is on the closed down part of Cline Ave. It was brutal on that part, no other way to describe it.  Just cold and rainy, it got to the point on the second loop that I was watching people because I could hardly see out of my sunglasses (I know it was not sunny, but they are protection too again flying debris, there was plenty). As I started the second loop BFF asked if I was warm yet, umm no, so I was told to go faster. I saw MJ and Michelle and they were funny because they were like oh go Lisa. Second loop was similar to the first. I think I managed to find and hit every pothole out there on both loops. As I was coming into the finish, there was Brax from Urban Tri Gear cheering me.  He just makes me laugh because he is so into the sport. Got done and thought yay, time to run.  Yeah, not so much.  My legs were trashed. So I decided to just take it one mile at at time on the run. That ended up being a good plan. Again I got to cheer on teammates on the out and backs.  The last stretch was the toughest because it is just over a mile and a half long and for a little bit of time I felt like the finish was not getting closer, but it did. Coming in were all my Tri Smart friends to cheer me into the finish. I got done and Leon was there to personally thank and congratulate everyone that finished. Yes, this race cost me a lot of money for an Olympic distance, but the personal touch that Leon has, makes up for the cost. I for whatever reason walked past where they gave the finisher medals. Oh well.

All and all despite that today was brutal, I am glad I raced. I feel that I have become stronger in some sense and it was fun no matter. I am going to sleep well. As a matter of fact, after I teach yoga in the morning, I am coming home and going back to bed. At least for one day I will do that, back to training on Tuesday. :)

2013-ready to roll

It has been a few months since I have written a blog, not much to report.  Like many members of Tri Smart I have signed up for Ironman Louisville and Ironman 70.3 Muncie. I have also signed up for Tri Shark in June. I plan on signing up for the Palos Half Marathon and the Marine Corps Marathon, also the 8 hour triathlon relay that we did last year.  I was born on the 13th of the month of June, so I do feel that 2013 will be an awesome year.

Events started today with Tri Smart's swimapoolza at the Core in Lemont.  This is the third year I have done it and I have enjoyed each one.  You get to choose to swim 100x100 yards, 100x 75 yards, or 100x 50 yards. The intervals go off every 100 seconds.  Two years ago I did 100x75 and I felt great the whole time.  Last year I started off doing the 100s, but after 67 I had to move down to the 75s.  This year I went back and forth with what I was going to do during the week, but when I woke up this morning I decided on the 75s. REALLY GLAD I DID!!!!!!!!! MJ, my awesomely good friend and coach told me yesterday that this was suppose to be fun and do what I wanted to do to have fun.  That is great advice for me because there are time when my ego needs to get checked and realized that I do these kinds of events because I have fun, not to prove anything (well sometimes I have to prove something to myself). The reality is that I am not a professional athlete, nor am I going to be a professional athlete. I compete and do events because I have fun with my friends. We laugh, we encourage each other, today we got to catch up on what was going on with each other a little bit.

I got to the Core at 7 to have with some set up stuff. MJ went over the gist of things for swimapoolza and then we got in the water.  The way this works is we do 50 of whatever distance you chose, take a 15 minute break, and then do the last 50.  The pool is a six lane pool, so there were two lanes of each distance.  I made up my mind and got in the lane I wanted to be in.  Soon to join me were my friends, Sara, Jenny, Maxine, Liz, BFF (Jim) and a few others.  Sara and I were laughing right before we started because the lane next to us was chatting amongst themselves. They were swimming 100s and planned to swim them in 1:15.  Oh boy, like I said REALLY GLAD I CHOSE 75s.  I might be able to a 1:15 100 out of my rear end one time, but to do the 100 times, no.  So we started and I started to lead. I lead the first 25 of the first 50 we did.  We'd get to the wall and chat a little bit with each other, then take off for the next interval.  Sara lead the second 25 of the first set of 50.  We had a pretty consistent pace the whole way. Then it was time for the 15 minute break.  During that time we took a picture of everyone there and shared some stories of the first 50 intervals.

Now the break was over and we got back in. I went in front again.  We lost some people from our lane to go swim the 50s and then as the second set of 50 was going we gained some people that were doing the 100s. I lead the first 3 and then one of the guys from the 100s asked if he could lead, sure go for it. He lead for a while and then a guy who came in from the 100s asked if he could lead.  That was my oh boy moment for the day. I felt bad because I kept swimming up on this guy. I would wait at the wall before taking off, on my turns, anything, but I kept catching him. Finally when we got to start number 85 I asked if I could go back in front, so I lead until 90. With 10 left we had 8 people in the lane, so we decided to take turns leading the last 10 and wow did those go by.  After we finished I was a little out of it and figured the showers were going to be packed, so I just say out of the pool, probably looking a little pathetic, but none the less, just coming back into my own.  I chatted with my friend Sue for a little bit.

Afterwards, 30 of us went over to 3 Corners in Lemont. Again more fun times to catch up with people, laugh about anything and everything, just fun times. As I told MJ tonight between texts, I have never left a Tri Smart event or an event that Tri Smart was at not having a good time.  2013 is going to be a year full of fun and excitement.  I am looking forward to many aspects of the year, socially, athletically, and everything.

And so we start

I have been a little behind the eight ball lately, so many things going on in the last month.  As many of you know school started.  I has some mixed feelings about going back. Like many teachers, I always want a longer summer.  It didn't help that about 3 weeks before school started I got a really bad case of Shingles.  I was miserable and had to take time off from training, I was barely leaving my bed. When I finally did feel better, I would go workout, then come straight home and go back to bed for at least three hours.  To make matters even more crazy, when I did start working out again, I felt terrible on my runs.  What was this all about.  Turns out I needed new orthotics for my shoes and my sciatica nerve was bothering me a ton.  I decided I was not going to compete at the Dells in the Olympic Distance triathlon. I figured I would give myself an extra week not only to recover from being sick, but also to heal from my injury.  Turned out to be a good plan.

