“Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.” Tom Krause



Sunday, June 29, 2008
Weekend Update - New FIT FLOPS
Most everyone knows I was sick last week after returning from Key West so my training last week was a bit compromised. I had a scheduled rest day for Friday before a busy weekend so I decided I would not try and make up and workouts I would take the day off to be well prepared. However being the "SMART" girl that I am, I decided to wear my new FIT FLOPS.
Not sure if you guys have heard of those. However these are new flip flops on the market that are supposed to give you an awesome butt and leg workout while you wear them. So ignoring the disclaimer to work your way up to a full day in these shoes, I decided to put them on at 7:30am and not bring another pair of shoes with me to change in to, I took them off at midnight. At the time, I felt tired but thought it was just late and so I packed my gear for the Saturday morning ride and set my alarm for 5:30 am. Off to sleepy night night I went.
Well you guys know me, I could have punched myself in the forehead when I got on my bike on Saturday morning. OMG! Tired quads, Tired glutes....WOW! I was suprised. So needless to say, I had to really suck it up and push myself on the bike. However I finished 30 miles in 2:05. So tired or not I was proud of my time!
Note to self: DO NOT WEAR FIT FLOPS ON REST DAYS!
Having said that, I do think you get a workout in them and I will continue to wear mine. Probably not for 17 hours straight and probably not the day before a long run or bike! Everyone should get a pair and YES they make them for men!
After the ride, I went to Baldwin Park to pick up my packet for the race on Sunday and then to Orange Cycle to pay on my lay-a-way. More on this in the next blog.
Sunday morning, off to Baldwin Park for a sprint tri. I had registered for this before Coach Bill started helping me with my schedule so he and I agreed I could still do the event. Even if the distance was short for my current training.
I was a bit tired this morning so I think I was more nervous. However I got to the race and Sandi was there to cheer Missey and myself on. We spoke to her coach, Hector who gave us some great tips and off to the swim start we went.
I had a great swim! It was supposed to be 750 yards. However since I cannot swim in a straight line to save my life, I think I ended up swimming about 1000 yards based on my current swim times and what time I came out of the water.
Swim: 23:51
Transition 1: 1:38 - MUCH BETTER THAN IRONMAN
I got on my bike and started riding. My legs were definitely tired but I was willing to suck it up. This was a 5 loop bike course with some very sharp corners. I have to admit I was a bit scared but I have to get over my fear of corners. So off we went. It was very crowded and the faster people where whizzing by me. Wow they are awesome. Lap 1 was good. Lap 2 was good. Lap three all of a sudden I here pssssssssssst! Flat tire about half way around lap3. Crap. That sucks! I had to quick get my bike out of the road so I would not cause a crash. I had spare tubes and tire tools with me but it takes me so long to change the tire that the race would have been over before I could have changed the tire. So I decided to walk it in. As I walked the half a mile or so to the transition area in my bike shoes, I passed a biker walking holding his pedal in his had, another couple of bikers with flat tires and one guy with a flat tire and bent rim. Obviously I was not the only one!
I called Coach Bill and left him a message. He sent me an email that said Yup! It happens to all of us. Chalk it up to a great swim and good bike until I had the flat and move on.
Workouts this week:
Monday: 100 minutes on the trainer at a consistent pace.
Tuesday: Swim long 3000 meters, middle 1000 using pool bouy.
Wednesday: Track workout followed by core workout
Thursday: REST (NO FIT FLOPS)
Friday: Bike 60 miles keeping heartrate around the 135 level. Add some hills if possible.
Saturday: Run 12 miles
Sunday: 60-75 minute recovery ride spinning legs in the small chain ring in the front the entire time.
Happy Training!
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
WAY TO GO K!
I have to say that Kelly is so funny. We talk all the time and I knew she was registered but had not had much time to train. Can you say:
1. Just got back from six weeks in California because her brother had emergency brain surgery.
2. Her job is in Charlotte, NC. Her husband is in Chicago, Il. Her school is in Minnesota!
3. She has had a calf injury and has been trying to recover from that.
Let me just say that I have to give Kelly props for even thinking about completing the event. You know my I just go for it. Yes I am a nut. But Kelly is smarter than me and actually tries to train well for her events. So after a couple of conversations with me, we decided she should try to do the tri, LOL, as a training and if she needed to stop after any of the events, she would and not feel guilty about it.
Well so much for that needing to stop. She had a great race. Have I mentioned that before?
Swim: 15:10
Transition 1: 6:22
Bike: 51:03
Transition 2: 3:16
Run: 31:18
Awesome Job K!
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
ps. When are you going to sign up for an Ironman?
Monday, June 23, 2008
Congrats to the Ironman Coeur d'Alene Finishers!
Congrats to all of this years finishers!
Can you say I am terrified again of what I have gotten myself into!
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
I am a posting SLACKER and Congrats to Rick!
On Wednesday night, after track practice, I headed home to pack. I had to fly to Key West after work on Thursday as Rick was going to compete in the 12.5 mile Swim Around Key West on Friday morning and I had been asked to be part of his support crew in the kayak after one of the crew had to back out.
After a few delays, a pretty harrowing flight out of Orlando to Miami, a $26 Mojito in the Miami airport, Joy and I arrived in Key West. Missey picked us up at the airport and we went to the hotel to prepare for the swim on Friday. Rick was nervous but I think he held it together pretty well. We had to be at the beach by 7:15 am the next morning for final instructions and then the race started at 8:30.
After tossing and turning all night, we awoke to a gorgeous day. We loaded up the car and headed to the beach. They kayak arrived about 7:45 so we packed everything we would need to keep Rick hydrated and fed as well as food and water for ourselves. We then covered Rick head to toe in zinc oxide to prevent him from burning during the long swim and boarded the kayak. The first wave of swimmers were off at 8:30.
