A Century Ride Ruined!

This year was my 5th year participating in the Headwaters 100 Bike Ride out of Park Rapids, MN (http://www.itascatur.org/bike.shtml).  The ride is a beautiful fall ride in northern Minnesota that winds through the lakes country around Park Rapids, Itasca State Park, Lake George, Emmaville, Nevis, and Dorset.  Typically fall colors are starting to peak with vibrant hues of orange, red, and yellow along with the contrasting greens of the pine stands.  Unfortunately this year the colors took a back seat to battling the rain.

The ride consists of three routes-42, 75, and 100 miles. The first year I rode 75, the second 70 with intention of 100 damn flat tires, the third and fourth 100, and the fifth wait for it 34 miles. It literally rained pretty much all morning and afternoon. I decided the 42 mile option would be best for me as I wasn't going to force myself to be miserable all day trying to do 100 miles in the rain. Boy, did I make the right decision.  The first rest stop was 16 miles in and it was downhill from there as I became very cold, wet, and just plain tired of the rain beating down on me!  Needless to say my friend Jen and I found a shortcut off the route which got us back to Park Rapids in 34 miles instead of 42!  Yippee!  It was wonderful getting out of the wet clothes and taking a warm shower. Since we were done much earlier than expected I even got an afternoon nap in at the hotel!!

There was a contingent of 13 cyclists from the Central Minnesota Bike Club riding.  A variety of distances were rode, from 25 to 100 miles!  Wow 100 miles in those conditions-that deserves an award!

Regardless of the weather the weekend was a blast with tons of laughs. On Friday, before the Saturday ride, Jen and I also did a bike tour of Itasca State Park and hit the main tourist attractions there.  It was a beautiful day to explore the park and we managed a total of 17 miles that day.

You can't tell by the picture but I am completely soaked from head to toe after 34 miles!

 

This shirt was great for the weekend!

 

The crew post ride!  Notice the interior decorating we did with a bike tire and the clock!

 

Headwaters of the Mississippi River

 

I AM AN IRON GIRL

I decided to top off my multisport season with my first Duathlon, Iron Girl-Bloomington.  I have nothing but positive things to say about this all female race!  The organization of the whole event and venue were wonderful!  You can definitely tell this is a race for females planned by females. Little extras, such as white table clothes on the post race breakfast tables and tables outside the bathrooms with extra toilet paper, Kleenex, hand sanitizer, Vaseline, and feminine products gave the race a little feminine twist.

Results

Run: 16:11 (2 miles)

T1:  1:35

Bike:  1:16:30 (22 miles)

T2:  1:01

Run:  17:35 (2 miles)

The Run

I was excited for the short runs in this duathlon.  I also really surprised myself running an 8:06 min/mile for the first run and 8:48 min/mile for the second.  
 

And we're off!

 

The Bike

The bike course consisted of two loops. Initially I wasn't very satisfied with my 17.3 mph bike average. However, once I analyzed my data on Garmin Connect I realized that there was more elevation gain than I thought, making my bike average easier to swallow. 

Also working against me this race was a entertaining previous day at the Renaissance Fair  bit of a sore throat and head cold. All things considered I am satisfied by my performance.

15 of 97 in age group

61 of 716 overall

 

 

 

My cheering section!

 

I am an Ironman Iron Girl!

 

I would highly recommend this race to any female whether it is your first ever event or you are a seasoned veteran!  I am truly impressed by this Iron Girl Event!!  Did I mention the great post race food!?!

ALASKA: Not Your Typical Race Review

This post is definitely not a typical race review. Instead, it is more of an Alaskan vacation review!  Amongst the tail end of my race season I scheduled an eight day trip to Alaska to visit family!

