I race most of my races with my sister, Thia =) Wouldn't be the same without her!

Rattlesnake Olympic Triathlon has been around for awhile, but I have never raced it.  It is held at Aurora Reservoir and can be a challenging bike course with the rollers and the wind out on the East plains of Denver.  My day started off with a solid swim for myself, and I could tell as I was running up to transition; it was going to be another “training” race.  My legs were not very fresh from the ongoing training that has been carried on from FL.  It is difficult for me to race under these conditions of fatigue, but I must say… I’m starting to get used to it.  It will be a happy day in Tuscaloosa when I have had a strong taper!

One of my Faster Swims of the Season!

Very Happy to be Done with the 12 miles of Headwind!

Running in to the Finish!

With the women starting first today, I was able to manage to get way ahead of many on the bike and I think I came in as one of the first 10 off the bike.  This was very fun!  I have never had such HUGE cheers from the crowds and it totally fueled my run!  The run was challenging for about the first half  as I was still a little frozen from the bike.  I pulled out a decent run split for the rolling hill course and finished on a good note.  Now this is Colorado and I new I would be hard pressed to place… BUT! It is well understood that wind on the bike will put a huge separation between the strong riders and the weaker ones…. and my strength prevailed!  It was enough to make up where I still lack on the run and I finished 2nd in my Age Group!  Wahooooo!  Enjoy your training =) www.tristafrancis.com

2nd Place Age Group!

Well, I think I have experienced paradise.  I had the opportunity to go down to a remote Island off Florida and train for a week in the extreme heat and humidity that abounds there this time of year.  My friend who is a budding Pro Triathlete, has lived and trained there for a year and a half now.

As we got onto the island and arrived to his dwelling, I immediately was taken back that he had both of his bikes just sitting there outside his house.  In the open, for anyone to see.  He proclaims they have been there for a year and a half and they were just fine.  Guess I’m not in suburbia anymore?!  It was a very difficult thing for me to wrap my head around.  Shortly, thereafter, my Orbea Ordu got plopped right next to the other two and I hesitantly went inside feeling like I was completely abandoning one of my most prized possessions!

I couldn’t get inside fast enough to remove a few layers of clothing.  I’ve been to Kona several times and this heat index didn’t even touch it.  I began learning about my new training facility for the week and was completely excited to get the training rolling.  First of all, training nutrition: mango’s are unlimited here.  I could hardly believe it, I LOVE MANGO’S… I knew it was going to be a great week!

Next we headed out for my first bike ride and island tour.  There is one road that goes from one end to the other but we didn’t ride on the road, we rode on the “path”.  Yes, this was crazy.  Residents here drive golf carts around the island to get around, it was actually kind of hilarious!  Some have custom painted golf carts and I even saw one with bigger tires and painted flames on it.  I don’t think most of them even golf!  You just have a golf cart to get around.  My first ride was a very interesting experience, as I learned how to share the path with the golf carts and most often was riding faster than them and “passing on the left” was a common occurrence.  On another note, I have NEVER sweat so profusely in my life.  Within a minute or two of getting back out into the heat, my body was pouring sweat from every single pore.  I had sweat just constantly dripping off my chin and running down my legs into my shoes.  This was all while riding!  I consumed 80 fluid ounces of  water and PowerBar Electrolyte drink during my short 2 hour ride!  The island is about 7 miles long, so, yes, we looped back and forth. It was so beautiful, and so fun to be in a new environment, it never got old.  I would go back in a heartbeat.

The swimming pool was fantastic and turned into my favorite workout everyday as it was the coolest of them all!  It was fun increasing my yardage significantly this week and giving/getting stroke feedback.  Every evening we jumped on the Vasa Trainer and had another workout.  My upper body definitely reaped some rewards from the multiple training sessions daily.  One day we decided to swim in the ocean.  I quickly got overheated in the 90 degree water and almost hurled.  It was quite interesting.  But if I had hurled, there would’ve been no one there to witness it… as we were always the only ones on the white sand beach!! =)

We would run on the same path that we biked on… I did a lot of loops so I could refill water at the house.  I did notice by Thursday my water needs had been reduced significantly.  I love adaptation!

I finished up my last training day with around 5 and a half hours and then we packed up and headed to Miami to race Huntington’s Disease Olympic Triathlon.  It was sad to say goodbye to my ‘training facility’ I had instantly bonded with.  We traveled through Alligator Alley and dropped into downtown Miami and as we pulled into the Hyatt, I quickly realized what two extremes I was going to experience this week.  A remote retreat to the flashiest of cities out there.