Paddling the kayak was not as hard as I thought. It was definitely not easy but not the worst thing in the world. Rick is a great swimmer, so Missey and I had our hands full keeping up with him. We made it to mile 8, Rick was in first place. However we got there so fast that the race organizers had not placed the buoy. This sucked for us as we could not see the next channel and ended up about a half mile off course. As we were trying to get our bearings, we noticed a jet ski pulling the buoy out to the 8 mile mark. We repositioned ourselves and made it back to the course. However Rick was passed by the first relay team swimmer. This sucked as he wanted to be the first done but he was still the first single swimmer.
We kept going. I was in charge of monitoring the timing between Rick's nutrition breaks. Missey was in charge of directions and keeping Rick from burning. Rick was passed by one more person, the first female single swimmer at about Mile 10.5. This was not her first rodeo so she had not gotten off track like we had and I am sure probably felt better at that point than Rick.
For those of you that have run Virginia Beach, the finish to the swim was very much like the RNR 1/2 at Va Beach. There are 10 telephone poles in a line in the water with a yellow buoy at the end. Very similar to the run where you have to make your way down the boardwalk block by block to the finish line. Sometimes it felt like we were never going to get there.
After 5 hours 41 minutes, Rick finished his swim! He was the first male single swimmer to finish but because he wears a snorkel for medical reasons, he was not allowed to win a trophy. He did however get a finisher's medal which by the way is totally awesome. I have to say I was glad to be on dry land. I was covered in sunscreen, salt water and starving when we finished.
Joy was at the finish in the water cheering Rick in and had thankfully brought the car to pick us up! After some awesome watermelon we all went to the hotel to shower and celebrate Rick's awesome finish!
I have to say that although it was fun albeit hard to paddle the kayak, I don't think I ever would like to be support crew for this event again. BUT..... I think maybe one year I would like to swim it. Yes I know I am crazy!
Congratulations again Rick! You were awesome. Thanks Missey for making the kayak trip bearable. Thanks Joy for being there just when we needed you both at the hotel and the finish line. And finally thank you Debbie for coming down and making us laugh when we all were so exhausted!
I cannot wait until our next adventure!
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Food
Normally I eat instant oatmeal and a banana before I ride or run. That is about 300 calories. This morning I decided to eat one of those new Power Bar Smoothie Bars - the Citrus flavor. Well you guys know me and my taste buds. I made it through half of the bar and I was DONE with a capital D. Not a good start to my nutrition day.
I have found that I can drink the new G2 without getting an upset stomach. However there are not enough calories in the G2. I am terrified about the nutrition part of the Ironman. Everyone says this is the 4th discipline in tri's. I know I don't eat enough when I am biking which causes issues when I start to run.
To make a long story short. This was the first time I had worn my heart rate monitor. At the end of the ride, the display showed I had burned 2600 calories. I had only taken in 450. Obviously no where near enough.
I am taking to Coach Bill about this and reading everything I can get my hands on. Hopefully I will be able to find a solution.
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
Friday, June 13, 2008
Changing a Tire
On Sunday while out on our ride Missey had a flat. This was at about mile 17 of our ride. Can you say oh crap.? Nothing like the blind leading the blind. Well to make matters worse it was her rear tire which of course has the cassette attached. She had been talking for a few miles about the fact it had been five years since her last flat. God was smiling down on us that day and obviously in a bit of a feisty mood so next thing we hear is WSSSSSHHHHHH! Nothing like Karma right Missey?
So here we stop. It is 90 degrees outside. We of course have on a lot of black. And where we stopped was at a road crossing with no shade. We got off the bikes, took out the tire tools and the spare tube and CO2 cartridge. Started working on the flat. Got the tire off. Now covered in grease we tried to use the tire tools that Missey had with her. They were too small. So I pulled out my really super CUTE pink ones which match my bike and tried again. HA HA to those of you who laughed at my pink tire tools. They do work!
After about 15mins we were able to separate the tire from the rim and pull out the tube. A mere 10 minutes later we had the new tube in place and tried to inflate it with the CO2. Yeah well that did not work. We about froze off Missey's ring finger. LOL! There went one cartridge. Thankfully I had a couple more. We hooked up the second one and inflated the tire. Now we could see the hole where the glass had punctured the rubber. YUCK.
We spent the next 10 minutes putting the tire back on. After 30 minutes in the sun we were ready to go. So we packed everything back up, got on our bikes and started to pedal. As we got moving we suddenly realized that we were in the shade. WOW!! how amazing is that? If we had just walked our bikes across the road 30 minutes before, we could have changed the tire in the shade. Lord help! Like I said, nothing like the blind leading the blind.
So yes I guess when I have to be, I can be a bit of a grease monkey. But please don't tell all of the nice people that pump my gas for me. ;-) And yes I know I still rode off my bike trainer on Monday night. I plead the 5th!
Happy Training!
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
Week of Firsts
On Monday, I was doing my bike workout which consisted of hard intervals with matching slower recovery intervals. On my 3 minute hard interval, my bike shot off of the trainer and I crashed into my entertainment center. I did not get hurt and more importantly I did not hurt my bike. I was laughing so hard I really could not cry. So I guess it is a good thing I did not hurt myself as I would have never known. Arabella, my dog, must have thought it was pretty funny as well, as she started barking and running around in circles. Needless to say, this ended my workout for the night. I was not about to try getting back into the trainer. Not because I was scared of the trainer but because I did not want to crash into the entertainment center again. Obviously I had not connected the bike to the trainer correctly. I am not mechanically inclined, I don't even pump gas!
On Wednesday, I went to my first Team Hendryx Miamiman practice. This was supposed to be a speed workout at the Maitland Middle School track. I arrived on time, barely, we all warmed up and started our speed intervals on the track. On our third interval, sound familiar, lightning started coming right on top of us. Coach Sean blew his whistle and had us go under the shelter at the side of the school. At this point since our running was cut short, Coach Bill and Coach Sean decided we should do some lunges, and then some more lunges and some more lunges. WOW my ABS are weak! Gotta work on that. But practice was fun! Even if it was a bit short. While we were waiting for the storm to let up so we could go to our cars, I told Coach Bill and some other teammates about the crash. Everyone laughed, Coach Bill said maybe I should not tell that story often.
