You Are In! - The SwimRun Adventure Begins

Nearly four years ago, I returned from Norseman with my eyes opened to a world of endurance racing and multisport challenges that I'd never heard about before. The most appealing event that I learned about from fellow competitors in Norway was Otillo - a SwimRun event in Sweden. "Otillo" translates to "island to island." In this challenging endurance race, you swim to an island and then run across it, and then repeat, repeatedly: 10K of swimming and 40 miles of trail running makes it a beast of an event.

In the past few years, SwimRun has become an increasingly popular sport in Europe. Then, it hopped across the pond - the first SwimRun event in the US was held in 2016 in Maine. The original Otillo event in Sweden is now a world championship race that you have to qualify to participate in. You can also get in by participating in regional SwimRun events and entering a lottery. The wheels in my head started turning as soon as the first US race was announced.

The thing that makes SwimRun different from triathlon (besides the absence of a bike) is that you do the race with a partner. The rules state that you have to stay within 10 meters of your partner at all times while swimming and running, and many teams have opted to accomplish this by tethering themselves together. The team aspect of the event appealed strongly to me, I think because in the early days of running with Shelly, we always behaved like a team, even when racing, and it was difficult to give that up and race "alone" in triathlon.

The appealing team aspect of SwimRun is also a challenge - how do you find a partner who swims and runs at about your same pace, and is willing to train for and participate in this adventure with you? Many have taken to Facebook groups and online forums to look for partners.

Luckily for me, I have a friend who's just as excited about this new sport as I am! Whiting and I met at a Smash triathlon camp three years ago in Arizona. We were placed in the same lane for the 100x100 swim at camp, and became friends that week. Whiting lives in Boulder and encouraged my move to Colorado. A couple of years later, here we are, signed up for not one, but TWO SwimRun adventures: SwimRun Lake James in April in North Carolina, and SwimRun San Juan Islands in Washington in September. The one in September is an Otillo qualifier. We immediately purchased new cool SwimRun specific wetsuits from our Big Sexy Racing team sponsor, Zone 3, which also sponsors SwimRun Lake James.

Another appealing thing about SwimRun - you get to use paddles to offset the drag of swimming with running shoes on.

Whiting and I had our first real SwimRun practice today. We swam/ran/swam/ran in the pool and on the treadmill at her gym in Boulder, and blew up our friends' Strava feeds with 4 workouts. We learned that the second swim was much more difficult than the first, and are both looking forward to our next practice set.

All smiles after our second treadmill run of the day today.

I'm thrilled to be back smashing myself on the weekend, training with a friend. It's exhausting and leaves you starving with jello legs, but there is nothing like it. I came home and emailed the race director of the San Juan Islands event; there had been some confusion over whether the acceptance email we received upon registration was acceptance into the event, or confirmation that our application had been received. He replied within minutes, "You are In!!"

Indeed, we aren't just in - we are ALL IN! I'm so excited for this adventure. I believe 100% that we are both going to love it and will be racing in Sweden one day. I'm really looking forward to our first race in April.

For an interesting and inspiring read about SwimRun, take a look at this article: Why a Swimrun Race Is the Crazy New Fitness Challenge You need to Try. Maybe we'll see you at the start line. :)

Old Man Winter Rally Race Report 2017

Last winter when we bought our gravel bikes, Trent immediately started looking for races. He found one in Lyons, CO – the Old Man Winter Rally, sponsored by his favorite brewery, Oskar Blues. The event celebrates winter with a gravel ride, a trail run, and beer and chili at the post-race party. We talked about traveling for the race from Texas last February, but didn’t end up going. Now that we live in the area, of course our first race here in Colorado had to be the Old Man Winter Rally!

There are a few options at this race – a 100k gravel ride, a 50k gravel ride, a 5.8 mile trail run, or a combination of the 50k ride and the run. We opted for the run/ride combo.

We drove up to Lyons for packet pickup at 8:30, met up with our BSR teammate Brian, watched the 100k riders head out for their race, and then prepared for the run which started at 10:30. I had come dressed for 35 degree temperatures in pants, a long sleeve shirt, gloves, and a beanie, but it was sunny, and after a 10-minute warmup, I was already hot. I changed into my cycling shorts and ran in them because they were the only shorts I had! The run was an out-and-back course on a combination of asphalt, gravel, and dirt trails.

