This was my second year racing Evergreen Lake triathlon. Last year I finished 4^th, passed by Jennifer Garrison in the final mile of the run putting me just outside a cash award. This year I was determined to stay with the leaders throughout the duration of the race.

 My older brother Gavin (if you can’t tell by now we do most races together) and I camped along with a few friends. I was the last to arrive to the open camping area provided at Comlara County Park. After making some final adjustments on my bike I checked it into transition and set up my tent. We went to bed early to get a good night’s sleep. Camping adjacent to transition has it’s benefits, we were able to literally roll out of bed as we heard other athletes arriving, allowing us to sleep in until 5:30 am, a late wake up call compared to most race mornings.

 We’ve had a warm summer this year to say the least, today was no different. The water was a sweltering 84 degrees, therefore no wetsuits were legal. After forgetting to pack my speedsuit last weekend, I made sure to bring it along this time. My first opportunity (and probably the last) to use my Aqua sphere speedsuit.   

 Evergreen Lake Olympic Triathlon is the Best of the US qualifier for Illinois amateurs as well as the Midwest Collegiate Regional Championships. Between the two championship races taking place the field was stacked with talent.

 The elite wave included both male and female athletes. Remembering a rough start last year getting pummeled by guys, I attempted to get out in front right away. As the start gun went off the lead pack of men, lead by Gavin separated from the field. I stuck with the 2^nd pack of men for the first 400 yards. At the first turn buoy I was able to drop the majority of the pack with a few stragglers staying with me. Because of the sighting issues I’ve been having this season I tried using anti-fog spray in my goggles. This seemed to work, usually about mid-way into the swim my goggles start to fog up and I lose most of my vision. Not this time, I could still see clearly coming around the far buoys. The leaders must have swum wide outside the course and most of the guys followed them. Since I could still see, I continued on track swimming straight from buoy to buoy. This is an absolute first for me.

As I came into the home stretch I noticed to my left another swimmer with a decent stroke. We raced into the swim finish, I came out of the water slightly ahead, as I struggled with the zipper on my speed suit I noticed it was Nicole Voelkel. She crossed the timing mat first.

Swim:   21:59

 As I hopped on my bike there was a guy struggling to get his shoes on while riding on the far left side. After yelling on your left; count it 4 times, I went around and passed him on his right. Later I found out that he received a blocking penalty and I received a penalty for passing on the right.

At mile 2 I passed a collegiate woman, Michelle Mehnert. At this point I was under the impression that Jennifer Garrison was still out ahead of me. Nicole crept up on me around mile 5 of the bike, but I was able to pull ahead again. A man passed telling me I was 45 seconds ahead, I assumed he meant Nicole was 45 seconds back, but at mile 13 to my surprise it was Jenny Garrison who had been behind me. We went back and forth a few times. I dug deep in my legs and did my best to pull out in front again, I was successful and she did not follow this time. I continued to hammer through the remainder of the course knowing I was now the leading female.

 Bike: 1:07.10 (42k)

 Heading out on the run, I was able to see Jenny come into transition. I knew I had about a minute on her now. If I could have a solid run I could stay ahead. My shins weren’t feeling too bad, although I still hadn’t been running outside of races.

 I ran out with a training partner of mine, Matt Thibodeau, he quickly took off ahead of me after the first mile. The run course was through corn fields in central, IL. There was no opportunity for shade or a breeze, just the sun beating down on us. The run course did offer two 180 degree turns allowing you to catch a glimpse at your position. At each turn I was able to pull a little farther ahead. I also saw many familiar faces from my training groups and racing in the men’s elite race. As I came down the home stretch I saw my family and friends cheering me on.

Run:  43:38

Triathlon Time: 2:12.10 (+2 min penalty)

overall winners

This was my first time finishing before Jennifer Garrison, although it was not her best day racing that is still a huge accomplishment for me. While eating lunch after the race, Gavin and I sat chatting with the pro athletes. I was able to discuss going pro next year with Bryan Roads, Andy Starykowicz, and Jenny Garrison. I gained some helpful insight into my decision.

 I acquired my first penalty as discussed above for passing on the right. Luckily I won by over 2 minutes, therefore it did not skew the results or cash awards distributed. I have discussed the call with numerous officials since Evergreen tri, all of which disagree with the call to both athletes (should have just been one). I will take it as a learning experience.

It was a last minute decision to enter the Lakeside Sprint Triathlon held in Decatur, IL. My older brother Gavin talked me into it, having raced last year. It’s a great opportunity to compete against pros around the Midwest. Although the elite wave was small, there was certainly no lack of talent.

