I can’t BELIEVE it is already August and most of the race season has come and gone.  I have had a great year so far and have made some real improvements, both mentally and physically.  Since I have been behind on race reports and for the most part have been in my WI bubble, I’ll share some highlights.

 I started the year off strong with an overall amateur win at Ironman St. George in May and have since competed in 4 half Ironman races, 1 sprint, and 1 olympic distance race.  I have seen improvements in the swim, bike, and run this year and am more excited about this sport than ever! 

A couple weeks ago I competed in my second half Ironman distance race in 2 consecutive weekends (as I did last year, with these same races).  In theory this sounds like a recipe for disaster, but I ended up racing well both weekends.  

Weekend 1: Door County Half Ironman (Egg Harbor, WI)  Reason(s) for doing this race- for fun and to measure improvement from last year.  I  have only been racing a few years, so having the opportunity to race the same half ironman two years in a row is a great way to measure improvement.   I cut 8 minutes off my time from last year and set a new course record with a 4:33.  Most importantly I felt strong and happy the whole day.  Overall just a great, fun weekend with friends.

Weekend 2: Chisago Lakes Half Ironman (Chisago, MN) Reason(s) for doing this race- same as for weekend 1, but with the possible bonus of prize money.  I was nervous going into this race because my legs felt like bricks for the entire week up until the day before the race.  I knew there would probably be some people showing up to race too, with a $1000 pay out for first place!  

Swim/Bike:   I made it to the start line feeling a little worried, but determined to push myself as much as I could handle.   My pre-race nerves were put to ease as former teammate Carole Sharpless (Sharpie!!) was there!!  What an awesome surprise…all the way from Colorado :)  Anyhow, she kicked my butt in the swim as expected, and I came out of the water third (just behind Cathy Yndestad).  It took me a bit to reel Sharpie and Cathy in, but eventually I got up there.  My legs were definitely not all there and I was worried that any sort of acceleration or climb would suck any life out that was left….but it turned out alright as I came into T2 just out of first.  

Run:  I had an awesome T2 and took off on the run like it was a 10k.  This sounds crazy, but I knew if I could just put a little distance between me and second place I could probably hang on.  I ran a couple fast miles (thankfully I have been good about doing track workouts this year, because I actually have a little more speed than I used to) and managed to pull away.  I didn’t look back from then on and managed to run my fastest run split ever of a 1:24.  I came to the finish with an 8 minute lead!!   I finished with a 4:27.

Since these races I have been in recovery and now training mode heading straight into Ironman WI and the Ironman World Championships in Kona.   It’s been my longest year of racing, starting off with the Ironman in May, and I would not have been able to do any of this without having the support of such an amazing network of family, friends, and teammates.  I know every triathlete can agree that this is not a sport you can do alone. 

Good luck to everyone in the rest of your season!!  Thanks for reading :)

Jackie

This is my 4th season coaching for the Southern WI region of Team in Training and after our kick-off meeting last night I am excited for another season with such a great organization!!

Team In Training (TNT) is the signature event of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and is the largest endurance training program in the world!  Since 1988, more than 420,000 TNT participants have raised over $1 billion for life saving cancer research and services to help blood cancer patients live longer, better lives.  These days everyone is affected by cancer in some way, and it is through the fundraising that we can raise the money needed to help.

I am currently training a team of athletes for 3 different marathons/half marathons (San Diego, Vancouver, and Seattle).  Many of the runners or walkers have never done a race or ran more than a few miles before, so it is quite a challenge for me as a coach and for them as aspiring marathoners. 

I am so glad to be involved with TNT and be able to help make a difference in the lives of people suffering from blood cancers.  The survival rate has increased dramatically and I know each season that the money we raise is making a difference.   It’s great to be running for a reason!