I went back to work for institutes and planning on August 13th.  This year was going to be different. For the last three years I have been co-teaching in a classroom and we would sit down to plan once a week. Now I would have three of my own classes and only two co-taught classes.  I have two periods of US History, oh my goodness, I have not taught that since like my first of second year teaching. Lucky for me, one of the co-taught classes I am teaching is in US History and get to work with a  great group.  Phew that was helpful.  I also have an Algebra 1, part 2 that is my own.  I wasn't sure what to expect when the kids came back to school on the 16th.  I will say that after having them for 12 days, I really enjoy my US History classes.  We have some awesome discussions and they ask a lot of good questions when we are taking notes. That is not to take away from my Algebra 1, part 2 class, just a difference in the two subjects and probably the time of the day I have the students.

So during the first weekend of school I decided that I was going to compete in the Pigman Olympic Distance triathlon.  I was suppose to do Age Group Nationals, but between cost and the fact that I would have likely had to take the second day of school off so I could travel to them, I decided not to go. We had a group going out to compete there, I was the only one doing the Olympic Distance, everyone else was doing the half Ironman.  I didn't know what to expect when we got there race day.  This was the first year they had an Olympic Distance. We went off first with a time trial start (1 person every few seconds). Well, in the water they told oh you go to the buoy with the bag on it and turn right.  Nice idea, except none of us can see when the sun in our faces.  I had to make a slight detour, but then I got back on course.  The guys went before the women, so it is always kind of nice to pass them in the water, some of course get me right back on the bike or  the run, but still, I had fun.  I came out of the water feeling pretty good, could kind of feel my rear end starting to hurt, but not enough that I was going to stop. I got on my bike and off I went.  There was a small stretch that was a little bumpy and had railroad track, but overall, I really liked this bike course, the streets were newly paved and you could fly on there.  For the most part I was in no man's land on the bike. The nice part was that it was an out and back (although I do suck at 180 turnarounds), so I could see all my buddies that were in the half Ironman beginning their journey on the bike.  The only bad part about the bike was  there was one hill on the way back that I just felt like I was going no where, the wind was in my face and I was relieved when I was finally up it and got to turn back into the park.  As I was coming off my bike, the announcer says, this is Lisa Simon from Romeoville, she is a special education teacher and she also wants to teach yoga.  I was like how they hell did he know that, oh yeah, I put that in the box when I registered. As I was in the transition area going from the bike to the run, I saw my friend, Dawn. She was there to cheer all of us on, which was so awesome of it. She told me that I was in 4th place overall female. I was like really, that is so cool. I for sure was not expecting that.  Okay, now comes the part that I normally am not nervous about, but totally was that day, the run.  I only had to run a 10K.  So I decided I was just going to take it one mile at a time.  Off I went, okay, not feeling anything here.The run was a course with a few rolling hills, but no shade.  Okay fine, it was so beautiful out.  This was also an out and back course, which was great because it gave me a chance to see where anyone that was female and might be in my age group was. I saw the first 3 females on my way out, they were flying. During the run I got passed by a few guys and a few girls.  I passed mile 5 and I was like okay, 1.2 to go, lets see what I have left.  I knew this was not going to be a day where I was going to run 7:30-7:45.  I knew I had a good swim and good bike under my belt.  I came in and there was Dawn telling me that I was the 6th place overall female.  The announcer again announced that it was Lisa Simon from Romeoville, IL who is a special education and would like to teach yoga. Then he told me to do a sun salutation.  Okay, if you say so.  I am sure the photographer got a great picture of that.  I ended up winning my age group, which was awesome too. Then I enjoyed the rest of the day cheering on my cool Tri Smart friends in their awesome adventure.

Monday I am planning to run the Oakbrook Half Marathon. It will be a fun day.  As the beginning of the training season I would have told you that I wanted to break 1:40 in the half marathon.  I am just going to go out and see what I can do, enjoy the day.  Next up, do I dare say Ironman Louisville?

8 HOT

What is 8 HOT?  This would be 8 hours of triathlon.  Actually you had a choice to do the duathlon as well, but my friend Sue and I decided we wanted to do the 8 hours of triathlon.  7 of us went to Lake Mills to do this event, they also have a 24 hour event. 8 hours sounds much nicer.  We had three 2 person teams and one solo.  The way this works is that you have 8 hours or 24 hours depending on which event you signed up for to get in as many  triathlons or duathlons  in. You can bank the the different areas, but Sue and I decided to just go in the normal order and switch off the entire 8 hours. This worked out nice that this was a Friday event because Sue and I are both teachers, we're off for the summer.

Really, we had no game plan until the night before.  We decided that Sue would start off the first swim, then I would bike, she would run.  The next triathlon, I would swim, Sue would bike, and I would run. We alternated like this all 8 hours.  This worked well.  The distances are one-tenth the Ironman distances, so today the swim was .24 miles, bike was 11.2 miles, and the run was 2.62 miles.  We thought the that after the run, having to bike so close would take it tolls.  I think we were both fine. If we did the 24 hour that way, that could have been tough.  So the whole group starts shortly after 7 AM this morning.  Our first team-Team Tri Smart came out the leaders, then team Tri Buddies followed, then my teammate, then our solo teammate.  I got started on the bike and I was like oh man, I have to bike this again today.  The course was a little bumpy and had a lot of gravel on the turns.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I hate gravel on turns. I totally slow down. To make matters worse, all the sudden my aero handlebar on the right is lopsided, you have to be kidding me. I fixed it in transition the first time.   Also on the first bike our solo athlete passes me.  My thoughts were , umm, am I that slow on the bike or did he go out too fast?  Needless to say we got back to transition and off Sue went on the run. 

