Liz in NH

2012: Let's Go!

2012-01-03T10:54:00.000-08:00

I have been a bad blogger. Sorry. I know my 2 readers have missed me.

I am not recapping, because, well the rest of 2011 was more of the same. And I don’t do resolutions. Silly stuff – frankly I am always resolved to be healthy and happy all year long. cheesy but true.

So onto 2012. Crazy...ending my 39th year. Not that I’m counting. But as Tom Petty says, time keeps on tickin...

But I have one burning question as the year starts:

WHERE IS THE SNOW?

I mean I am raring to go on snowshoes. Maybe not physically but mentally..I am ready for the HURT and EXHILIRATION of snowshoe racing. Even Ted is ready to go this year!

And we all got X-country skis from Santa.

Yet it is the first week of January and not a speck of it and the 10-day forecast looks SUNNY. Come on now Father Winter...play nice!

So I guess it is time to start running then..I took the month of December off running and it is time to resume. I ran 2 miles on New Year’s Day. It’s a start.

And all the rest too..gotta get back to the pool and the bike on the trainer. though this weekend will be sunny and in the 40s so I do think I will go on a Crossbike ride. Crazy times.

So my blog seemed sad and empty and now there is a little new year cheer. Bring on 2012!

Random CX Ramblings

2011-11-21T11:43:00.000-08:00

WOW – so I have been bad at keeping up with blogland this Fall. I have been racin some cross races here and there. But things are busy busy at work/home so I just have not had time to update all you out there in the land of internets. So here is a quick recap for posterity:

Downeast cross up in New Gloucester, ME – MUD. ‘nuf said cuz I suck in the mud.

Plymouth Cross Festival – A few weekends ago, we headed down to Plymouth for 2 days of cross racing.

Day 1 was my FIRST DNF - boohoo. I forgot to tighten my breaks after getting new wheels and did not realize how bad it was until I went screaming down a hill in the first lap, could not stop or turn and went right through the tape at a turn. Game over. Ted also raced, but he missed the start by 2 minutes (doh) and frantically tried to catch up until he ran headfirst into a tree. Game seriously over.

That afternoon, though, we did get to see Plymouth Rock and walk around the Mayflower II. Cool. History is fun.

Day 2: ok breaks fixed! I had a good start to the race and was probably 4th or 5th in the Cat 4 field, but there were some nasty downhill turns on some trails in the woods and on lap 2 I went off the trail and got stuck in the woods. I finally got my ass out of there and kept going but a couple girls had passed me. I caught a few back but ended up 6th - not horrible but definitely got hung up on the technical parts of the course more than I should have. But I am a whimp and don't want to hit a tree with my face (think Ted day 1). So I play it safe and you can hear my squeaky brakes a mile away :)

Here I am finishing...tired..but aren't my new wheels cool?

VELO CROSS!
Finally, this last Saturday we headed over to Velo Cross in Londonderry – now a short 20 min drive now that the airport road is open off Route 3 in NH -sweeet. I raced in the cat 3/4 35+ division. Though they ended up starting all the women together (all cats) which was a bit annoying since the course was fairly short (about 6-7 minutes) so I knew I would likely get lapped by the fast girls up front. Not that I mind getting lapped, but it is just hard to know how you finish when some folks get lapped and others don’t (foreshadowing).

I had a pretty good race overall, but my legs were TUCKERED on the last lap – I did a tough Crossfit workout on Thursday which was not the smartest thing to do (but I can’t stay away – love that crossfit!!). I did get lapped so was pulled before the 6th lap which was a bummer. I knew I was about 3rd or 4th out the 10 or so Masters ladies there. We waited a bit for results but it was lunchtime and the kids were about to melt so we left.

Looked at results today and they have me at 6th. UM – I don’t THINK so. I know who I was behind and who I was ahead of. But shame on me for not waiting for results to protest. I should have known to wait when I got lapped because I know the timers get confused! Still it is annoying since it affects my crossresults rankings. A DNF and then this. DARNIT! Woe is me.

But OH WELL. Life goes on and I am already over it. And it is getting a bit chilly for me to keep cross racing – but we’ll see. Ted is out for the year since he cracked his bike on his tree incident in Plymouth (though he raced on a pit bike at velo cross and came in 7th/41 in the 35+C4 race! Go Ted!).

So who knows what is next. Onto thanksgiving and Xmas...my favorite time of the year. And maybe I'll get to a snowshoe race or 2 in 2012! Fingers crossed for some December snow!!

MRC Cross RR

2011-10-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

Ok. It is official. I love Fall. Yes, dare I say better than Summer? I do dare. Soccer and cyclocross. Life is good. Our little Teddy’s soccer team (coached by big Ted) remained undefeated and Teddy scored 2 goals on Saturday. Then Sunday, it was time for some more cross racing!

Sunday was the MRC Cross race down in Lancaster, MA. Nice fall day up here in New England. Ted was racing first at 9 in Cat 3/4 35+ while all us women raced at noon. So it was to be a long day. But Cross races are always entertaining and the kiddos have such fun – as long as we bring lots of food of course (did I mention how much my kids eat? seriously it’s constant).

Luckily (not), we all slept in until 6:50 but somehow made it out of the house by 7:20. Got to the race site where Ted was a wee bit frantic getting ready but was still able to warm up. It was a tad slippery on the course and there was the dreaded fly over. He lined up and was off. He was about 30th place after lap 1 and stayed pretty even the whole race, gaining a few spots to 26 - out of 60+ so great! He almost died a few times on the fly over I think though and lucky for me the race officials deemed it unsafe for the later races.

The next 2 hours went by quick – especially since we saw a kid’s used redline cross bike for sale. Ted and I have little self control when it comes to our own racing gear - our kids? Forget about it – particularly if it promotes any athletic activity. So we called the number on the for-sale sign and 15 minute later, Teddy was riding around on his new ride. Total awesomeness.

THEN there was a little kids race which Betty raced in - on teddy’s now old bike. Teddy was a little nervous on his new bike so opted out. There were only 3 kids so once again Betty got on the podium…and was awarded a certificate of awesomeness:

Then FINALLY – my turn to race! Now here is the fun part. I was using Ted’s new zipp wheels. The 1/2/3 elite women went off first and then we were off a minute later. And HOLY SMOKES I shot forward like a rocket – maybe it is the crossfit or actually practicing some starts..but likely it was the AWESOMELY light wheels! I found myself close to the front of the amateur field. Huh? That felt strange but FUN!!!

The first half of the course had quite a bit of climbing and some uphill turns. I felt great and hammered through it. I started passing a few girls here and there. I also have been working on my remounts and that definitely helped me keep up with the front. By the 2nd lap I was in 5th or 6th place I think? Between laps there was a stretch of pavement and I tried my best to get a draft so I could take a breather:

La la la la la...

I kept passing Ted and the kids and they were so psyched to see me closer to the front than usual and were yelling at me to go go go!!! So I pushed and pushed and PUSHED. I was - no joke - seriously RACING acidotic.

Our race time was 45 minutes so that meant we did about 6 laps of the course. I finally moved into 4th place about 4 laps in and caught up to the 3rd place woman. But there was one section that was deep mud and I faltered and she shot ahead. And then I just could not catch back up to her. Plus I was getting tuckered and there was a hefty head wind out there too.

The last lap hurt- especially the first half of climbing - into a head wind for part of it- and we had been going for over 45 minutes by then. I maintained my position and crossed the line 4th amateur – by far my best placing ever. Yessirree...WEIGHT MATTERS. Maybe I need to go get a titanium bike now...yeah I am only half kidding.

And here is the only other pic Ted got of me...see why I rarely get a good race shot? love it.

Pinnacle Challenge 2011

2011-10-04T17:34:00.000-07:00

Another year and another trip up to Newport NH for the Pinnacle Challenge! Ok this is only the second year we’ve done it, but I think this will become a staple in the Halls annual race schedule.

The race is a double duathlon – road run, mountain bike, road bike, trail run. Ted and I participated on 4-person teams with our racing team acidotic RACING (yes you must NOT capitalize the ‘a’ and capitalize RACING or you are not cool). This year I was taking the road run leg of aR-PINK – a team of uber fit ladies. Ted was the road bike leg of aR-Black which team captain Chris Dunn had stacked with talent and would be the team to beat.

Having a road run was nice-no bike to get ready, not much gear to bring (for me at least..snicker). We headed up north early with the kids in tow. The weather did not look great and it was raining as we left Merrimack. As we got closer to Newport, the clouds seemed to lighten up a bit...maybe we would get lucky (I of course would not mention it in case I jinxed us and Ted gave me a look as I had to explain to the kids what "jinx" means).

We showed up and found our teams and got ready. There were a ton of aR folks racing which was very cool. And everyone in their new aR cycling gear looked great. I got a little bit of a warmup and snuck one last bathroom break before heading to the start. Everyone gave us a good luck and got a nice big hug from the kiddos. And then we were off!

Now I really have not done much running in weeks prior to this race. I had done my 5.75 mile work loop twice since my trip to AL 3 weeks earlier. And actually that is it. But I do think my legs needed the rest and was not too worried – but I did know I was not going to be breaking any records.

The first mile I felt pretty good. Ok it was mostly down hill and I tried to go fast since I knew my hip would bother me eventually. First mile was about a 6:30. Mile 2 turned off the main road and you got to run through a covered bridge. That was cool. I was right on Steve W’s tail through those 2 miles (ok he has been injured but I'll take keeping up with an injured Steve). The last half of mile 2 had a bit of an up and that is where I started to slow. Mile 2 was around 6:55. Then we hit the turnaround at 2.3 miles. I had thought it was 5 miles, but guess not. I could tell there was a girl close behind who I could not see at the turnaround loop and this was confirmed as someone yelled “go ladies!” At about 2.75 miles she made her pass. I could not keep with her and just maintained a pace of 6:50 the rest of the way. Here I am aaaalllmost home...ugh...

(picture courtesy of Gianina Lindsey!)

Into transition at 32:39 so not too shabby for 4.8 miles. Luckily my teammates were able to take the timing chip off for me to transfer to our mtn biker so I would not pass out. And then I was done! So time to wait. I was able to see Ted before he headed off on his ride and then hung out with the kids to watch the rest of the race (and give them food, food and "mommy I'm hungry" more food).

The only other team close to aR-Black had mechanicals on the mtn bike so Ted's team was 4 minutes ahead when Ted took off on his bike leg. aR-Black ended up holding off the hard chargin 2nd place team and won in a time of 2:01:26 – 1:26 from going under 2 hours and winning $100 – darn!

Our team finished great with a strong mtn bike, fast road bike and kicked it in on the trail run to be the first female team in. total time of 2:32:31! Great job ladies!!

Ted and I actually stayed for the awards ceremony and we both won syrup – sweet in so many ways. And the kids got to eat extra cookies from the post-race meal – so win-win!

Am definitely thinking I might do this as a solo next year. May have to run most of the mtn bike course – but the rest would be fun. We'll see!

Sucka Brook Cross

2011-09-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

Yes the apples have turned red on the trees...that means it is CYCLOCROSS TIME! The Hall clan headed over to Auburn NH for the Sucker Brook Cross race on Sunday – my first (ted’s second) cross race of the year. I knew it was going to hurt and it would be a little more like SUCK brook for me. This bike racin is HARD. Goal- try to finish in the top 50%.

I raced first at 9:30. Was able to get in one loop of the course to warm up and then headed to the line. I was actually ranked in the second row - must be leftover 2010 points? Who knows. Then the whistle blew and we were off. And then ½ the girls behind me passed me. I hate that. Really-I need to work on my sprinting skills.

The first half of the course has lots of twists and turns around a grass field. Then there was an off-bike climb up some wooden steps. The course was CROWDED and I got stuck behind a large pack. And after I climbed the stairs and hopped back on my chain fell off..GRRR…and it took me 2 tries to get it back on...double GRR. So now I had to play catch-up. There was a slippery bridge crossing where a lot of people were going down, but I had no problems with it. That was followed by a short steep grassy hill where a lot of folks were going down..again no problems there. So my bike handling is definitely much better than last year at this time.

Heading to the back half of the course, there was some nice open sand/gravel trails. I pushed this hard every lap. Then another off-bike climb up a large step, through some trails in the woods and to the sand pit which I definitely was not riding through – though a couple of girls around me decided to try to ride and both fell right in front of me on the first lap. Nice ladies. Then there was some sweeet pavement bringing us around to the next lap. And repeat 3 times (I think - all a blur when your HR is at 180+). I definitely found my groove in the latter laps and caught and passed a handful of girls. I was closing in on 2 more but needed one more lap...ahhh well.

So finished 24th out of 56: top 50%! It was good to get a race under my belt. I am still a little wimpy on the turns and my leg strength is lacking, but since my my current wheels weigh about 7-8 pounds I am going to remedy some of that...Eastons..you will be mine.

Ted’s race was next. He started pretty far in the back but slowly but surely made up a ton of spaces..this was a great course for spectating since you could watch the entire first half of each lap. So we were able to do a lot of cheering - I really do need to get a cow bell. Ted ended up finishing 31 out of 84. Not too shabby!

After Ted's race we took the kids out on the course and they actually rode the WHOLE thing (ok we had to carry their bikes over most of the obstacles and we skipped the sand pit). Yes we are training them for the Junior division :)

But wait...it's not over! After lunch, the kids "raced" in the kids race. They set up a separate little course with flags and even had an off-bike obstacle. Teddy cruised through the course (twice) and was barely breathing hard. Betty has no gears on her bike and stood the entire course (which was on grass and it was 80 degrees and humid out). She was pooped but had so much fun. They had a blast and the race directors really made it fun – and let all the kids get their medals atop the podium...at least someone in the family got to podium!

And then as we packed up the truck..here is post-race B:

Put a fork in THAT one!!

Up next: Pinnacle Challenge where I actually have to run. yikes.

Last Tri of 2011: BOUS

2011-09-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

Finally getting to post on the last tri of the year. With the kids back in school and no more nanny this year I just have no time. Poor me. So just a quick recap so I can have a little closure.

Headed down to the Best of the US championship down in Gulf Shores, AL over a week ago. I left the fam at home and met up with my sister and fellow BOUS-er Kari for the weekend. I had “oh Susanna” running through my head the whole trip. Everytime someone says AL it just plays through my head. And I had no banjo. So that was fun.

I arrived Thurs night and the weather for the weekend was perfect perfect perfect. We were staying right on the beach with a lovely view:

We had a greasy breakfast on Friday after finding the only breakfast place around, hung by the pool and I was able to watch some mindless TV (we do not have TV at home so when I get to a hotel I am like a crack addict). It was hard to get motivated to race with the ability to lounge without having to entertain anyone. Fri afternoon we attended the pre-race meeting where the race director scoffed at those at us who brought wetsuits...the water was 85 degrees the afternoon before the race. You silly kids. Off to a yummy spaghetti dinner and to bed (and of course a little more TV – got to watch most of The Proposal which I think a certain friend of mine was also watching pre-(bigger)-race!)

Race morning we were up early draggin my poor sister out of bed before dawn. Kari and I set up, found bathrooms that nobody else knew about (score) and she went on a warm up jog (I forgot my shoes). As I headed back to transition, I hear the announcer say “water is 74 degrees- wetsuits legal.” WTF?! Kari and I had left our wetsuits back at the hotel 15 minutes away and it was 30 min to our race start. Of course I panicked and could not find my sister. I found Kari and we both were a wee bit peeved to say the least. We found my sis but it was just too late to do anything – especially since we had to walk a mile down the beach to the race start. AWESOME.

OH WELL- that was that. The race started..I had a good swim despite not having the suit (and um..the water was AWFULLY toasty..just sayin). Bike was fairly flat and fun. Run was awesome the first 3 miles (6:45s) but at the turnaround I realized we had a tail wind on the first half and of course that is when my leg started hurting so ran 7:10ish back.