On Thursday morning, I went to Lucky's Lake for my first open water swim there. I had wanted to come out before but Lucky only opens his house at 6:30 am during the week and I had the kids. So today was my "lucky" day. I got up at 5:00 am. No I do not like mornings, got dressed, loaded up the car and headed to Lucky's Lake. When I arrived there were about 6 other people there including my friends Joy, Missey and Rick. Rick was planning on doing 10 crossings which would equal just over 6 miles. He is preparing for the swim around Key West. Missey paddled a kayak beside him to prepare as she is going to be his crew in the water when he does the swim next week.
At any rate, I walked out into the water and started my swim across the lake. The swim over and back is a total of 1000meters if you swim in a straight line. Well you guys know me, straight lines have never really been my forte no matter what the sport. I run crooked, bike all over the road and apparently I swim around in circles. I tell you guys, either I am extremely strong on my right side (NOT) or I cannot sight worth a crap (possibly) or swim like I am drunk (probably). Actually I could see fine, I just cannot swim where I was looking. Every time I looked up to sight I was going in some other direction that was not headed towards the correct dock on either side. At one point I actually crashed into Rick. Of course we are blaming him cause he never sights at all since he wears a snorkel. Love ya Rick!
When I talked to Coach Bill last night, I told him that I had to have swum an extra 500 meters, I saw everyone else's dock and pretty much the entire center of the lake. Good think the Lake Cane Monster was not hungry cause I was surely swimming alone. :-) Once I finished my swim, I was able to sign the Wall of Fame and get my patch for my first crossing. It is a great patch. It has an alligator head on it with bloody teeth and says "AQUATICA Enter The Food Chain 1K Swim." Nothing like positive motivation I say.
Well I guess that is it for today! I will blog again soon!
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Crazy Font Issues
I think it is time to head out for a run. What do you guys think?
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
P.S. use the potty before you head out......
Back At It
Time for me to hit the training schedule hard. For those of you that have been around me for the two and half weeks since the Ironman 70.3, you know that between the girls' schedule and my exhaustion from the race, my training has been a little lacking. I took the first week off after the race except for a 30 minute spin on my bike. The second week I ran twice and road my bike once for a grand total of 18 miles between the three workouts. Can you say SLACKER? I met with Coach Bill and Team Hendryx on Saturday. That was fun but I have to tell you there were times during the meeting that I wondered if I should just do the Miamiman 1/2 Iron distance race. HA HA
Coach Bill sent out my workout for this week on Sunday afternoon. Here it is:
**add your lunch run of 3-5 miles to any day you want
Monday 6/2 – bike – indoor trainer – 10 minutes warm up (60-70% effort), 2 minute hard, 2 easy, 4 min hard, 2 easy, 6 min hard, 3 easy, 6 hard, 6 easy, 4 hard, 2 easy, 2 hard, 2 easy, 10 min cool down – should be about 70 minutes
Tues – swim – 200 warm up, 5x300 with 1 minute rest after each 300, 200 cool down (1900 total) try to work on form and technique
Weds – bike – indoor trainer – 10 minute warm up, one leg pedaling – alternate legs every minute until you have done 5 reps – 30 minutes steady pedaling, repeat one legged again – 10 minute cool down – should be about 70 minutes
Thurs – swim – 100 warm up, 50 kick, 100 pull, 50 kick, 100 pull, 50 kick, 100 pull – rest 2 minutes – 800 straight swim – try to keep every 800 at the same pace, 100 cool down (1450 total)
Friday – rest day
Saturday – group run – 7:30a at Fleet Feet – 6 miles – steady
Sunday – 35 miles steady
So I should warn you guys he did preface the email letting me know that since this was going to be a crazy week for me with the girls, if I missed a workout or two not to stress. Well today is Thursday, Bill don't kill me but all I have done this week so far are the two bike workouts....And I think I am going to do and Ironman on Nov. 1st.
Oh and one more thing! I want to thank everyone that has been emailing and posting comments on my blog about my 70.3 finish. I appreciate all of the support. However,
I AM NOT GOING TO PEE ON MY BIKE!
If I was in contention for an age group spot or a podium spot (ROFLMAO). I would definitely consider it. But since I am a MOP'er usually and at the 70.3 at least on the run leg, I was a BOP'er, I will stop and use the porta-potty.
To any of my fellow running/triathlon friends, if you are peeing on yourself during any portion of your events, PLEASE PLEASE don't tell me I don't want to know.
Happy Training!
Elizabeth
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
My Athletic Daughters
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Finished the Florida Ironman 70.3!
To say that I was intimidated would be an understatement. When I arrived at packet pick-up, hundreds of triathletes were in line to get their packets and none of them looked to be as scared as I was. I know I was not the only first time Half Ironman at the race it just felt like it.
Packet pick-up was relatively easy and went without a hitch. I received my chip and cap and the race numbers I would need for the bike and run and I was done. Off to the expo. Have I said I love EXPO's? I love looking at all of the merchandise, actually buying it is kind of fun as well. However this time I resisted. I have a fear of buying any merchandise when I have not completed the event. So I resisted all urges to buy out the place and made it safely back to my car.
Now I am nervous. LOL! I had done the all the distances in training but this was a race. Well for me it was just supposed to be a training day but you could not tell that to my brain. I kept having visions of forgetting how to swim, crashing on the bike and getting lost on the run. Just what I needed for pre-race motivation.
Since Missey was also racing this weekend, we checked into the Wilderness Lodge hotel with all of our support crew, the kids, all of our gear. You would have thought were were going on a safari. Friday night we all dressed up and went to Timpano's ChopHouse to celebrate Vi Auld's birthday. It was great fun and took some of the worry about the event away.