The next time I swam and ran.  So I get ready to go into the swim.  I opted out of wearing a wetsuit because mine currently has a hole in it and I didn't want to try to put on a wetsuit all sweaty.  Sue gets back from an awesome run leg and I head down to the lake. I get into the water and my first thought was whoops, probably should have brought that wetsuit, but after swimming a little bit, I was like, okay, glad I didn't bring the wetsuit.  I caught up with our solo athlete and after taking a few detours on the swim, I was out.  Sue took off on the bike and I started to get ready for the run.  The great thing about our team, is that we are just that.  We had the Tri Smart team tent set up in transition along with a ton of food.  We had a bike rack for our bikes.  It was awesome.  Sue came back from the bike and off I went on the run.  The run is 1.31 out and then back.  It is mainly on the sidewalks of the park area and then the neighborhoods.  I felt good. I was wondering how I was going to feel with all the stop and go stuff. 

The next triathlon I was just biking.  Well, I thought I had fixed my area bar, WAY WRONG.  As soon as I hit a bump I was riding lopsided again.  REALLY, come on.  Oh well, it is 11.2 miles, suck it up Simon. As I get to the turnaround on the bike, it is really tight, so again being a girly I unclip my foot out of my bike and start to turnaround.  I think the nice man at the turnaround gave me a little extra credit, he told me I earned a 6 on that turn.  It was more like 3 or 4. 

I get back and decide that I am going to see how Sue and I are doing.  I look up the current results, wow, we are in first place in the 2 person women's division.  Okay great, we were 7th overall at that time of all the different teams.  That's great.  I kill a little more time in the tent area and then get ready to swim again.

I felt the day went pretty fast, before I knew it we were going in to hours four and five.  Wow, okay I like this.  All through the day Tri Smart members cheered each other on, as did most of the other participants in the race.  We supported one another and helped each other. That is probably one of the main reasons the day went fast for me.  I was having so much fun the whole time.  I think about the only time I had anything bad to say was when I heard the race director announcing that there was a cop driving around threatening to ticket us on the bike for riding through stop signs.  I know this is a safety issue, but I also know that many of us slow down drastically at intersections.  My friends from Team Tri Buddies told me this guy was in an unmarked car and his idea of stopping was unclipping out of your pedal and putting one foot down.  Glad he was gone by the next time I got on the bike. 

By the time we got to the last hour and fifteen minutes. I had one run left.  I figured at this point we could start our 7 triathlon, but we would only get through the swim and the bike.  Sue went off to the swim and I waited for her  after I was done running. I failed to mention earlier, only one person from the team can be on the course at a time.  Sue quickly swam the .24 and then I was off.  Most of the last ride was uneventful, but at the turnaround I saw a lady who was the winner of the 24 hour solo triathlon.  Now we are not even in the same race, but I just felt that I should not get caught by her, so I worked as hard as I could on that last bike.  When I got to the finish, Sue was waiting for me with our other Tri Smart teammates.  We got some pictures as everyone was coming in and then wait for awards.

Awards came and Sue and I won our division. Team Tri Smart also came in first and Tri Buddies came in third in the co-ed division.  Our solo athlete came in third in the men's solo. I got a little chuckle at the end when I finally realized that Sue and I were able to get in 6 and 2/3 triathlons. The winners of the men's 2 person team did the same amount as us.  Way to go us!!!!!!!!!  I had so much fun at this event.  It was great to be around my Tri Smart Teammates.  The people volunteering and organizing were a lot of fun and very supportive.  All and all it was a great time had by all.

Dances with Dirt

When I was thinking ahead to races this year, I said I didn't want to to do anything longer than half marathons and Olympic Distance Triathlons.  I was talking to my friend, Dawn during the winter season and she mentioned that she was doing this Dances with Dirt Half Marathon, which is she last year.  It is a trail marathon, all trails, some single track trails.  I decided to sign up because it was something different.

We left Friday to travel up to Baraboo, Wisconsin, by the Dells.  In our car was Dawn, Roger, Kurt, Amanda, and me.  Kara and Mary joined us later. The trip up was an adventure alone.  What should have been a three hour trips tops, turned into a five hour trip.  We managed to run into every construction zone possible, along with people who just can't drive. We stopped in Rockford to eat because we were starving at that point.  After a few more delays in construction we finally got to Baraboo, checked into our hotel and then went to Sprecher's for dinner. Each of tried a beer or other alcoholic beverage with our dinner.  I enjoyed some beer cheese soup ( can we see how serious this race really is). After dinner we walked around the Dells a little bit and then headed back to the hotel.

We woke up around 5AM to get ready to leave for the race. The nice thing about this race is that it is very low key.  The race has a few races during the day, a 50 mile, 50 K, marathon, half marathon, and 10K. We were walking around to get in line for our bibs and shirts and I see my friend, Paul from high school. We both ran cross-country and track and field. We chatted for a little bit and then I headed back to the car to put some stuff away.  Before the race we took at picture and went to the starting line.  At first there was some talk of running together.