For more info:       http://www.teamintraining.org/

In an attempt to get into the holiday spirit and get some exercise at the same time I participated in the Jingle Bell 10k this year.  I have been enjoying the off season since Ironman Hawaii and haven’t done much running, so this race was a last minute decision for me.  Well, honestly it was both the lack of running and the huge dump of snow we had received just a couple days before the race (see example below):

This was my first trip to the Big Island and it lived up to everything I imagined, both good and bad :)  I had high expectations for myself going into this race, but since I had never been there or experienced ‘Madame Pele’ I tried not to think too much about time goals.  I was lucky enough to get out to Kona 11 days before the race to get used to the weather, scope out the course, and get comfortable.  I’ll get right into the report:

 Pre-race:  Woke up at 4:30am, ate bowl of oatmeal and i was out the door w/my special needs bags.   I put up my thumb to hitch-hike my way to race start and (luckily) was picked up after a few min by a pickup truck.  Got to the start with plenty of time to check out my bike, top off the tires and relax a little.  As usual I felt fairly calm before the race and was ready to get started on a good long day of suffering.  I ran into some friends and Timex teammates before the race which was very comforting considering the huge crowd.

Swim:  BRUTAL!  The start was crazy and the first half was actually dangerous!  I think I must have started a bit to far to the inside because whenever we came to an orange bouy I was smushed between like 20 bodies trying to fit through the same 3ft space.  I was at 32 min at the turn around and thankfully found a good line of people for a fairly easy ride back to transition with only minor bouts of nausea.  Time: 1:01

Bike:  I was excited to get this ride over with:)  I knew I would be okay once I was off the bike, so I just had to be steady and not go crazy.  It was exciting leaving transition and it was going well…my legs felt real fresh.  I got out onto the Queen K Highway for maybe 1 mile and ‘pssssshhhhhh’ FLAT TIRE!!!???? What?  Alright, I thought, no big deal.  I had practiced for this kind of thing just the day before the race, but as you may have read in Eric’s blog about this, I somehow managed to break the valve stem.  I just stood there for a bit, waving down anything that looked like race support, and eventually one came (12min total lost from time of flat).  For some reason I wasn’t really upset or anything and just went with it.  I had a little snack and some drink while convincing the race support guy to just throw on another wheel rather than screw around changing the tubular.  He put the wheel on and I was off; cruising away witha crappy front wheel with a SWEEEET blue tire :) and no more computer.   It was actually nice not having a computer.  I know my body well and going by feeling and perceived exertion have always worked well for me….sometimes having the data messes with that.   So the ride went by fairly quickly, I was usually grabbing 2 water bottles and 1 gatorade about every aid station.  One full water went on my body and I drank the other.  I only ate POWERBAR gels and POWERBAR gel Blasts (awesome!).   I noticed the wind, but didn’t dwell on it.  I kept my effort consistent and just kept picking people off.  I figured I had no idea how fast I was going, but if I was passing people I couldn’t be going too slow :)  Bike came to a close before I knew it and I was sooo happy with how it went.  I came close to my goal of 5:30, so no complaints.  Time: 5:39

Run:  I dismounted the bike with a little discomfort and walked through most of transition to try and give my legs a chance to get ready to run.  And after a couple minutes, I was off.  I heard from enough people to be careful not to go out too quick the first few miles, so I was cautious not to go crazy here.  With all of the people and excitement it would’ve been easy to go faster, but I’m glad I held back.  The splits for my first few miles were right on and I made a little plan for the day to try and keep it under 8 min miles for as long as I could (and maybe even the whole marathon).  I was smiling and having fun for all of Ali’i drive and was mentally preparing to keep it going for the Queen K.  I was passing alot of people and trying to keep my spirits up by talking and saying good job to everyone.  Soon I started to wonder ‘Where is my half way bag?’  Of course i should have figured out before the race that we don’t see the special needs food bag until mile 18!!  By mile 15 I was sick of Coke and jonesin’ for my Red Bull!  Miles 15-18 heading to the energy lab was a tough section for me…not close enough to the end to think about it and far enough into it to be hurt (I was over 8 minute miles at this point for sure).  I even got the the point where I started saying ‘one foot in front of the other’….it eventually worked and soon I was at the Energy lab turn around!  I grabbed 2 cups of Ice, got my food bag, and poured that delious energy drink into the ice.  Red Bull does crazy things to me, and I think part of it is mental, but I don’t really care because it works.  I chugged as much as I could and decided it was time to pick it up and push it into the finish.  I hadn’t just trained all year to bite the dust.  At this point I could no longer say good job to anyone because I was doing all I could to make it to the end.  Thoughout the run I walked every aid station and took in a mix on water, gatorade, ice and coke.  I think I ate 2 bags of the POWERBAR energy blasts and MAYBE 3 gels and a bite of bannana.  I was litterally running on caffiene and sugar…but I didn’t want a relapse of my HORRIBLE stomach sickness at Ironman Wisconsin in 2008 so I was steering clear of too many solid foods.  Anyhow…all in all the run went well and I managed to bring the last mile home in 6:51.        Time: 3:28  