I stayed in 3rd the whole race and ended there with Kari just a minute back. Done. Put a fork in me. That is it for 2011 tris. I think I was more happy about that than anything. Some random pics from the race:

the cool kids:

BOUS podium:

Then off to a dolphin cruise with some of the other BOUS athletes (aka booze cruise) and then back to the hotel for more useless TV (NCIS marathon –yes!). Then dinner on the beach with fried shrimp and margaritas and lunch the next day on the beach. Ahh..that is heaven. Of course I paid for it by getting stuck in Chicago Sunday night and missing a day of work on Monday. Double awesome!

On to Fall sports! Soccer games for my little guy and Cyclocross races for Mom and Dad...Can’t wait!

2011 Age Group Nationals!!

2011-08-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I dragged the family up to Burlington VT to compete in the 2011 Age Group National Championship. A rare treat to have the race on the east coast and a relatively short drive from home. So we headed up Fri afternoon and met up with my parents at a hotel right across from the race venue.

Fri night I picked up my race packet, dropped off the bike at transition and then we headed over to Church St for dinner. Burlington is such a fun town. Ted and I raced here over 10 years ago and remember loving it. Church St is closed off to traffic and has lots of restaurants and shops. Weather was great and we got to eat outside. Fun!

Sat morning I was up at 5:30 am - after being up with my little boy until midnight – he was not feeling great and was having trouble sleeping. So not a ton of sleep-but I am used to that before races anyway. Walked down to the ENORMOUS transition area and set up. Then I met up with fellow F35-39er and friend Kari for a little warm-up and we headed over to the swim start. It was great to have someone to nervously chat too. Thanks for hangin with me Kari!

The swim was an in-water start in beautiful Lake Champlain. We had to tread water for a while and then headed into position. There seemed like a LOT of girls around me (turns out 108 in our age group). I was feeling a little claustrophobic. Then they sent us off and well, I just got HAMMERED. Wow- I don’t know what I was expecting but I forgot that this was NATIONALS and there would be girls with me the whole way. My races so far this year either had faster swimmers out ahead or just a few around me. But now there were yellow caps everywhere. My goggles got knocked off a little right at the start and I felt a little panicky (and like such an amateur - seriously-how long have I done this sport? geesh!). I really did not get my composure until a few buoys in and then I just tried to keep a pace and hold it together. I tried to go hard from there, but I did not feel GREAT.

We swam in a little protected cove for the first half. The course did head out closer to the open lake for a part and the water started to get more choppy. We also made a right turn DIRECTLY into the sun and I could not see a darn thing and just followed. I heard later that a bunch of swimmers missed the turn and kept swimming out into the lake. Luckily I was not one of them! Finally into the swim finish and looked down – over 24 minutes. YUK. Though courses are so different- you never know what is really fast vs. not so fast.

Into T1 and the lucky thing is our bike racks were right near the swim in. I had an awesomely fast T1 and ran my bike the long long long way out. Then it was off on the bike.

I really loved the bike course. There were a few climbs in the beginning and some false flats but nothing grueling but enough to make it hard. I just tried to find my groove and go. I passed a few girls in my AG in the first half – I think 4 maybe? 1 girl passed me somewhere in those first miles going so fast- no way I was keeping up with her. At about mile 13 there was a tight turn around and you can see some folks behind you. I saw (or imagined I saw) quite a few girls chasing so I just put my head down and tried to go faster. The last 10 miles were mostly down and I really pushed those downs. I caught either 1 or 2 more in my AG- I can’t remember-but nobody else caught me! I was SO psyched about that. A net gain on the bike? NICE!

Into T2 and another decent transition. Onto the run! Do or DIE time. I had no idea where I was in the race-was I 20th? 10th? I was wishing someone would tell me! I saw the family as I headed out which just gave me a surge of energy. I didn’t see them out of the swim so was so happy they were there. Though they did not give me a sense of where I was either (turns out I was 10th off the bike!).

The first mile was a bit of a shuffle since you have to climb a steep hill about ½ mi long. I tried to have a good turnover and finally got to the top. As I was pickin up the pace after the hill, 2 girls in my AG flew by. Daaaang. I got to mile 1 in under 7 and was feeling lighter so I was able to pick up my pace. My left quad was hurting, but I focused on my right leg turnover and was able to keep a strong pace. Mile 2 was better around a 6:45 and mile 3 was even better under 6:40 (ok I think that was a lot of downhill!) and I passed another in my AG. Mile 4 however I started to really hurt. I think the course got flatter and maybe a slight up and wow did my hip/quad BITE. Mile 4 was right under 7. Only 2 more miles to go and I just tried to hang on. I also took in a gel which was long overdue. I did not see any girls ahead of me and was wishing this was an out and back so I could know how the heck I was doing! Mile 5 was right at 7 (darn!!) and the last mile I just tried to go as hard as I could. I know it was faster and well under 7. I had no idea what place I was chasing in but sprinted to that line. I knew I had given it everything on that run - even if there was no puking at the end!

So I found the family and my mom thought I was 10th or 11th! REALLY?!! SWEET! They had a results table that gave you a printout of your splits (so cool) and turns out I was 11th with a 2:19:37 and a 42:08 10k. Given my leg issues this year I was THRILLED! Though I WAS 1st loser (top 10 get awards) but I have to be happy with the result.

BUT- Sunday when I saw the final results online…there was a 2 min penalty slapped on me! WTF?!!! I emailed the timers and they said I had a penalty for “overtaken” which means at some point the officials saw someone pass me and I did not drop back fast enough. I only remember one guy who I tried to pass on an uphill who didn’t let me go by and maybe I repassed him without dropping? I am very good about staying out of draft zones, but sometime the guys out there can be so annoying to us ladies coming by. It could not be MY fault right?

Who the hell knows but it sure does piss me off. BUT – at least 12th F35-39 was more than 2 minutes behind me! HOLY SH*T that is LUCKY!!!

So 11th out of 108 in F35-39 and a 2:21:37 (boohoo). But I did get a picture on the front of the Burlington Free Press the next day! Why me? Who knows...but DUDE...I need to do some more situps or lay off the ice cream :) But I was RACING acidotic!!!

Top Notch Tri 2011

2011-08-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we traveled north for our annual hour and a half killer hill workout up Cannon Mountain. I think this might be my 4th year at this race – the Top Notch Triathlon. I have to say it is one of my favorites although I feel like the course just kicks my ass every year.

This year the whole fam came along. My FIL was a trooper and came to watch the kids – up before 6 on a Sat morning! We hopped in the truck and rode the hour+ north from our lake condo to the race. It is more effort with the kiddos(food food and more food!!), but I love when they come along.

So we checked in, set up transitions and were getting the bikes ready (it is a bike swim run order). Ted was pumping my tire when POP – yep –there goes my tube. Luckily he is cool as a cucumber and changed it lickity split. If it were just me that would have been it for the day. But I was all set and we headed to the start.

We were in the first wave. We lined up and then were off right at 9. Ted was on his cross bike this year and was gone in a flash. I just tried to draft as much as I could the first 2 miles (only flat of the entire course). Of course I ended up being on my own- darnit if that always happens.

Made a turn and then it was climbing from here on out. The first mile up on a road and then you turn onto trails for about 2-3 miles. I felt pretty good though definitely slower on the trails as everyone and their brother passed me. But I was off my bike only once on the trails (last year I think I ran most of it!). They were definitely a bit drier so that helped.

So had a decent bike for me (3 minutes faster than last year!) but I was getting HOT at the end – definitely a humid day. Jumped into Echo Lake for the ½ mile swim (ahh nice COOL water) and just motored through. Then I was out – got my shoes on and off on the climb.

Out of the water the kids were there (high fives-yay!) and they said I was right behind Dad. As I started the hike I could see him about a minute ahead. But ooh I was not my usual fast uphill self. Not sure why – maybe the humidity-or I pushed harder on the bike – or maye the drier trail was harder with racing flats (Next time wear better shoes!)-but whatever I had a harder time gettin the legs going. But I eventually caught Ted, passed him, but he stuck right with me.

Then I had an idea (giggle). I yelled back “if you stay with me I’ll let you pass at the end.” OOH did that GET HIM MOTIVATED! HAHA. A little while later he passed me back and then stayed ahead of me the rest of the race.

(turns out he was up front on the bike leg but had a bunch of mechanical issues that made him stop a bunch of times..leave it to Ted to have bike issues at this race – first year he raced this his derailler broke in the first mile and HE RAN THE ENTIRE BIKE COURSE- yes he was dead last but he finished!!)

(Ted pullin ahead)

The last 5 minutes of this race takes some serious effort. You go straight up the mountain to the top and even the finish mat is up hill. The kids were waiting at the top about 100 yards down from the finish and tried to run with me in (I think they only made it 10 yds!!) – I was workin so hard I think I was drooling. Finally I made it in and crawled to the grass to sit. I knew even with my slower hike that I still beat my time from last year. And I was the first female in.

BUT –as is always the case with this race it seems- 2 other ladies in later waves came in right after me so I ended up 3rd. I definitely lost it on the hike...but if I can keep getting faster each year maybe I’ll win it some day..when I’m 50?

Then we hiked up an overlook trail and got to see some amazing views. Does it get any better? Sorry - forgot to bring up my phone so no pictures darnit.

Finishing up one last week of some solid training and then I am takin it EASY next week..Looking forward to some serious hard core racing at Nationals the next weekend!!

Chunky Dunk!

2011-08-04T06:18:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was my first ever Aquathlon at the Chunky Dunk Duathlon in Wolfeboro. Ok they called it a duathlon but I am a tri geek and will call it an aquathlon. This race was at the tail end of a week vacation at the Lake which I PLANNED to train my butt off but in reality I spent most of the time laying on the dock or sailboat or just plain loungin.

Anyhooo- this was the first year for this little event. It was to benefit the Nick, a recreation park in Wolfeboro. It was a 1/2mi swim on neighboring Lake Wentworth and then a 5k run along a rails-to-trails path. I always wanted to try one of these so perfect.

It was a beautiful morning and the water was crystal clear. Best thing about this race was that they put Females under 40 in the first wave! SWEETNESS. And the water was nice and flat. The ladies crossed over the timing mat and then all of a sudden the start horn went off. YIKES! I just dove in and got moving. There was one girl right next to me and another who shot ahead. One thing I do have going for me is I can swim STRAIGHT. Girl number 1 starting to seriously zigzag and ended up taking a right turn off into nowhere. I finally saw her turn back and get back on course. Oops! I stayed right with the girl next to me pretty much the whole time. I did pull ahead right at the end – mostly I think because I swim so darn straight (at least I think so-haha).

Out of the water and I slapped on the shoes and headed out on the run. DARNIT if my hip flexor did not flare up RIGHT away. So annoying. I tried to push through it but it definitely makes me run 10-20 secs per mile slower. I was out in front which was a little weird since there were a lot of people taking leisurely walks on the trail and here I come huffin and puffin through. I was trying to run fast, but it was definitely mentally hard being all by my lonesome.

Got to mile 1 marker in over 7 pace. That just plain sucked. But whatever. Got to a water stop and said how much further? And they said TURN TURN! They were not ready for me – lovely! Turned and looked down and it was about 11 min out. UGH!

I turned and then got to see who was behind. About 1:30 out I saw a woman who looked good. It was hard to tell if she was over 40 (and in the wave 3 min behind) so crap if I didn’t have to try to pick it up. It was fun going back though and seeing everyone going out. I was definitely quicker on the way back and finished with a 21:27 5k. The woman behind came in over 3 min back so I knew I snagged first. Turns out she was my age but glad I did not know since it helped me push a little on the last half.

So first Female and 3rd overall. And I thought I would love not biking but darnit if I did not miss it. Yep – triathlon is my love. Can’t deny it.

Hopefully this race will pick up momentum next year and get a larger crowd. It was definitely a great location, well organized, and fun little event to do. Hopefully I’ll be back next year!

Family Tri Weekend!

2011-07-19T07:26:00.000-07:00

Tri Weekend for the Hall house this past weekend (for most of us that is). Sat morning my 2 little ones competed in the Granite Kids Triathlon up in Wolfeboro. This is a great event put on by the Wolfeboro Park and rec dept. For kids only and very well organized. It was a PERFECT morning on the lake for the race. Betty raced with the 3-5 year olds and Teddy raced in the 6-7 yo division.

Betty’s race was first and a shortened version of the bigger kids’ course (most of these kids have training wheels! Love it). The swim is not really a swim but a run out in the water around a lifeguard. All the kids EXCEPT Betty came out the wrong way. But Betty saw me yelling at her (THIS WAY!!) and came out the right way. She got on the bike did a few laps of a little course. And then was off running. She looked so amazing running. She is such a strong little girl! Here she is into the finish into 3rd place!!

Teddy’s race was next. It was a similar swim – a little longer but you could still touch the whole way. Then he went for a 3 mile ride and 1 mile run. He came in 2nd off the bike and stayed in that place with a strong 2nd place finish. This is the only pic I got of him coming into the finish:

They both got medals for 3rd/2nd so that was a treat. Proud mama and papa:

They were both so happy and proud of finishing. We went to breakfast and both had to put on their race t-shirts so that everyone would know they just did a tri. SO CUTE!!

Sunday - it was MY turn to race. I left the family at the lake and headed home Sat night. After laying in bed awake most of Sat night (nerves..blech) I headed down to Winchendon, MA for my first international distance race in many years. I needed a tune up for Nationals and this was a Best of the US qualifier – so let’s get it done.

Got to race site right at 6am, checked in and got set up. It was to be a nice hot day (love it). There was a sprint race as well and those waves went off first. Then it was our turn. I was in a wave with under 40 females. There were lots of MIT racing team singlets (my alma mater! no tri team in my day - hmph - no fair).

Finally we were off. Water was 76 degrees so wetsuits were legal. I just tried to get into a groove and felt ok throughout. I kept trying to get on some feet but could not find anyone going STRAIGHT. Lots of zigzaggers out there. Swim was uneventful and I was out in 21:49.

I got lost in T1 a bit looking for my bike. Darnit. Found it and then I was off on the 2 loop 24.4 mile ride. The first few miles were a gradual up, but not too bad. Mile 5 there was a long steep climb. I have been riding a lot of hilly courses lately and this did not feel too bad. I passed one girl who was having bike trouble (turns out she crashed into a slower sprint distance racer- oops - but everyone was ok thankfully). She caught back up to me and I just tried to hang on to her. After the hill there was some down and a few ups, but pretty nice rolling course. Except for some rough patches on the road, I thought it was a good course.

Second loop was more of the same. Caught up to the crash girl again but then I think that lit a fire under her and she pushed back by me on the second go round of the hill. I tried to keep her in sight, but lost her a bit on one of the downs. I knew I was close though and could get her if I put a good run together.

So into T2 and off on the run. I kept looking for water on the way out but there was NONE – or else I missed it. And I was thirsty. And it was hot. Not Eagleman hot and there was quite a bit of shade, but still toasty enough to want some WATER. My first mile was pretty slow at 7:36. The mile was a bit uphill, but COME ON LIZ. Finally got some water at about 1.5 miles and that helped a TON. Next mile was 7:09. better. My hip flexor/quad issue was bothering me on the uphills which was annoying, but seemed to get better as I went.

The run was out and back and I had NO idea who was in front of me. I passed one guy and he said I was in 3rd, but ya never know. Then I approached the turnaround I saw one girl who was at least 7-8 min ahead of me. Closer to the turn I saw biker girl right ahead. NICE. Mile 3 was 7:04..,getting better.

I started closing on the girl ahead during mile 4. It is much easier to be the chaser than the chasee!. There was some climbing in this mile and I tried to keep my pace. I also started to feel a blister on the inside of my left foot. WTF?!! I never get blisters. Not enough lube darnit. But I just tried to ignore it. 6:56 mile 4. That is more like it. Then at about 4.5 miles I caught her and made the pass. But she was not going slow so I had to keep pushing hard.

A minute or so later I came up on another woman. Turns out I had missed seeing her ahead at the turnaround. I made that pass and kept cookin. Mile 5 was 6:57 and I knew I really had to push it to the end. Mile 6 was 6:49 and then a LONG .2 to the end (um more like .3 thank you very much). WHEW!! So 44:27 10k. I wanted to be get under 43 min, but with the heat and bit of hilliness (and maybe a bit long? come on give me somethin) that is FINE.