The race started and maybe 100 meters into, it goes to single track, which also meant big back-up, already stopped. Kurt and I got out a little ways ahead of Dawn, Kara, and Mary because they were stuck in the "second" wave ( really no waves were designated). I saw them and Kurt and I turned around to walk back to them.  Being me, I said, okay, we're done, we're calling a day, got a few laughs from people.  We stayed together maybe a half mile, before Kurt and Kara were gone. A little later Dawn went around me, which was good because I was trying to figure out a way to go around the people in front of me, too much walking and slowing down. Dawn, Mary, and I got to the first mile in 17 minutes. WOW, we killed that didn't we.  Keeping in mind, we had to go down the same hill we went up when we were going to the finish.  At some point Mary went around and it was Dawn and me until a little after mile 4, where the second aid station was.  Finally I felt like I was in a groove and just started to go.  The one nice thing about trail runs, at least I feel this way, is when you can get into a groove, you feel faster than you are really going. 

I was kind of in my own little land for the next few miles.  I got to the turnaround and I was told it is beautiful from the bluff.  Only problem for me is I am afraid of heights. I took one look out and freaked. People were stopped, taking pictures, nope, not me. I put my head down and refused to look out. At this point this guy named Dave was running with me.  We ran the remainder of the race together. This was his 4th time doing this race.  He volunteered at Ironman Wisconsin a few years ago, but had no desire to compete in an Ironman. I mentioned that I did Ironman Wisconsin last year and that is was a great town, enjoyed the race a lot.  Before I knew it were were pasted nine miles. Okay, I couldn't believe how fast the race was going, it did help were now going downhill, instead of uphill.  The last 5K was all single track. I was being a little girl at this point.  Several times during the race I nearly bit it and fell over.  Since I had managed not to fall, I wasn't about to start.  I just watched my footing in front of me and tried to make sure that I was picking up my feet.  Then before I knew it, I was in the open field again, 100 meters from the finished.  I heard Roger and Kurt yelling and started to make my way to the finish.  Afterwards I chatted with Paul and my friend Bridgitt for a little bit and then it was time to go back home. 

This course is not a PR course, but it is challenging and a ton of fun.  I enjoyed the fact that it was different and challenging.  So if you are looking for something different, challenging, and fun, I would recommend this race.

New Shoes

So anyone who knows me, knows that there are just some changes that I do not do well with, won't even consider. Imagine that, a special education teacher, who has trouble with change. Funny, how I tell the kids I teach to just go with it and there are many times, that I can't do that.  Anyways, I'm off topic.  I have been a runner since I was 12,  well, I got really serious when I entered high school.  A runner's shoes are their most important piece of equipment they have.  Since I was a sophomore in high school, I have been wearing Asics.  My college coach did try to convert me to Adidas.  That lasted maybe 6-8 weeks and I had gone through at least 3 pairs of shoes.  I kept wearing them back heals. So, as I said, I have been wearing Asics, I believe I started with the 1100 and just kept following the model changes.  At this point I am at the 2700.   I figured they work, let it be.  I have not had any issues, so why change.

A few weeks ago, I was presented with the idea of trying out Mizuno's shoes.  Hmm, well, okay. Wait, again the person who does not change and has been wearing Asics since they were a sophomore in high school, is going to try a different brand of shoes.  What is the world coming to?  It took a little bit, but I finally got my shoes, the Mizuno Nexius 6.  Now this is funny to some of you.  In my Asics I wear a 5 1/2, yes I know my feet are just huge, NOT!!!!!!!  When I was looking through the different models for Mizuno, none of them were below a 6.  Was this going to be a problem, only one way to find out.  I called the representative and asked if they had a 5 1/2, he said, no, okay, I'll try a 6.  Oh by the way, I know my feet are small, but they are flat, like pancakes have more shape then my feet. My feet are so flat, that when I went to my podiatrist in high school to get my inserts the doctor took one look at my feet and say oh no.  Keep in mind when I went to the podiatrist I was sixteen, a junior in high school who was having an awesome track season, had big plans to be All-State. Oh no, really, lots of panic there. Needless to say we fixed that.  My feet are also wide, is this shoe good for those kind of feet.  Yes, the Nexius are a good fit, name and address please. 

So my shoes arrived and I finally got to wear them tonight during our track workout.  I felt great. I was a little nervous about trying the shoes out during an interval workout, but I felt great, I felt light on my feet, no issues with slipping, they fit great.  So change is not so bad after all.  I am excited for my next run and can't wait to see how I feel in my shoes.  

Wisconsin Tritenium

Seems like I have been doing a lot of racing during the month of June, actually this month has just been a lot of everything, racing, yoga training, summer school, but that is me, I just like to be busy and not sitting around. So this weekend I decided to compete in the Olympic Distance at the Wisconsin Tritenium.  I had not heard of this race until my friend, Maxine mentioned it to me earlier this year. I was trying to figure out races to compete in and at the time none were looking all that appealing.  I wanted to keep this year's races to Olympics or less as far as triathlons were.  So I decided to sign up.

Now since I have returned from my yoga training in Sedona, I can't exactly say I have felt like myself. My sleep patterns are all over the place, probably should stop the 2-3 hour naps after summer school. Friday I felt pretty good on my pre-race workout. However, things seem to be a little crazy after that. I went to the dentist, only to have the receptionist tell me she changed my appointment until 10 AM instead of 9AM, really because where am I going to go now.  Then I looked at my checking account, the hotel charged me twice for my stay. I called there and the lady said I had to call me bank, that it was their error, of course the bank says otherwise.  Basically the hotel just had to send me information and a release so I could have the money back in my account Saturday morning.  You would think that would be easy.  Nope, as I am driving up to the Madison/Verona area I get a call from the bank, the hotel messed up some of the information, so I call them and I get the manager.  I have to say I have been so disappointed with customer service these days.  People are just rude. This guy was not any different. He of course tells me it's the bank and I have to call them back, but I better hurry because he's leaving in 20 minutes and if he doesn't fix it, it won't get changed.  Okay, so how bout you just resend the information?  So I call the bank back and asked the guy to three way call the hotel.  The manager starts ripping on me. I was like are you kidding me.  Finally the teller from the bank says umm, she is on the phone.  Then they start to argue with each other. I was like are you kidding me? So finally we get it figured out that the hotel manager is going to send the fax again. He claimed he was hanging up until he heard me say, if this is how they are going to treat customers I will not ever return this hotel.  Then he decided to tell me he was still on the line. Hey good, because I am not kidding and by the way, I have friends that stay here frequently when they come to ride the Madison course. Finally that gets fixed and the money was back in my account this morning. 