The Run 
I didn’t have any expectations for pace, because the last month and a half of training at altitude has not been about pace, it has been about keeping my heart rate where it needs to be. In one of my first runs here, I ran with a friend for 6 “easy” miles at a 9:30ish pace and my heart rate was in zone 4. After that run, Emily cautioned me to slow down, be patient, and work on keeping my heart rate in zone 2 for easy runs. Last week, I ran the same 6-mile route on an easy run. I kept my heart rate in zone 1 and 2, and ended up running at a 9:45ish pace. Progress. Patience was paying off!

For yesterday’s race, I ran at a “comfortably hard” tempo pace based on feel. When I glanced at my watch in the first half of the race, I saw that my heart rate was 165 (zone 4) and my pace was hovering just under 9 minutes/mile. I was okay with that, and aimed to hold the pace for the entire run. It wasn’t until the turnaround that I realized we’d been running uphill the whole way out. I watched my pace increase on the way back and aimed for negative splits. I was beyond excited to finish with a time that put my average pace at 8:04 (I think the course was short).

Trent did well too. Even stopping during the run to pick up a snowflake – there were Styrofoam snowflakes scattered throughout all the courses, that if you brought one back, you’d get a prize – Trent ended up running at an average 6:40 pace. So awesome! But we had no time to celebrate because we had to hurry and change and get our bikes out of the car and ready to ride.

Just a guy and his snowflake. Trent's prize was a water bottle and a baseball cap.

The Ride 
The ~31-mile short course ride was on a combination of asphalt, gravel, hard-packed dirt, and one mile of single-track soft dirt and sand in the middle of the ride. It was 40 degrees and sunny, and the ride was beautiful with rolling fields, horses that ran alongside our bikes on the other side of a fence, and a stunning view of a frosty snow capped mountain in the distance.

Photo by Ryan Muncy Photography; from the Old Man Winter Rally website.

Obstacle #1 - Fear
Since last year’s Castell Grind, where I fell multiple times in soft, wet sand, rode off course and got lost, I’ve been over-cautious on my gravel bike and I’m still afraid of wet, muddy conditions. To prepare for this event, we attended a clinic last week in Boulder in which we rode part of the course, including the single-track section. Last weekend it was muddy and I rode around the one-mile loop feeling scared, but staying upright. I spent the week hoping the nice warm weather would hold out, and I got lucky. It was supposed to rain and snow the night before the race, but it didn’t! Dry, perfect conditions for the short course ride, and I could not have been happier. I gained quite a bit of confidence on my bike this weekend.

Obstacle #2 – Nutrition/Hydration 
On my last few outdoor rides, including the clinic, I have felt great for the first hour or so, and then bonked badly. The problem was poor fueling – with thick gloves on, it’s hard to get to bars and other snacks in a jacket pocket, so I opted not to eat anything. It’s easier to get a bottle out to drink, but my bottles just had Gatorade and water, and that was not enough. I’d get dehydrated too, because when it’s cold, you don’t think to drink. But actually, you should drink more than normal at altitude to avoid dehydration. Back to the old standby, Infinit! My order came in just in time for the race; I filled two bottles with 250 wonderful grape-flavored calories each, and forced myself to drink both of them during the ride. It was PERFECT. I felt like my old self, and stayed strong throughout the 2-hour ride. At one point in the last 3 miles, I looked back and saw that I was pulling a string of 10 riders behind me. I felt so strong and happy.

The Post-Race Party
The post-race party in a cute little park in Lyons was great, with delicious beer and chili as promised, wonderful warming coffee and Clif products, and a cool awards presentation where the podium folks sprayed beer rather than champagne. We ended up walking over to Oskar Blues afterward to get some food (and more beer), and then headed home by way of Voodoo Donuts (yes, these donuts have officially become a problem).

It felt really good to race again! I’m motivated in a way that I haven’t been for a while. Just seeing the caliber of athletes around us and the strength it will take to try to keep up with them gives me mental fuel for those solo weekday trainer rides. I’m looking forward to the season! Hopefully Old Man Winter doesn’t get in the way too much.

Fun with friends Whiting and Ariana at the post-race party.

