Five Years

   Last week, I hit my five-year anniversary of racing triathlons. That's just crazy to me, as I still feel like a newbie sometimes. Even yesterday, I kind of felt like I forgot how to swim. Anyone else get that feeling? You're in the pool and you just kind of feel like you're just flopping around out there? It's a joy, let me tell you.
   As with joining East Nasty, I have to blame my friend Holland on my interest in triathlon way back in 2010. While I had been toying with the idea of doing a tri for a few months, it wasn't until Holland planted the seed of signing up for Ironman Augusta 70.3 that I really started taking the idea seriously. (Sidebar - I love crazy friends who encourage me to do crazy things with them.) I soon registered for the Cedars of Lebanon sprint tri as a training race, which was held in August at that time. It was a 300 meter swim, a 16.5 mile bike and a 3 mile run. I had three goals for this race: 1) Don't die, 2) Run the entire run portion, and 3) Finish under two hours. And though it was incredibility hot and really hard, I accomplished all three and finished in 1:41:55.
   Since that August day, I have finished a full Ironman, four 70.3 triathlons and numerous Olympic and Sprints tris. I have crossed a finish line on a red carpet to thunderous applause from spectators, and I have cried alone in the middle of a park because I just couldn't run another step. I have questioned my sanity and life choices many, many, many times. I've learned that nothing tastes better than a cold Coke after a 80 mile bike ride in 95 degree weather. I can tell you the location of every bathroom and mini mart in all of Nashville, because you never know when you're going to need one during a run. I have had fish nibble on my toes during an open water swim, and thankfully, have avoided any run-ins with snakes, leeches or alligators. I can talk about races, training, paces, swim sets, heart rate and my favorite flavor of Gu (Salted Caramel) for HOURS. I know who Chrissie Wellington, Mirinda Carfrae, Andy Potts and Craig Alexander are. I have looked at a workout and thought "there is no way I can do this," but then go do it anyway. I have pushed myself further than I thought I ever could and now dream bigger because of it. I've gained strength, support and inspiration from the amazing friends I've met along the way, and hopefully have given some of that support back to them.
   It's been a wonderful journey so far, and I'm looking forward to where else it takes me.
 

First finish line to Ironman.

Stick a Fork in Me...

   This morning, I was supposed to run five miles. Nothing crazy. Just five miles, mostly easy with a few minutes of tempo. No big deal, right? So I got up, got dressed and started running...and it's terrible. Just awful. It was like was trying to run through a bed of molasses. What was weird about it was that there wasn't really a reason for it. I'm not hurt. I'm not overly tired. I was hitting my pace fine. But for whatever reason, I just couldn't get into my run this morning.
   So I didn't. I hit a mile and a half and thought, "I don't want to do this anymore" and walked home. Yes, that is correct. I quit mid-run and walked home.
   I figured I'd give it a go again after work when I was a little more awake. I repeated the same routine I did in the morning. Got out of work, changed clothes and started running. The weather was perfect - a beautiful Spring day with bright blue skies. I even decided on a route that was full of blooming Cherry Blossom trees, thinking that a scenic run would get me more excited about running.
   Nope. Didn't even make it a mile this time before turning around. I finally admitted to myself that I'm burnt out. The motivation just wasn't there. At least today, it wasn't. I'm not sure about tomorrow. I'm supposed to ride in the morning. I'll guess I'll find out then. Until then, I'm taking the night off and watching junk TV. If anyone has a little extra motivation I can buy from them, please let me know. I'll pay good money for it.

Music City Half Marathon Race Recap

   I've been gearing up for the Oak Barrel Half Marathon, which is this weekend. As part of my training, I had a 12-mile run on my schedule recently (March 22). Since running 12 miles solo can be pretty boring, I signed up for the Music City Half Marathon. What's one more mile, right?

   The race was on Sunday, so advance packet pickup was Saturday. Rather than being in a running store or someplace like that, the pickup was held at the offices of the Cumberland River Compact, which was the charity partner of the race. The offices are located in the Bridge Building, which has, what you would expect, an amazing view of the Cumberland River. Though I've past by this building a lot, I'd never been inside. It was pretty cool and had a GREAT view.

Not bad, eh?

   The race started at 8:00 am, so I got up around 6:00 am. I wasn't nervous about the race, since I was really determined to use it as a training run. Coach Andrew gets on me for running races as training runs because I always go faster than scheduled. And while running fast is good, it can also take longer to recover from and then my training for the upcoming week goes go out the window. With Chattanooga 70.3 coming up soon, I didn't want mess up my training. I had to take it easy.