I go to the Trek store in Madison to pick up my packet. Now I am notorious for forgetting stuff.  Sure enough I did this time. I forgot a sandwich for the morning and body glide.  I stopped at Walgreens and got some stuff for a peanut butter sandwich.  After eating dinner I finally got to the hotel, a little worried about what was going to happen.  Well, the staff that was there was very nice and made me feel at home. I went to my room and watched the Olympic trials for a little bit and then off to bed.

I got up at 4:30 to get ready for the race, ate my sandwich and then headed over to the course. It is a good thing I like to be early, got great parking.  As I walking in, this is actually when I remembered that I left my body glide at home.  I listen to the race director talking and he said the water was 80 degrees.  This race is not a USAT sanctioned race, so I could wear my wetsuit without missing out on awards if I placed.  I kind of pondered and then asked a lady by me if I could use her glide around my neck, wrists, and ankles, She was fine with that.  Still pondering, I discovered a hole in my wetsuit, okay decision made, no wetsuit.  They have a sprint and Olympic course here, the sprint went first. I sat around and eventually started to chat with some gentlemen around me. I guess last year this race was cut short due to the storms.  As I got to the bike course I realized why the times in my age group from last year seemed so fast.

7:44 my wave took off for the swim.  This course has a three loop swim, you have to get out, run over the map on each loop.  I have to say, I really didn't care for that.  I was fine running around, but getting back in, it took me a little to get back into my groove.  I was also glad that I didn't wear the wetsuit. I am one of those people that is always cold and I felt like I was boiling in that water.  Finally I am done with the swim, run out and get to the transition area, got on the bike, and off I went.

Now the bike is advertised as being on part of the Ironman Wisconsin course.  That is true for about 2-3 minutes of the bike.  If anyone has ever started the bike at Fireman's Park, you head under the bridge and then take the right up the hill. After the hill we went left, instead of right.  This is where I really realized how much of the race last year must have been cut short.  Holy hills.  For anyone training for Ironman Wisconsin, the bike course for the Olympic is a great reason to do this race. There were very few flats and lot of long or steep or both hills.  I am pretty sure that within the first five miles of the bike I MF'ed the course several times. What the hell was I thinking? The bike is a kind of a two looper. We have to do the square twice. There were some hills, I was like are there yet? So on this square is Observatory Road.  We were told in the preview that after the downhill we would be making a left hand turn.  Yeah, this downhill is one of those that you could probably go 35+ mph at least without pedaling at all.  Needless to say I knew the turn was coming, so I kept gently braking on the way down.  Then you make the turn and you have to go back uphill, this is where I made a bonehead move and switched gears too fast. Crap, there goes my chain.  I nearly bit it, but I was able to get over to the side safely and fix my chain.  As I was getting ready to go, one of the volunteers ran over to me and gave me push up to get started.  That was nice of him.  Okay, up there and past a few more hills I am not starting the second square.  A lady from Madison Multisport was passing me and she says "okay, onto loop 2." We went back and forth a little bit on this loop and one time as she was passing me I was like we don't have these hills in Illinois.  She laughed and said, well, this course is tough, even for those of us from Wisconsin.  So the next time I got to Observatory,  I left my gears on a easier gear so that when I switched to my small ring, I wouldn't lose my chain again. I thanked the man who helped me and went on.  As I was going up the hill after Observatory, I felt a mini spasm in my back. REALLY, hell no, don't even start I am not stopping.  This went on a few more times on my way to the bike in.

I started on the run. Now this is usually my favorite part of triathlons, not so much today.  A gentlemen caught me about a quarter mile into the run as asked if I was having fun.  My response was to be honest, no, I feel awful right now.  Oh the run is also 3 loops.  In my head, I am thinking well, the run should be flat.  WRONG.  About a half mile into the run we take a right turn and go up.  My first thought is I have to go up this hill three times, ahh damn it all.  Needless to say my run up the hill was more like a trout, but I was bound and determined that I was not going to walk.  It's six miles, there is no walking damn it. I get done with the first loop and go through to hit the mats (yes we had to run over the mats 3 times to make sure no one cheated). During the run I saw my friend from Madison.  She would say hello Illinois and I would reply, hello Wisconsin.  So now I have a goal, lets see if I can catch her and maybe have someone to run with.  I did end up catching her a little bit after mile 4, but she told me to go ahead because she was going to walk.  There was another girl that I was chummy with on the bike that I would see on the run. We'd cheer each other on too. I have to say, it was a friendly competition, maybe because we were all hurting from the bike.  Finally I see mile 6 and make the turn to the finish. 