Kerrville Tri Race Report 2016: Choosing the Right Goals

Goals can be a dangerous thing. A quote that I read years ago from motivational speaker Harvey MacKay has stayed with me: “A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.” At the time, it was the call to action that I needed. What’s the point in just sitting around dreaming about something you want? Get out there and work towards it!

The problem is that there are some things you can’t set goals for. Like black t-shirts. Six weeks ago, after I realized that I wouldn’t reach the goal of a mountaintop finish in Norway, I stopped smiling. I gave up. This resulted in a slow, miserable marathon experience on one of the most beautiful courses in the world.

At Norseman, I had set a goal that I wasn't in control of. Other factors were at play, like the weather conditions and the talent of the other athletes who showed up that day. It took me a while to understand what Emily was talking about when she told me to focus on process rather than results. She asked me my goals for Louisville, and I gave her numbers. Emily said instead to focus on process - what can I work on that didn't go well at previous races? She was asking me to set attainable goals and not random numbers.

I figured out last week what the goal would be for Louisville. Smile no matter what. Always find a way to enjoy the experience. After all, this is supposed to be fun! That can be easier said than done, and it takes practice. The Kerrville tri this weekend would be my chance to practice smiling all day before being tested again at Ironman Louisville.

I had two goals for the Olympic-ish distance race (1000 meter swim, 29 mile bike, 6.4 mile run). I wanted to gain some confidence by having a good swim in a wetsuit at a race, and I wanted to keep smiling and pushing forward no matter what.

But...for the first time in 5 years, the race in Kerrville was not wetsuit legal. Goal number one went out the window. Luckily, goal number two was to keep smiling and pushing forward no matter what. Take what the day throws at you: today would not be my day to build confidence in a wetsuit, but it could still be a day to have a great swim.

When the race started, I was in such a hurry to get in the water and begin swimming that I forgot to start my watch. Whoops! This mistake turned out to be a blessing. I swam strong and felt powerful in the water. When I ran out of the river, I didn’t have to analyze my swim time: I had only my feelings to go by. And it felt like a great swim. There's some built-in swim amnesia for you: just don’t start your watch! This is a technique I’ll take with me to Kentucky.

That's the smile of someone who forgot to start her watch.

At this race, my age group was in the unique position of starting in the first wave with a time trial start: athletes started one at a time with 3-5 seconds between them. I started maybe 6th in my age group. Being a strong swimmer and a reasonably strong cyclist, I spent the first 55 minutes of the bike race riding alone. I was passing competitors from the half-ironman race that had started earlier in the morning, but nobody was passing me. It was surreal. I made a game of it: how far could I get before people from the Olympic distance race caught and passed me?

It started to rain 20 minutes into the bike. At one point it rained so hard I thought it was hailing.

Trent’s wave started 12 minutes behind mine. When races start this way, I love to see how far I can get on the bike before he catches me. This time, we discussed beforehand that due to the short distance of the race, he might not catch me until the run. I wanted to see if I could make that happen. Approaching T2, I still hadn't seen him.

I flew into T2 and found an open field full of run bags: only a couple of bikes were there ahead of me. I took off running and vowed to hold a smile and a strong pace. The course was out and back – 3 miles out, 3 miles back, then another little out-and-back in the opposite direction before the finish. I started the run by myself, and as the miles went by, people started to pass me. And - at every aid station I passed, the volunteers complimented my smile. After I turned around and headed back, around mile 4, I saw Trent for the first time; we high-fived and he warned me not to let him catch me. This put extra pep in my step and although I was fading, I ran as fast as I could, still smiling. Having fun. Yippee!

I reached the finish line a couple of minutes before Trent. As our friends started to pour across the line, we all celebrated, taking photos and telling stories about the day. Mom and Dad were there, along with several Big Sexy teammates who were racing the half, and nearly all of our triathlete friends from San Antonio. It was so much fun to be surrounded by friends after the race. It made me remember what fun it is to race locally, and I think there will be more shorter local races on my calendar next year.

What a fantastic day. I had a great race and earned 3rd place in my age group. Perhaps when you focus on process, the results take care of themselves. I know it’s easy to keep smiling and moving forward when things are going well. It’s something else when you have to struggle. But, if you practice being positive when you’re feeling good, hopefully it will translate and help you through a day that isn’t going as planned. I’ll be smiling at Louisville no matter what. Less than two weeks to go!

