Life...'I'm lovin' It'

[insert McDonald’s jingle here]

Maybe it’s the recent string of Sunny days, the successful kick off to my tri season, the banner day I had at the office, or simply the fact that I just finished Video Skype’ing with Kerry (who’s in London), but I am bursting at the seams, and joy is oozing out.

Consider yourself warned: If you have difficulty enjoying other people’s bubbly happiness, and random musings, PLEASE MOVE ON. There are plenty of great blogs listed on the right of the page and I’d certainly hate to add any additional grief to someone’s day.

It was such a beautiful weekend here in the Twin Cities. A little chilly and windy at times, but most importantly the sun was out! The Gear West Duathlon has been a long standing race favorite in the area, and this year was no exception. Temps were in the low 50s at the start, but it didn’t take long to get warmed up with the enthusiasm among us. We have such a wonderful tri community here in the Twin Cities which makes every race feel like a party for me!!

As expected, the first run was painful and I came into T1 in 2nd place, I moved smoothly through Transition and managed to get out on my bike in the lead. I hammered hard from the start knowing it was critical for me to get the job done on the bike. With the wind, I was struggling to find good rhythm, however, I keep hammering. Still expecting Marlo to come flying by me…I made the final turn towards t2 but didn’t see anyone. This was the first time I thought that I could actually win the race. I flew through T2 (3rd fastest including the pro men) and started the 2nd run. Although Marlo is known to pull off amazing run splits; I figured she was not performing at full strength if I was still in the lead! I held my position though the finish and captured my first GW DU Victory (I had a nice chat with Marlo post race and she mentioned that she’s suffering with a high Hamstring injury-Poor thing-she is so unbelievably talented and I hope she gets back to form soon).

I was so wonderful to see Jeremy Sartain at the race on Sunday. Jeremy (my fellow Team MN representative from Best of the US) had a VERY serious motorcycle accident about a month ago. This was such a terrible tragedy for Jeremy. He had been training so hard, had a full race schedule in place and had qualified for the 2008 Ironman World Championships. With the severity of his injuries, he will not be racing this year; however he will channel his energy into recovery with the goal of returning to racing in 2009. If anyone can do it, it’s Jeremy (and Marit C-L), and I wish nothing but the best for him and Jenny. Jeremy is yet another reminder that our ability to race, train and be active is truly a gift…I’ve been working hard to BE PRESENT, FILTER THE NOISE, and to truly appreciate every moment.

Today was a Banner Day at the office. Just one of those days, when everything worked and good ideas where streaming. Indeed when you work in the Technology Group, more specifically the Data Warehousing division of a large financial institution, these days are far and few between. In an attempt to keep the remaining readers awake, I’ll keep the details to myself (actually against corporate policy to blog about work) so I’ll leave it at that…I was a GREAT day at the office.

Video Skype-Awesome!! With Kerry in London for a few days, communication with my hubby is limited. Luckily during international travel we typically connect via Skype phone, but tonight, as our phone conversation continued we realized we were both in front of a mac computer. Needless to say (Kerry is the epitome of GEEK Tech guy), we quickly installed Skype on our machines and before long, we were Video Skyping!! I know I’m probably way behind the times on this one, but regardless, it was great see Kerry and share the great moments of the day…We’ve been married for almost 6 years now, yet each and every time I see him, I still get that warm fuzzy happiness. (You’re the best honey-See you soon).

To cap a wonderful day, I had a chance to venture out on my Mtn bike tonight. I love my bike (all pick cables and pink Chris King headset) however, with my focus on road cycling, I haven’t taken the time to use my fat tires. Since the 2006 Xterra World Champs in Maui, I can probably count the # of rides on that bike with one hand (that race left scars, both literally and figuratively). I’d like to announce that the scars have now healed, and I expect it will be a different story this year-I had a delightful ride through Lebanon Park, and I can’t wait until next time (no XTERRA in the plans though).

Tomorrow night-Another Black Dog 7.2 mile TT. I can feel the burn already!!

OK-I’m running out of hours in the day…I’m off to bed. I’ll add photos later.

MIT Wind Tunnel

I can’t believe its Wednesday evening and I’m just now getting the chance to post a weekend recap of my trip to Boston. First off, I love that city. This was my first visit and I fell in love with its rich history and vibrant character. We did most of our sight seeing while running or biking, which I loved, but someday I’d like to return and explore at a slower pace.