Ended up 2nd overall and qualified for the BOUS competition in September. Fun Fun! Now back to work!

Holliston Sprint Tri

2011-06-27T10:31:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, the hubby and I ‘snuck’ down to MA to race in a little sprint tri. My folks were in town for my daughter’s dance recital and took the kids to breakfast and bowling while we headed to the race – NICE! Ted has not done a tri yet this year and July is not looking good for him to race (business trip to China mid-July - YUK!) and I wanted to try out a little speed on the legs so this race was a perfect fit.

It was REALLY a sprint. .25 mi swim, 10mi bike and 3 mi run. I’ve been visiting the PT the past few weeks and my hip/quad is feeling better. I also realized that I am not INJURED (confirmed by doctors and Brian the awesome PT guy) but gravity is just taking its toll. Time to just SUCK IT UP and push.

The swim was a quick out and back. Men started 2 minutes before the women. So yes I was going to have some traffic. Race started and I just tried to hammer. There were a lot of yellow caps for a while but then they started to fall back. At the turn around I hit a LOT of the men and the water was choppy, but I got through it ok. Right towards the end a younger girl swam by but I was not worried about that and just finished strong. Out of the swim in under 7 min.

QUICK transition and onto the bike. It was a 2 loop 5 mile course with some rollers. Nothing long and too steep but enough to get some hill work. I had my sweet disc on (see my nice FitWerx ride above!) and just tucked in and tried to go fast. I was out front and this is where I normally get caught, but no one came by except for a few men. Definitely work to do on the bike, but I felt good overall. 28:37 bike.

Took a little too long to get my shoes on, but was in and out of T2 pretty quick. Then I was out on the 3 mile out and back run. You had to climb a hill out of transition (ouch) but then there was a little down to get the legs going. I knew I had about 2 min on the #2 girl as she came in as I was running out. A nice lead for a 3 mile run. But I wanted to push myself a little to see what I had. The first half had some hard little hills after about a ½ mile and I did feel like I was going to hurl most of it. The turnaround was atop a hill and ooh..that hurt. I got to the turnaround right around 10min. As I was running back I saw #2 still about 2 min back and just decided to try to run as hard as I could home and make it as big a gap as I could. I definitely felt better after the halfway point and pushed it all the way in for a 19:37 run. Not sure how accurate the distance, but definitely under 7 min pace which I was PSYCHED about.

Finish time of 56:35 and a win! Yippee!

And Ted had a blazing bike split and finished almost a minute ahead of me...something he was very happy about:

Eagleman 70.3 Race Report!

2011-06-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

Oh man – I have been waiting a long time to write this race report. I have signed up for EM for the past few years, only to cancel as the race neared. NOT AGAIN this year.

EM is one of my favorite races. Ted and I used to race this annually back in the day before kids. It is a great early half - flat and hot. When you live in New England, that is hard to come by in June.

But post-kids it was NOT so easy to fit in. Working full-time with two little kiddies I struggled to figure out how to actually train for it once I got it in my head I wanted to race there again.

But 2011- this was the year. I hired a coach to help me figure it out. And that was the secret to it all. I just needed HELP!

It still was NOT easy – nothing worth doing is, right?

But I did the prep - lots of lunchtime workouts. Swim practice after the kids went to bed. Early early am rides. Consistency consistency. And somehow I was able to keep up my billable target at work and was home before school and after day in day out.

And all of a sudden - it was race time! Coach said I was ready and you know what? I believed her! Even though those nagging self-doubting thoughts were there, deep down I trusted the process. My goal: Sub 5 (and a top 10 AG finish would be nice). This race was about tackling something BIG and HARD. To prove to myself that I can do ALL that I want to - that I don’t have to choose between a good job, family or racing at higher level. So this race was a big deal to ME.

ok I know...blah blah - back to the race...

Friday morning, after my son’s last day of first grade (sniff), we all piled in the truck and started the drive south. After a few wrong turns (turns out my phone is NOT better than an actual map) and a loooong time in the car with grouchy pre-race Mom (7 hours - UGH) we arrived in Philly at Ted’s aunt and uncle’s house. They are super fun, so that was a great stop. Then Sat morning we headed down to Cambridge, Maryland. And ooh it was HOT! I checked in and we headed to the hotel. The kids were able to swim, we had dinner and then they drove me to drop off my bike in transition. So much to keep track of and I was a little ball of stress. But Ted was such a trooper and schlepped us all around and dealt with it all. Seriously I am one lucky gal.

We decided that Ted and the kids would stay at the hotel for the race since it would be an early morning. This is a long race and they would really only see me for a few minutes..so I was off to face the demons on my own :)

I was up early and got to transition around 5:30. All set up, had help filling up my disc (thank goodness for bike support – they were awesome) and plenty of time to hit the restrooms a few times. I was well hydrated and ready to go- but had to wait until 7:42 until my wave. La dee dah dee dah…

And soon enough - time to go!

SWIM – the water was 82 degrees! Holy cow that is warm. I had never done EM without a wetsuit (It has been 9 years since I last raced there – guess things are a changing huh?). I tried my best to get on someone’s feet, but that just did not work out so I was on my own most of the swim. About halfway through I started catching up to the men in the waves ahead-so there was some dodging and I got whapped a few times (grr). Finally turned to the last stretch back to the race site..and it felt LONG. And I was getting HOT (unusual for me in the water). I just kept my turnover and hoped my calves would not cramp. Finally to the end, felt some leg tightening, but luckily I finished before a full out cramp. Out and crossed the mat in 35+ minutes. Yikes that WAS long!

My first transition was super quick. Shoes on the bike, grabbed my helmet and sunglasses and I was gone. BUT as I was leaving transition –they told me I needed my race number on my body. WTF? Ok my fault for not reading the race packet. SO I had to run back to my area and grab my race belt. DAMN – but what can you do? MY BAD. And then I was off on the bike.

BIKE - 56 miles to go! But it was flat and there are enough turns to keep it interesting. I focused on keeping the speed above 21 mph and pushed a little harder when there was a tailwind. I made sure to keep hydrated, picked up water at each stop and got in calories. I felt consistent the whole ride.

At mile 30-something I remember thinking – wow-I actually feel pretty good. Sweeet!

So that was it. Winds were tough at spots but not too terrible. And no hills. And I was enjoying the heat actually. I am so tired of the cold we’ve been having here that I relished in being nice and warm.

So into T2 in under 2:38. I was psyched about that. Got to my rack and there were only a few bikes around me. That was a good feeling! On with the socks and shoes, grabbed a hat and I was off. But I had to GO. And I cannot pee off the bike, or in T2. I know I know, you’d think by now, and after 2 kids, I’d figure it out, but I have not trained the bladder. No can do. So I ran to the port-a-potties before I left T2. Hence a long T2 time. But man was it worth it.

RUN - boy it was HOT. My quads were cramping from the effort on the bike so I just eased into it. Right off 2 girls in my AG passed me. They started jockeying with each other – in mile 1. I just stayed within myself and kept to a pace I was comfy at. I knew it was a long run (thankfully nice and FLAT!) and if I could just keep a consistent pace, I would catch some girls.

I hit the first few miles around 7:45s. I would like to have been faster, but my quads felt like they were going to seize up. I got water (and ice ice ice) at the first stop. After mile 2 I started to loosen up a bit and at the second water stop I tried to take some gu in. NOPE that was not going to work. I started to feel my stomach revolt – so it was going to be Gatorade and water from there on out.

But I was running and I did not feel too bad. There were a LOT of people walking everywhere. It must have been nearly 90 and NO shade. So if I could just keep my pace, I knew I’d do some catching.

The next 3-4 miles to the turnaround (at halfway) were about the same. I passed at least one girl in my AG on the way out. I was holding 7:50s I think. To the turnaround and then it was back. I love that turn - less than an hour to go!

I kept going going going and got water, ice at every stop and Gatorade every other stop. And just.kept.running. Then about mile 9 my pace started to slow. But I was still around 8s, so still moving. And I passed another girl in my AG.

Then - somewhere after mile 9 - I saw one of the women who passed me at the start ahead! I turned my focus to her and tried to keep on her pace. Oh I was hurtin by now and my stomach was NOT happy and I was thinking I might need to pull off to vomit/poop or both. But she was there and I stayed with her. Mile 11 and 12 hurt. And then into mile 12 I was getting closer. I did not know what place I was in, but it had to be top ten. And she did not seem to know I was behind her.

So at about ½ mile to go I decided to go for it and picked it up. At about ¼ mile from the finish I put my head down and started to sprint. I passed her and sprinted my heart out to the line.

And you know what. That got me 5th place and on the damn podium. YES YES YES!

Total time 5:01:56. I did not make the sub 5, but with the no wetsuit swim that is FINE by me! Top 5 at EM? Sweetness. and I EARNED that.

Once I saw the results I headed back to the hotel and caught up with the Fam. They had an awesome day at the pool and hotel arcade – so all of us were happy (Teddy said it was one of his best days ever - me too Bear!). We headed back to the race site for awards, but they were taking forever, it was HOT and about to T-storm. So we sneaked a little race pic and left to play some more at the hotel:

Now it is time to recover and figure out what is next!!! Maybe a little PT so I can get my short course game on..we shall see.

Final thanks to my awesome coach Jen. She helped me figure this all out. And of course, to the best hubby in the world. He is the only reason I CAN do it ALL :)

2011 King Pine Tri RR - from the land where the sun don't shine

2011-05-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

And it is RACE TIME! Yes!! My first tri of 2011 started very similar to 2010 at the King Pine Tri up in Madison NH. Though this year the race was a few weeks earlier. And came after some of the worst May weather ever. Rainy and 40s every day? Really? I know I live in NH, but COME ON NOW it is May. I just want 60s? that too much to ask?

Anyway, this year I signed up for the race and was committed. So give me 40s and rain and I was not to be deterred. Unfortunately, our child care (FIL) had other plans come up at the last minute (ok we did not ask him until the last minute-oops) so Ted took one for the team and did not race. He is seriously the best ever.

So we headed up to our condo in Wolfeboro on Sat. Of course it was pouring rain. I was supposed to get some short workouts in but my knee was a little sore coming off some heavy training the past few weeks and I just could not get out there again (shh don’t tell my coach). So we stayed in and played Sorry and had a yummy pasta dinner.

Up early on Sunday! My daughter was up before 5 (my prerace nerves must be contagious!) and we rolled out at 5:30. Time to hit D&D and at the race site by 6:20. NICE. Kids were such troopers!

This race is nice and small - I love it. no long lines and just easy peasy. Checked in and got my number. #2. awesome. And no there was no pressure with the number, but come on that is cool, right?

And even awesomer - I was sportin my new acidotic RACING tri suit. Things were lookin good!

Though what was not awesome was that it was only 48 degrees and drizzly. yuk.

Set up shop at my #2 slot and then headed down to the swim. Turns out I brought my hubby’s long-sleeve wetsuit from home. Luckily I had left my sleeveless at our condo last year. The water temp was 57. UM that is COLD for no sleeves. But frankly, I like swimming in sleeveless, so WHATEVER.
I hung out with at the start the fam while they made announcements and sang the anthem. Waves were 5 minutes apart again. I was in the 3rd wave with the 30-39 ladies. Same as last year. So young girls were 10 min ahead and the 40+ were 10 min behind.

Waves went by quick and finally we were off. They shortened the swim from 1/3 mi to 1/4 mi due to the cold. Bummer because my swim is going nicely this year. I took off and just hammered it. And felt AWESOME. It was cold but I was fine. Hit the mat right at about 7 minutes. Short and sweet.

Ran up a little hill to transition. Then I was really cold. I had left gloves and arm warmers but soon realized there was no way I was getting them on unless I wanted to be there for 5 minutes. So screw it-I just left.

Oh the bike...I was coooold. I actually looked forward to the first hills so I could try to warm up (you will very rarely here me say I look forward to hills on the bike-hah!). I thought for a minute the sun might come out but then it started to rain and felt colder. I tried to push push push, but it was a little hard being alone out there. And my hip flexor/quad pain was really biting. But luckily it was a fairly short 36 min ride . A little slower than I hoped, but it was DONE.

Into T2 and I had some SERIOUS issues getting on my running shoes. I could barely move my hands they were so cold. And my FEET - completely numb. I actually had to sit and forcefully shove my numb feet in them. But I did take my arm warmers with me so I could warm the heck up.

Don't I look happy?

So off on the run. Have you ever run on numb feet? It is really bizarre. They feel like heavy blocks on the end of your legs. I just tried to keep my turnover high and hoped they’d eventually come back to life. Mile 1 ticked by at about a 7. Then we turned into the woods for a trail run for the next few miles. I struggled a tad on the uphills with my nagging quad but felt ok on the flats. I did catch a few younger girls on the run, so that helped some. Then off the trail onto the final 1/2 mile which has some cruel climbs. Ted and the kids had brought there bikes and were right at about .25 to go. So I got some huge cheers from them which was awesome.

The last bit is thankfully downhill and I ran hard to the line. Then it was time to wait. I knew I had won my wave and Ted said there was no one out front of the younger wave. I knew I would have competition in the 40+ wave. But the 10 min ticked by and then they started coming in. So a WIN! Yes! I love to race and really - winning isn’t why I do this sport (I do keep trying to tell the kids that!). But it does sure feel special when it happens!

Little B joined me at the awards...who is happier??

And then the race put on an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet after the race. It was..yes..dare I say again AWESOME! This was really a great local race and despite the cold we had a great time. Now time for a little last push before my first BIG huge stinkin race of the year in a few weeks. GULP!!!

Wallis Sands Half Marathon RR

2011-05-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

Finally out racing again! With some distance to boot. Last Sunday was the 1st annual Wallis Sands Half marathon in Rye, NH. The weather looked to be perfect for racing – at least temp-wise. Sunny and in the 50s. A LOVELY spring day in NH! My brother-in-law lives up the road in York, ME, so the family dropped me off in Rye and all went out to breakfast in Portsmouth while I raced. So instead of sitting down to a mound of yummy French toast, I was going to run 13.1 miles with 1,000 strangers around the town of Rye. Nutty.

So I of course was a little anxious going into this race. Really, what else is new, but I have been having problems with this dang hip flexor which makes my quad seize up when I run *fast*. Plus I sprained my ankle a few weeks ago (KLUTZ) and it is still a tad sore. I have been able to run on it, but was not sure how 13.1 miles at a fast pace would do. So worry worry I did.

The race was billed as “flat and fast”. Since we were running on the coast I knew headwinds could be an issue. but at least it would be pretty! As we drove in I saw the flags were indeed blowing...and in the wrong direction of course. I was really hoping to PR this race (sub 1:32:27 from 2008), but with the wind - was not so sure. That is sub 7:03.

But shut up and RACE Liz. So that is what I did. Plan was to start a few miles at 7, work it down into the 6:50s in the middle and then really work the last 5k.

So lined up at the start - which was very well organized by the way. In fact, for a first time race I was very impressed by the organization! Good job race director!

So off we went. Mile 1 by the way was NOT flat. And into a headwind. So that went by in a 7:05. Mile 2 was also a bit of up (ok where is the FLAT??!!) and I squeaked that right under 7. At mile 2 I was the 3rd place female. I could see 1 and 2 ahead but far enough i could not catch up at the moment.

Mile 3 I started to bring the pace down a bit into the 6:50s. One girl passed me looking very strong in that mile. So I was now in 4th. Miles 4-6 went by pretty fast and were inland so the wind was not a factor. My friend Jerry and fellow acidotic RACING/Gate City club member rode by on his bike which was totally random. Fun to see a friend though!

Halfway through I was maintaining my 4th position and kept the pace in the 6:50s. Though my Garmin started to hit the miles earlier than the mile markers so I was obviously not running the tangents well.