Saturday morning we were up bright and early as my daughters as well as Rick's daughter Jessica were going to compete in the kids splash and dash. We went over to the race site, registered all of the girls and then set up their transition area. They were so cute. All excited!
Hannah's age group was the second group to go, she just took off. It was funny watching her swim/run through the water. Out onto the sand and up to transition where she put on her race number and shoes, off on the run. Back down to the water for Kelsie's age group start. She swam and ran her way through the water as well. Then up the sand and into transition. After putting on her race number and shoes she was off on the run. I ran over to the finish line just in time to see Hannah getting her picture made as she finished the run. Shortly after Kelsie came across the line. They both loved the race and asked when they were going to be able to do the next one. YEAH!! I think I have champions in the making. We waiting for Jessica to finish her run and then we were off to the pool for a day of swimming and sunning.
By dusk, I was beyond nervous and scared about the race the next day. In my mind I felt like I could finish but there is always some doubt especially when the race is over 70 miles. I switched rooms to be with Missey the night before the race and attempted to get my race gear together. Our bikes were already over at the transition area. All I needed to do was pack my race bag and I could go to sleep. HAHAHAHA!
After packing and repacking I finally laid down about 10pm. I tossed and turned most of the night but I think I was able to get a couple of hours of sleep. Wake up call at 4am. Took a quick shower, ate some oatmeal and grabbed my stuff to head out.
As I walked the mile and a half to the race start, all kinds of fear and questions were running through my mind. I pushed everything out of my head as best as I could. Entered the transition area and laid out my stuff. I put air in my bike tires, my fluid and food on my bike, laid out my shoes and socks, hat and glasses and went to body marking.
Body marking is the fun part where people get to write your race number and age on your body in permanent marker since you cannot wear race numbers on the swim. After this was done and everyone could see I was 39, I headed down to the beach to wait for my wave to start.
Here are the times I wanted to finish each event in.
Swim 1:00:00
Bike 3:30:00
Run 3:00:00
Here is what actually happened.....
The swim went better than expected. I was out of the water in 51:42. WOW I was shocked and really happy. I knew I would not finish any faster as I am just not a great swimmer yet but I was very happy with this swim time. I ran up to transition with a smile on my face. I put on my bike gear and headed out. T1 time 6:31 OOPS! I need to work on that.
The bike course was fun. There were lots of straight aways where you could get speed up but there were also rolling hills and some sharp turns. And to make things worse, there was rain! I have never ridden my bike in the rain so I slowed down quite a bit to make sure I did not crash, I saw people sliding all over the place in front of me. I was drinking and eating pretty well I thought. I was able to do the bottle exchange without crashing which was awesome since I had never practiced that. I did have to stop at mile 35 to use the bathroom. Hindsight that was a mistake. It was raining and it took me over 10 minutes to get my tri-suit back on. Lovely. The rain quit after a few miles and the sun came out. Other than slowing down to get on and off of a sidewalk, the rest of the ride was pretty fun. However it according to my GPS, it was 57.2 miles long instead of 56. Final bike time 3:51:51. If you subtract out the bathroom stop and the extra distance, I was not too far off my original goal. In to transition only to find that all my gear was soaked of course from the rain. Switched socks and shoes, grabbed my hat and fuel belt and I was off on the run. Okay I was walking out of transition but atleast I was moving in a forward direction. T2 time 5:25. Yep need to work on that as well.
I don't even know where to start. The run if you want to call it that, I would say shuffle myself was a cross between the Bataan Death March and a long run inside a Sauna. I alternated running and walking but I was certainly doing more walking than running. My whole crew was cheering me on but I just did not feel like I had it in me. Hindsight being 20/20, I realize now that I had not eaten enough on the bike and was starting the run quite low on energy. As I went along the course, I noticed everyone was alternating running and walking and everyone was having a hard time. There were aid stations every mile. I stopped at each one taking sponges, ice, gatorade, cola and whatever they offered just to make it another step forward.
I have to be honest with you guys. The first lap of the three lap run course was almost my undoing. I really did not want to go on. There were several times I wanted to quit. On that note, Thank you Hector Torres and Mike Auld. If it were not for the two of you, I can honestly say I would have quit. You both had some great advice and it kept me moving. Thank you Debbie, Karen, Sandi and Vi for cheering me on. I don't know what I would have done without you there. Thank you Joy and Rick for entertaining Kelsie and Hannah during the race, if you had not done this for me I would not have been able to even do the race in the first place.
On the second and third laps I found my groove. That is not to say I was moving fast but at least I was not wanting to quit. I knew I was going to finish and I did. Final run time 3:37:41. Final overall time 8:33:09. Yes I know I might have the slowest finish time in the record books but I did finish.
Will I do this again? Of course!!! In some very sadistic way I loved it. I actually have already forgotten how bad the run hurt. Must be that same selective memory that makes you forget the pain of childbirth so you will have another child. There are 23 weeks until the IMFL and yes I have a lot of work to do. But I will do it and I will be at the starting line on November 1st 2008!
Thank you to my awesome support crew! Thank you to my awesome coaches! Congratulations Missey on another great finish!
Ironman Florida here I come!
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Sportsmanship is still alive!
At the conference championships, a player hit the first home run of her career ever. Not only was it a home run but it went over the fence. As she was trying to tag first base, she blew her knee out and collapsed. The first base coach stated that if anyone on her team helped her, she would be called out. The umpire stated they could send in a pinch runner but then the hit would only be a single. That is when the most amazing selfless thing happened. The first baseman, who herself is the state home run career leader, asked if she could help her. Remember this is the player from the opposing team. The umpire said there was no rule against it. So this first baseman and her shortstop came over, put one of the injured players arms around each of their necks and carried her around so she could tag the rest of the bases and then to home plate. This was the winning run and the girls who carried the injured player around the bases were part of a team that was now eliminated from the play-offs. As she crossed home plate her team was crying. The first baseman said later, “In the end, it is not about winning and losing so much, It was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she deserved a home run.”