The wind tunnel experience was incredible. Thankfully Gear West Bike & Tri has a zealous approach to quality, and with that, everything was planned and ready to go Saturday morning. Initially when I was asked to go to the Wind Tunnel, I debated if this was something I needed. Well, I guess ‘needed’ remains to be seen, but I do know that I thoroughly enjoyed it and I’m SO glad I went.


Thankfully I did not test first…let’s just say I could have frozen to death (ok maybe that’s exaggerated, but I would have suffered). The tunnel temp that morning was 50 degrees and couple that with the 30+mph wind, and your facing serious wind chill. After all, you’re not going to wear warm bulky clothes in there-The dragometer would be off the charts!

Although I did not hear the marquee call the Engineers made to the Power plant informing them of their intention to start up the tunnel (2 mega Watts at start up requires warning), with the noise, I was well aware we were ready to go.

Luckily it approached 60degrees by the time I tested. My first few tests focused on stack height, then we moved onto aerobar angle. That was pretty interesting, as it seems my drag factor was optimal as my bars approached 30 degrees. “True Floyd Landis style”. I don’t think I could ride that way, especially for an Ironman, but I will probably settle in closer to 15 degrees (originally I was at 3 degrees). I also tested the Zipp aerobars, my aero helmet vs. non-aero helmet, and the drag factor of different clothing. I used a skin suit as my baseline, then I moved into a Speedo fastskin flowed by a two piece (tri short and tri top). Once again, no data analysis yet, but I’m looking forward to the results.

A special thanks to my Tunnel Sherpa’s Kevin and Kris who flawlessly reconfigured my bike throughout my entire test. They were so unbelievably efficient, which is of utmost importance when tunnel time in limited and expensive. Additionally a special kudos to David and Hanna, both MIT grads who established my testing protocol, and will soon provide my data in ‘non-MIT’ language.
Post testing, we enjoyed a quality 60 min run through downtown Boston all while viewing the historic sites, including the Boston Marathon finish line. I love the fact that the finish line is painted on the street in the middle of downtown. We enjoyed a wonderful Seafood dinner at Legal Seafood’s, then took the T downtown to Faneuil Hall for shopping.
Sunday morning David and I hit the MIT track, and although I did not partake in his sub 5 min mile repeats, I did have a good speed session. After the run, we rejoined our group for a beautiful bike ride to Concord. We had a nice size group, with seven of us from the Cities, and a few members of the MIT cycling team. Total saddle time was over 4 hours. You can check out a 5 min video of our ride here on Yndecam. Afterwards, it was time for a quick shower, fast fuel, and to the airport for a 6pm flight.

As I reflect on the weekend, I’m shocked at how much we did in such a short time. Indeed, with all of us being Type-A triathletes, we wouldn’t have it any other way.


Next up: The local multisport season kicks off this weekend with the Gear West Duathlon. This is the first race in the 10 race Midwest Multisport series, so it will be fast and competitive. Although I’m excited to catch up with the local racers, I am well aware that the HURT FACTOR WILL BE HIGH. I love to swim, and when the guns goes off on Sunday, and everyone takes off at Mach speed… I’ll be looking for the nearest pond to start my swim!!

Best of luck to everyone racing this weekend-HAVE FUN!

Black Dog TT & off to Bean Town

The Popular Black Dog Time Trial Series kicked off this week, and near perfect conditions greeted the 100+ riders Wednesday night. The ‘Dog’, is a series of 9 TTs staged on a flat 7 mile out and back every other Wednesday throughout the summer. The roads have become increasingly bumpy (LARGE Potholes and Minnesota go hand in hand), and the road remains open to vehicle traffic, yet the 100+ riders in attendance is proof of the increasing popularity of racing in the area.
Time Trials are always gut wrenching, but I was eager to suit up and see how well my engine was operating. I had no idea what to expect, but the door was wide open and I was decked in full race kit, complete with 808 front and disk back, I put the hammer down. I was not sure how it was going while I was out there, but when I crossed the finish line I was trilled t see a 20 sec PR. Over the course of the series last year (I did 6 races), my average time was 16:42, and Wednesday night I pulled off a 16:17. Now my goal is to break the coveted 16 min mark this year! Hopefully the adventure I have on tap this weekend will help me get there...