Mile 7 actually had a pretty big climb in it (come on now) and that was my next mile over 7 at 7:04. I recovered and was back under 7 the next 2 miles. But these were all paces from my Garmin - which was further off each marker, so I was actually hitting the mile markers right on a 7 min pace. Darnit - but still on a PR pace.

After mile 7 the course flattend out a but with some down. I tried to pick it up a bit. But I was starting to feel a little fatigue in the legs and hit mile 8 and 9 in 6:58 and 6:55. Still in 4th place and I could STILL see the 2 girls ahead of me (the other one was long gone). I thought I’d make my move at mile 10.

But THEN...we turned a corner right after mile 9 back onto the coastal road and WHAM - TOUGH headwind. I had no one to block for me and I just struggled to maintain my 7 min pace. Mile 10 was a 7:02 but I was still gaining on the 2 girls I could see. I got to Mile 11 at 6:59 and thought I’d try to make my move. But then I heard it. The sound of footsteps closing in on me. One woman passed looking STRONG. Then another girl and guy on her heels chasing. Obviously someone else had my same strategy! hah!

So I was now in 6th! I TRIED to tuck in and stay with the passers, but I just did not have the leg speed. So I refocused on the 2 girls I had been chasing. I reeled the first in by mile 12. One left within reach. I finally passed her somewhere in the 12th mile, but I could hear her behind me. I just put my head down and went as hard as I could. My friend Jerry had caught back up to me by then and rode next to me the last couple miles and even though I blurted out a bunch of my negative thoughts (sorry Jerry!) he did help me dig a little deeper (thanks Jerry!). Nothing like someone telling you look "smooth" when you feel like puking! My last mile was a 6:57, but the last .2 on my Garmin(since I was .1 off by now) was a 6:08 as I held off the lady behind me!!

So official finish was 1:31:49. 7:01 pace and a PR for me! 4th overall and 1st AG. And the big plus was no major aches and pain and my nutrition was right on. I felt my hip a little, but it was not an issue. So success! ½ ironman in less than 6 weeks. Still work to do on the bike - but I am going to be READY!!! YES!

Spring Ahead 3 Miler

2011-03-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

Psst...hello out there?

Well I finally raced another race this year! Aren’t you all excited? ok...just a li'l 3 miler...but it's somethin!

At the end of last year I had high hopes for 2011 - some snowshoe racin, a training “ON” year - but so far this year has turned out to a little ball of frustration. The knee issue aforementioned in my last blog post turned out to be nasty. A full week of not bending my knee (I shoulda got stitches, but apparently if you wait a day you can’t stitch). Then another week+ to heal and get back to my full range of motion.

Early Feb I FINALLY was back to it (though I decided to shy away from snowshoes..sorry ChrisD!).

and then BAM – got the flu with a fever that lasted several days and a lingering cough (dang kids).

I finally got a couple weeks of feeling good in late Feb and WHAM BAM- stomach bug - the lingering kind where you are just tired and feel like vomiting for a week. Thanks again little ones!

SOOOooo..finally this past week I was feeling back to myself. Body was feeling pretty good and it was time for a little run test for my coach so figured I’d do a little 3 mile race up in Concord. Flat and fast 3 miler—ooh fun.

It looked to be a nice day (for NH), though when I started to warm up I realized there was some nasty wind out there. darnit.

The race was pretty small, held up at NHTI, and with little fan fare the race began. 1st mile was a little out and back – nice and flat. I felt GREAT and just tucked behind some guys to avoid the head wind. Hit mile 1 in 6:09. ooh look at me fast runner!

Mile 2-still felt good and moved ahead of the few guys I was running with - probably not a good idea since we were running with a tail wind. We turned to the left at about 1.5 miles and (insert sound of a slowing jet engine) I hit a wall of wind. I slowed a bit and then there it was..that left quad pain that has plagued me in recent years saying ‘Hello-don’t forget about me!’ One guy ran by me and I tried to tuck behind. We had to cross a little overpass right before mile 2 and I slowed down a bit on that as well. Hit mile 2 at 6:28. ok still not bad.

Mile 3 started back over the overpass and I just tried to stay consistent on my pace. My quad was starting to throb more and I just focused on my other leg’s turnover. A lot of little turns in that last mile but finally got across the line with a young whippersnapper breathing down my neck. But I held her off!

Finished the race in 18:57 – so a 6:20 last mile and a 6:19 average. 2nd place female overall.

BUT (cue evil music) my quad was NOT happy. What the hell? I guess the whole age thing is creeping up on me. So I iced it. I am stretching and it feels better but I gotta figure out how to not have that happen again. And nobody please tell me “don’t run.” Grrrrrr.

Feel Good Farm SS Race Report

2011-01-17T07:01:00.000-08:00

First race of 2011! Starting off the year with a bang – and then a noticeable limp.

The Feel Good Farm Snowshoe race was in Lyndeborough, NH - close to home and close to Crotched Mtn ski area. Very convenient for the Halls on a nice sunny winter day. I dropped Ted and the kids off at Crotched in the morning and headed back over to the Feel Good Farm in Lyndeborough with plenty of time until the 11:30 am start.

I had heard rumblings from my Acidotic Racing teammates that there was to be lots of climbing at this race. The race director announced that there was a lot of snow and to expect a very hard race. I was a little psyched actually. I love the deep snow - even though I am slow with my weak hip-flexors - I know it will make me stronger!!

The race started off with one loop around the parking lot to spread the field out a bit. We then headed into the woods and the rest of the race would be single track through the woods. There was quite a bit of snow in the woods - one bad step outside the pre-made track and BOOM down you go. Tricky!

The course was 2 laps of basically climbing "Moose Mountain" twice. So really you were either climbing up-hill or (in my case) flailing down-hill the entire time. I actually prefer the ups (as you will soon find out why) as I have little control going down!

So the first lap went by without much excitement (other than seeing Steve W on the side of the trail fumbling with his shoes..THAT does not happen often!) . The climbs were tough, and the downs were even tougher. On the second descent a girl passed me – more like FLEW past (seriously-I thought maybe she had skis and poles she was moving so fast). I kept her in sight into the second loop of the course and tried to close back in as we started climbing again. But then the next descent - she was GONE again.

And THEN, on that 3rd descent, it happened. I tripped on who knows what and fell hard on my knee. At the same moment my calf seized up in a horribly painful charlie horse. I let out a loud painful yell and a guy who was right behind me thought I was seriously hurt. “No just a charlie horse..uggghhhhh.” I laid there a minute (was probably just a few seconds but it felt like an hour!) until it loosened up and then I got back up to move on. My knee was a bit sore but I thought I had just bumped it.

I caught back up to that guy who was behind me and just hung on to his heels through the last (loooong) climb up. Then we went back down one last time – I managed to stay upright this time – and made the last push to the finish. 56 minutes to go 5 miles (though my Garmin said 4 miles but who knows when you are in the middle of the woods!).

Done..and I felt pretty good! on that course just finishing is good enough but I thought I also came in 3rd Female too. Sweet.

I had to get back over to Crotched so I threw some warm up pants on and took off. Got to the mountain just in time to see my kids race through the Nastar ski course (my little 5-yo Betty all in pink and flying down through the flags..she is awesome). I then went to the lodge to wait for them to take a couple last runs. As I was sitting there I realized my knee was pretty sore and it felt a little funny so I decided to take a look at it. GULP. There was a HUGE hole in my tights and a very large gash in my knee. UH-OH.

So it is now 2 days later and my knee is swelled up like a balloon and I cannot bend it at all. Lovely. Guess it is time for some rest. Will be a little while before I am out on a snowshoe course again.

Mill Cities Relay

2010-12-07T09:05:00.000-08:00

My last race of 2010 was the 27th Annual Mill Cities Relay with my running club Gate City Striders. I was a member of the Women’s Open Team 1. This race is a 27.1 mile 5-leg relay that starts in Nashua and runs down to Lawrence, MA. The legs vary in distance (5.6, 4.75, 2.5, 9.5, 4.75). The race is a friendly competition between local area running clubs and the club with the most team points based on category placing (men’s open, women’s open, coed open, etc.) gets a trophy and bragging rights for the next year. GCS has won the past 2 years and we were gunnin for a 3-peat.

I have done this race for the past 4 years and have run leg 5 (4.75 miles) 3 times and the shortest leg of 2.5 miles once. This year I was tapped for leg 1 which is 5.6 miles. I was psyched to run a new leg - and to get my run out of the way first!

This leg had a few hills in the midsection, but started and ended fairly flat. Very evident from my splits. I actually have started to increase my training a bit for 2011 already, so was interested to see what my legs had in them. I was pleasantly surprised what I had in the engine:

Mile 1: 6:11
Mile 2: 6:31
Mile 3: 6:36
Mile 4: 6:30
Mile 5: 6:19
.6: 3:59
Total: 36:06

I ran most of the first 3 miles hanging right on the tail of my friend Trent. Even though he just ran a blazing marathon time a few weeks ago, he started off pretty fast. He pulled me through mile 3 (without really knowing it..haha!) but hit the post-marathon-leg wall at mile 3. I zipped past him (sorry Trent...owe ya one!) and just held on to my pace the rest of the race. 6:27 pace - like it.

The rest of the morning went by so fast as we had to keep moving to get each runner to their leg. Our team ended up finishing at 3:05 and change, even with our 9.5 mile leg runner not feeling her best. It is very hard in this race to know how your team is doing vs. other teams – especially with coed teams – so you never know if the gal around you is on a female or coed team. But in the end, we ended up 3rd in the Female Open division – with 4th only 18 seconds behind...eek! But NICE!!!

And Gate City did indeed retain the Mill Cities Title. YES! We rock.

So no more racing for me in 2010. Time for Holidays and skiing! Yes, the snow fairies have delivered snow to some nearby mountains and Ted took the kids on the first trip of the season Sunday while I was racing. Now, let’s get some REAL snow please for some snowshoe racin! Yeehah!

Velo Cross - More Cross FUN!

2010-11-22T06:11:00.000-08:00

After a 3 week respite which included getting my eyeballs reshaped to see 20/20, I was back at the Cross game this past Saturday at the Velo ‘Cross race at the Velodrome in Londonderry NH.

First – what a GREAT course. NEBC did a great job putting together a really fun course IMHO. The course started on the velodrome track (ummmm COOL!!) and then turned into inside of the track with some twisty turny stuff and a few off-bike obstacles. Next they took you off the track and into the woods on some mountain bike trails. There was one STEEP dirt hill that we had to run up (I guess some of the fast men could ride it - NOT me!). Then a steep twisty descent out of the woods and finally - the best part of the course - onto a BMX race track!

I raced in the Masters 35+/Cat 4 race. I entered the Masters 35+ division, but I am thinking I should be racing Cat 4 – I am still trying to figure out these race categories – very confusing. As usual, my first lap was a little sucky and I was near the back. But I felt really good (probably from the week off after eye surgery!) and yes I could SEE without glasses/contacts (very cool). Lap 2 I just started to CHASE. I would catch someone and then just try to BURY them. I RAN that steep hill every time. I kept catching more and more ladies. I did have problems reclipping in after the remounts which definitely cost me some time – time for some new pedals obviously.

Going into the last lap I could see there were 3 women ahead within striking distance. I caught 1 halfway through. The other 2 were right ahead going onto the BMX course. I closed in a little (but it is HARD to push going over a gazillion little hills!). There was one last turn onto the velodrome track to the finish line. The 2 women were right ahead of me. I sprinted my heart out and caught one right at the finish line (yes it was for 6th place in the masters race but a race is a RACE!). I could not catch the other girl ahead (who actually finished 3rd in the Cat 4 race). Based on my place vs. some other ladies I remember from previous races, this was by far my best race of the season.

Ted raced in the Cat 3/4 race right after me. He was in 26th place after lap 1. 23rd after lap 2 and looking stronger – and then BOOM – popped tire! Luckily he was close to the pit (since you cannot cut the course to get to the pit to change a tire – you just have to run!). I happened to be standing right there too with my bike and handed him my front tire. But he still had to run a little ways to the pit to get the wheel off – which was no easy feat since the exploded tube was caught in his brake! He finally got back on the course – but was dead LAST. True to Ted-fashion he finished the entire race and actually caught up to a few guys. Go Ted.

So that is it for cross racing this year – I am a little sad since I had so much fun at these races - but it is a LOT of effort with the kiddos (gear/food, etc.) so am ready to stop. There is NO DOUBT we will be back for more next year – with better pedals – better wheels (can we say ZIPP?) – and I am going to PRACTICE and PERFECT my remounts. Mark my words.

But first – it is back to triathlon training. Yes – I am actually going to TRAIN for 2011. Watch out all you 35-39 year olds! Hah!!

Orchard Cross

2010-11-01T06:22:00.000-07:00

Orchard Cross at Applecrest Farm in Hampton Falls, NH on Halloween day: So far my favorite Cross course to date! This was a great way to spend Halloween morning. It provided some needed distraction for the kids before the main event at night (even though little Betty asked every 15 minutes: “How many hours until Halloween Mommy?”)

We left the house right as the sun was coming up (I love that) and headed west to the race site. It was warmer than we expected in the upper 40s - Bonus. We got to the race site and Ted and I had time to jump on the course quickly before the first race. What a fun course! Lots of double track, a couple of hair pin turns at the bottom of dirt hills (90 degree turns right into an uphill) and lots of twist and turns through the apple orchards on the farm. Cool!

My race was first. The Masters 35+ women started a minute behind the 3/4 women at 9:30. We were off and I had an OK start if you can believe it. I was actually WITH the main group for the first 2-3 minutes – even through the first downhill hairpin turn. Then the course opened up to a long straightaway and, you guessed it, the strong ladies were gone. WTF? How did they get away so fast?! Seriously – I MUST work on this bike strength!

But I stuck with #113 (I was #112 and we were numbered by our cross rankings). I rode with her for a while. There was a long sandy uphill and I sucked her wheel up it(hee). That was immediately followed by a run up a short steep dirt hill – followed by an uphill run over some logs - finished with a little more running uphill – OUCH-THAT HURTS! We then moved into the main orchards. There was another steep descent with a very sharp 90 degree turn back uphill and #113 fell on the uphill. Somehow I stayed on around her and moved ahead. More twisty turny riding and then a climb back to the start area where there was 2 wooden barriers you had to hop that ended with a slight uphill grass area to remount. TODO: PRACTICE REMOUNTS. Wow that was not pretty. And my father-in-law was videotaping and got my horrible remount EVERY time on the FOUR laps. Ooh - SO not pretty.

I held this same position the rest of the race (even with a nasty fall on that last hairpin turn on lap 2 – but my only fall of the day!). 113 was right on my tail through lap 2 and 3 and there was no one ahead within striking distance that I could see. At the last lap I decided to try to put some time into her and REALLY suffered. It worked as I could not see her anymore towards the end of the final lap. Ended up 10th out of 20+ racers - so top 50% baby! YES!

Ted raced in the masters 3/4 race and had a strong finish (still have not seen his results). He is so good at hopping those barriers and remounting. He makes it look so easy. Yes I need him to help me PRACTICE.

Then the highlight of the day: the kids race! Little Teddy raced in the 7-9 kids race which was 2 laps around a sandy oval area. He actually raced in the 4-6 group first by mistake (and won thank you very much). We are NOT helicopter parents so were not hovering and someone pushed him into the wrong race. Oops. But we made him race again (he wanted to - really!) with his age group. He had trouble in the first corner and had to hop off his bike and everyone passed him. But he caught back up to a few and finished 7th. He was so happy!

Second highlight of the day was the costume race. They shortened the course and lots of crazy cross racers rode in costume. My favorite was pumpkin man (he had a huge pumpkin on his head). At the end, Frankenstein won followed by cow man I think. Too funny.

We finished it up with lunch at the Farm and some cider donuts (hey it’s Halloween so my donut ban was lifted and they were GOOD). Then home for trick or treating with a “bad” witch and a penguin. Now time to recover from my sugar hangover. Happy Halloween!!