This is my first triathlon which was called as a non-wetsuit legal race. Of course, I happened to leave my speed suit at home. Oh well, had to swim in just a suit which I prefer anyhow. The elite wave was combined male and female. I chose to start between Gavin and Andy Starkywicz which was not a very wise decision because as the gun went off they sandwiched me blocking me out in an effort to take the lead. Thanks guys :) I felt strong swimming out to the first turn buoy, Jenny Garrison and I swam side by side. At the 800 meter mark my goggles started to fog, I couldn’t see a thing and began swimming way off course. As the lifeguards waved me back on track I stopped to clear my goggles, they were still fogged but I managed to make it into the swim exit. Coming out of the water 3rd I had a lot of time to make up.

 .75 Mile Swim 19.14

Starting the bike I had 40 seconds to make up to Lauren Jensen and Jenny Garrison. They are both strong bikers though so I had my work cut out for me. I hammered as much as possible with the strength I had after coming off a high volume training week. Unfortunately I just didn’t have the power that day to catch either racer ahead of me. They both increased their lead on me by a few minutes throughout the bike.

19 Mile Bike: 50:11

Heading out on the run I was a little discouraged to be in 3rd place so tried to see what kind of time I could make up on the leaders. On my way out I saw Gavin and Bean racing to the finish for 3rd place men. As I hit the turn around Jenny and Lauren were both pretty far ahead but I was staying with them and even making up some time. As we came into the last mile I could see Lauren just ahead of me. She started looking back, at this point I knew she had to be getting tired, so I pulled everything I had left to catch her. I’ve been in a similar situation with Lauren last year at the Danskin triathlon. I was leading the race into the run and she passed me in the finish shoot to win the race. This was my opportunity to pay her back the favor. And yes as I went by I simply hurdled over her since I am about 2 feet taller.

4.5 Mile Run: 28:08

Top 3 overall female, and no they’re not my children

Bean and I at the finish line

Gavin and I with our big checks

3rd overall male

2nd overall female

I was persuaded race week to enter the BigFoot Triathlon in Lake Geneva, WI on June 26^th. This is a smaller race which I’ve never competed in but a group of us from Chicago decided to make the trip up to participate as a “party race”. It just so happens that Jimmy Buffet was playing in Lake Geneva Saturday night. So Marc Robertson and I prepared Jimmy Buffet themed outfits to race in including leis and grass skirts.

We drove from Chicago Saturday morning in an attempt to get in 100 miles on the bike Saturday afternoon. Temperatures were rising between 90 and 100 degrees, it was beautiful and sunny. Our first 25 mile loop flew by. Next we were off to hit a 50 mile loop although Russ’s course route took us on a 4 lane highway, as Mandy literally got driven off the road by a truck we decided to stick with a 2^nd loop of which we had just completed.  Between our group of 9, we varied in distances ridden from 30 to 80 miles. I fell somewhere in between clocking in 56 miles followed by a short but refreshing open water swim.

Due to the festivities surround the Buffet concert and triathlon hotel reservations were limited. We ended up sleeping 6 to one room, including our bikes. It was cozy, luckily 4 of the 6 were girls, therefore the boys enjoyed floral scented shower gel and body lotion rather than BO and farts as was the previous weekend camping (see previous blog; Camping with the Boys).

We enjoyed a summer dinner outside where numerous beers and glasses of wine were consumed, carbo-loading. Then retired back to our room to get some rest before the big race.

Race morning arrived and as we hopped on our bikes towards transition it was raining. I recall exclaiming how hard core I felt riding by all the cars lined up entering transition.  Being a small race, transition was a free for all. Therefore our group racked all our bikes side by side. As I began taking off my warm up clothes I realized that nobody would know I was dressing in a costume until the run, until then I would just look like a freak. Wearing nothing but an orange sports bra and yellow polka dot brazilian cut bikini bottom. Oh well, I swallowed my pride and walked towards the swim start, feeling much more like a beach volley ball player than a triathlete.

I started in the 3rd wave just behind the 30-34 year old men. When our gun went off, I sprinted a few strokes to find myself fairly ahead of the pack. I caught many of the men from the previous wave and exited the water surprisingly fast. I remember reaching the turn around buoy, stopping, looking out farther thinking there must be one more. Nope, the swim course was just cut a bit short.

Swim : 17:10

The sprint triathletes were still all lined up waiting for their start as I rode by in my itsy-bitsy bikini heading out on the bike course. I heard a few comments as I rode by which I’ll keep to myself. I didn’t see too many riders out on the course, those that I did see were all men and to my surprise not one mentioned my outfit. Just thought I was a little crazy I suspect. The 25 mile bike ride burned a little due to my high volume training week leading up to the race, but I eventually got in a groove and managed to have a decent split.

Bike: 1:02.5

T2 took a little longer than usual due to my costume which I had to dress in. I struggled with my race belt which had a grass skirt sewn to it, decided to double by leis around my neck rather than let it flap in the wind behind me. Many fans cheered for me as I exited T2. I heard a woman say I was the best accessorized triathlete on the course. (they hadn’t seen Marc yet). I was now known on the course as Hawaiian girl, not what I was going for, but I’ll take it.

