Holy Cow...It's IMAZ race week!!!

Well…it’s race week! How on earth did that happen??? In less than 6 days, I will be lining up to start Ironman Arizona (IMAZ).  Honestly, it all feels quite surreal.  Over a year of planning, anticipation, and training have finally wrapped up.  I know that I am physically ready…I’m not nervous, I just can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that I will be racing for 140.6 miles next Sunday!

Last summer, Coach Muddy and I sat down to chat about my 2015 season.  After racing my first 70.3 (Oceanside), I knew that I wanted to “go long” and race a full Ironman.  Muddy says Arizona it is…then I had to wait and wait (you can’t register until the current year’s race is done).  Arizona is the last US race of the season, and it is so popular that you basically have to go to the race the year before you want to do it so that you can sign up on site.  SO in July 2014, I signed up to volunteer at IMAZ 2014.  Then I jealously watched friends sign up for race after race while I had to patiently wait until November to volunteer in order sign up on-site.

Finally November rolled around and I got my first full Ironman experience.  I volunteered at bike check in and watched athletes nervously check their precious bikes into transition the day before the race.  On race morning, I volunteered at body marking, writing race numbers on athletes, calming fears and pumping them up for the big day ahead.  Then I worked the Run special needs station (athletes can fill a bag with anything they think they might need during the second half of the marathon – ranging from more nutrition or clothing, to notes of inspiration…there was even a girl who whipped out her compact with mascara to prep for her finisher photo 13 miles later).  I definitely shed a few tears in excitement and relief as my friends made their way along the run course.

I knew several people racing and the whole day was incredibly emotional.  I was so excited and happy for all the racers, but also quite jealous because I wished I was out there racing too!  The next morning, bright and early, I was in line for registration, and my journey had begun…eek!

This past year has been a pretty exceptional training cycle.  It included the Coast Ride in January, Vineman Aquabike in July, and Santa Cruz 70.3 / Tahoe 70.3 (in back to back weekends in September).  It has been my most consistent year of training, and I actually loved getting in the pool (unlike years past where I would sit in my car going to the depths of facebook to procrastinate my swim workouts!!).  I finally grasped going slow to go fast while running, and did not miss a single bike workout thanks to my #tripletsforlyfe training buddies. 

I cannot wait to arrive in Tempe and get swept up in the excitement of registration and prepping for the race.  Throughout the week, a total of 12(!!!) family and friends will be filtering in to be my cheer squad and I couldn’t be more thankful for their support.  I can’t wait to be on the lookout for my mom’s bright pink shirts along the course. #gogogomez

I definitely would not have gotten to race week without these amazing people: Coach muddy – thank you for your support, guidance, and genius training plans; My Super Sherpa mom – thank you for being at every race, volunteering, ringing your cowbell, and making sure I get to the start line; My dad for always being my sounding board and constant cheerleader; Team Coeur – the best group of ladies for support, encouragement, motivation, amazing sponsors, and even better gear (so excited to be back on the team for 2016); Team Muddy Love – amazing training partners, especially on the track and our Wednesday night rides...truly a family!; My #tripletsforlyfe, Eileen and Jenesse – I certainly wouldn’t have gotten through this season without you two…thank you for hours of girl talk on the bike and while running, holding me accountable for my workouts, and being incredible sources of inspiration; and lastly my Husband – thank you for putting up with our messy house filled with tri gear and water bottles galore, and for your endless encouragement, enthusiasm, and love.

IMAZ starts at 6:50 am on 11/15 and you can track me on ironman.com...I'm #1131!

Happy Racing!

Race Recap: Ironman Santa Cruz 70.3

I figured that since I’m racing again TOMORROW (!!!) I should probably put my Santa Cruz Race Report up first!

This was my first actual tri of the season, so I was pretty nervous, but excited, to see how my training translated to running off the bike.  I had a goal of breaking 5:30, and running a sub 2 hour half marathon, but I just didn’t know what to really expect for the day.

Since the race was in Santa Cruz and my hubby was out of town, I decided to sleep in my own bed and drive over the hill early on race morning.  I was nervous about the parking situation, so I was up at 3 am!!! I ended up with a super convenient parking spot and napped a bit until transition opened at 5.

Coach had tons of athletes racing which was super fun.  After transition set up, I met up with Jenesse and her super Sherpa husband/photographer extraordinaire (Dennis gets photo cred for most of the photos in this post).

Just like at Vineman (which I’ll recap soon!) I was really relaxed before the start.  Jenesse and I hopped in the water on our way to the swim start to get adjusted and it was a gloriously perfect 63 degrees – seriously I was surprised at how pleasant the water felt!