Downeast Cross

2010-10-26T07:10:00.000-07:00

Whew. I am still recovering from this past weekend’s racing up in Maine. 2 cross races on Sat/Sun. Exhausting. Mostly from traveling with the kids and getting LITTLE sleep in the hotel room. So do not feel like writing in length about it. So keeping it (fairly) short.

Sat race—started WAY in the back of the 3/4 and Masters women. I am SO not aggressive at the start and let everyone go by me. Reminds me of those polite Warner Brothers cartoon gophers (Mac n Tosh if you need a reminder of cartoons on TV in the late 70s) “After you...no no no, I INSIST after you.” So again, I am always just working my way back up the field the ENTIRE race. I caught up to some women and even passed one right at the end. Results: 8/13 of Masters 35+ women (15 starters). ALMOST top 50%.

Sun race—It was COLDER. Brrr. Still in the back at the start line, but I actually TRIED to ride up a little after the start whistle but got caught up again and did my polite gopher thing. Ted says I need to get my game face on earlier – and I need to learn to push a BIGGER gear. I am still trying to figure out why I have a problem with that. Why can’t I push myself up in the big ring? Definitely something I will work on during the off season.

I finally set my sights on the woman who finished right before me on Sat. I caught up and was about 5 seconds back the entire 2nd lap. I almost caught her on an uphill, but it was followed by an off-bike obstacle and I had a bad remount so she gained the seconds back. And then a little while later...WHAM. I slipped on a turn and did a GLORIOUS face plant. I hit my head which totally freaked me out (yes I am a baby) and sat there for a minute shaking it off. I pulled myself together and got back on and kept going. But I was pretty much out of it by then. I got some of my composure back and started to push and catch some of the women who passed me when – WHOOPS – I slipped and fell again. I realized that my tires were probably pumped up too much for the slippery grass. So I just held it together and just got to the finish line. ALMOST last (results have me 8/13 masters again..but I actually think they are not right -WHATEVER).

But at least I never got lapped by the cat 3 women in that race. I do not like getting lapped. And I did finish. But I was totally exhausted after Sun’s race. Lack of sleep...whiny kids...sore body. I just wanted to go home. Which we did. But I then had to go to the grocery store...cook dinner...pack lunches...do laundry...Big SIGH. Calgon...

Sufferfest Weekend

2010-10-19T19:35:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was planning to just race on Sunday at another cyclo-suffer-cross race. But I decided to also throw in a little 5k to try to help out my running club in the NHGP series. Since I have not run in any club race this year and I really had no excuse (odd...since I always have lots of excuses), I decided to throw in a little 5k hurt into the mix as well. Hell-it was SUFFERFEST weekend.

5Ks are generally not that exciting to write about -but screw it -I’m writin about it. The race was at Pawtuckaway State Park. I left the fam and had a nice little morning on my own. Got there with time for a good warmup and was ready to hurt. and hurt it did.

The course was an out and back and I was told there was a hill at mile 1-ish. I didn’t realize what a steep hill that would be (even though I drove in on the course..hello observant one). I WAS warned..but still..damn if it wasn’t REALLY steep. My plan was to push the pace and that is what I did.
Mile 1-6:31
Mile2- 6:58 with the 1/2 mile climb
mile 3 - 6:27 - yeah baby.
Finish time 20:49. Not my best 5k - but I’ll take it on that course.

Ended up finishin first female overall. NICE. And I won an iPod shuffle in the raffle - DOUBLE NICE. Seriously this race had one of the best raffles I’ve ever seen at ANY race (not including Chris Dunn’s races of course). They gave away a flat screen TV, digital camera, a GARMIN Forerunner (HELLO), and an Xbox. Not sure what that is about but hey-FREE iPod? gimme that!

Onto to SUFFERFEST PART DEUX. Cross Race on Sunday in Lancaster, MA. I had never heard of Lancaster, MA before, but turns out it was only a 45 min drive from NH. sweetness.

Ted - finally with his nice new Cross bike -was racing at 10 and I was at 12. So we packed a picnic, dragged the kids, my father-in-law and all our bikes down to the race site.

The course was crazy as usual. Lots of turns and this crazy run up thing-a-ma-jig...that looks scarier than it was.

So Ted started with the Cat 4 35+ men. They seeded racers based on rankings, so needless to say, since his only race was on his mtn bike he was seeded in the back. There were about 80 riders and he was about 65th back - ouch. They were off and we counted his place on the first lap - he was 59th halfway through. Next lap he was 46 (yeah Ted). By the final lap he was up to 37th place. Then he went up and over the green thing-a-ma-jig for the last time and right after I said “oh he is so good at that” - WHAM he bites it on the way down. oops...sorry honey. He lost a few places with that and finished 41st overall. Not too bad for his real race #1.

My race started at noon. I was a tad sore from day before. Ok-sadly I was more than a tad sore (did I mention how steep that hill was?). But - hey- this is my 3rd cross race. I’m EXPERIENCED. bring it baby.

The CAT 1-3 women were starting a minute ahead of us Cat 4 ladies. We were seeded by race numbers based on our cross rankings and I was placed mid pack as usual. The fast girls were off and then the whistle blew and we were off....and I realize HOW MUCH I SUCK at sprinting in the first lap. I really had nothin that first lap. I was gettin passed left and right..by some women who I really should not be getting passed by. Got up and over the big green thing-a-ma-jig - that was fun by the way - and got to the second lap and that is when I FINALLY got my mojo back (mental note - WARM UP ON THE COURSE DAMMIT). I then started reeling ‘em in. especially on the climbs. I was up and out pushing up the hills and started burying the girls I passed. I finally caught up to the numbers close to mine by the 4th lap. But I got lapped by the Cat 1 lead woman (DANG) and so was pulled on lap 4 (most women finished 5). Ended up 15 out of 27 CAT 4 women. Not stellar..but maybe I am getting better? We’ll see...more racing next weekend!

Pinnacle Challenge - More Proof Liz is Not a Good Mtn Biker

2010-10-04T06:56:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Ted and I raced at the Pinnacle Challenge in Newport, NH. This event is a double duathlon – road run, mtn bike, road bike, trail run – and Ted and I were racing as part of relay teams with acidotic RACING. We were both taking the road bike legs of our respective teams. What fun – pure time trial on our tri bikes!

That is until I get a text from team manager Chris Dunn Sat night: ”Liz- you lost your mtn biker – bring your mtn bike.” At first I thought...UM - NO WAY JOSE. But then I did not know the other females on the team well and I am sure no one else wanted to do it either and so - what the heck - SURE I can do that. And Chris told me it was not too technical (FYI – his idea of technical is NOT my idea of technical! Ha!).

So we packed up two tri bikes, a mtn bike, kids, food, dinosaur books, water, etc. and headed up to Newport, NH Sun morning. It was going to be a beautiful fall day but a tad chilly when we got there. It was 39 degrees when we pulled into the race site. Brrrrrr. Poor Teddy was SO frigid! But the sun was out and it warmed up quickly.

Checked in and met my teammates. Ann was road running – I was biking – Andrea was trail running. I was still setting up my bikes and Ann was OFF on the 5 mile road run. Yikes! I felt like I was still getting myself together when the runners started coming in. Ann was the first female in-she is a stud. Then I was OFF on a mtn biking adventure. Around a field at first - ok this is not so bad. Then - I hit the stairs. We had to climb a HUGE flight of stairs carrying our bikes. UGH. Got to the top and into the actual off-road section. First few minutes went fine. Then we hit the singletrack. I tried to stay on but it was a lot of steep rocky climbing and I am not so good with the rocks. I was off the bike a LOT. Oy – this was going to be a long ride. Luckily I had my Garmin on and knew how far I had to go so I did not ever panic (ok not really). I got passed again..and again..and (on your right) again. It was 3 miles of UP – mostly single track. I was able to ride some of the uphill when we hit the double track but this was far and few between. Then we started to go down. But it was down switchbacks and some rolling singletrack terrain. I actually rode a fair portion of this – but sat on my brakes too much so not very fast.

Ok enough about poor Liz. It was not pretty and I was so wishing I was that cool mtn biker chick..but..sigh..I am not. I know I just need to practice, but I just have too may other things I want to do!

Into transition and it was a quick switch of bike shoes and into my aero helmet and I was off on the 13.75 miles road bike. At least I was warmed up!! I had my disc wheel too so I was feelin super speedy. I got on pavement and just started hammering. I love the sound of the disc wheel – it sounds like an airplane flying overhead. MAN was I happy to be on the road. Love love lovin it. I started reeling bikers in. I tried to just push as hard as I could. The road had a wide shoulder and the pavement was pretty smooth and I felt like I was flyin after that last leg! About 5 miles in we turned off the main road and hit a hill. Now I know why they call it the PINNACLE Challenge. Man-it was a STEEP STEEP hill. And looong. I just tried to find a rhythm and caught 2 people going up. Close to the top I was really hurtin but I kept pushin. Up and over and then we had some nice down. The rest of the ride felt practically easy after that and I just continued to try to push outside my comfort zone.

Back on the main road and a few miles back to transition. I ran in and tagged Andrea to start her trail run. WHEW I was tuckered.

After the race, we hung out and ate lunch with the team and then had to scoot out before the kids totally melted. Turns out we came in 2nd female team off by about 3 min from 1st (1 minute was transition time since I had to transition bikes!) and I had the fastest female road bike split (really?!). Ann had the fastest road run too and Andrea’s trail run was stellar. My mtn bike leg was one of the slowest. Blech. Sorry ladies!! But 2nd is still great!!

Noreaster Cross - Holy sh*t this is hard

2010-09-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

I raced in my 2nd cyclocross race this past weekend. I won’t lie...it was NOT pretty. In fact- it was downright U-G-L-Y. And it hurt and I sucked. But still...I loved it.

The race was held for the first time up at Loon Mountain as part of the “Noreaster” festival. I dragged the kids out of bed early, packed the cooler and made Ted drive us up to race. He still doesn’t have a cross bike and was not going to race again on his mountain bike. Don’t get me started on this...I am beside myself annoyed.

The Cat 3/4 women’s race was at 10. The Cat 4 men were earlier at 9. We arrived at the race site right as the men were starting so I got to watch some racing. The course was a half-pipe shape. There were two sides to the course connecting via the parking lot. I did not get to pre-ride the course but little Teddy and I warmed up by riding by both sides so I was able to see some of it. He is getting to be such a good biker...makin mommy so proud :-)

When I saw the first part of the course I gulped. Um...there was a STEEP grassy descent with barriers making you wind down. And this was right after a STEEP ASS off-the-bike climb up a dirt hill. Now, not sure if I have made this clear, but I am squeamish when it comes to “technical” biking courses. Ooh...this would be tricky tricky.

Ah well...f-it and just race. The race was 40 min long. Now these cross racers do not drink during the race. So I tried to suck down water before the start. Then they lined us up based on our numbers. Not sure how they chose the line-up but I was 10th out of the 21 starters. Mid-pack...that felt right. I can DO THIS!

I did learn from my last race how important the start is. I was ready to pound it – to try to just stay on a wheel. The whistle blew and then we were off. Well at least most of us were. The girl I lined up behind -her wheel came off right at the start. Her F*ing wheel came off right in front of me. ARE U F*ING KIDDING ME? DAMDAMDAM. Yes, the f-word is the word of the day here. Got back on and went around her but by then I was in LAST place. WTF? Seriously- how does that happen?

So I tried to catch back up. And then this is where it got hard. But Liz- it just started how can it be hard yet? Well the first section of the course was UP UP hill. Long climb up a steep dirt path. And it was kinda hot out. I was already getting thirsty (seriously- why doesn’t anybody DRINK?!). Once at the top you circle back and come down extremely tricky off-camber grass turns (Yes I now know what off-camber means). Ted kept telling me to try to hold on to the middle of my bars around turns but I am a chicken-sh*t and was terrified around these downhill sloped to the outside turns (a.k.a. off-camber) and just clutched my brakes on the sides. It was slippery and I almost bit it on this first go-round, but I stayed on. Then it was on to the steep run-up and descent. I climbed up and then chickened out and ran down.

Yes-that is right people, I ran down. Luckily the Flip camera my son was holding at the bottom decided to break at this opportune moment so this did not get on film. Because it was sad and pathetic.

Then I was off to the other side of the course. Lovely ride across on pavement. Sweet flat smooth pavement. But my chain was stuck in my low ring - chronic derailleur issue I have been having with this new bike. So I could not go all out. But probably a good thing because at the other end there was a 90 degree turn up a sandy hill. Which I barely slowed down in time for. Then up a rocky off-bike climb and some more sweet pavement onto the other side of the course.

The other half had a quick barrier crossing right off. Piece of cake...I can do that now! And then up-up-up more fire roads again. Uphill sand. But not as steep as the first part luckily so this felt EASY. Ok…EASY-ISH. Then they bring you back down some grassy hairpin turns and then back over to the other side to do it all again.

So...onto the next lap. I hit the climb again and started to catch up to some girls. YAY!

Then I bit it on the off-camber sections (my new favorite word). Ouch. That hurt. Back on the bike and onto the steep run-up and downhill. Yes, I ran down that hill again (please nobody laugh). And then over to the other section. That was 1.5 laps. I had 4 more to go. JESUS this sport is f*ing HARD.

Next lap I fell again. This time trying to ride down that steep descent. Just slid right on down on my side. I am the picture of grace.

I started to lose track of the laps at this point. At one point I actually slid through the race tape marking the course on one of the grassy descents. I could not stop on the slippery grass. That was lovely. I also realized I could get lapped if I did not get my sh*t together. So I just kept pushing those uphills and trying not to fall down the grassy turns. I finally passed the finish line with one lap to go and made it without getting caught. But I heard about a minute or 2 later the winner coming through. WHEW that was close.

The final lap – I FINALLY got my act together. I started using the center of my handlebars (I have brakes there...handy) and made it through the turns more easily. I rode down that steep hill with no problem.

I guess it might help to practice this sport at some point.

Finally crossed the line. No fan fare. No one cheering me. Ted and the kids were playing at one of the vendor tents and did not even notice me cross the line. I was not last but close. But I finished. And I felt IMPROVEMENT at the end. I know I don’t deserve to be close to the top here...I have not trained at all for this. But I was still proud to be out there doing it. Yeah- felt a little bad-ass.

Results were out and I was 15th out of 21 racers. Can’t wait to do it again. Hopefully racing with Ted. And with my derailleur fixed.

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

2010-09-13T05:45:00.000-07:00

For me, it was this past Sunday. I raced in my first ever Cyclocross bike race. Actually, it was my first ever bike-only race of any kind I’ve done. And it was AWESOME.

Up to the race I followed a few of the steps on “How to lose your first cyclocross race”.
>> Purchase brand new cyclocross bike...CHECK
(not exactly all carbon fiber, but bright yellow – so people will notice me and think I am fast and know how to race)
>> Watch youtube videos on cyclocross racing but do not practice any technique...CHECK
(in fact, my derailleur was broken since early August until Friday before the race – perfect!)

I even added my own twist:
>> Go to dinner party the night before, drink several glasses of wine and go to bed late

So needless to say, I was ready to have a PERFECT first race!

Ted and I woke up early Sun morning (his first race too) a little hungover but ready to try this out. One good thing I have found about these races is that the women and men race at different times so NO need for someone to come with us or watch the kids. We loaded everyone in the truck and headed down to Bedford, MA for the Quadcross event.

My race was at 9AM - Beginner Women and first race of the day. There were a LOT of gals racing. It was a whole new little racing world of people walking around decked out in cycle gear – lots of team uniforms that looked intimidating. Ah well, me and my Rails to Trails bike shirt will make them think twice.

The race would be 30 minutes long with multiple laps of the race course. I was able to get out on the course before the race for one lap so I knew what to expect. Lots of switchback turns through manmade course barriers, one set of obstacles you have to carry your bike across and one uphill sand pit. Everything else was on mostly grass with a fair amount of climbing. It was gonna be fun.