As I read the story today, it brought tears to my eyes thinking about the girl who injured herself and the two girls that sacrificed their game for the good of someone else. These days stories like this are almost non-existent. Parents are being ejected from games for being too aggressive. Kids are taught to win at all costs. We live in a fast-food society where the most important thing is our own selfish happiness. If we don't like it give it back. If they won't take it back sue. If we don't win put up a fight and if that does not work sue.
As a mom myself with two girls who would rather be shopping for themselves, I know how hard it is to balance the desire for your child to be the best with the ability to teach them how to be selfless and put others' needs first or at least equal to their own. In competition I want my kids to be the winners but more so I want them to come away knowing that even if they have lost they played their best and the effort not the outcome is what matters.
I am a runner and now most recently a triathlete. Those sports in and of themselves are selfish sports. You are out there alone and it is your physical and mental efforts that will get you across the finish line. For this very reason, I joined Team in Training over 11 years ago. I wanted to be able to give back to those people who could not run a marathon or bike or swim. For those people who lost their battles to cancer. Now I am a coach and when I am at an event, I cross the finish line last. It does not matter how long it takes, I am out on the course until my last person crosses the finish line and then and only then do I cross myself.
I don't do this because I want to be seen as some sort of martyr, or a hero. I am a coach and I care because I can. Because I want everyone else to know what it feels like to be a winner. And for me, being able crossing the finish line of whatever race you start whether it is physical or mental makes you a winner in my book.
So I congratulate those women! Thank you for being a positive role model for my daughters.
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Triathlete = Sushi????
Does becoming a triathlete cause a person to crave sushi? Is all of the time in the water turning me into a cannibalistic fish?
Strange I know but for the past couple of months I have been craving sushi like crazy. I cannot seem to get enough of the raw fish. My favorite sushi is either the spicy tuna roll, Maguro tuna, and Mexican Rolls. Of course I am constantly asking all of my friends if they would like to go have sushi. I never used to crave sushi like this so I am thinking that all of the swimming has something to do with this desire.
I know that after I run a marathon, I always crave cheeseburgers, not the McDonald's kind but the kind you would make on the grill yourself. So now I crave sushi. What will I crave riding the bike?
This is going to be one crazy post race meal....Sushi Appetizer, Cheeseburger entree and ???? Any suggestions.......
I think it is time to go get some sushi!
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
Monday, April 28, 2008
St. Anthony's Triathlon in one word....WOW!

What a weekend! I went to the St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Pete to cheer on some friends! All I can say is WOW! Amazing! I cannot wait until registration opens for 2009. Which by the way is Dec 1, 2008. I will be signed up as soon as it opens.
I drove down to St. Pete Beach with little Debbie on Friday night after work. Driving through town we saw bicycles everywhere. We made it to the hotel about 9:30pm. Unloaded the car and grabbed a bite to eat. Saturday was going to be a crazy busy day.
We woke up bright and early at 6:45am on Saturday morning as we needed to be in St Pete by 8:30 for the open water swim. Team in Training had set up the open water swim on part of the race swim course for their participants to get in a last minute training swim the day before the race. My friends told me I should come and get in the water with them. I had yet to do an ocean swim so I was very nervous as we drove up to the pier. My nerves certainly did not calm down as walked down to the water and saw the waves and mass of TNT swimmers. However I knew I had to face my fears and get into the water. After all my Ironman swim will be in the ocean in November.
Karen and Missey got into the water with me and we walked out and started to swim. Our plan was to get to the first buoy, turn around and come back. Karen was swimming in front of me and Missey was swimming to my side. Thank goodness, as I had no idea how to swim against the waves. I made it out to the first buoy with quite a bit of encouragement. Once there we treaded water for a couple of minutes as I had swallowed a bit of (OK... a lot of) the ocean on the way out. They asked if I was ready to turn back. I told them no I wanted to continue. Apparently salt water makes you crazy. So we swam out to the second buoy. This time common sense had returned and I agreed to swim back to the shore.
Once back on shore they were both congratulating me, I must have looked scared to death as Karen said ok now get a drink and we are going back in for a second swim. I agreed, again... salt water makes you crazy. I took a drink from our awesome support crew Debbie and headed back down the beach to the water. We sent Missey out on her swim as we knew she had to get some distance in. Karen had been swimming before we arrived so she was done with her distance and offered to swim with me. As we walked into the water, Karen hugged me and said, "I have two pieces of advice for you. 1. Become one with the water and 2. Push your head down, squeeze and lift your butt." We started to swim. This time, I did not fight the water and current. I actually enjoyed the swim. We only swam out to the first buoy and back but I really feel like I did much better the second time. When we exited the water I was ecstatic and bummed at the same time. Ecstatic because I had done a swim in the ocean and bummed because I was not going to do the event with them the next day.
We waited for Missey to exit the water not knowing she had to help another TNT participant who got a bit nervous on her swim and panicked in the water. After a few minutes Missey found us and told us what was going on, we left the beach, quick put on bike gear and headed out on a twenty minute ride. OOPS! We forgot the Meek and Mighty triathlon was going on so we kept getting re-routed.
After an easy 25 minutes on the bike, we returned to the beach to listen to Dave Scott, 6 time Ironman World Champion give last minute tips and answer questions from the TNT participants. That was so awesome. He is actually really funny and a great informational resource. I had my picture made with him and I will post it when I get a copy of it.
After the talk and after Missey and Debbie completed a 20 minute recovery run, we were off to the expo. Rick needed to pick up his packet and everyone needed to rack their bikes in bike transition. WOW! what an expo. I love the marathon race expos so I knew I would love the triathlon ones as well. I met Sister Madonna Buder and Scott Rigsby. I had my picture made with Sister Madonna. I will post that one as well when I get a copy of it. If you don't know who they are, Sister Madonna is the oldest women to ever complete the Ironman World Championship in Kona. She has also completed over 200 triathlons and as well as many marathons. She is an amazing inspiration. Scott Rigsby is the first double below the knee amputee to complete an Ironman. Like I stated two amazing people.