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I grabbed some water  and a lady asked how I was. I told her I was a little dizzy. She informed me there were paramedics. Hmm, a few of those guys are cute, but I passed.  The crazy part was that after I went to get my results I stood in the shade for a little bit. I was sweating uncontrollably. That made some sense because I was not sweating on the run, which did make me a little nervous.  Only problem now was that I couldn't stop sweating. I decided to leave. I was 10th in my age group.  While, I was disappointed in my run split, I was happy.  I gave a lot on the bike and it did probably cost me in the run, but I can say that I didn't leave anything on the course. I would recommend this race as a trainer if you are considering Ironman Wisconsin.  Honestly, I didn't like the 3 loops on the swim and run, but the bike course was awesome. If I ever do Ironman Wisconsin again, I would sign up for this race, just based on the bike.  In all honestly the 3 loops on the run didn't bother me a lot because I was like oh I am back here again. Afterwards I headed back to Illinois for a graduation party. My cousins wanted to know why I wasn't swimming, hmmm.  They were like you can swim in your triathlon suit.  Umm, no it is nasty and going into the wash.

I get a little break from triathlons and I think in that time, I am going to work on riding hills.  

Pleasant Prairie

Today I competed in the Pleasant Prairie Triathlon.  We had some Tri Smart people going up.  I went up Thursday to pick up packets for myself and a few friends.  To start today, I got up at 2:15 AM. Now those of you that know me well, know I am an early riser, but even that is early for me.  I was like what the hell am I thinking.  I left my house about 2:45 to meet BFF (Jim) at the Lifetime in Burr Ridge.  We drove up together and chatted about what we wanted to do in the race.  We got there and were able to park near our friends, Bernie and MJ.  BFF and I were competing in the sprint, MJ, Bernie, Forest, Brian, and Liz were competing in the Olympic Distance.  While we were all sitting in transition the announcer stated that the bike portion of the Olympic was short because there was construction.  I wasn't doing the Olympic distance, but that sucks.  At 5:45 we took a group shot and did our last minute stuff before having to leave transition.

The Olympic Distance waves went first.  BFF, Forest and I sat around for a little bit and then Bernie and MJ joined us.  We made some jokes that triathletes make amongst each other. Then Forest's wave took off followed by Bernie and then MJ.  Now for whatever reason, I had it in my head that my wave took off at 7:21.  I was looking for other women with purple caps and they weren't anywhere to be seen. Finally one girl came by me. I was like umm, aren't we suppose to go at 7:21, she said no, we were the last wave.  Last wave again, okay fine.  I wished BFF one final good luck before he took off. Then it was my turn, I put myself in the front with my group.  We took off and I start catching some of the guys from the wave in front of me (white caps), then a few from the wave in front of them (black caps), then some ladies from the wave in front of the black caps. I was like, okay, I'm swimming well, despite that I have only swam once in the last 2 weeks.  I was little warm in my wetsuit, but that was okay, it wasn't that bad. Out of the swim and into transition. I felt like I was in there for ever.

I finally got out to the bike course.  After the first hill, which was shortly out of transition, I felt my legs starting to turn and thought, this is going to be a pretty good bike.  I just concentrated on staying strong and focusing on the person or people in front of me.  There were a few turns that I slowed down because I was like oh sharp turn.  Towards the last 3 miles Bernie caught me. He was on loop 2 for the Olympic Distance. It was nice to hear a familiar voice.  As I was making my way back to transition, there was a section where the Olympic Distance athletes had to make a U-turn to go on the second loop. Well, that was a bad spot. Two bikers collided right there. I was like Oh my god. They both fell hard, but both got up with road rash and carried on.  Awesome.  Off the bike and into transition I got my running shoes on and then put my hat on as I was on the way out.

 I started off on the run and just kept concentrating on my form.  Prior to leaving for my yoga training my read end started to bother me. After looking at my shoes, I discovered I needed new shoes and took care of that before I left for training. I do not start my watch in races because then I am constantly looking at it.  Basically I just kept trying to get the people in front of me. The run does a lot of out and backs on the Olympic course. Needless at our turnaround I was happy to be going the opposite way.  So okay, just a little over a mile to go, lets see what I have left in the tank.  Normally this is a bad idea for me, but today I did alright and did not throw up at the finish (sorry that I disappointed you Bernie, I will try not to disappoint you in my future races).  After I finished I went back to find BFF and we cheered on the others as they came in.

We had a great showing by Tri Smart. BFF was 2nd in his age group, MJ was 2nd in her age group, Bernie won his age group, and I was 3rd in my age group.  Overall I was happy with my race, I would have liked a faster time on my run, but that is okay, there are plenty more races this season.  WAY TO GO TRI SMART!!!!!!!!

Baptiste Level 1 training

Wow, so much has been going on in the last two weeks,   I went to my Baptiste Level 1 training in Sedona, Arizona. I left Friday June 8th to travel to Sedona. I had to fly into Phoenix and then we took a shuttle to the information center in Sedona.  From there we took another shuttle to Mago Garden. This was an experience.  We drove 10 miles up a bumpy dirt road.  It was very secluded.  During the course of the ride to Mago Garden, I saw something fly in front of the car. The driver told the four of us in the van that it was a bat.  I was like are you kidding me, bats, I do not want anything to do with bats.  Then he also proceeded to tell me that he had seen a mountain lion once or twice.  DUDE, why are you telling me this, I am going to be walking around at night.  Are you kidding me? We finally get to the reception area. They were nice and stayed open because we arrived late.  I found out what room I was in and went to meet my roommate. My roommate was from Boston, awesome young lady. 

Saturday we didn't start anything until 6 PM, so we spent most of the day walking around the retreat area and taking pictures.  At dinner, the assistants that were a part of the level 1 training gave us an idea of what kind of time schedule to expect and who we would need to go if we needed something.  Now, this retreat is secluded as I mentioned, once you are there, you are there, if you leave, you leave for good. There are no stores like Walmart, Jewel, Walgreens, etc.  We did have coin operated laundry, but most of us decided to wash our clothes in the shower and let them dry in the heat, after all it was dry.  There was a gift shop in the Welcome Center where we could get some supplies if we needed them.  There was also a lounge in the Welcome Center with WiFi.  Cell phone reception was not very good.