Right before 9 I lined up with all the ladies. Must’ve been about 50-60 of us I am guessing. As I was standing there waiting to start the race (and waiting and waiting) I realized I had no idea how it actually WORKED. How do you know when to finish? Where do you finish? I asked the women next to me and she explained that the number of laps completed is based on the top finisher. If it takes her 7 minutes to do a lap, then we all do 4 laps. And if you get lapped, well, technically your race is over. And the finish line was not the starting line, but mid course. Glad I asked!!!

And then we were off! A mass start of bikes. It was a little crazy and I hung back a little. We hit the first grass and a few of the turns and I was almost walking these since there was a large back up of bikes. It took about half of the first lap for it to all spread out. There were quite a few girls with mechanicals or fell off their bikes that first course section. Got over the first obstacle which goes right up a steep little hill – that you have to run up. That hurt a little. Then onto a lot of switchbacks that are MUCH trickier when your heart rate is at 180+. I got through those sections and on to the second half of the course through the sand pit. I ran up that and then headed back for my next loop. Second loop was pretty much the same but the run up after the obstacle really hurt! I tried to catch some girls and a couple caught me. I had NO idea what place I was in, but I did not care. I WAS LOVING IT. SO HARD and I was pushing my legs as hard as I could and man did it feel GOOD. I don’t know why being in that much pain made me feel good, but damn if it did.

Made it to lap 3 and I knew I had 2 more laps to go by then. And I was getting TIRED. I actually was coming off a few weeks of not working out much (I should add that to my list up top) so I was really getting fatigued. But I kept pushing – I mean I don’t have to run next right? No problem!

On to the last lap and I caught up to 2 girls who I would ride with through the rest of the race. I passed girl 1, but girl 2 and I traded back and forth the rest of the ride. The finish line was at the top of an uphill grass straightaway. We turned to the finish and she was a bike length ahead. I was pushin as HARD as I could, but she got me at the finish. I was SPENT but euphoric. WHAT a fun sport!!How have I not done this before!!

There were a lot of girls already finished, so I don’t think I did that well..but I did not get lapped and I was not last! And there is nowhere to go but up from here!!

I headed back to Ted and the kids. Another great thing about these races is spectators get to see you a LOT during the race. So the kids had a great time cheering and I got to see them a lot throughout the race.

Ted’s race was at 11..but I really would not count this as his first race. He raced it on his mountain bike. He has a cross bike coming, but he cannot just go buy a new bike but needs it custom ordered of course so it has not yet arrived. I would not recommend this. It was not pretty and he may just have come in last. But he still had fun and just wait until he gets a real bike- he is going to crush it.

CIGNA 5k

2010-08-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

Goal = sub 20:00
Net time = 19:59

Not much more to say than that.

The end.

Top Notch Tri: UP UP and UP

2010-08-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Ted and I headed up to Franconia, NH to compete in the Top Notch Triathlon. It starts with a 6.5 mile bike, 0.5 mile swim and then a 2.5 mile run. Now this seems pretty easy right? Well throw in 4 miles of the bike UP HILL and mostly on trails, swimming after gripping your handlebars on bumpy/rocky trails, and then climbing 2,000 feet to the top of Cannon Mountain during the 2.5 mile “run” and this is NOT your average race.

We left Wolfeboro a little before 6 Sat morning, leaving the kids with the in-laws. We grabbed some D&D coffee and headed north. We got a little lost trying to get over to the highway (note to future self: bring a map next time or print out directions). We finally pulled into Franconia at 7:30 am.

The race is point to point, so there is some work to do before race start. We picked up our stuff and headed to the swim-run transition at the base of the mountain to drop off our shoes/run numbers. We then headed back down to Franconia to get to the start by 9 am. We actually had plenty of time to get the bikes ready and ride to the start…just in time for the race talk.

Now the bike portion of this race is my weak leg (as usual). This year, I decided to try out my new cyclocross bike instead of using my mtn bike. Part of the bike is on the road, so I thought I could make up some time there, even though I was bound to be slow on the trails.

There was a 3 wave start. Ted and I were in the 2nd wave and waves were 2 minutes apart. First wave went and then we were off. Ted got out in front (he was on his mtn bike). I kept him in sight. The first 2 miles are pretty flat- the only flat part of the whole race (I swear the swim is uphill too). I started getting closer and closer and then...I passed him! Haha. Cross bike- 1 Mtn Bike-0. At about 2 miles we turned and started to climb. I mean steep, long, painful climb. I just tried to get in a rhythm and actually started pulling away from Ted.

We then turned into the trails at about mile 3. They weren’t so bad for a while, but then we hit the real rocky, muddy uphill part and I was just a mess. I actually had not ever ridden this bike on real trails before. So I was off the bike a LOT. I tried to stay on as much as I could, but it was sketchy. Lots of me running up the hills. I started to get caught by a LOT of people. Some girls just WHIZZED by me. One guy said “that’s what you get for riding a road bike.” I thought 2 things…he had not seen that I am not much better on a mtn bike…and I am DEFINITELY passing him on the swim. But I had no witty retort and he was gone. Ted finally passed me at some point. Cross bike-1 Mtn bike-1. FINALLY, we turned out of the rocky trails and on a paved trail and I was able to pick it up a little. And yes, we were still going up.

Finally reached the top and the end of the bike. Swooshed into transition and tried to get my feet out of the shoes to hop off and one foot got stuck. So I was standing on the timing mat (with crowds all around), trying to yank my foot out of the shoe. So graceful.

Finally OFF the bike and RAN to the lake. I saw on my watch that my bike was a couple minutes faster than last year –NICE. Cross bike wins.

Popped on a swim cap and goggles and started to swim. First thing. FOOT cramp. Not enough hydration on the bike. I started to gulp down some lake water (please be clean...please be clean). I started to pass a lot of people even though my arms felt HEAVY from the bike. My foot cramp never really went away but I kept my stroke going and tried not to kick so hard. The course was straight across the lake and marked well with orange buoys. Got to the other side and looked down…just about 11 minutes, so I knew I had a decent swim.

Up to the base of the mountain where I threw on my race flats and grabbed the gel I had thankfully left there. I was HUNGRY. I sucked it down and headed up the mountain.

The first part of the 'run' is the only time you can really run at all. So I started off trying to keep a nice hard jog. I passed one girl right away and I tried to see her number and I thought she was in my wave. About 3-4 minutes of running and you hit the real climb. Then it is all hiking from there.

Now for some reason I can hike up hill freakishly fast. I don’t train on hills and barely run up hills in training (laaaazy). But I walk really fast in general and I am waifishly thin (NOT). Who knows why, but I can hike like a champ. So I put my head down and kept moving. It is a long, rocky climb. I knew I was moving fast and I tried to NOT LOOK UP. If you look up…it is all over. At one point I peeked up and felt the “OMG I STILL HAVE SO FAR TO GO” feeling and that was the only time I did that. Just one foot after the other, trying to find solid rocks to step on.

After about 25 min in, I started to feel my legs tiring. My left quad, which has given me trouble all season, was throbbing. I tried to ignore it. I tried to jog a little when the terrain flattened out at all (not very often). I did not see any women ahead of me. Finally I could hear the crowds at the top. Now the last part of the climb, you turn a corner and see the Tram station ahead of you. I mean ABOVE you. It is STEEP and you are tired and want it to be over. I was bent over, hands on my knees and just tried to keep moving. I got close to the finish and tried to run the last bit but I could not. My legs were about to completely fail and I literally stumbled across the finish line mats (still up hill!). I looked down at my watch and I had beat my time from last year by 3 minutes. AWESOME.

I was the first female in, but I knew there was a wave behind me. Lo and behold, a woman crossed right after me with a number in the 3rd wave. DAAAANG. But I thought I got second.

The top of the mtn was amazing. It was a clear sunny day and you could see forever. And knowing you climbed your way up…well…there was a feeling of pure joy and accomplishment that I got when I was able to stop and take it in.

Ted finished a few minutes after me. He actually thought he was in front of me…but I must’ve swam by him. Hee hee. And he forgot how quick I am uphill. Surprise!

We had to get back to the kids and it was getting chilly up on the mountain as our heart rates came back down so we headed down right away. Second part of our race was getting back to the start where our truck was! We rode the tram back down, walked around the lake, got our bikes and rode down, down, down back to the town. Hopped into the car and drove back over Sandwich Notch road through the White Mountain Nat’l Forest. What a COOL way to spend a Saturday morning!

Sunday morning we saw the results. I did in fact finish second. But 3rd place was 3 SECONDS behind me! It must’ve been the girl I passed right at the beginning of the climb based on the times. Another close one!! Whew I say!

Urban Epic Tri: Bad Karma and I shoulda taken a left turn at Albuquerque

2010-07-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I raced again at the Urban Epic Triathlon in Portland Maine. We raced here last year and loved the course so were back for more. My brother-in-law lives in town and we had the whole fam - kids, in-laws, brother-in-law,his fiancée - with us at the race. That’s how I like it!

We headed up to Portland after work on Fri night and dropped the bikes in transition. The transition area is in a warehouse near the waterfront. That’s right - IN a warehouse. And it actually is the SAME warehouse that my husband’s college fraternity used to “initiate” members in many years ago. So Ted always gets the eebiejeebies a bit when we go there. Haha.

Onto the race: First you swim ½ mile in Casco Bay. Then you have to RUN a ½ mile from the swim end to the warehouse transition. Then a 13 mile bike, which includes 2laps right along the bay. Then a 3.5 mile run which finishes ½ mile from the transition area right on a downtown pier. It's a fun course.

The race doesn’t start until 8:30...a Sat race (love it) and a later start (love it even more). We could have slept until 6 if a certain little boy wasn’t all excited and awake at 5 am. Oh well…more time to get ready. We were staying at a hotel right across from the finish so just had to walk the ½ mile over to transition. We set up our things and walked another ½ mile to the swim start. A little bit of schleppin but not so bad.

Ted was in the first swim wave and I was in the second wave 3 min behind. Looked like there was no “elite” wave in the race, so it appeared to be an age group battle! We saw our friend Carl who was in the wave behind me. Now this is where the bad karma of the day starts to creep in. Carl was at the start and realized he forgot his timing chip back at transition. Bad karma #1. He got a replacement chip luckily but his zipper busted on his wetsuit. Bad karma #2. We all tried to help him fix it but he ended up having to swim with most of it open – poor Carl! Bad things come in 3s right?

The swim. I headed down with my wave and walked a little in the water. Um…HOLY COLD WATER BATMAN. Not sure what I was expecting but the water was really really really cold. I guess the warm weather lately had me thinking it would be somewhat warm. Well apparently not in Maine. Time came and we were off. I had a sleeveless wetsuit and I was COLD. I mean heart stopping cold. I am a whimp when it comes to cold water. My arms just HURT and my arm turnover was SLOW. 2 gals went off right away and I could not stay with them. I just tried to keep moving and get to the finish. I think I started to warm up around the time I could see the finish banner on the beach. Finally got through it (1/2 mile felt LONG). Took about 12 minutes to get through it and then I was thankfully out of there. There was a little mini transition where we took off wetsuits and put on shoes and I was off on the run to T1. I knew there were a few women ahead but I could not see them so they must have been a minute or 2 up on me.

Onto the bike. The bike is pretty flat except for a HUGE hill at about mile 12. I caught up to the 2nd place woman right at the beginning. The course takes you out to the bay and then you do 2 loops of 4 miles or so. So there are lots of chances to see where everyone is. At the first turnaround I saw that the girl I passed was right there with me. I also started to slow a bit I think and she passed me again. So I just stuck behind her, making sure not to draft. She definitely helped me push a little harder than I would have by myself. After another loop I felt her slowing a bit and passed her again. I knew she would stay right with me too. Out of the loops and then up the hill at 12 miles. It was brutal – very steep grade and just a killer on the legs to have right at the end! But over the top and then rode into transition in 2nd place.

Onto the run. My stomach was not happy with me…probably from the salt water swim I am guessing. You have to climb a steep hill right before mile 1 and I got through that…slowly. Then at mile 1.5 there is a turnaround and you can see where everyone is. I like that. Right before the turnaround I caught up to the first place woman and passed her. NICE Liz! The other girl was still right there but I was definitely gaining on everyone and I was just getting my running legs back and my stomach was settling so I was ready to bring it home.

Right at about 2 miles, the run course cuts back down to the waterfront on a little trail. I turned and bolted down and took a right on a grass path. The grass path kept going and started to go up…and there was no race signage…and no one in front of me. I slowed and realized I HAD TAKEN A WRONG TURN. I turned around...and who is following me? CARL…BAD KARMA #3. Yep –there it is. We both realized we had gone the wrong way and somehow found a path down to the real run course we should have been on. I could see… way…way…up ahead in the distance…the 2 women who had been behind me…and a third woman! SO I WAS NOW IN FOURTH. DAMMIT!!! I think I lost at least a good 1-2 minutes on my little sightseeing tour. But I still had a little over a mile to try to catch them. So Carl and I just started running. I mean RUNNING. Caught one woman…then another. I could see first place ahead of me (I am sure she still thought I was up in front of her somewhere!!) but at least 30 seconds up and I was running out of room…not to mention my legs were starting to sputter! We got close to the pier and she made the turn to the finish and I had no more room. Ohhh well..a second place finish….All I could think of was Bugs Bunny and how I shoulda made a left turn at Albuquerque!

Saw the fam at the end and Ted had a strong finish (surprised by my error since he is the one who usually takes the wrong turns). He placed 16th overall – but 8th in his age group! So his age group was definitely stacked. And Carl still placed 2nd in his age group after all that!

Turns out I was 23 seconds back from first. Goes to show that you are not just racing your competition, but also racing yourself! Still second place is great and the first place girl seemed so nice so I was happy she won…and nothing like making a race a little more challenging…yeah...I meant to do that!

Fidelity 5k and Islandman Tri

2010-07-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

Gotta get a few little races posted here…I am really trying to document something about the races I do so I don’t forget about them forever!

Last week was busy busy. First I ran in the Fidelity Rush Hour 5k on Tuesday night 6/29. This was the exact same course that Fidelity held last October. It was hot, but not like this week luckily. And wouldn’t ya know it…I ran it in the EXACT same time as last October…to the second…20:07 on the dot. I felt pretty good through the race – was pushing it but not redlinin. One of these days I really would like to break 20 minutes. I still placed first female, but was 5th overall this time. That’s really all I have to say about that.

Then Thursday we packed up the kids and the bikes and headed down to the Jersey shore for the 4th weekend. We were visiting my husband’s BFF who has a place down there and who also has started to compete in tris - which is very cool. There was a sprint tri down there on Sat so we all signed up to race.

The Islandman Triathlon in Avalon. The weather was just prefect for racing..sunny and hot..but not too hot yet in the morning. Ted’s buddy’s wife was watching all the kids for the morning so we all headed to the transition nice and early and got front row parking (I love that). Set up our bikes and were ready to race. Competition looked good for this race and racing for the first time in NJ I had no idea what to expect.

I started in the 5th wave with the 25-44 year old females. There was also an elite female wave that started inthe first wave and they all looked studly. I was psyched to have all the main age group gals together-I knew I would have to push it to stay close to the front.

The water was low tide and the 1/4 mile swim looked shoooort. Dangit. I shuffled to the front and off we went. I was with a lot of girls right off. I stayed with a bunch right through whole course and I think we came out around 4 minutes…so VERY short. BUT we had to run up the beach to the transition area a pretty long ways - at least a 1/4 mile. Through a lot of slippery sand. The girls I came out with were slowly trotting along but I BOOKED it to transition. I am pretty sure I was first in my wave out of transition.

The bike was 12.5 miles – 3 loops of a little over 4 miles. It was FLAT but a lot of sharp turns. I actually used my disc wheel (I rarely use it since I do not feel worthy of it this year…but hey nobody knows me in NJ). Not sure if it helped or not, but what the heck. Right after the first loop I got passed by a 42 year old. Dangit. I tried to keep her in my sites and did an ok job for a while. But slowly lost her. Then early in the 3rd loop I got passed by a girl in my age group. And she was pushing a big gear. Yeah – I was not keeping up with that.