After a long day we headed back to the hotel to rest everyone was competing in the race the next day. We decided, thanks Debbie, to take a nice relaxing paddle boat ride around the hotel. That was a workout. I don't think any of us will be doing that again the night before a race. Thank goodness I did not have to race on Sunday my legs felt like led when we were done. LOL, just kidding Debbie but it really was harder than any of us thought.
We were supposed to meet Karen, her mom and some of her friends back in town for dinner but just as we got back to the room, another one of our friends called and said she was on her way to town. We called Karen and left her a message telling her we would miss dinner but see her in the morning at the race start. We also found out at this time there was no late checkout so we would have to check out of the room at 5:15 am on our way to the race but it turns out this was the best thing. More on that later.
Race morning! Another early day. The alarm went off at 4:30 am. Woo-Hoo I love mornings! I can tell you I was a bit bummed that I was not doing the race. I finished packing, called the valet and ordered all of the cars. I loaded up and headed down to put all of our gear into the cars. While I was waiting on the valet, I noticed a small group of TNT'ers that looked a bit nervous. On my second trip down, one of them walked up and said "Are you going to the race?" I said sure am what is up. She quickly told me they were from the NYC chapter and had decided to skip the bus transportation at 4am to the start in order to get an extra hour of sleep. They had reserved a car which had not shown up. She wanted to know if there was any way we could drive them over. There were 10 of them, thankfully we had four cars. I said load up and let's go. We crammed their gear in with ours, divided everyone into the cars and we were on our way.
We arrived at the race at 6am. Perfect timing. Missey, Rick and our band of TNT'ers jumped out and headed to race transition to do their final race prep. The rest of us took the cars and parked them just in time to see the U.S Army parachutists jump out of helicopters with the American Flag. The gun went off and the pro's hit the water. Missey and Rick met us at the cars and we walked down to the beach. What a site. There were about 4000 triathletes on the beach waiting for their wave to be called. Every five minutes a wave went off. We stayed on the beach until Karen's wave went off at 8:40 and then headed to the water exit. We missed Rick getting out of the water as his wave went off at 7:25 and he is a really fast swimmer. However we saw everyone else get out of the water and onto their bikes.
Our group divided up. Mike and Vi went over to the run course, Steve went to the bike in, Debbie was at the bike transition outside the fence but near Missey's rack. Kim and I were at the finish line which was also the run out. We played telephone tag and kept each other posted as to where everyone was on the course. Each of us taking pictures as our friends passed.
Here are their results! Holey Smoke they are AMAZING. Can I say that again? THEY ARE AMAZING! In alphabetical order:
Karen Cowden 3:06:43 - This was her first Olympic Distance Event!!
Melissa Daly 3:56:12 - A NEW PERSONAL RECORD by over 10 minutes!
Rick Stafford 3:09:18 - This was his first triathlon since the IMFL in Nov '07 and with no training.
Ron Hitzel 3:25:45 - Only his second triathlon ever and a Personal Record as well.
To say that I am in awe is an understatement!! There are no words to express how proud of each of them I am!
I also want to say congrats to the Central Florida Tri Team peeps who competed this weekend, Coach Sean from Team Hendryx, who had an amazing time. Bill, one of my ex-marathon trainees also with Central Florida Tri who had an amazing swim but a blowout at mile 11 on the bike course, Michelle, Karen's friend and all of the rest of the 3500+ finishers this year! I cannot wait to be part of the group next year.
And to that end, Missey reserved rooms for us at the Hilton near the race start for next year! This is definitely not a race I want to miss again.
Anyone want to try a tri?
Can't wait for my next race. I think I am crazy. LOL!
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
P.S.
Missey - I read your blog and like I said yesterday, "Greatness takes time!" You are one awesome lady and don't you ever forget it.
Karen - I need more swimming lessons. One day I would like to grow up and swim like you!
Rick - What can I even say. You are an one heck of an athlete!
Kim, What is going to be your first race?
Debbie - You look amazing!
Steve - I have you in my thoughts! Good luck!
Mike and Vi - It was awesome being part of the "crew" again with you both. Glad I finally met Scooter.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Ponder This!
Everyone pretends. Pretending is actually encouraged when we are children to stimulate our imagination. When we grow up, can we tell the difference between what is real and what is not in our lives? Who in our lives is just trying to take something from us and who actually cares.
I think everyone has fantasies of where they would like their lives to be or who they would like to be. What happens when you take that fantasy too seriously and it becomes your reality? It is like walking on the edge of a razor. If you are not perfectly balanced, you will slice your foot open.
I told my dear friend a long time ago I was not like anyone else he would meet as I really and truly try to be honest and be real and just be who I am but sometimes I wonder if I am capable of doing that forever or if one day I will succumb to the pull to be like everyone else and lose myself. Or will I never find anyone that would appreciate me for who I am and not try to get something or take something from me.
I guess the reason all of this is coming to my mind is that when I get together with my friends or when I complete a race I wish I had someone to share it with. Someone that appreciated me for being different and loved to be part of my life. I am not sure what the grand plan for my life is but sometimes I would just like a clue.
For those of you who are in my inner circle, I hope you know how much you mean to me and how grateful I am to have you in my life. My life has been made richer knowing you. Thank you for being my friends actually you are my family! Thank you for being real!
Have a great weekend everyone!
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
Latest Updates
Sorry I have been so remiss in posting this week. It has been one of those weeks. The kids have had a crazy week, work has been busy and of course I am trying to train for the IMFL.
I did get some great training in. I swam 3100 yards on Tuesday night! WOW almost two miles. I have figured out that I don't really like swimming when I start swimming but after 10 minutes or so when I am warmed up, I love it. That is not to say I am fast or even a good swimmer for that matter but once I am going I can swim and swim and swim. LOL well maybe swim for a while but you get the point.