Overall time: 10:17.58,  10th Amature, 40th woman overall, 4th in agegroup (25-29)

This was by far the toughest race I have ever done and for sure the hardest I have pushed myself.  It was fun, painful, awesome and an even better experience than I could have hoped for.  I am so thankful to my friends, family, and sponsors (Team TIMEX, Aquasphere, Trek, Elements Massage and Powerbar) for allowing me to be involved in this crazy sport and do what I love.   As always, I can’t wait until the next race :)

It took a while to get this posted…but better late than never :)  This season has gone well so far, race highlights being: Personal best time at Green Bay Marathon in May (3:04) and Second Place finish at Rockman Half IM (June 7, 4:44). 

I was actually waiting on photos so this could be an interesting post, but I can’t wait forever!!  Last Sunday I raced a half ironman race (along with fellow Timex team mates Mike Lavery and Will Smith) at beautiful High Cliff State Park (outside of Appleton, WI).  Here’s a recap of the weekend:

Friday (6/19):  I took the day off of work with the idea of leaving early for the race and getting to the campground with time to hike around or relax a bit.  Well…after sleeping in until noon, cleaning the entire house, and doing some yard work the day had quickly gotten away from me.  Soon it was 5:30 and we had a 2 (plus) hour drive….no big deal we’d still get there before dark (barely!)

Despite a long, winding detour and a GPS with a dead battery, we somehow made it to the campground at 8:30.  It had been storming the entire drive, so we immediately checked out the bikes…they looked fine, but were coated nicely in about 1/2 in. layer of sludge.  Awesome.   Anyhow…found the site, got the tent set up…Mike struggled with his a bit, but it went up eventually.  Amazing how the rain-fly belongs on the outside of the tent! :)  Unfortunately with the rain we couldn’t get a fire going so we spent the night burning our race packets and whatever else we could find.  Storms came hard all night…but somehow we managed to stay dry.

Saturday (6/20, race day):  5am came quick, but the weather looked great for the race. 

SWIM- took place in Lake Winnebego, a pretty large lake.  The water was very choppy and I had a very hard time spotting the buoys.  After a little detour off course I found someones feet and rode it pretty much the whole way.  I came out a bit quicker than expected (27:06) considering the conditions.  Had a good T1 and was ready for the ride.

BIKE- This is definitely my weakest section of the race, but usually I can hang in there.  My legs were not feeling great right from the start.  Luckily the course was pretty flat, except for the mile long climb just after transition.  I got passed by Mike at mile 20 (he started 5 waves behind me) and was not feeling so hot at that point.  I think one of the problems was that I never actually looked at a map of the course so had no idea if we were doing an out and back, or loops or what….oops!  I managed to only get passed by one woman at about mile 45.  I pushed to keep her in sight the rest of the way…but my legs were really not coopering.  Anyhow, came off the bike with a mediocre 2:40 (avrg 21.3).

RUN- I spend the last half of the bike portion of any tri thinking about how excited I am to start running.  I love the run and can usually make up some ground on all of the bikers that passed me earlier in the day.  I had a good T2 and took off with my Nathan handheld bottle (very key for the race since it was hot!).  The run started out up the same hill that the bike course did and there was no choice but to walk it.   The first mile was tough, but after that it was all trail running.  As an ex-cross country runner and being semi-injury prone, I run on trails as much as possible…so this was a very enjoyable run for me.  Finished with a 1:32 split for the run.  I’ll take it on a hot day.

Overall time 4:42, First overall.  See full results at : http://www.itiming.com/raceresults/519-high-cliff-tri-half-div09.pdf.    Congrats to Will Smith, overall Men’s winner and Mike Lavery, 3rd overall.  Great showing for Team Timex!