   I arrived at the race start around 7:00 am. (Yes, I like to get to races early. It lowers my stress level immensely.) The race started and ended downtown on Public Square. It's a great place for a race because there's a courtyard with a lot of room for runners to hang out before and after the race. The parking situation is iffy though, and I'll get to that in bit. 

   I don't really have much to say about the race itself.  We were fortunate to have a beautiful day and Team Magic always does a great job with their races. It was well-organized, had ample water stops and lots of food at the end. Other than the half-mile getting in and out of town, the course was FLAT. If you want to PR - do this race. The Tom King course might be a little flatter, but it's pretty close. You're on a greenway for 99% of the time. Not the most interesting route, but other than passing through the water treatment center, not too bad. The run by the river was nice, though the headwind on the way back was awful. Apparently, Nashville has turned into Chicago over the past few years as the wind in the Spring has just gotten crazy.  

   I finished the race in 2:06. A little faster than I was supposed to go (shocking), but not too far off. And I got a fancy medal at the finish! 

   I'm glad I decided to sign up for this race. Even though I ran solo for the entire race, I never felt alone and I was way more motivated to run than I would have been if I was just out for a training run. If you're looking for a good first half marathon, or a course to PR, this would be a good one.

   The only negative - the parking. While I'm sure there's street parking somewhere, I decided to park in a lot since I'm not that familiar with downtown. Y'all - I got charged $20 for parking!! $20! On a Sunday morning!! I know that's not the race director's fault, but it's definitely something that I'm going to think about the next time there is a downtown race. There was supposed to be a parking lot available for racers for $3, but I guess it wasn't open when I got there because this was the only open lot I saw. It kind of bummed me out after having such a good day. Whomp Whomp.

   

   Next up - Oak Barrel and Whiskey Hill!!  

Bike Camp

   A few months ago, I joined an all-female cycling club - The Tennessee Women's Cycling Project.  They are a group of women who love riding and racing bikes and want to promote the sport in any positive way possible. My friend Kathy M. is one of the Board Members of TWCP and thought I might be interested in joining them. They have both a race team and a club team, and since the thought of racing anything other than an individual time trial (like we do in triathlon) scares the bejeezes out of me, I joined the club team. This past weekend, TWCP had their training camp in Chattanooga. And even though I'm just a club member, I went along for the fun.

   I met up with race team member Katelyn on Friday afternoon and we carpooled to Chattanooga together. Chattanooga is only two hours away, but we ended up rolling in around 8:00 pm due to the time change to the Eastern time zone. We were a little concerned about dinner since we had a seminar starting about that time, but Kathy happened to be picking up Mexican food, and she brought us both burritos. Thanks, Kathy!
   The seminar that night was on goal-setting: short-term, long-term, realistic goals and crazy goals that get you into doing things like an Ironman. I little out of place because I don't have a huge goal for this season. IMCHOO kind of took a lot out of me. But I was assured by everyone that NOT having a huge goal and riding / running for fun is OK too. Weird to think I have to be assured about something like that, but as a habitual goal-setter, I do.
   After the seminar, we just hung out for a bit and headed for bed. In theory, we were going to get up early and start riding, however, the forecast called for rain in the morning. Sure enough, when we got up - it was raining. Womp. Womp. So we hung out a bit more and waited for the worst to pass. We also took some team pictures. I know it doesn't look like it, but it was COLD out there.

Love these kits! (Photo courtesy of Angela Lee and TWCP)

SQUIRREL! (Photo courtesy of Angela Lee and TWCP)