After dinner we all went into Mago Hall, where we would have chair sessions and practice yoga.  It was there that Baron Baptiste made his appearance.  We practiced yoga for about an hour and half, then had a few minutes to change and come back to a chair session.  Afterwards we went to sleep for the night. We were up early the next morning for breakfast and a hike. During the hike we talked with people in the group.  After the hike we went into Mago Hall for a yoga practice.  This was where I lost it the first time.  We were in the middle of a practice and my mind was all over the place. Baron stopped the practice to break down some of the poses we do during yoga. I kept thinking to myself, what am I doing here, I am going home, what was I thinking.  Funny, how the mind works because as soon as I thought to myself, I am going home, my next thought was, umm where the hell are you going to go, you don't know anyone here, your flight does not leave until Saturday, get it together.  I was also crying at this point, but no one would have noticed because I was so sweaty.  Finally I got it together and I was like, just take it one hour at a time, stop thinking so far ahead.

I got to realize this was going to be intense, but in the end I would be happy and enjoying life.  To describe the intensity, mentally I felt like I was doing an Ironman everyday.  The physical practice itself was fine for me for the most part.  I did struggle with the chair sessions, but I am glad we did them. The chair sessions gave all of us a chance to work through junk we were going through. I was not one for getting in front of the group for my own personal reasons, but that didn't mean that I was not going to be in front of the group.  Tuesday night during a chair session we had to make a commitment to the group.  We each stood up and made the commitment. As I started, Baron stopped me and told me to come in front of the group.  Funny thing was I was talking to a gentlemen prior to having to do this and I said I am sure at some point I will be in front of the group, kind of figured it would that night after I said that.  After I went back to my seat, he was like oh you didn't seem nervous at all.  I was like I just wanted to make my commitment and sit down.

At night, starting about the 3rd day of training we started to do practice teachings.  We were in groups of 6-7.  My group was a group of 6 and we were called Fireworks, basically if you sing the lyrics to the Katie Perry song, that was why were called Fireworks.  We had a lot of fun with each other.  My birthday fell on that Wednesday of the training. They made it so special since I was not at home in my friendly confines.  Wednesday was also one of those days, where I could have done a swim workout on my mat based on how much I sweated. I believe we did 10 wheels ( back bends) that day. I had put a towel under my hands so they wouldn't slip, I should have got one for my feet. On probably the 8th wheel, I started to slip at my feet, but then all the sudden there was a hand under my back.  It was the gentleman next to me, giving me a boost. I was like thank you so much. Wednesday night instead of doing a chair we met the director of the retreat area.  He did a practice with that followed the Tao Fellowship. For a portion of this, I laughed hysterically.  As we were warming our bodies up, we would pat our bodies.  So whenever any of you hear me say something like hello sexy thighs, I love you. This is where that started. 

Wednesday night, we were told that Thursday was going to be the most intense day.  It for sure was. The practice probably went for about four hours.  I think we did 8-10 crow poses and then a ton of hip openers.  Now I was warned that Baron liked to hold certain poses for like 20 minutes, that didn't happen.  However, for whatever reason I was going into half pigeon on my left side and just started to cry. To this day, I really don't know why. I was trying so hard not to cry.  We went into savassana ( final resting pose) and I was just whimpering because I was trying so hard not to cry. I could feel my lips shaking because I was trying so hard not to cry.  One of the girls from my small group was practicing next to me.  She must have heard me whimpering and grabbed my hand to give it a squeeze, as if to say, it is going to be okay.  When we ended the practice, I looked around, I was not the only one that was crying. The room was filled with people.  I finally left with my new friends and went to shower. In the afternoon we had a 75 minute session after chairs. The only thing I am going to say about that, is that you really learned a lot about yourself and personality during that time.  Kind of like sending mind messages to one another.

We did some fun things at night. There were a couple times we danced and let loose. 
The rest of the week I felt so good about my decision to stay.  I enjoyed myself, met a lot of new friends.  The assistants that were there were awesome. Many of them have their own studios and projects.  Two we heard about were the Africa Yoga Project and Yoga for Wounded Warriors.  I plan to support both as much as I can. Overall, I enjoyed my experience.  Everyone was awesome and made me feel right at home.  I am looking forward to teaching yoga and doing some other certifications that relate.   I am attaching some pictures that I took while I was out in Sedona.

Tri for two

This weekend I decided to compete in two triathlons. I have never done two in a row, so I figured what the hell. My goal coming into the weekend was to place in my age group in both races.  I fell short of that, but none the less I am happy with what I accomplished this weekend. 