After a solid nights sleep, I awoke and headed over to the race.  It was a balmy 85 at about 5am.  At this point, the decision was made.  I was going commando, no speedsuit for me.  I just needed to make sure I made it through the swim without overheating.  This was my first non-wetsuit swim and I was excited.  After pacing conservatively for the first half of the swim, I put the hammer down the last half when I knew I was in the clear for making it through the swim.  I hopped on the bike and low and behold, began experiencing the biggest sufferfest I have ever known!  I felt every hour of training in my legs and couldn’t ever seem to pull the effort out of tempo watts.  I chuckled a little as I got passed by a few that I know normally I could hold off.  My goal for the run was a big goal… I wanted to come in just 6 secs faster than my run at Boulder Peak 3 weeks prior regardless of the big run/training week I was coming off of.  Well, I did just that and then some.  When I came across the finish line with another 1:21 off my 10k time… I was STOKED!!!!  Couldn’t have been happier!  BAM!!!  It even got me a 5th place age group finish and was like the cherry on top of an awesome week!  A shout out to my training partner in crime for pulling off a 2nd overall finish among the Elite competitors.

I will return to Isolation Island.  I am drawn to the extremes that exist there… pain and pleasure.

Enjoy your training =) www.tristafrancis.com

I couldn’t have been more excited to race this morning!!  After my Kansas episode, I was ready to put the hammer down and see what improvements I was going to get at the Olympic distance since St. Anthony’s back in April.  It was a great morning and my swim got off to a great start.  It was very fun swimming next to a client of mine Gretchen Bruno for half of the swim.  It was hard not to smile at each other each time we took a breath =0).

As I exited the water, I ran up into Transition, peeled off my wetsuit, dropped my goggles and cap, then put on the helmet and optics.  As I pulled my bike off the rack, and started running forward with it, I looked down, as I must’ve rolled over my goggles and low and behold; they had rolled up and were stuck between my brake, frame, and wheel. I quickly tried to joggle them loosed as they were completely wedged in there!  I pulled and pulled and finally the nose piece flew off, but now I had one goggle on each side of the brake!  After pulling them to one side, discovered that the goggle was much bigger than the hole.  I’m quite sure I yelled out, “You’ve got to be kidding me!!”  So I start pulling as hard as I can to break that darn strap… after about 6 pulls, I was set free!!!

So I’m off!  I race through Transition, wave to all my fans (okay, just my coach who was cheering for me and a couple random “Go Timex” cheers) and I leap onto my bike.  Don’t ask me what happened, but I missed my shoe, landed back on the ground, and thought… “Wow, that hurt.”  No biggie, I just did it again and was off.  Well, I felt my foot a little on the bike, and then a little on the run.  When I had crossed the finish line and  had finally stopped moving, MY TOE REALLY HURT!  I couldn’t hardly walk. “I broke my toe, I really think I broke my toe”.  Well, when I removed my shoe, it wasn’t looking so hot.  Now I am getting yellowing over the top of my foot as well and it’s pretty obvious which one is the unhappy piggy.

I would like to say after today, I’ve seen it all. But as soon as I do, I’m setting myself up for something else.  In my racing, I have been stung by a jellyfish, hit by a car, stepped on a staple,  passed out on my bike with hypothermia, screamed at during the swim, called bad names for passing someone on the bike, rescued a panicking swimmer, listened to my CO2 cartridge “ping, ping, ping” behind me as it fell off my bike.  I’m sure there are more and I’m sure you have some of your own to share.  It’s all apart of the racing experience!

Aside from all the drama, I had a good day out there.  Although there wasn’t significant improvement on my swim and bike for this course, I ran 37 seconds faster per mile than I did at St. Anthony’s.  YAY!!!!  The leg is getting stronger.  I don’t plan on being “FRESH” for a race, until my speed is back.  I will continue to train, train, race, train and enjoy the journey of rebuilding.

A big congrats to all my TIMEX Peeps for outstanding performances on the course today… I’m sure their posts will follow soon!

Enjoy your training =) www.tristafrancis.com

It’s been a long time since I have been super nervous for a race.  I got signed up to do a local swim/run race which is the first time I have raced this combination.  1 mile swim & 5k run.  As I was setting up my “transition” I started to think about how much I was REALLY missing my bike at this point.  Two things were running through my mind.  The first was.. this run is really going to hurt!  The second was… I miss my bike!  The bike is my Baby.  I am not the fastest swimmer out there, but what I lack in the swim I can make up on the bike.  So now, I am left with just a 5k to do that with… UGH! Totally out of my element!  Especially as I am trying to regain run speed as the one year anniversary of my injury approaches July 6th.  I ended up having a blast and yes, the run hurt as much as I thought it would but I am excited to continue with the series over the next 5 weeks and see if I can continue to reset my 5k PR post injury.  Its going to be great for getting the speed back.  Without Limits will take each athletes top 4 finishes and award to those with the highest standing at the end.  Let’s see if I can move up a little.  Enjoy your training =)

www.tristafrancis.com

What does racing on empty mean?  Does that mean physically? Emotionally?  Well, for me, it was both.  My drive to Kansas on Friday morning started off with a funeral.  My Step sister passed away suddenly a few days prior and the family was devastated.  Funerals can be healing and help with the process, but by the time I got on the road to Kansas, I was emotionally spent.