    There were two routes available for us on Saturday. The first went up Signal Mountain and was about 60 miles. The second course was 30 miles and tooled around the hills near Signal Mountain, but didn't actually climb it. I made the decision earlier in the week that if it was raining, I was going to ride the shorter course. This was actually for two reasons. The first was because I know my skill set in cycling, and speeding down switchbacks on wet, mountain roads isn't part of my toolbox. Also, I also wanted to get a run in. I've had to miss so many runs due to the weather recently and I didn't want to go yet another weekend without a run. So, I bailed on the 60 and went for the 30 miler.
   I don't recall what time we started out on Saturday. It was later than planned, and part of that was due to me. You know that annoying person who shows up at events and don't have their act together? Yep - that was me. First off, I arrived at camp with a flat back tire. Dudley pumped up both of my tires before I left, but by the time I got to camp, the back was flat. So Neil (one of our coaches for the weekend), used the opportunity to hold a tire-changing clinic. While I know how to change a tire, he's MUCH better at it than I am, and I was happy to have him change it for me. THEN, my cleat on my shoes got hooked on something and I had to get those tightened (Thanks, Bill!). Finally, I got on my bike and remembered that I changed my seat for the trainer, and it was all wacky. Neil AND Bill helped me with that. Seriously - I was a mess. Fortunately, I got most of it taken care of before we were ready to leave, but still - I hated being "that rider."
   After we got all of my issues settled, we headed out. It was cold and drizzling, but the weather didn't look like it would be getting any better for a few hours, so we left. We got about a mile out before we ran smack-dab into the Chattanooga St. Patrick's parade. Oops. After a little detour, we were back on our way. The group rode together for the first six miles, and then split up between the long and short courses.

All smiles at the beginning of the ride! 

   There were four of us who rode the short course, plus Bill, a local friend who led the ride.  It was a bit of urban riding, but mostly we were on suburban or rural roads. Even though we didn't climb Signal Mountain, we did get hit some serious hills. According to Wendy's bike computer, we had 2,100 feet of ascending over 30 miles. As a comparison for locals - a round trip on the Trace for the first 13 miles (26 miles total) has about 1,000 feet of ascending. 

   After the ride, we were soaked and grimy, but I still had six miles to run, so I quickly changed and got running. We were staying about a mile and a half from downtown (at the Crash Pad - which was awesome), so I headed that direction and headed towards the greenway. The rain had finally stopped, but it was humid. The run HURT after all of that climbing, but I got it done. The best part of the run was on the way back when I ran into a fellow East Nasty, Daniel, who was visiting Chattanooga for the weekend. East Nasty is everywhere, y'all.

   The team had dinner reservations next door at the Flying Squirrel. It's mainly a bar, so the menu was limited, but what they had was GOOD. Lobster risotto anyone? Seriously tasty. After dinner, we headed back to the Crash Pad and devoured the biggest cherry pie I have ever seen. It was Pi day, after all (3/14) and it only seemed appropriate. 

   The next morning, most of us headed out for a ride to Raccoon Mountain (another group rode the greenway). We were going to follow the race course of one of the popular local races - River Gorge (I think that's the name of it). Fortunately, it was a beautiful day - sunny and in the upper 60's. Katelyn (my ride home) and I both needed to get back to Nashville, so we tried to adapt the route to about 40 miles, rather than 55-60. We originally thought we'd ride about 20 miles and turn around, but we were able to find a route that allowed us to ride with everyone for most of the ride, with the exception of the very top of Raccoon Mountain. This worked out great. Granted, it hurt, but it was fun and I'm glad I got to ride for the team a bit more than I did the day before. Well, I say "I got to ride" with them, but for the most part I was chasing people up hills. These ladies can climb!  

Taking a break before the big climbs.

Didn't make it all the way up - but most of the way!

   Our group split after taking the photo above. I had thought it was another 14 miles to the top. Turns out - it was only three. Had I known that, maybe I would have tried it. Granted, it was another 1,000 feet of elevation over that three miles. That would have been pretty painful...maybe next time.

   The main thing I learned while on this ride - triathlon race courses are WAY easier than cycling race courses. Yes, I know, we have to run after the ride so there is a reason for it, but WOW - I can't believe this was a race course. I am SO thankful the organizers of Ironman Chattanooga took pity on us and designed the route they did. It could have been SO much worse. 

   We had to check out of the Crash Pad before we left for the ride, but they were kind enough to let us shower when we got back. Seriously, the Crash Pad rocks. I was really happy I wasn't going to have to drive home with bike grit on me. 

   Overall, bike camp was really fun. Yes, the climbs hurt and I got dropped on almost every hill, but I couldn't really expect otherwise considering triathletes don't generally train on mountains. I also got to meet and ride with some fantastic and interesting women, which I loved. I'm looking forward to riding with them again soon. A huge thanks to the Board of TWCP for putting together an awesome weekend! FYI - the Tennessee Women's Cycling Project is still accepting club members, so if you're interested, let me know!  