If you recall previously I decided not to do my half IM race partly due to upcoming travel plans and this was it!  Had I participated in the half IM, I would have flown out on two 3-hour plane rides the day after my race and probably still be stuck on the plane with stiff sore legs.  I looked my hardest for a race event occurring nearby when I was in AK, but came up empty handed.  Darn, I guess I'll just have to enjoy Alaska without a race---not a hard thing to do!  ;)

Highlights Of The Trip:

• Alaskan Railroad
• Husky Homestead-Jeff Kings' Iditarod Dog Sled Teams' home
• Denali National Park
• 49th State Brewery-home of the "Into The Wild" bus
• Mt. McKinley-it came out for viewing the last two days of my trip
• Talkeetna
• Abundant wildlife
• Hiking and picking fresh cranberries and blueberries
• Wonderful time with family

Last Triathlon of the Season!

Well, my triathlon season has finally come to an end for 2013. Yesterday I completed the not so short Square Lake Short Course.  My half IM distance has been tabled for the time being, see previous post.

Shannon and I ready to rock the hills of Stillwater!

Swim:  18:42 (0.5 mile)

T1:  2:11

Bike:  56:53 (16.5 miles)

T2:  0:28

Run:  50:01 (5 miles)

TOTAL:  2:08:13

I have been very blessed this year with great weather for almost every race with lower temperatures and lower humidity.  A huge thank you goes out to the weather gods!

Swim:  Square Lake was amazing to swim in, super clear and clean. I was ON with my sighting today and could actually see the buoys, unlike at Pigman last month. The turn around into the sun made sighting more challenging, but the buoys were still visible.  Coming out of the water into transition was a bit tricky as there was a huge flight of wood stairs to climb-see picture below.  However, the climb went very smoothly and was easier than I imagined. 

The stair climb to the transition area. 

Bike:  THE BIKE WAS HILLY!  (That is all I have to say about that!). ;). Well except that I was happy with my 19 mph average considering all the climbing I did. 

Run:  The run course circled the lake.  However, I did not actually see the lake on the run except for at the finish line. The five mile loop consisted of some good climbs and a combo of paved and gravel roads. 

The best part of the whole race!

I wasn't out to kill the race, instead I stayed relaxed and took it all in. Square Lake was my 9th race of the triathlon season and I am now ready for a break from the multi-sport training. In September I also have a duathlon, so I will focus on biking and running to finish out 2013. Oh yeah, and get back into the crossfit box after taking two months off!!!

Mom and I post race!

A Change Of Plans and New Gear

After racing in the Pigman Olympic Triathlon, I have decided to hold off on my half ironman distance race this year for various reasons.

• First and foremost, I don't feel quite prepared to tackle the course, especially since I struggled so much on the run at Pigman with painful calves and a strained hamstring.  After doing a practice ride of the Square Lake Half Iron bike course, I know the hills will tear my legs apart and the last thing I want to do is injure myself on the run.

• Next, the course is actually 2 miles short of the half iron distance on the bike and also a finishers medal is not awarded.  However, I did just find out that there is one this year. I really would like to do the full 70.3 and not be two miles short. Also, after all that work I want a dang nice finishers medal for my effort!  :)

• Finally, I have travel plans coming up and it is a huge stress taken off my shoulder to not have two big events happening around similar times.

Soooo...with that being said I am going to do the short course!  Woohoo!  It is actually longer than a sprint course, but short of an Olympic course!

I definitely am not finished with my aspirations of doing a 70.3. I am looking into IM Racine 70.3 next season and now will be able to set goals to be better prepared and none the less take home a kick butt medal for my efforts!!

In other news I recently purchased a couple new tri gear items!

 

My Pearl Izumi Iso Transition shoes which I can wear sockless for a quick transition from my bike shoes (which I also prefer sockless) in sprint tris. 

My new ISM Adamo Breakaway saddle purchased using my Gear West Gift Certificate!  Comfort on the bike definitely comes at a price!

A Weekend Of Firsts!

This weekend I had many firsts including doing my first Olympic distance race!  I road-tripped with racing friends Jason, Genna, and Jackson down to Iowa to do the Pigman Olympic in Palo, IA.

RESULTS

Swim: 36:20 (0.9 mile)

T1:  2:26:03

Bike:  1:22 (25 miles)

T2:  1:30

Run:  1:02:27 (6.2 miles)

Total:  3:05:41

Here is the breakdown of my race.