Pre race nutrition: PB/honey sandwich, banana, ½ Honey Stinger Waffle, bottle of skratch

The swim was ROUGH – it’s an ocean swim, going around the pier and it felt like I was swimming against current all three ways.   It was especially choppy near the end of the pier!  I drank lots of water, but kept my cool and still came out of the water in 14^th!  Not too shabby!  Even with the conditions, it ended up being a PR by a whole minute!

SWIM: 35:12.  GEAR: Coeur Sports team kit, Roka Maverick Pro Wetsuit, Roka F2 Goggles in Light Amber (seriously these are the best! So freaking comfortable and easy to see out of, even though it was overcast with the sun peeking out at the start.)

After a crazy long run to transition, I was off on the bike.  I got new race wheels (Enve SES 6.7s…thank you #coeursports #sponsorlove) Felt awesome…until I got stung by a wasp!!! Thank goodness I’m not allergic! The weather was perfectly overcast and I just rolled along!  With this being basically a hometown race, almost all of Coach Muddy’s athletes were racing and it was awesome cheering everyone on out on the course! 

The course follows Hwy 1 and has some beautiful views of the coast.  Luckily the winds weren’t too crazy on race day!  Half way to the turnaround, the course cuts off the highway onto a winding backroad…and this is where one girl simply drove me crazy!  She just would not move to her right…just rode along blocking everyone behind her!  It was crazy frustrating, but once we were back on Hwy 1, I dropped her for good!

After unpacking, realized I DEFINTELY didn’t eat or drink enough, but my stomach felt a little wonky and I just wasn’t feeling too much food :/  I think I drank 1.5 bottles of scratch and about 350 calories over my 2:45 bike…definitely need to work on that before Arizona.

BIKE: 2:45:46, 20.27mph.  8 MIN PR!!!  6^th off the bike!!! GEAR: Cervelo P3, Enve 6.7 wheels, Rudy Wingspan helmet, LouisGarneau Tri-400 shoes, Castelli T-1 stealth jersey

Onto the run.  My goal with this race was to break 2 hours on the half.  I was super close last year, with 2:00:33, and I was determined today would be the day I put that in the past!  Coach’s orders were to get “keep” my HR at 140-45 for the first 5k…yeah right!!! It started out at 160, dipped to 157 and would not budge lower.  I tried to slow down, but honestly just felt solid and steady.   

My stomach was a bit sloshy and I wanted to take some salt to calm it down, but the salt pills I had put in my tri top came out because of my race belt!  Bummer.  My stomach settled down on it’s own, thankfully, and I sipped on a bottle of Skratch and had a salted caramel Gu at about mile 5 during the run.  After 5k of actively trying to go slow I switched the screen of my Garmin and just ran.  I felt great…and kind of like I was running through the halls of high school…I saw almost everyone I knew on the out and back run course and was constantly saying Hi and cheering them on! So fun!  I had a smile on my face for the entire run (until I got to the sand).  With 4 miles left, I knew that even if I dropped my pace to 10 min miles, I would still reach my goal of sub 2 hours…but I wanted a serious run PR, so just kept grinding away!!

The last ¼ mile is on the sand…and whoever came up with this idea is just nuts!  It was miserable!!  I tried to run closer to the water, on the hard packed sand, but then the waves would soak my feet and they would be covered by the dry sand and feel like sloshy sand bricks!! NOT cool.  But I just tried to run as fast as I could.  I always remember the words of my HS cross country coach … If you’re out there a long time, you must be enjoying yourself. If it’s hard, run faster…then you’re done with the torture sooner! And that I did.  I just gritted my teeth and ran as hard as I could to be done.  A picture is worth a thousand words and Dennis captured a pic that completely depicts how I felt about that run!

RUN: 1:53:42, 10^th AG.  General consensus is that the run was about a ¼ mile short, because the run from the swim exit to T1 was a ¼ mile, but I will still take my run time, thank you!  GEAR: Coach Muddy trucker hat, Feetures socks with tri slide sprayed on first to prevent blisters, Saucony Kinvara 6s.

OVERALL: 5:23:15, 10^th AG, 14+ minute PR!!!

Huge shout out to my #tripletsforlyfe training partner on her MONSTER PR and first time on the podium…that girl is going places!  Now it’s time to rest up before we do it all again tomorrow at Lake Tahoe 70.3!!

Life Happens!

Well hello there!  So the first part of 2015 was super busy and I planned to write a quarterly review … and now it’s June!!! How on earth did that happen???

Training is well under way, although the tri season definitely feels like it is off to a slow start because my first real race isn’t until July!  It was weird to miss Wildflower this year, and all of the local races, but since my main goal of Ironman Arizona isn’t until November, Coach doesn’t want me to burn out too soon! 