After a very short 5 hours of sleep, I met some clients for a short swim, bike, run which is my usual workout the day before a race.  As I was finishing up my run, my stomach started to feel sour.  I figured I just needed to get some more food and I would be fine.  By the time I had parked the Flex at the Expo and picked up my packet; I knew I needed to get back to the hotel quickly.  I figured, its been a rough couple of days and I just need some good sleep.  After laying in bed until 4pm,  I was getting super concerned as I could not even drink Sprite, let a lone, water or sports drink or eat a darn thing.  I mustered up the energy to get back to the Clinton State Park to check in my bike and pick up the Flex.  At that point, I made a call to coach to discuss the game plan for the morning as I had not consumed any liquids or calories all day!

I tossed and turned until 3am with stomach pain and then it finally stopped.  But then, I got a bad headache, which I’m sure was from dehydration at that point.  I had decided… I’M NOT RACING.  The clock kept ticking, and ticking, and ticking.  I got into the last minutes of when it would be TOO LATE to get to the race and I said… “I’ve got to try.  If I’m standing on the sidelines and feel fine all day and didn’t try, I will be so mad!”  I quickly pulled all my gear together, threw on my racesuit and headed out the door with a Sprite and a Bagel (not my typical pre-race meal for a Half IM!).

On the drive over, I keep thinking of the wise words I was told… “Stay in the moment”.  This was so hard for me as my thoughts kept going to “If I make it out of the water, how on earth can I ride 56 miles on such an empty tank!”  I would stop my self, back up and say, “just get yourself to the swim start”.

After a very conservative swim, (honestly, I was so tired and had no energy) I still didn’t think I could do 56 miles on the bike.  I decided to listen to the words of advice about STAYING IN THE MOMENT and JUST GET ON THE BIKE.  Then if I wanted to turn around after 2miles… so be it.  Well, I got 10miles under my belt and said “Okay, we are just going for a ride, no big deal”.  I tried to up my hydration and nutrition now to try and make up for the deficit but wasn’t too successful.. I took in some good calories, but couldn’t really take in more than I typically do for that distance.  As I was about 45 miles into the bike, I kept thinking once again. “How on earth am I going to be able to truly run 13 miles.”  I really had to work my mental muscle and just stop thinking about it and STAY IN THE MOMENT.

I finished the bike 12 minutes slower than last year and was pleased that is wasn’t any worse!  I headed out for the run and put together a strategy.  First of all, GET SOME SUNSCREEN!  With the crazy, unprepared morning I had, the only thing I forgot was to apply sunscreen.  I yelled to my family so they could be prepared for me when I looped back past them in about 10 minutes.  The second thing was HYDRATE!!!  I could tell my HR was elevating quickly due to my dehydrated state and it was hot.  I decided if I was going to actually finish the race, I needed to walk the aid stations and get a full glass of water and a full glass of gatorade in me every mile.

My run was slow, but my goal was to finish.  I had to find that very sensitive balance so I could use the only fumes I had left as efficiently as possible.  It was a combination of running the downhills fast (it’s a relative term), walking the uphills, drinking and eating what my body would take in and not being out there on the course too long… as I really just needed  a FRICKEN STEAK by this point.  Miles 6-9 felt the best of the whole race as I felt the most hydrated I had been in two days, but miles 10-13 were the most challenging.  My body just wanted to drop to the ground, curl up in a ball, and go to sleep. I fought this every step the last 3m and I was getting nervous  because the finish was so close, but I was in a real bad way by this point.

I could not believe it when I was actually running down that finishing shoot on the yellow carpet to Dorothy and the Scarecrow.  I really could not believe that putting each MOMENT together, would have got me there.  If I would have bet on the day, I would have lost.  I didn’t believe I was was capable of  RACING ON EMPTY.

I am darn proud of my 6:17:00 Finish… actually, I’m just proud of my finish!  One of those races that put more in your bag of experience, than any other.

Enjoy your training =) www.tristafrancis.com