This Weekends Adventure:

Today I’m off to Boston where I’ll join pro triathlete/bike machine David Thompson (DKT) at the MIT wind tunnel. Although I’m not one to spend too much time analyzing the details of my aerodynamics, I decided that was an opportunity I could not pass up. David and I are both part of the Gear West Elite team, and Gear West, along with Zipp, Lightspeed and Speedo, helped put this weekend adventure together. David and his wife Hanna are both MIT grads so I’m sure we’ll get the inside view while touring campus. We have a full weekend of Training/sight seeing planned (these activities are bundled together as most of our sight seeing will be on bike, or while running), and Tunnel testing is scheduled for Saturday morning. I have a 1 hour slot where we’ll work though our predetermined test plan to gather as much info as possible. My main focus will be aerobar setup i.e. stack height, arm width, and Brand (Zipp vs, Vision). I will also test various clothing, and hydration options. Should be a blast-Literally as I get hit with a 30mph wind!

It should be an exciting weekend, and I’m trilled to have the chance to explore a new city with friends. Kerry has come along as Photo Crew so I’ll be sure to post plenty of pics throughout the weekend.

PS-thanks for all the Kona accommodation suggestions. I’m very close to booking. Now I just need to decide when I should arrive. W

Two Months of Blogging-What FUN!

Although I just started blogging a few months ago, I’ve become interested in the racing, training, and life stories of so many new people. What makes this so enjoyable for me is the shared PASSION many of us have not just for triathlon but more importantly for life in general.

I was first pulled into ‘blogland’ through Jen Harrison’s blog after the Best of the US race last fall. Of course, I wish I found her blog before the race so I would have been less intimidated to introduce myself… but better late than never! Through her blog, I found a wealth of other great reads, and this spring I joined ‘blogland’. Now I truly enjoy sharing stories, commenting, and caring about my blogger friends. It’s such a great way to learn, to be inspired, and offer support to others with similar interests (it’s also a great way to past time while commuting by bus to work every day).

I love the sense of knowing someone before you ever meet them in person. This weekend, I had a chance to meet a blogger buddy: I read that Iron Kate Monster was coming to town for a training camp, so I had to jump in on the fun and meet this gal in person. We’ve been reading each others blogs for the last few months, so I knew her ‘story”: Her Race plans/history, her kids names, the story behind her awesome Cancer Sucks suit— Many details that you may never pick up during a short training session. Generally, I’m a fairly shy person and have never been good with self introductions, but when I first saw Kate, I gave her a big hug and couldn’t wait to get to know her better.

Since I started blogging, I’ve also become interested in the weekend's race results, and searching for familiar names. Of course, the results become much more interesting when you’ve read about the emotions, the pain, and the triumphs surrounding the race. I’m so impressed with all the amazing attitudes out there. Thanks to everyone for sharing such great stories!

In addition to the new connections, blogging has been a great way to stay in touch with existing family and friends. In the past, I would find myself repeatedly writing the same story to different people when asked ‘how are things going, what I’ve been up too, how’s was the race’ etc. Now it’s great-They get the highlights from the blog, which leaves us with more time to chat about the details!

Thanks for all the comments (both in the blog and in email) and I look forward to keeping you up to date with all the latest stories.

I had to include a few photos from SCS Masters swim practice Saturday morning...I had so much fun diving off the blocks (my health club pool doesn't have blocks, so evidently this was a special treat)!





Cheers!!

Wait-Now I’m asking for help! I have a goal to FIND AND RESERVE a condo in KONA for Ironman before the end of this week. Although I qualified at Ironman Florida, I’ve been procrastinating. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

Spontaneity!