After the race, we got caught in a ridiculous storm with flash floods. The half ironman participants were still running in this weather.

Another thing that made my day - this guy picked a flower and gave it to me before the swim. I carried it with me during the race and I swear it gave me superpowers.

The beautiful San Antonio Smash girls.

Big Sexy Racing - "We're the shit." So much fun racing with teammates!

Houston Marathon Race Report 2016: You Have To Want It

For a couple of years, I've been saying, "Wouldn't it be cool if I could qualify for Boston at the Houston marathon at age 40, like my Dad did?" Well yes, it would be cool. But saying "wouldn't it be cool if" isn't enough. You have to say "I Want This" to be able to make big things happen.

I've been struggling with this for a week, because I didn't have a bad race in Houston last weekend. I ran 3:51:06, which is a minute and a half faster than last year, a new PR. But I didn't reach the goal of running a Boston qualifying time of 3:45. My body was in shape to run a 3:45, but my brain wasn't.

Standing in the corral before the race, I talked to a guy in front of me, whose cotton "throw away" shirt had a Boston Marathon logo on the shoulder. I asked him if I could touch the logo for luck and he smiled, said yes, and told me "good luck." To verbalize "I'm going for a BQ today" to a stranger made me feel like an impostor; clearly, I'm still struggling with the "I'm not a runner" thing.

When the gun went off and the crowd surged towards the start line, I got teary and thought, "here we go," and asked myself, "how badly do you want it?" which is pre-race habit now (thank you Bree). The answer was, "probably not bad enough." That was my honest truth to myself on the start line of this race.

You know how in the first few steps of a running race, you kind of know how it's going to go? Well, I took the first few steps and thought, "oh man, this is going to be a battle today" because it didn't feel easy like it was supposed to. Sure enough, the first mile was an 8:47 - I needed 8:30s to meet the goal for the day.

I was wearing a borrowed Big Sexy Racing tri top (thank you Trent) and felt a boost of energy when I saw a couple of guys in the same gear ahead of me. I sped up to catch my new teammates and introduced myself. And then things started to look up! These guys (Greg and Matt) confessed to being undertrained and were running the full marathon as a "training run." This means they were actually running at the pace I needed to hold. I was thrilled to jump in with them and their friends and run with them for the next 10 miles. We held the pace and some fantastic conversation and I was thinking, this is pretty easy!

Then, they said they were stopping for a bathroom break and instructed me to run ahead. They told me not to let them catch me. I agreed and kept running, but as soon as I was alone, I started to fall off the pace. The next 15 miles were a constant battle of looking at my Garmin, seeing a number I didn't want, and picking up the pace, only to lose it a moment later.

I felt a boost of energy seeing my awesome family at mile 15 and again at 23. They were all dressed in pink and cheering and it was wonderful to see them. A big shout out to my brother Adam who has spent his last 2 birthdays standing on the Houston Marathon course!

These kids! My awesome niece and nephews - how could you not smile when you run up and see this!?

I've posted this photo of me and Henry a thousand times, but has anyone noticed the man in the cat shirt over my shoulder? You should have heard people cheering for him!

You know it's bad when you're counting down the kilometers because they're smaller than miles. By mile 23 my pace was slower than 9:00 and I had long lost all hope of a BQ.  But then I realized that I might not even get a PR, and that was unacceptable. I didn't do all that running this fall to not even run a new personal best on a beautiful, perfect day. So I pushed through the hills (yes, there are hills) and when I reached mile 25, I decided to run as fast as I could to the finish line. I ran that last mile at a 7:45 pace.

Dad saving my life with a Coke at mile 23. Practicing our handups for Norseman. ;)

What did I learn from this experience? Well, I learned that I'm a stronger runner than I've ever been, which is good, but that I need to push myself further into the pain zone if I want to reach that BQ goal. If I'd run as fast as possible in the last 6 miles, I wouldn't have been capable of 7:45 at the end, so I know I can run faster at the next one.

The next one will be at the end of Norseman in August, and I'll be fully motivated to run as fast as I can, chasing that black T-shirt. There's no "wouldn't it be cool if" about that goal.