On Wednesday night I was going to to a run and a bike but Steve ended up inviting everyone over for dinner. Out the window went exercise. We had a great dinner. Steve grilled filet mignon, Karen made a fresh salad and we cracked open a bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz. I love that wine. Two glasses later and I knew I was not going to be running or biking so I took the day as a rest day.
Thursday night I was supposed to do a 30 min run followed by an easy 1500 yard swim. I ran the thirty minutes on the treadmill at the Y and then quick changed for a jump in the pool. Of course my life being what it is, I was trying to help a friend with their swimming. Yes I know I am a newbie, but Karen had given me some drills which I was passing on. I finished my 1500 yards in 33 minutes but my friend still had quite a bit to go. Therefore I swam most of their workout as well with them to help them get it done. All in all I think I did somewhere between 2000 and 2500 yards. I quit counting after an hour in the pool. I made it home about 10:30 and crashed exhausted.
After work tonight, I am going to head to St Pete Beach. Karen, Missey, Rick and Ron as well as some other people I know are competing in the 25th annual St. Anthony's Triathlon on Sunday. And as this is the season opener for most professionals, the Ironman World Champion, Chris "Macca" McCormack will be there competing along with a host of other amazing pro's, Craig Alexander, Faris Al Sultan, Samantha McGlone. It is going to be one heck of an event to watch. I am so excited! I cannot wait to get on the road.
Tomorrow morning is an open water swim on the swim course which I am going to join in. Then at 9:30 the 5 time Ironman World Champ Dave Scott is giving a lecture. There is a huge expo with all kinds of vendors from Orbea, to Oakley to Her Sports to Timex. It is going to be awesome.
I am going to try and ride the bike course as well. Hopefully get in a few miles. Sunday will be spent running around from place to place trying to see all my friends on the race course. Next year this event is on my MUST DO - List!
Well I hope you all have a great weekend! I will post again after I have everyones' results.
Take Care!
XOXOX,
Elizabeth
Monday, April 21, 2008
Amazing Women's Finish At The Boston Marathon
In the men's race Robert Cheruiyot took off and left the rest of the men's elite field before HeartBreak Hill to win his fourth Boston race. He was just shy of beating the course record he set in 2006.
It is awesome to see runners with that much natural ability. But is just as awesome to see the last finisher cross the finish line. No matter whether you finish first or last, you get the same medal. I love the tradition at the Ironman races, the male and female winners come out to cheer the last finisher across and then place their medals on their necks.
I will never win a marathon or an Ironman, well win in the strictest definition of the word, but every time I cross the finish line I win in my mind. I win for all the people that will never be able to cross the finish line. I win for myself. I win for everyone else that decides to just take the first step outside to start exercising because they know I finished my race. Just knowing what I have accomplished on my own feet with my own inner strength is satisfaction enough! Try it you might like it!
Take Care!
XOXOX
Elizabeth
....Wasted Weekend?

Hey there everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! Mine was kind of sucky but then it only shows how much you need to listen to your body.
On Friday I sent out the most awesome quote to all of my friends as inspiration for the tough training weekend ahead:
"I am building a fire and everyday I train I add more fuel....at just the right moment, I light the match." Mia Hamm
I was totally stoked and ready to get some serious miles on the bike. Training plan for the weekend:
Saturday: Long Swim
Warm-up: 300 yards
1st Set: 4 x 400 steady pace 1min rest
2nd Set: 2 x 200 steady pace 30 sec rest
3rd set: 6 x 100 1min rest
Cool Down: 200 yards easy stretching out
Sunday: Long Ride then Run (BRICK)
4hours on the bike
40min run
What I actually did:
Saturday:
8.5 miles easy on the bike
1000 yard swim
Sunday: nothing
I woke up early Saturday ready to swim, took the kids to their friend's soccer game so that I could get the workout done, stopped off at the grocery store and then went home to pack up my workout gear. As I started packing I realized my head was a bit tingly which for me means that I might be getting a migraine. I decided to lay down for just a bit to see if I could ward the migraine off at the pass. Wishful thinking on my part....
I woke up a little after 1pm. Agreed to meet Karen, Missey and Steve at the trail for a bike ride then do my long swim. Loaded up, headed to the trail and got onto the bike. We road for a leisurely 8.5 miles and then had a smoothie from the Y snack bar. As I was sitting there I realized the migraine I had tried to head of was coming on full force. However I was determined not to let it get me down. I changed into my suit and headed out to the pool.
I had every intention of swimming the entire workout. However, after about 4 laps I was getting dizzy. I kept going but soon I was unable to turn my head to breathe without getting nauseous. S*^#@! I really wanted to get this workout done. At 1000 yards I had to call it quits. Although Karen said my form looked much better I was just not able to swim anymore. I was out of the pool.
Sunday morning the alarm went off at 5am. I had been up all night throwing up. I sent a text to Missey and Karen and crawled into the bed. My head felt like someone was stabbing me repeatedly with a hot poker! There was no way I could drive to the trail, much less ride and run. I could barely move.
Can you say frustrated? I know my body was telling me something, not quite sure what it was other than this was not my weekend. I ended up spending pretty much all day Sunday in the bed. I woke up this morning feeling some better. My head is numb but there is a dull ache where I felt the poker jabbing me. I was going to try and swim but I think I will just do a run tonight and swim tomorrow. Obviously I am not 18 anymore. LOL....
This week's schedule:
Monday: Run 6-8 miles
Tuesday: Long Swim
Wednesday: Bike 2 hours, Run 30 mins
Thursday: Long Swim
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Bike Run Brick then drive to St. Pete.
Sunday: Cheer for Karen, Missey, Rick and Captain Ron as they compete in the 25th Annual St. Anthony's Triathlon. Of course it helps that the Ironman world champion, Chris "Macca" McCormick, is competing. I will consider this my recovery "run" since I will be all over the place trying to see everyone.