April 26-27 has been booked on the calendar for several months. The Get in Gear 10K was slated as my key running race of the spring, and the Iron man bike ride on Sunday would complete the weekend Brick (reverse order). As many know, MN spring weather is unpredictable, and for this reason, I procrastinated with pre-registration for both events. The forecast was looking grim, and by Thursday morning (I think there was a least 6-10 of us) decided to save the $45 entry fee for the bike ride, and do our own ride in the hills of Wisconsin. The forecast was calling for lows in the 30s, highs in the 50s, so we figured it would be best to control our departure time/route etc. By Thursday mid afternoon, I was hosting a Trainer Party in my basement (forecast now included snow, rain mix and high in the 40s). Of course, I still had the 10K on my plate for Saturday morning, and was planning to register Thursday night at the local running store. I jokingly sent an instant message to my husband before I left work asking if we had a good reason to skip the 10K (I knew it would be painful with Saturday morning temps in the 30s with snow). Sure enough, after as few IMs back and forth, we stared working on booking flights to sunny Arizona. We had a few free tickets in the bank, so we called Sun Country, and they got us on a flight Friday afternoon. Awesome!! “Unfortunately” they had no Sunday return flights, so I quickly asked my manager if I could work from home on Monday, and I received two thumbs up! I really needed to race on Saturday, so after a quick search to find a 10K in the Phoenix area, I found a 5K-That should do.
Friday morning I did another search for races on the Phoenix area and found an International distance Tri. After some discussion with my coach we decided that doing a spontaneous tri would be a great challenge. I was already in route to the office and planning to go directly to the airport from work, so I made a quick call to my husband asking him to pack a few race essentials (Wheels, wetsuit, aero helmet). I was now ready tp race!! Luckily our flight landed on time, and we knew exactly where to go for registration. The Saguaro Lake Triathlon is a fairly low key race (450 total participants), and they allowed registration until 7pm Friday night. I have done this race in the past in both flavors (they do this alongside the Xterra Desert Extreme Tri). The two races share the swim, T1, T2 and the run. The roadies do a 30 mile bike with LOTS of climbing, and the off-road folks do 27K mtn bike. I did the Xterra version in ’06 (two weeks post IMAZ), and remembered how tough the run felt back then. At that point, I simply chalked it up as being post Ironman fatigue, and was looking forward to redemption this year. Saturday morning, less than 24 hours since I found the tri online, I was prepping my stuff and heading to the race. The swim was a 1300 point to point swim, followed by a very challenging 30 Mile bike, then finishing up with a brutal 5 mile trail run. It is actually extremely beautiful in the desert as you climb up and look out of over the Canyon lakes, however, due to the extreme, narrow single track, taking in the scenery is not recommended! All eyes must be focused on the single step ahead!

Swim Start:

Deep water, mass starts are certainly not my favorite, but I was able to survive the early trashing, and get myself in good position early. This was my first wetsuit swim since Ironman Florida, and as I remembered, it feels great! The water was a perfect 68 degrees, and the lake had minimal chop. The water exit was a little sketchy, and the run to T1 was hard on the feet, but I had to remind myself that this was Xterra. I quickly hopped on my road bike (I keep a road bike at the condo here, so no tri bike for this race), and started climbing out of Butchers cove. It’s a very beautiful course, with plenty of fast descents to make up for ALL the tough climbs. I had Kerry and the girls in the car following me, taking photos and giving me updates. It was as special treat to hear “go Cathy go” every few miles. I love hilly bikes courses, so I was having a blast. I finally made it back to T2 and the volunteers were awesome, they took my bike, gave me my T2 bag and I was off climbing on the run. I had heard that I had a good lead on the women behind me, so I knew I didn’t have to kill myself on the run. Regardless, I wanted to run hard to truly test myself. Wow, TEST MYSELF was an understatement, right out of T2, you make a steep switchback single track climb...I think I managed to run up that, but I did surrender and walked another point of the course. This was probably close to the half way point of the run, and I was SO exhausted. My legs felt terrible, and the inability to get any solid footing made it much more difficult. All attempts to work on running form were fruitless. Feet were going in one direction, hips in another, and arms, well they were all over the place. In true Xterra fashion, we were running in very lose sand most of the way down. A few men passed me on the run, and I had nothing in the tank to stay with them. I eventually made it to the finish line and recorded my first win of the year! That race kicked my butt, which is just what I needed in April. A True Reality check, and I’ve got work to do!!! .
Although this race is extremely well run, and typically includes a fun filled awards ceremony. I decided to spare the family more Cathy centered time and get back to our Vacation. The kids were troupers; up early, taking photos, cheering galore, but 90 degrees starts to take its toll when you’ve been doing the race Sherpa gig for 5 hours. It was time for us to go play in the pool and hang out.

Kiersten and I rested on floaties and enjoyed catching rays while Karin entertained us with her Butterfly stoke (she just started swimming competitively this year, so butterfly has been her nemesis). I eventually submerged and helped Karin with her flip turns, and butterfly drills while Kiersten resorted to the lawn chair to study for her AP US History exam. Kerry did a quick loop of the bike course, and then joined us at the pool. It didn’t take long for hunger and thirst to override all other needs, so we headed off to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner.

It was a fun day with the family. We received the scattered update from friends back home that snow had accumulated and winds were gusting close to 25mph.

It was a great weekend for spontaneity.