So into transition in 3rd place among the non-elites. Off on the 5k run..maybe I could catch them? The run was a beach run (yes ENTIRELY on the beach). We ran a mile length of the beach with the transition/finish right in the middle. So we had to go out and back, out and back and out and back again. Yes, it was a little torturous! But at least it was low tide so the sand was pretty hard packed and it really was a beautiful morning. At the first turnaround I saw the 2 girls who passed me and they were about a minute ahead. At the next turnaround I had not gained any ground on them and the girl in my age group was definitely running faster. But luckily there was no one behind me in striking distance. I just kept the pace as hard as I could and enjoyed seeing Ted a few times...he was in the wave behind me and almost caught me on the bike…but he really has to work on his run :)

The last 200 yards or so to the finish were up the beach through the sand…and slightly uphill. Ugh that was a hard slog. But I felt strong through the finish and got a cold wet towel right at the finish. That was VERY nice.

I ended up finishing at 1:05:39…6th female, 3rd among the age group women and 2nd in my age group (and I think first of anyone without a tri-suit with sponsor logos -hah!). I went as hard as I could and LOVED having the competition out there…even if I can’t keep up it does make the race exciting!

Greater Nashua Y Tri (in Merrimack!)

2010-06-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

So who can beat a triathlon 2 miles from home? This past Sunday was the 1st annual Greater Nashua YMCA triathlon here in my own “home town” of Merrimack...been here 5 years which is the longest I’ve lived anywhere, so I am now calling it my home town. I am still working on the accent...

So you’d think having a race a few miles from home and having lots of Halls in the area would be easy-peasy to coordinate. WRONG. Welcome to my life. My brother-in-law was having a party to celebrate finishing his residency up at our place in wolfeboro on Sat, so all the fam was up there. Including us. So Ted and I left the kids with them Sat night (boo) and drove back down on Sat night. Nothing can be simple. And I didn’t get to really party at the party...bummer...

But it was nice to hop on our bikes in the morning and RIDE to the race start. We thought back to a time when we were able to do that...the only other time was 1997 when we lived in Chicago and raced at Mrs. T’s. That was our first season of triathlons (OMG I was 24!) and I remember crossing the finish line at that race, olympic distance and the longest one I’d ever done, in tears saying I was never going to do that again. Of course I did and the next year I placed 3rd in my age group. Though I think I’ve been the same speed since 1998, but I digress.

So on to the race..nice easy ride to the transition area and hopped into the packet pickup line. Saw a friendly face behind us..Catherine S.! ok..now we know who will come in first (and yes I wondered what are you doing HERE girl?! haha)! I used to race with Catherine now and then when we both lived in CT many moons ago. I think I used to even finish before her at races. She lives in Maine now and I always see her at the very tippy-top of results (usually before most of the men) so she has gotten super fast. I was thinking she might even win this little race...OVERALL...

So we checked in and went to set up our bikes. I saw lots of friends racing/volunteering. It was good to see a lot of the running/tri community coming out to support the race. Started to set up and heard lots of talk about the timing chips/bands/race numbers...huh?...I was confused myself. I still do not know what was with the timing equipment...we had some weird timing block around our wrist, some timing band that went on our running shoe and then 2 race bibs for the run. One had some kind of timing chip on the back (which we were supposed to make sure to use!) and the other...well I still don’t know what the other one was for. Now, I have done a LOT of triathlons (I think I may be well over 100 by now) and I have never seen anything like it! Especially the wrist-band-block thingamajiggy. oh well..WHATEVER..though it is monday night and still no splits...but I digress again...

I was in the 7th wave with the 35-39 year old ladies. Waves were 3 minutes apart, which actually was pretty good for spacing. The start was a treading water start and we had plenty of time to get into position and our wave went off without a hitch. It was a 1/3 mile swim and I think it felt pretty accurate. One girl in my wave went out in front of me and I just tucked behind her pretty much the whole way. I was psyched...I NEVER get to do that. Either I am out in front or I can’t keep up with a faster swimmer. Towards the end we started to come up on a lot of slower swimmers so I lost her draft a bit, but I came out right after her. thanks fast swimmer lady!

There was a pretty long run up to the transition area and I caught and passed the first swimmer on the way in. She was not wearing a wetsuit and I was, so we ended up coming out of T1 at the same time. I tucked in and passed her in the first part of the bike. A little motivation at the start...thanks again fast swimmer lady!

Sooo the bike...well this was a 16 mile bike...2 loops of 8-ish miles. It was a fairly flat course, but I don’t think I’ve ridden 16 miles at one time in about a month - so I was dreadin this just a wee bit. And the fact that last weekend I had the slowest bike split in the top 60-something finishers...ugh..the bike..MY NEMESIS...oh well I just put my head down and tried to go as fast as I could. There were a few ups, but nothing terrible and I knew the roads well since I work right at the first mile so it was nice knowing what to expect. I was starting to feel my left quad gettin pretty pooped and wanting to REVOLT towards the end of the last loop...if there had been big hills it would’ve been much uglier. But no women passed me (all the younger ladies were ahead of me so Catherine did not have the pleasure of passing me like I was standing still). I got to pass Ted running on the way back to transition and gave him a yeehah...it is fun racing with the hubby....

Done with the bike -YAY!- got my shoes on and headed out. ooh...it was hot out. Luckily it was only a 5k - I just reaallly wanted to run under 7s if I could. The first mile was not so fast. I clocked it at 7:31. Though I do think it might have been a little long. At least that is what I am telling myself. mile 2 had some nice downhill and I came to the mile marker at 6:53. ok that is better. It was pretty hot out there, but hey...only 1 more mile to go!! mile 3 was 6:54 - gotta take it. I pushed as hard as I could the last bit... the last .1 was definitely longer than .1 (I hate when they do that!), so I am thinking the run was 3.2 or 3.3. Crossed the line in 1:20:26. Ooh I was hurtin there at the end. But a douse of cold water over the head..and ahhhh...all better.

Unfortunately Ted and I could not stay after the race since we had to get back up to the lake and get the kids. We looked at the results when we got home and looks like I barely squeaked out a 2nd place finish - WHEW! And yes, Catherine beat me by 9 MINUTES and came in 2nd among the men...almost winning the whole darn thing. Looks like a lot of our tri friends had good finishes and a lot of first-time racers finished strong on a hot hot day. Wish I could have stayed and cheered more of them in. It was definitely a fun venue and well run for a first race...hope it is back next year!!

King Pine Tri

2010-06-14T17:16:00.000-07:00

First tri of 2010! Tri season always seems to creep up on me every year. I never feel quite ready at the first race. Especially when the forecast is RAIN....blech. Ted and I signed up for this race after my grand plans of a half ironman this weekend fell through (nice try Liz). The King Pine tri is a small sprint race up in Madison NH, only about a half hour from our condo in Wolfeboro and held on a good date for the start of the season. Though I was coming up with lots of excuses to bail the week before...it's gonna rain..it's gonna be cold..who's gonna watch the kids..I have a bad cold...but in the end, Ted ignored my complaints and my father-in-law would come with the kids..weather was not too bad. TIME TO RACE!

Ted and I left early and got to the race site right after transition opened at 6. I LOVE small races...short line to register..no lines for the bathroom. Plenty of time to set up. We headed down to the beach at 7:30 for the race talk. Soon after the kids showed and I got some good luck smooches. I was still feeling pretty crappy with the my head cold turning into a chest cold, but sometime a little high heart rate workout helps that, right?

So I was in the 4th wave with the 30-39 women. 40-49 women were two waves ahead. 20-29 were somewhere behind me. Waves were 5 minutes apart (seemed like a looong time between waves...but at least there would not be traffic!), so that pretty much meant I was racing with my age group. The water was the perfect temp..the air was a little humid at about 60...actually perfect racing weather. Got in the water and felt just ready to go. The horn sounded and I was off! The swim was a 1/3 mile point to point swim. I always take it easy those first 100 or so. I got into a nice rhythm to the first buoy about halfway through. I was out front of my wave by that point. When I hit the buoy I could not see where the next buoy was through my foggy goggles! I treaded water for a little bit yelling at the kayakers to help me with the right direction (yes it was ridiculous). Finally I saw the next buoy and was off again. yikes...better pay closer attention next time. Hit the beach and the timing mat at about 10 min...a little slower than I expected...but you never know real distances on these things.

My transition was pretty slow. Got the wetsuit off and my bike shoes on after some effort and was off for the 12.5 mile bike. I had no idea how the ride would be. I have not done any serious miles on the bike this year. But I felt pretty good the first few miles. There were some big hills before mile 3 and I did not feel like I was going backwards...so that was good. I started to pass some 40-49 women which was also a good motivator. There a few more hills, one towards the end was steeper than it looked and I did start to feel my calves tighten and had to back off a bit...yikes.

The ride went by pretty fast and I came in at about 36 min. Sadly my legs were feeling pretty fatigued (my mantra: I should train more). Into transition and time to get the running shoes on. Could..not...feel..my...feet. totally numb. guess it was a bit colder than I thought. So stuffed my feet in them somehow and started out. Kids were right there on the way out ready for high 5s...love them.

Onto the 3.8 mile run. I started plodding on. Boy did my legs feel HEAVY. I just tried to turn them over as quick as I could and hoped my running legs would show up soon. Hit mile 1 in 7:19...oooh...Liz you can do better than that! I did not get my legs "back" until 3:30 into mile 2...I actually felt them loosen and looked at my watch! funny. By then the run had turned into trails..which i LOVE...but does not mean I was going to run any faster than my first mile. Hit mile 2 in 7:24. The trail part was pretty long but eventually flattened out a bit and I finally felt like I could pick the pace up..a bit. Finally got to mile 3 at 7:16. Not awesome, but that was all I was going to do today. I then just tried to push as hard as I could home. There were a couple of little hills in the last 1/2 mile that were painful, but I hit the last 100 yards down into the finish chute. Wooo! done. And nobody passed me so I was pretty sure I got the age group win. My little guys were right there and I was so happy to see them. HUGE finish line hugs. NICE.

We waited around for the results to be posted and they showed me coming in first female! Hey - I will take that! Ted was a few minutes ahead of me and had a decent race too. We waited around for the awards ceremony (and waited and waited) and they announced me as second overall! huh? Well the waves were spaced out far apart, so maybe the posted results were wrong. Still got a nice plaque, a little baby pine tree and a pearl izumi gift certificate.

We looked at the results in the morning and it was pretty obvious that the timing was screwed up. They finally have it fixed tonight..so I did actually win! Official splits:

swim 10:05
T1: 1:49
Bike 36:17
T2: 1:08
Run: 27:46 (7:19 pace)

Bedford 12k

2010-05-25T06:17:00.000-07:00

Wow..so this race was a bit of a wake up call. Um, Liz, you reeeeeaaallly need to get to the track. Or at least run up some hills. Or at least do some harder training for cryin out loud.

So I knew I was not going to be setting any speed records at this race, as I have only done some pickups on a treadmill since Boston and no real speedwork since February. And my training over the past month has been so sporadic. I have been trying to step up the tri-training and move to some shorter distance workouts, but I just cannot seem to find a rhythm this year and am just falling behind on all 3 sports. Plus I have been having problems with really tight hamstrings since the winter which has hurt my run training. Boy I have lots of excuses. My kids whining is rubbing off on me. But even in lieu of all that, I was still hoping I could keep the pace for 7 miles under 7s.

So I headed over Sat morning to Bedford for the 12K. The weather was AWESOME – a bit of clouds in the high 50s. Met a bunch of the Gate City ladies who all looked stellar in their singlets. I need to get me one of those. The race is a bit deceiving with a pretty easy first few miles. I went out the first mile in 6:45ish...ok that is good. Next mile was a little slower at 6:54…and then I just lost it. I just could not keep my leg turnover going and I felt like I could not get my heart rate to push any higher. It was a strange feeling really. So I resigned to just keep a 7:10-7:15ish pace for the rest of the race. 12k felt really looong to me. I was very glad to get to the finish, though they make you run around a track at the end, which, although it was flat, felt like it took fooooorrreever. A couple of GCS folks were cheering folks in and I think I probably gave them a look of pure evil as I was finishing (sorry!!). Finished in 52 something at a 7:05 pace. Ah well.

But after it was over, I was glad I had raced. My GCS friends all had great times so I think the team did pretty well. I went to a pool party with the kids that afternoon and chilled out with some Corona…not a bad way to spend a Sat. And I was not sore at all on Sunday, which makes me think I definitely have more speed…somewhere…let’s see if I can find where I put it.

Boston 2010

2010-04-21T06:01:00.000-07:00

My first race report for 2010! Last Monday I ran in the 114th Boston Marathon. I have not raced at all this year, so had no idea how this race would go. I was hoping somewhere between 3:20 and 3:30. I did get some good long runs in and I felt like I had been running enough (for me), but well, as you’ll see later in the race report…maaaybe not quite enough!

I signed up for the Gate City Striders bus for the trip to and from the race. This was definitely the right way to go since the hubby and the kids had work/school so I would be on my own. We got to Hopkinton right around 8 and were able to stay warm on the bus (with a bathroom) until 9:30. I then headed out to the start with Steve P who was near me in Wave 1.

Got to my bib # number stall and I knew I should have taken one more trip to the bathroom. There is not a lot of options at the start so I just sucked it up and hoped it would go away :). We were finally off at 10…well sort of as we had a 5 minute walk to the starting line. And THEN we were off!

So the race went well the first half. The crowds were great. Saw Rubberducky man running with only a yellow towel around his waist and carrying a big rubber ducky (why? why?). I asked him if he had anything under the towel but he wouldn’t tell me. I gave Homer Simpson a high five. Passed the wall of girls at Wellesley. I felt really good holding between 7:15-7:30 – I even felt like I was holding it back a bit. Hit the half at 1:37:07...ok maybe that was a teeny bit too fast?

I still felt ok the next few miles but was slowing a bit. I hit the mile 15 mark and finally had to make a pit stop. Luckily I saw a port-a-potty that was vacant and slipped in and out. That mile was a little over 8, but definitely worth it! Right before the hills after the 16 mile mark, my left quad started to hurt. Oh dear – I had not even hit the hills yet! I struggled up them trying to hang on to an 8 min pace. Mile 20 with the big hill was rough at 8:28. But I recovered a bit and kept it under 8 for the next 2 miles. Then I hit the 23 mile mark and WHAM – there went my right hip/butt muscle. Totally seized up in pain. I also started to feel cramping in my feet. I struggled through the next 3 miles trying to get some Gatorade in and had to walk some. But the crowds were cheering so loud it was actually hard to walk. I just felt like I NEEEDED to run. So I did a very unattractive hobbly like run for a while. About mid-25 I finally loosened up enough to pick it up again to a real run and I ran as hard as I could to the end finishing right above 3:24.

I walked back to Kenmore Square where GCS had rooms rented to wait for everyone to finish. This was about a 2 mile walk. Steve had convinced me that walking (rather than getting on the T) would help the stiffness, but I was cursing him under my breath as I realized how FAR that felt! But I did get to walk past my old sorority house in Kenmore Square where all the MIT Alpha Phis were out partying which brought back a lot of happy memories which actually made it worth it.

So overall a decent race. I can’t be too disappointed with the last few miles given the reality of my training. I looked back at my training log after the race and did the math (even though I am math person – I generally stay away from the training math). I averaged 21 miles/week since the first of the year and only did one week over 30 at 31.25. So MAAAAYBE that was a little too light to not have my legs revolt after 23 miles like they did.

I may be back next year to conquer those last few miles…but with a little more mileage under my belt! Now on to speedwork!