   

Training During the Icepocalypse

    The past few weeks have been horrible weather-wise in Nashville. We got an ice storm the day after the expo (Thank You 8 pound, 6 ounce newborn Baby Jesus for sparing the expo from that ice storm. I would have lost my mind if it had hit Sunday!), and Nashville basically shut down for a week. Seriously. The schools all closed, stores ran out of food - it was chaos. My office actually closed for three days in one week, and then had shortened days the remaining days because of the weather. I have worked for my company for 18 years and that has never happened before. And to make it worse - I live in a very hilly and shady part of town. I think we were one of the last areas of town to finally melt (and no, our roads we never plowed or deiced). So, while parts of Nashville were able to get around, we were still iced in.
   Fortunately, my house didn't have get a roof leak from ice dams (it's a thing), and my car didn't end up in a ditch from hitting ice, so I could focus on worrying about important things, like how many workouts I was missing. Answer - a lot. I don't have a treadmill and driving to the Y to run / swim would have just been stupid. With the exception of my husband driving me to work on Wednesday and Thursday, I was stuck in the house all week with only my bike trainer for exercise. And you know what? The trainer gets OLD really fast. My coach told all of us to use this week as a recovery week - which would have been fine except I was sick the week prior and used THAT week as a recovery week. One week of recovery is great. Two weeks makes me feel like a slacker. It was if I could actually feel the fitness leave my body. (Granted, the week of eating comfort food didn't exactly help either.)
   So, you can imagine how happy I was when the weather finally broke and I was able to get a week of good workouts in. Training Peaks was finally green! Hazzah! But my euphoria was short-lived because guess what we're getting this week? More snow and ice! FANTASTIC! I'm SO looking forward to being trapped in my house for the remainder of the week!
   I'm totally buying a treadmill.

Cedars Frostbite Half Marathon

   Have you ever come across a deal that was so good, that you couldn't really pass it up? Even if it wasn't particularly something you needed or, in my case, needed to do? That's basically how I ended up running the Cedars Frostbite Half Marathon this past weekend.

   Not that Frostbite Half wasn't a great race. It was. However, with me just coming off the Mississippi Blues Half a few weeks ago, I wasn't really prepared to race this. Sure, I could complete the distance, but I knew going into it that I probably wouldn't be at my peak performance. But the race was only $8, so I signed up. That's right -$8!! That's insane for a half marathon! I wanted to sign up just so I could say that I raced a half marathon for $8! Unfortunately, I blew that particular great deal by choosing the option to get a race shirt. But even with the shirt, I only paid $20. $20!! Considering most half marathons are over $100, that's an amazing deal.
   Kathy, one of my favorite training buddies, was also racing, so we met up on Saturday at the very civilized time of 9:00 am to drive the 45 minutes to Lebanon. Oh, how I love Winter races and their late start times! This one didn't start until 11:00! It was fantastic. Once we got to the race site, we were easily able to find friends and our FTP Teammates and hung out a bit. It's funny because during peak training, I would see these people several times a week. But we all started to do our own thing after IMCHOO. It was really good to see everyone again.

Me and Kathy.

Racing buddies.

   Coach Andrew said that if I woke up feeling fantastic, I could go ahead and actually "race." And that was what I was planning on doing. Kathy is training to qualify for Boston and was using this race as a warm-up. My original plan was to try to stay with her for the race. She'd drop me for sure, but I wanted to see how long I could hang with her. It would be a good workout for me.

   Unfortunately, when I woke up race morning, I knew this plan wasn't meant to be. While I didn't feel horrible, I didn't feel great. I was really sluggish and had a sore throat. By the time I met up with Kathy, the sore throat had gone away, but I was still REALLY tired. Even right up to the race start, I was joking that I couldn't believe I was going to run 13.1 miles in a few minutes. Even though I have raced that distance 24 times previously, the idea of running that far that morning didn't seem possible.  If there had been the opportunity to switch to a shorter distance that morning, I absolutely would have done it. 

   Alas, that option wasn't available, so at 11:00 off I went. With no real game plan, I just ran to be comfortable. This was good because I really had to pay attention to where I was going. This course ran through the Cedars of Lebanon State Park, which was beautiful, but had a lot of uneven surfaces. The asphalt was pretty torn up with a lot of potholes and had some sketchy metal bridges.  Then we had to run off-road for a while, which had gravel and puddles. I twisted my left ankle (my weak one) three times within the first five miles. Not badly, obviously, but enough that I was a bit more careful running than I usually am.  