Saturday morning I got up and met up with my friends Jim and Bryan in Lockport.  We drove together down to Bloomington for Tri Shark. Tri Shark was a sprint distance triathlon which was a 600 swim, 13 miles on the bike, and a 5K run. Sprints kind of vary.  I kind of felt like I was back in college since ISU is not too far away from where we were at. I actually remember that I did a run there while my friend Kim was racing.  We got to the park and set up our bikes and stuff in transition.  Before the race started, the race director took time to honor our friend Bernie's son. Brendan returned home after serving in Afghanistan and was getting married on Sunday.  Then the Star Spangled Banner was played, totally AWESOME!!!!!!!!!. I was in the 5th wave with all the 39 and under women. A few friends from Tri Smart were in there with me and my friend, Christine from school.  We took off for the swim. The first few strokes out there were fast because I wanted to get away from people and I had the oh crap (insert other word) effect when my first hit the cold water. After a few more strokes that went away.  I got into my grove and the next thing I knew I was getting out of the water. The one thing I didn't like and I have seen this at a few triathlons was the mats that catch you time were at transition and not right when you got out of the water. Just me, but I feel it is not accurate. Anyway, moving on, I got onto my bike and off I went. I felt awesome on the bike. I have been working my bike a lot over the last year and a half.  The last few weeks I have taken some computrainer classes and also added CrossF.I.T. to my workouts. I have to say along with the awesome training I receive from my coach MJ, I felt great on the bike. The next thing I knew I was riding 25 MPH and I wasn't going downhill, I was on a flat.  YAY ME!!!! Got back to transition and got ready for the run.  Now before the race, I was with my Tri Smart buddies and Christine. We were all chatting and BFF (Jim) comes walking up. I introduce them and Jim says "oh are you the one she works with?" Christine says yes.  Jim say " oh she's going to kick your  ass." I am now totally red in the face.  The week before on a bike ride, BFF and I were talking about the race and I mentioned Christine would be there.  Christine is an awesome runner, did a 1:32 at the Chicago Half Marathon and 3:30 at the Chicago Marathon.  Of course there is always some friendly competition.  I knew I had to have at least 3-5 minutes when I got on the run.  I was a little ways out on the run and I saw Christine coming in on the bike.  At that time I was thinking, oh she's going to catch me. I kept trying to get my legs loose and increase my speed on the run.  I saw her again at the halfway point and thought, she's coming, I need to really go.  After that I caught up with Bryan, told him to get on my shoulder and run with me, trying to be encouraging.  I saw mile 2 and I said, okay you have 1.1 to go, see what you can do, so I went in and gave it everything I can.  I got to the finish and I didn't disappoint Bernie, at least that is what he told me.  By this I mean that I lived up to my reputation and threw up at the finish.  This has been a common problem for me this year, So common, we kind of make a joke out of it.  I don't know what the deal is, just one of those things that happens and right after I feel great again.  Who knows? I ended up 3rd in my age group and we had a fantastic showing by Tri Smart. BFF (Jim) was 2nd in his group, Melanie was 4th in her age group, Liz won her age. 

The next day I got up to head to Hammond for Leon's.  Leon's is an Olympic Distance which is always 1500 swim, 24.9 on the bike, 10K run. I got there early and as I was walking in, I saw my old masters swim coach, Coach Steve.  At first I didn't know who it was because the sun was in my eyes. I just see this guy switching directions and I was trying not to hit him as I was walking my bike in. Finally he took off his sunglasses as I am sure that he knew I was clueless at that point.  We chatted a bit and he told me that he was a USAT official today. I asked him not to ding me with any penalties. I went into transition to get my area set up.  Leon's transition area is probably the best one I have been too. Instead of using bike racks, they have wooden racks on the ground to rack your bike and then a space you can put your gear in.  I was the first one from Tri Smart there. We had a few of us that were pulling the twofer and then probably about 25 people from the team there. I walked around a little then came back to the transition area, where there was a TV crew from Comcast.  Since I nominated myself to be VP of our club and MJ was outside of transition, I got to be the voice of Tri Smart that day. Of course they decide to interview with the sun in my face.  I talked about the team atmosphere and how cool it is to have your teammates at events and during training.  Hopefully, I did a good job.  We took a team picture and then off to the start.  This year I was the last wave to go. Okay, no biggie, let me see how many people I get find on the course.  During the swim I don't know who I was passing, all I knew was that if you were in front of me, I was going to try to catch you.  The start was a little rough, but then it smoothed out.  I like that they have the buoys numbers going down.  They are the left side, which was great because I breathe out to my left during races, so I could see the numbers.  I got out of the swim and there was Laurie and MJ, along with the Urban Tri kids (love those kids). Gave some high fives and then went to transition.  I got done in there and off to the bike. Now last year the bike course was 3 miles too long. They did fix that.  We had been warned ahead of time that the course was bumpy and could damage our bikes. So I was careful, but still tried to maintain a good speed. There are a lot of hairpin turns on this course. I think I handled them a little better than last year, but still not something I like doing. The bike is a two loop course, so I saw MJ and Laurie when I was heading out to my second loop. I was waving and I about fell off my bike, but that is all good.  One thing I love is when I see people I know, it is always uplifting.  I got through the bike and back in transition for the run.  Off to the run I went and I knew it would be a little hot.  I tried to just take in water when I hit the stations and I took in a little gel before I got onto the run and at mile 3.  I saw Tri Smart people all along the course.  It was awesome. One person I would like to give big kudos to is Courtney.  She got a flat on the bike. Instead of sulking and being upset, she went on the run, ran with people and cheered everyone on.  We could all learn from that.  Way to be strong and awesome Courtney.  You ruled!!!!!! My goal for the run was to keep trying to pass people as I went along, just trying to maintain pace or get faster as the run went along.  Before mile 1 I saw Brax (one of the Urban Tri kids ). He was all over the course, loved it.  As I am running by, he was like go faster, go get people.  AWESOME!!!!!!!!!. I would see people and kept trying to be encouraging as I went along the course.  I got back towards the finish area and there was my friend, Dan from school, cheering me as I was coming in, then I knew when I hit the turn, I would see the most awesome tent, TRI SMART and there would be the crew cheering me into the finish.  I got in and I was sure that I had a PR for an Olympic Distance course. I did.  However, the really fast chix were there. I believe that girl that won my age group was like 2:15 or 2:19 and I think 3rd place was 2:26.  I gave it everything and I know there was not 7 minutes hidden some where that I could have taken off.  So I didn't get my goal of placing at both races, but none the less, it was an awesome weekend. Thank you to all my friends from Tri Smart for being so awesome and supportive.  It is so great to be part of such a great group and we do have more fun than those other teams.