Splits:
1 7:26
2 7:16
3 7:19
4 7:19
5 7:27
6 7:23
7 7:22
8 7:24
9 7:20
10 7:25
11 7:33
12 7:24
13 7:31
half - 1:37:07
14 7:33
15 7:47
16 8:05 (30 second pit stop)
17 8:02
18 7:57
19 7:46
20 8:02
21 8:28
22 7:44
23 7:57
24-25 17:35
26 9:11
.2 1:38
3:24:04

Another Non-Racing Weekend

2010-01-15T11:31:00.000-08:00

Looks like the Halls are going to miss yet another snowshoe race in the Granite State Snowshoe Series. I actually was looking forward to tomorrow’s race in Lyndeborough. Even though I still have yet to pull out the snowshoes from the basement, I really dig the longer races with challenging hills (the best snowshoe racing in my opinion). Crazy hard.

But the Hall Family decided to plan a ski day at Loon and tomorrow is the only day that works for everyone else, so another race we have to bail on. And Ted is off to a guys’ ski weekend next weekend, so we’ll miss Chris Dunn's infamous Pooh Hill climb at the King Pine race. So Snowshoe racing is a total bust so far this year. I guess there is still Feb??!

That is my sad story. Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!

2010 already?

2010-01-05T07:18:00.000-08:00

Looking back at my blog – I realized I have not posted anything for some time. I was only going to post race reports here, but since I have not raced for a while and might not for another few weeks, I feel the need to fill the empty void. And I know that all 3 of the folks reading this are wondering where the heck did Liz go! Well not racing obviously! Not sure where November and December went…work has been too busy as usual and I always get out of my routine during the holidays.

But now it is a new year. Time to get my butt back into gear! 2010 is going to be a fun and challenging year for me race-wise. I’ve got some big ones planned this year (well - big for me). I entered Boston for the first time since 2001 and BK ("Before Kids"). I signed up for a half Ironman in June – first one since 2002 and BK. And I plan to do Reach the Beach again on an Ultra Team.

I am hoping the many years of training and racing will get me through these events with my minimalist training regime. Working full time while raising 2 kids does not leave tons of time for training longer distances (yes I know- cry me a river). But I proved to myself it was possible to go longer on only a slight increase in training with a fall marathon last year that did not suck (I am the poster child for the benefits of cross training!). But I guess we will see how this translates to distance in the triathlon. The swim and run should be ok…but the bike…my nemesis…well given I have not biked over 40 miles since my last half IM…I am a teeny tiny bit concerned about that.

But upward and onward!

Hopefully I will be posting about a snowshoe race report or two sometime soon… I have not taken the snowshoes out of the basement yet, but I do hope to get out and do some racing again this year. I just cannot seem to get the logistics together so far. But I yearn for the pain of racing acidotic!

Fidelity Rush Hour 5k

2009-10-23T06:19:00.000-07:00

Nothing like starting right back after 3 weeks of no training with a little speed work! But Fidelity was sponsoring a 5k on Thursday night for employees supporting the YMCA Strong Kids campaign, so I could not miss it. One thing I love about working here is the fact that Fidelity promotes fitness - onsite gym, staff of trainers, fitness classes, miles of beautiful maintained running trails - so I will always be out there supporting in any way I can!

Like I said, I came into this week after 3 weeks OFF. And when I say off, I mean it. I don’t exercise during my annual off-time – I went to Italy and ate Gelatos every day with the kids. No kidding – I could eat that every day- which is what the Italians do I think!

In the old days, I used to take 6 weeks off over the holidays, but I’ve found in recent years that I enjoy training in Nov/Dec and 3-4 weeks is plenty of time for me to get that out of shape feeling and mentally ready to start training again. Plus I don’t want to be totally out of it once snow shoe races start. Those are painful enough being in shape!

So back to the 5k…Luckily, the recent cold weather has been replaced with beautiful fall temps. Race started at 4:30 which meant I could duck out of the office early (bonus!). They held this race 2 years ago and I finished 3rd overall (1st F) in around 17 minutes-yes obviously not a full 5k. This year they changed the course and I knew it would be much closer to the 5k distance. The course was an out and back, lollipop-shaped course with two loops around the lollipop.

My friend Gary was not running, but introduced me to his friend Curtis who was running and was targeting my same time – somewhere around 20 minutes. We lined up at the start and the air horn went off. A group of about 6 of us all went out in a pack. One guy pulled ahead right off – but I could tell that I would be seeing him again. One other guy went ahead as well, but I could tell I would not be seeing him again (funny how that is!). I just tucked behind Curtis in 4th place and tried not to get dropped.

On the two loops there is one little out and back portion – which was nice to see where everyone is behind you. At the first loop, there was one woman pretty close, maybe 15-20 secs behind – so I knew I could not slack. I just held onto my 4th position into the second loop. I could see the speedy guy getting closer, so I knew it was only a matter of time. At about 2 miles we all caught and passed him. So that brought me to third. I stayed about 20 feet behind Curtis the rest of the way going as fast as I could go without throwing up. Hopefully I helped put the pressure on him not to let up as I am sure he could hear my heavy breathing behind him the whole way!

There were no mile markers, so I had no idea what pace we were doing. The finish line was at the bottom of little downhill and I saw 19 min turn to 20 min as I made my way down the hill into the chute to secure my 3rd place overall and 1st F (sounds familiar). I had 20:12 on my watch (but results say 20:07). Someone with a Garmin had the course at 3.08, so pretty close to the 5k. I am extremely happy with that time given this is the first run I’ve done under a 7 min pace in almost 2 months! Yikes! I’ll take it!

Clarence DeMar Marathon

2009-09-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

3:19:09...How 'bout them frickin apples?

So I have been trying to fit in a Fall marathon for the past couple years but each year I never seem to be able to get it in. This year, I was thinking maybe I'd try again, but the only weekend I could do it was this weekend and I was not sure how I would be faring a week after running Reach the Beach. I knew about the Demar marathon over in Keene and that it was net downhill...my kind of race. But still..it is 26.2 miles.

This past week I took it pretty easy - swam one day, ran 4 miles and that was it. I was feeling pretty darn good actually. So fri I decided to just frickin do it. Luckily my husband was a sport and took the kids AGAIN for a weekend day - I owe him big.

Sunday morning I headed over to Keene in the pouring rain. I actually thought the rain would be good if it was not torrential. Checked in and hopped on the bus to Gilsum where the race starts.

The marathon is a point to point run from Gilsum to Keene. It was a small field - probably 300 people. We started right at 8. My goal was to try to come in under 3:30and keep the pace under 7:45 as long as I could.

The first half went by extremely fast. A little hill at mile 2 but mostly rolling/down the rest. I met a girl named Molly at mile 6 and we ran together until the half which made the time go by so fast (she was a crazy ultra runner living in China - how random is that?). We hit the half at 1:38:50-NICE.

After the half, the course hits keene and you start running through surrounding neighborhoods. I didn't mind this as there were more turns which kept you on your toes. I was surprised how good I was still feeling and just kept my same pace (right around 7:30-7:35). At about mile 15 I seemed to feel even better (wtf?). 15-22 were a blur of holding the pace. I knew there was a hill at 22 and I did not want to "pop" before then. Hit the hill and it was pretty brutal but short and I ran up it and actually still went under 8 for that mile. That hurt though and mile 23 was my first mile over 8 minutes at 8:20-UGH! I hit 24 - 2 more to go. fought back a bit and did 24 in 7:24 At 25 I realized I could go under 3:20 and just ran as fast as I could with a 7:27 last mile. I sprinted across the finish and was PSCYHED - 3:19? How the heck did i do that?

mile 1 - 7:20......mile 14 - 7:36
mile 2 - 7:38......mile 15 - 7:37
mile 3 - 7:18......mile 16 - 7:30
mile 4 - 7:23......mile 17 - 7:39
mile 5 - 7:29......mile 18 - 7:28
mile 6 - 7:36......mile 19 - 7:42
mile 7 - 7:32......mile 20 - 7:35
mile 8 - 7:36......mile 21 - missed split
mile 9 - 7:37......mile 22 - 15:25
mile 10 - 7:34......mile 23 - 7:51 (hill)
mile 11 - 7:31......mile 24 - 8:20
mile 12 - 7:55 (hill).. mile 25 - 7:24
mile 13 - 7:21......mile 26- 7:27
Half - 1:38:50......Finish - 3:19:09

4th Female overall (3rd was only 20 seconds or so ahead of me..daaaang) and 2nd Female under 39. I'll take it!

So now it is off for 10 days in Italy with the family and my annual 2-3 weeks OFF from training. Then we start again :)

Reach the Beach - Team Flyboys

2009-09-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

So about 6 months or so ago, a co-worker of mine asked if I wanted to join his Reach the Beach relay team this year. I knew a few folks who had done this race in the past and heard it was a pretty cool experience, so I said “sure!” Gary did mention that his team was an “ultra” team – so they run with 6 people instead of a normal team of 12. 30 or so miles? Sure I can do that. Noooo problem!

When I mentioned I was running on an ‘ultra’ to folks who had raced before…eyebrows always raised and a “wow” seemed to spring from their lips. I was starting to get a sense this would be more of a challenge than I thought.

So I tried to increase my running mileage from my usual 10-15 miles a week (yes that’s right runners…I did not mis-type that!) to get over 20 and a few over 30. I added more miles to my cool-down after Wed night track. I ran a few days of 12 miles, a 14.5 and one 18 in the past month. I did manage to eke out a few weeks over 30 miles. I’m ready right?

The race starts at Cannon Mtn and heads 207 miles through our beautiful state of NH to Hampton Beach. Our team rotated through the 36 legs, taking one leg at a time. I was the 3rd runner. This meant my legs would be 3.88-3.53-8.24-7.26-8.54-1.99 miles. Not so bad on paper.

Our team got to Cannon around 9 am Friday, plenty of time to check in and get ready for our 10:40 am start. I already knew that the team of Gary, Curt, Eric, Ernesto and John was going to be a great group of guys to spend the next day or so with.

Curt started off and we all headed off in the Suburban and from then on it felt like we never stopped!

So overall – it was HARD. Especially the night runs. I slept maybe 20-30 minutes total. And my stomach decided to revolt on my third leg (my nutrition planning needs work). But I ran every leg, finished strong and just had a blast! Comments on my legs:

Leg 3: 3.88 @ 7:20ish pace – run through Crawford notch, a lot of uphill. Felt great! Of course, this was only leg 1 

Leg 9: 3.53 @ 7:15ish pace – almost missed the start after we missed the turn to the TA, crossed a train track and a train was coming. YIKES! I had to jump out of the car and run in front of the train! Of course, forgot my bib number so that caused a bit of a delay at the TA – they let me take Gary’s and off I went! A bit of climbing on this leg, but still feeling good.

Leg 15: 8.24 @ 7:55ish pace- first night leg which left at about 9pm. I started running with another runner who quickly pointed out that he was on an ultra team. I said “me too – so no whining!” I thought that was funny...not sure he did. I had a little trouble at the start of this leg with the beginning of an upset stomach. I also think I shorten my stride running in the dark with a headlamp. But I ended up still finishing under my expected pace (8min/mile) so was pleased. 2 more long ones to go.

Leg 21: 7.26 @ 7:45ish pace- Started off a little tentative on this one since my stomach was not feeling any better. And running at 2AM on no sleep did not make things easier. But after about a mile, the course turned down a dark backroad…the sky was clear and the stars were blazing…blinking lights of runners stretched out before me and I just felt GOOD. The team car pulled next to me and I tried to tell them that I would be quick on this one – but not sure what exactly came out. I felt so good running the last mile into the TA and yelled for Eric who was still getting on his lights! He finally got off and I was so glad my last night leg was over!

Leg 27: 8.54 @ 8:30ish pace – I was worried about this one. I had not been able to take in a lot of calories since my last run due to my upset stomach. I started out trudging along at what I was guessing a 9min/mi pace (at least it was morning by then though so no more headlamp!). I just kept telling myself to keep running. The team passed me at about 25 min in and asked if I needed anything…I think I gave them a look of “leave me the heck alone” and they drove ahead (this was my battle to wage I was thinking). I pushed on. I could see a few runners ahead and just tried to keep them in sight. I finally decided to eat a gel about halfway in. I think that changed it for me. That and I stopped the self-pity. I started to pick up the pace a bit and passed 2 runners in front of me. The last 3 miles had some evil climbs, with a mile climb from mile 7 to 8. I actually got stronger and faster throughout the leg and was able to run all the hills. After I conquered the long hill at mile 8it was downhill to the finish…I picked it up and finished strong…YES! Over 31 miles down!

Leg 33: 1.99 @ 7:30ish pace – the last leg of the day. Curt and Gary put the hammer down on their last legs setting the bar high for the rest of us (Curt ran well under 7s on his last leg of over 6 miles, after putting in over 30 miles before that!). We all decided to just put it out there and go as fast as possible. At least it was only 2 miles for me. It was sunny and beautiful. I ran as hard as I could, which was about a 7:30 pace. I was SO happy at the finish and DONE!!!

So we reached the beach in 27:19 (2 hour penalty in the results though for not having correct night gear, we still do not know what that was about) – Everyone ran strong and consistent throughout and even more amazing was how everyone ran their last legs so fast. I was spent, but so proud to be on a team with such great runners and great people. This is an incredible race (the logistics alone are mind boggling). I'd recommend the ultra to anyone wishing for an extra challenge…the 27 hours went by so quickly!

First Post and 12 Hour AR

2009-09-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

ok...so I am jumping on the blog bandwagon! Seems like a good way to document all the crazy things I get myself into. Plus I love reading race accounts on other blogs so am hoping to add my own perspective.

I am just going to start writing about events of late. I have historically been straight-up triathlete with varied success - some great years, some not-so-great. This year my tri season was practically non-existent with only 4 sprint races (though I realized I bike the same speed even if I do not ride all winter...good to know) so I have been really looking for events that are out of the norm for me….

So this past weekend I joined Chris Dunn of Acidotic racing and his brother Jay for a 12-hour adventure race at Pawtuckaway Park in NH. Now I had done a little adventure racing in years past, but never a 12-hour. And for some reason I thought we wouldn't be out for the FULL 12 hours, right? WRONG.

The day started at 6 am sharp with a quick sprint for one team member to go across the parking lot to grab the maps for the day. Chris took this job with no complaints. The first leg turned out to be the bike where we had to find 13 checkpoints. This leg I was dreading the most. I love mtn biking for the most part but get extremely skittish on technical single track. We were doing pretty well through about CP 10 and then hit a CP that was in the middle of a very technical 2 miles of single track about 3hours in to the race. My poor teammates had to wait for me to walk most of this trail (they were so patient!!). unfortunately, we never located the CP (no help to me- I need to get some orienteering skills!). The remaining CPs were just as hard to find and we ended up not completing the bike until well after noon (Yes that is over 6 hours on the bike people!).

After much needed refueling we headed out to the paddle section (in canoes). Given our late arrival, we were only allowed to do the last half of the paddle section which the race director said should take about 30 minutes. I was a little bummed since I love the paddle section…until we had been out on the water in the cold rain and started to feel mild hypothermia set in – then I did not think that a shorter paddle was so bad!

Back into transition about 30 minutes later and we headed out on the trek. Felt so good to start running and warm up. Almost all the CPs on the trek were off blazed trails, so we had a lot of bushwhacking ahead of us. And it also started to rain harder. And to add to it all - Chris’s map case was leaking! So our map was slowly disintegrating into an unreadable form. Somehow Chris and Jay kept us on track though...they are pretty tough! We got through a lot of the early CP’s and ended up at the top of ‘South mtn’ at a little after 4. It was POURING and very cold and my left knee was KILLING me. There were actually 3 CPs we had to find at the top of the mtn. One other team was up there walking aimlessly around (I did not take that as a good sign). We found the first CP, but the second was nowhere to be found. One other team showed up as well and it was decided we all should head back to the transition in order to finish by the 6 PM cutoff. We went down one of the mtn trails which left us about 5 miles to get back to the TA. All of us were pretty tired by then, but we shuffled along back with about 10 minutes to spare.

So we were all a bit disappointed that we did not find all the CPs – but we still logged a finish. This was seriously one of the toughest races I’ve completed. After a warm bath and full night’s sleep – I can now say it is definitely something I’d do again!

Next up…Reach the Beach Relay where I have to run 33.44 miles spread over 6 legs. More insanity!