Hopefully this week I will be able to "light my match!"
XOXOX
Elizabeth
Friday, April 18, 2008
You Know You Are An Experienced Triathlete When....
1. You show up at packet pick-up 20 minutes before the race starts.
2. The race officials say there is no more room on the bike rack so you use a hole and a tree to rack your bike and set up your transition area.
3. The first thing you pull out of your tri bag to set up your transition area is the bra you took off when you put on your tri outfit.
Yes all of those things happened to me last night and NO they really don't make me a very experienced triathlete. However they do make for a good blog.
I am registered for the Lake Louisa Sprint Triathlon series. There are six events, one each month through September. I registered for them just for the transition practice which I need. These races are the low key no bells and whistles kind of race to use for training. There are not any race numbers, body marking is optional and the turn-around buoy in the lake is an alligator raft.
The race was scheduled to start at 6pm with packet pick-up opening at 5pm. I left work around 4:15, picked up the kids and was off. One of my co-workers who I am training for a half marathon, Richard was going with me to do his first tri. Here is where the hysteria started.
Richard put his bike on my bike rack. Being the naive trusting person I am, I did not make sure that he strapped it on correctly. So no sooner than I have gotten on the expressway than I noticed in the rear view mirror that his bike was hanging on by one strap only and appeared ready to take flight. I quickly pulled over on the side of the expressway and Richard adjusted the bike this time making sure the straps were tight. On the road again.....
We reach Clermont at about 5pm. Good time considering traffic was heavy. The girls were in the back talking about being hungry but I figured if I ignored them they would forget about everything when we got to the tri....What was I thinking. After passing a couple of fast food restaurants and gas stations, Richard said "Are you going to get the girls some food?" I was like no , I was planning on letting them wait. After all I knew I would be done with the race in under an hour and figured I would stop then to feed them. Well Richard had to potty so I agreed to stop. Of course the girls had to get out as well. So I went through the drive through, grabbed some happy meals and pulled around to wait. Much to my surprise the girls were out of the bathroom and into the car before Richard. Hmm does someone have a nervouse stomach? LOL
Richard came out eventually, on the road again.....
We arrived and parked at 5:35. We still had to pick up our packets, rack our bikes, set out transition gear and make it to the beach before the race start. I got out of the car and immediately went to packet pick-up. I am in race mode now. No time for dilly-dallying. Richard's wife met us out there so he went over to her for a chat. I quick grabbed my packet, ran back to the car telling Richard we had to hurry up. Thank goodness I had the forethought to change into my tri outfit before I drove over to Clermont.
I grabbed my transition bag out of the truck, my helmet and bike and was ready to head to the bike transition to rack my bike. Meanwhile, Richard was filling his bike bottles......Again this is his first race and I am in race mode so I have to be honest and say I should have been nicer and more helpful but I was worried about not making the swim start.
I get Richard and his gear to follow me, we head into transition. The race official says there is no more room on the racks for bikes just park your bike on the side. Well that would be all well and good but I don't have a kickstand. So I found a tree with a border around it and leaned my bike on that. I laid down my mat opened the bag and grabbed my bra. Lord knows what I was planning to do with that. I turned beet red and then quick stuffed it back into the bag. Took out my bike gear, running gear, grabbed the kids and said "Let's get to the beach." Guess what, Richard was not ready. Poor guy. Next time I need to give him more than 15mins time for sure. At least Tina, his wife was there to help him. We finished getting him setup and ran over to the beach just in time to see the professionals start. Next went the men, Richard was off. I had another minute to wait before my start so I looked out at the first couple of waves. To my surprise, they were running through the water. The lake was only ankle deep no way to swim. OH NO! I am supposed to get out of the water with fresh legs.
Now I am off. The water was remarkable warm or so I thought. Since it was only ankle deep at this point the sun had warmed it up. As we closed in on the alligator raft, the water was about knee level and now it was freezing. I got completely in the water and tried to swim but my hands were hitting the sand at the bottom of the lake and people were running around me. I stood up and decided to run the rest of the way in.
Out of the water, across the beach, up the boardwalk and down the road to the bike transition. Quick looked over to see Richard putting on his helmet and heading out onto the bike course. I put on my helmet, bike shoes, gloves and off I went. Out of the transition onto the bike course, mounted the bike. Clipped my left foot into the pedal and pushed down on the right foot. No go. The right shoe would not clip in. Wow the night is getting better! I just started hammering away on the bike obviously with my left leg doing most of the work but I did not want to quit.
The bike course was full of rolling hills. Now those of you who know me know I am terrified of hills and have never completed a workout or race that had hill on the bike without walking some part of it either because I could not change to a low enough gear or because the bike slowed to a stop and I had to walk. WELL TONIGHT WAS MY NIGHT!! I made up all the hills and even passed people as well. Of course a couple of people passed me but nothing like before.
As I was on the return leg of the bike I caught up to and passed Richard. As I was going by I said "You aren't going to let me beat you are you?" :-) Of course I was just giving him a hard time. I headed back into transition and racked my bike. Bike shoes switched to run shoes and off on the run. Can you just say screaming left quad and hamstring. Normally my legs are a bit wobbly and I need to adjust from the bike to the run but this was bad. My left leg was screaming stop and my right leg was like WOW I get to do something. It took me until the halfway point to be able to synchronize my legs. I turned around and headed back.
As I was heading back, I passed Richard on his way out. "Did you not pick the cone up and bring it back with you?" He asks. I just laughed, grabbed his water bottle took and swig and said get moving. I turned and completed my run.
I forgot to turn my watch off of course but I know I was 3 minutes ahead of the clock so the distance took me about 54 minutes! Yeah! Richard came across the line in 1:01. Awesome job!
I so cannot wait until my next event! Doing a long swim and a long, hilly bike this weekend! Wish me luck!
XOXOX,
Elizabeth