   The race itself was pretty uneventful. It was a beautiful day, especially considering it was early February. But the race was small, so there weren't any crowds lining the course with funny signs.  Well, OK - I think is did see two signs. Anyway, it was hillier than I had been told, but looking back, it was stupid of me to not have expected hills considering the location. Tennessee state parks are hilly.         

   The only issue that I really had with the race was that I didn't see any race-designated bathrooms on the entire course. Not one. I've been fortunate recently, and haven't need to use one in any of my recent races. However, I did need one during this race. It got so bad that I had to stop running a few times because it's pretty much impossible to run if you have to use the rest room.  TMI - I know, but runners know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I was about to make a dash into the trees when in the distance I saw a construction site. It was like the clouds had parted and angels started singing because do you know what every construction site has? A port-a-john. It was a little off-course, but I didn't care. It was the most beautiful thing I saw the entire race. (Sidebar - before I started running, I would NEVER use a port-a-john. NEVER. Funny how things change.)

    I finished the race in about 2:06. No where near my PR of a few weeks ago, but an OK race for what I had going on that day. I feel even better about it considering I went home and took a nap and really didn't get back up until Monday afternoon. Turns out, I wasn't just sluggish on race day - I was sick. Nothing big fortunately, just a head cold, but it wiped me out for a few days. Tonight (Wednesday) was actually the first night I was able to do any kind of exercise since the race.

   I'm not really sure what I have coming up next. My next official race is Chattanooga 70.3 in May, but I'll probably try to get another half marathon or two before then. We'll see. One of the fun things about not doing an Ironman this season is that I can be a little more flexible about my races. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!  

First Ride in Chattanooga

   This past Saturday, a group of us from Nashville headed over to Chattanooga to ride the IM bike course.  For anyone looking for a detailed report on the course broken down by mile markers and gearing - this is not that kind of report.  Sorry, I'm not that much of a gear head.  If you're looking for an overall impression of the course - read on...
   I'd been a little frightened of the course ever since it was announced.  All I've heard was how hilly it was and and brutal it'll be...and THEN I saw an elevation map of the route.  I mean, LOOK at this thing!  It's one giant incline for the first half and then a little kicker at the end!  And we have to ride it TWICE!

Yikes!  

   But then I rode it, and you know what?  It's not that bad. There are some false flats and a few rollers, but nothing too crazy.  There was one hill that seemed a lot harder than it should be, but that's more due to my fitness than the course.  Don't get me wrong, this course will still hurt, especially on the second loop, but if you train in the Nashville area (especially on the Trace), you should be fine... I think...I've never done an Ironman before so I wouldn't take my opinion too seriously.

   The scenery was beautiful. Lots of rolling farmland. Of course, we had to stop and take a few photos - because that's what we do.  Plus, it's not like I'm going to stop and take photos on race day.

I see you, Baby Horse!  

The previously mentioned rolling farmland...

And, of course, cows.

   What I wasn't so happy about were the number of railroad tracks on the course. I lost count of them, but there were several sets. Fortunately, I think all of them were out of service so we won't have to worry about a train randomly roaring through during the race and holding us up, however the tracks are quite the hazard. I'm hoping the race directors will cover them with some sort of mat, otherwise I foresee a few falls due to the tracks, as well as a lot of lost water bottles.

   If you go and ride the course, be aware of a few things:

• Some of the roads aren't marked...at all. There were several times when we had to pull out our phones with GPS to find out where the heck we were and what road we were on. Once you ride the course, you'll realize it's not that bad. I actually think I could go back out there next weekend without a map and be OK. However, it was a little confusing the first time out. 
• Lack of convenience stores along the route. Not that this is a bad thing, but you need to be prepared and know you're not going to have a place to refuel or a restroom once you get into the country. 
• Car traffic. Most of the time, we didn't have any issues. We were so far out in the country that no one bothered us. However, once you get closer to Chickamauga, traffic picks up. It got a little sketchy there for a bit. One girl in our group was nearly clipped by a truck who was blowing his horn and just being an overall jerk. He only missed her by a few inches. Pretty scary and totally unnecessary. 

   While I will go out to Chattanooga to ride the course again, I might not go out as frequently as I had originally planned. I know it's good to ride the course as much as possible, and I'm very thankful I'm only two hours away from Chattanooga so I can go back when needed, but I think I can train more effectively here because the terrain is hillier. Of course, that may change with one call from my Coach. We'll see. Until then, Happy Training!!  

See you on the road!