I’m back to the grind of Tuesday morning track session, pushing the pace on Coach Muddy’s Wednesday night bike rides, and getting more and more comfortable in my wetsuit with lots of open water swimming.  Everything seems to be progressing nicely…especially on the bike! I would never have imagined that I would be seeing the numbers that I am now, which is super encouraging.  The weather has finally turned hot enough to rock my super comfy Coeur Sports tri kits on my rides – I’ve already resigned myself to having a permanent sports bra tan from here on out. #stylishspeed

Get yours at www.coeursports.com!

I’ve done a few “training races” so far…one trail race, a St. Patty’s day race with my mom, a 12k across the Golden Gate.  It’s been fun to rack up some medals, although it has been very strange to actually hold back and just take the races easy.  Most recently I did the first race of the local Splash and Dash series – a 2 mile swim.  It’s my longest swim race…and I won my age group!  Most of the athletes stopped at 1 mile to do the “dash” part of the race, but I was pretty pleased with my time and feel like I’m right on track for where I want to be come November.

The hills were NO JOKE!! Great way to start off the year.

Go Greek 10k with my mom who WON her age group!

Nothing beats a sunny day in SF, running across the Golden Gate!

And for those of you who are still reading (and for posterity sake) here's a quick rundown of the first 5 months of 2015

January...THE COAST RIDE!

Photo Credit: Jen Baer

I'd heard about this ride for the past 2 years and finally got the OK from coach to join. It's 3 days of cycling from San Fran to Santa Barbara. We rode over 120 miles each day, and by mile 100 on day one, that was the furthest I had ever ridden. It was the most beautiful ride and hands down the most mentally challenging and rewarding experience of my life!  I did the ride with a group of Coach Muddy and Rising Tide athletes and bonded with these girls in a way that only happens when you are pushed to your limits!  The ride was followed up with a week long girls camp with Muddy and Sonja...can't wait for a repeat in 2016!

February---I got married!

February was an absolute whirlwind! Jay and I got married in a perfect winter wonderland in Lake Tahoe surrounded by our amazing family.  Then we jetted around the world for 18 days in Thailand!  We absolutely fell in love with the locals, the food, the culture and the scenery. We chose Thailand because it had a mix of culture, adventure, and relaxation and the country definitely didn't disappoint. 

Photo credit: Kari Addison Photography

Just a quick snapshot: wat (temple) hopping in Bangkok, overnight trains, hiking to waterfalls, cycling through rice paddies, kayaking and hiking through the mountains, feeding and bathing rescued elephants, swimming with bioluminescent plankton at night, cooking classes, rock climbing, Muay Thai classes, and drinking more Singha beers than I could count!!

We had a personal tour guide through the countryside of Chiang Mai, Tod.

So many Buddhas...such calm and peaceful settings at Wat Pho.

A day at the Elephant Nature Park made me fall even more in love with these creatures!

It was the most amazing trip...we cannot wait to return, next time in November for the Long Krathong festival.

March - May

After a very long off season, I came back from our honeymoon with a renewed spirit and was ready to get back into the swing of things training wise. Coach eased me back into a routine, starting me off on the treadmill for my first hint off speedwork in months. He also added another local girl to our training group, which has been fantastic. Having my two ladies to train and bond with has been a huge plus this year, and I look forward to our Wednesday night dinners every week.

May was a month of celebrations: a bachelorette and wedding celebrating one of my favorite couples, new babies in Colorado to honoring my Grandpa Ed’s life with family.  It was a pretty special month, and one of my last chances to really let loose before getting serious for the #roadtoironman and I’m thankful I was able to really spend time with the important people in my life.

So grateful for such a wonderful Grandfather.

So there we are! All caught up. The race agenda will be picking up in July with Vineman full aqua bike, then back to back 70.3's in September at Santa Cruz and Tahoe and rounding out the year at IMAZ!! It's only 5 months away and the time is flying by. See you back here after Vineman!

2015...Live in the Moment

 

I am a planner. Always have been. Lists and lists of everything I need to do, want to do, should do.  It's easy to get caught up in the planning and thinking of the future. That's what 2014 was for me...a year of looking forward. Which was great.  J and I got engaged and started planning our wedding in Tahoe. And we started planning our Thailand honeymoon. I volunteered at imaz 2014...so that I could sign up for IMAZ 2015.  I waited for the day that I could apply for the Coeur team so that I could be on a team with some awesome ladies in 2015.

2014 was definitely a wonderful year, but as the new year begins, I am vowing to be present. To not worry as much about the future.  With that, I have decided on my 2015 mantra...live in the moment.

I am going to appreciate every single day.

I am going to be more spontaneous and open to things that aren’t “on the schedule.”

I am going to pause on my rides and runs to appreciate the beauty of my surroundings.

I am going to enjoy my JOURNEY to being an Ironwoman and not just focus on the end result.

2015 is off to a great start and I am so excited for the ride of a lifetime.