The run segment was a 6.4 mile trail run (my first ever) which consisted of 2 loops. During the first loop the trail was clear, although it started raining and thundering as I was running. The trail was covered by a canopy of trees which squirreled around BigFoot State Park. It was most relaxing hearing the thunder overhead and feeling slight rain on my face as I made it through the course. On the 2^nd loop with all the foot traffic, sections which weren’t covered by wood chips turned into huge mud pits. People were slipping and sliding all over the place. Luckily I managed to stay upright and complete the run winning overall amateur female.

Run: 44:16

Total Time: 2:07.13

Afterwards the weather cleared up, a few of us stuck around for lunch followed by ice cream in the sun before the long drive home in Chicago traffic.  

We headed back up to Madison in the Ford Flex mid June for the annual Horribly Hilly Hundreds 200K organized ride. This was my second year participating and is always my longest ride of the season.

The decision was made to camp at Brigham County State Park which was only a 3 mile ride from the start and finish line. Upon arrival we discovered this was a “rustic” campground meaning they had no running water. So I guess we were roughing it :) Being the only girl in the group this bothered me more than anyone. At least we were camping in style with the TIMEX branded equipment.

We dined at a local Inn called Hooterville in Blue Bounds. The walls were covered with stuffed animals including a jackalope and a deer’s butt transformed into an owl. We carbo-loaded on pizza and my favorite Wisconsin beer; Spotted Cow, all the while being entertained by some locals playing the spoons on the bar.

There was a huge storm around midnight while we camped, luckily we’d set up our rain fly’s well and nobody got wet. The rain and thunder were actually very relaxing; I slept great and woke up ready to ride.

 Saturday morning we woke, brushed our teeth in the drinking fountain and headed to the start line. Our small group broke up pretty quickly due to our variety of speeds. The ride covers every steep climb around the Madison/Blue Mounds area. The course consists of five 20-35 mile segments broken up by 4 rest stops stocked with any kind of food and drink you can imagine to replenish yourself. The first two segments ended at the same rest stop which ended with a huge climb. Our second time up, I rode past a man lying on the ground clutching his hamstrings complaining of leg cramps. Not sure if he didn’t notice men were zipping down the hill around him nearly running him over. But after ensuring he was OK, I mentioned that he should roll to the roadside to avoid getting hit, he moved over.

 There was a 100K route and a 200K route, at the split I talked my ride partner, Henry, into going the long way with me. It took a little convincing but as I made the 200K turn he followed. This was going to be his first century ride, much less 124  miles!

As we made it through the course, towards the end so many other riders were complaining about pain, fatigue, and injuries. Overall many didn’t seem to be enjoying the ride. I personally was having a great time throughout the entire course. We had a beautiful day, decided to ride at a comfortable pace so was feeling strong even at the end of the ride, I made it up the last climb with no problem at all.

 Friends and I re-grouped at the finish line and enjoyed some lunch, ice cream, beer and massages. We utilized the showers at Blue Mounds and planned to hang out drinking around the campfire, although I was out like a light by 10 PM. 130 miles (including to and from the start) wore me out.

I would recommend this ride to anyone in the Midwest, it’s a great long training day. The course is mapped out and executed excellently.  Camping with five boys was an interesting experience, I’ve never heard so many farts and burps in my life, and I have 3 brothers…They definitely treated me like one of the boys for the weekend.

And my back got fried yet again…

Back in May over Memorial Day weekend I was lucky enough to attend the unofficial Timex Training trip in Boulder, CO.  Will Kelsey, Shelby Katz and Erin Kummer generously hosted us out of towners and planned a fun filled weekend of training in the mountains.

We started early Saturday morning meeting at Amante in North Boulder where candid pictures were taken of the group.

We rode together from Boulder to Winter Park totaling 110 miles with 13,000 feet of climbing. Roughly half way through our ride on Saturday we had a long descent down to Central City. I had never ridden in the mountains prior to this trip and after this first long descent I knew Colorado is where I need to train full time.

I began expressing interest in moving to Colorado with my teammates. Of course all the Colorado locals persuaded me to make the move, giving me countless reasons why Boulder is the place for me.

The remainder of the weekend consisted of team dinners, swim practice at altitude (very difficult to do hypoxic work) trail running, photo shoots and another long ride back down to Boulder.  On Memorial Day we ran the Bolder Boulder 10k followed by a barbecue at Erin and Tingle’s house.  By Monday evening I was completely convinced to make this move happen.

I am happy to say that I have been approved to work remotely from Colorado and will be moving to Boulder in early November shortly after Kona!!!

Yes team there will be yet another Boulder Timex member =)