Swim:

The swim start was a new format for me. In all my previous races I have done a wave swim start. Today, I had my first time trial swim start and loved it!  One racer would start approximately every 3 seconds. It was nice to have room in the water and not be swimming on top of 30-50 other people. After consulting my Garmin, I realized I actually swam 1.07 miles instead of the 0.9 mile swim. Guess I need to do a little work on my sighting. However, I did struggle seeing the buoys today as they had quite a distance between them and blended in with all the pink swim caps in my wave. This distance is officially the longest swim I have done and I didn't even drown. ;)

Bike:

I was slightly mislead on the bike course (I won't name and names). ;)  Mentally I had prepared for a flat and fast bike course. However, the course had many great rolling Iowa hills. The out and back route took us though Palo, IA and along the countryside.  I was happy to still manage an 18 mph bike average over the 25 miles, considering all the climbing I did.

Run:

The run was the most challenging part of the race for me. I felt as though I didn't have any running legs left around mile 2-3 of the hilly run course. I resorted to doing a walk/run to finish out the race. Amazingly, I sustained a 10 min/min average throughout the run. 

 

A Weekend of Firsts

• 1st Olympic Distance Triathlon
• 1st out of state triathlon
• 1st time trial swim start
• 1st medal with a pig on it 
• 1st trip to We Run (running store) in North Liberty, IA (www.werunllc.com)
• 1st pair of Pearl Izumi triathlon shoes
• 1st out of state road trip with the Migalas' (check out Jason's blog- www.triracingafter30.com)
• 1st time trying Normatec Recovery Boots (www.normatecrecovery.com)

The Olympic distance was a great learning experience for me and I am looking forward to getting a few more triathlons of this distance under my belt!

Northwoods Triathlon and My First Podium Finish!!

FINALLY!!!!  I did it!  At the Northwoods Triathlon in Nevis I placed 3rd in my age group, 30-34, to take my first podium finish. Prior to the awards ceremony things didn't look so promising.  I was very happy with my results and felt like I left everything I had on the course. However, when I checked the results I was listed 4th in my age group.  I have to say I was a little disappointed that my goal of achieving a podium finish in a sprint triathlon was not going to be reached this year, as the two races I have left are Olympic and Half IM distances. As I was watching the award ceremony they came to my age group and announced "ME" as 3rd place. I was ecstatic and completely not expecting an award. To top it all off, when the door prizes rolled around I finally won after participating in 12 triathlons!  And a sweet prize if was being a $100 gift certificate to Gear West!!  Thank you!!

A Happy Triathlete!

Swim:  9:36 (0.25 mile)

T1:  1:46

Bike:  43:26 (14.2 miles)

T2:  1:24

Run:  25:38 (3.1 miles)

Total time:  1:21:49

Now that I have told you about the end of the race, I suppose I should start at the beginning!  Once again we were spoiled (at least in my opinion) by a cool, partly cloudy, and non-humid race day!  The race is capped at 300 participants and filled up in about an hour and a half when registration opened January 2nd!  That alone goes to show what a little gem this race is!

Swim:  

The swim took place in Lake Belle Taine which was a very clear and clean lake. I started the swim on the front inside and decided I was going to fight for swim position in the race. I definitely got a fight as I was hit and kicked for the first 150-200 yards. 

Friends and volunteers Jen and Jan made signs for us to see along the bike and run course!

Bike:

The bike was a beautiful course around lakes, forests, and quiet country roads!  As I came in on the bike the amount of spectators cheering was phenomenal for such a small race.  One would think that the whole town of Nevis, population 388, was out cheering and creating energy for the racers!

Run: 

The run was an out and back on the Heartland Trail. Trees provided lots of shade on the run course, which would be especially helpful on a hotter race day!  The race finish was near the giant Muskie and also lined with cheering spectators!

Central MN Bike Club represents at the Northwoods Triathlon with two volunteers (Jen and Jan) and two participants (Beth and I)!

Wow!  What a great course, volunteers, and race directors. I will be sure to add this to the calendar next year!! 

 

 My first Olympic distance course race is next weekend in Iowa--Pigman Olympic!