And I've signed up for the Houston Marathon again for next year. Third time's a charm.

Motivation: Lost and Found

After 6 years in the sport, I suppose it was just a matter of time before I lost some motivation to train. It’s been a few months, and I’ve found it again (hooray!), which is why I’m writing this today, but, oh my goodness, for a while it was not good.

So what happened? I trained hard last year until Ironman Lake Tahoe in September. I knew after the race was over that I’d have a lot of “life stuff” going on. I came back from California and finished the process of buying a house. I moved into it. I prepared for and gave a huge presentation at work. And then after that, I traveled for work every other week for 6 weeks, which is completely out of the ordinary for me. Then came the holidays…I could go on. It also didn’t help that my most motivating training partner had back surgery and wasn’t available to work out with me for a couple of months.

It’s really easy to let all of those things become excuses not to train, and that’s what I did. For the first time in years, I skipped workouts. A bunch of them. I always had great excuses for it.

So what happens when you don’t train for a couple of months? You lose fitness. You get a little bit fat. You have a crappy performance at a race that you signed up for “just for fun,” and you realize that that isn't very fun. You start to lose confidence in your ability. You don’t feel good about yourself.

Getting into Norseman in November was the motivation I needed to at least show up to every workout, even though at first, I was still just going through the motions for many of them. I’ve been training for the Houston marathon, which is in 2 weeks, and I’ve got a pretty big goal for it: to qualify for Boston. My running times over the last 2-3 months have been ridiculously slow compared to the winter marathon build I did last year. I started to really doubt myself and lost all of the confidence that had grown over the last year and a half. I asked my coach, should I still be shooting at this goal? Is it ridiculous? And she said, let’s just see what happens.

Little by little, over the past 6 weeks, my motivation has been returning. I’ve been working harder and harder at every workout session. I’m watching my diet again. I’m starting to feel like myself. And guess what? My run times are improving. Thank goodness.

Looking forward to the road ahead.

Motivation for this sport takes many shapes and can change over time. At first it’s just seeing if you can train to finish a particular event. Maybe then it’s competing with your friends. Maybe it’s chasing a cute boy on a bike. Eventually though, it all comes back to internal motivation: how badly do you want it? That’s what it takes to be great. That’s what it takes to get out there and do the work every day, even when it’s cold, or early, or dark, or raining.

The best reminder for me came a week ago, from one of my new Big Sexy Racing teammates. Christine Cross, winner of Ironman Louisville last year, posted this on Instagram:

I've heard versions of this before. What I love about this is the reminder that someone at Christine’s level is still thinking this way – it’s never easy, and the only way to excel is to work hard at it every day. Hard work works. There’s no way around it.

I feel recharged and motivated to tackle the challenges ahead this year. And I'll say this with confidence: you might beat me, but it’s not going to be because you trained harder than me. I’m going to do everything I can, in every workout, to be focused and to improve myself for the season ahead, so that I can reach the Big Goals that I’ve set – a BQ, a black T-shirt at Norseman.

Happy New Year! And happy training. Let’s go chase some dreams!

Norseman 2016: I'm Going Back!

As soon as I crossed the finish line at Norseman in 2014, I knew that I'd want to come back one day to try to finish on the mountaintop and earn a black T-shirt. What I didn't know was that "one day" would come so quickly!

Norseman has two finish lines. One of them is at the top of a mountain. The first 160 people to pass a checkpoint at mile 20 of the marathon can continue to this finish line. They earn a black finisher's T-shirt. Everyone else finishes at a secondary finish line about halfway up, and earns a white shirt. While I am incredibly proud of the white T-shirt that I got in 2014, I'm also completely disappointed that I didn't get to climb to the top of Gaustatoppen. I want that black shirt.

You can only get into Norseman through a lottery (or through a contest put on by one of the sponsors, like I did the first time). This year's lottery worked differently than it has in the past. This year, if you didn't get selected, you'd get two chances at winning a slot next year, and so on. I signed up for the lottery expecting to be improving my chances for next year, and the year after that.

When the drawing came and went on November 9, I received my rejection email with a caveat, "We do not operate a waiting-list, but we will in this way invite 50 people to our runners up list in case some of the draw winners declines their slot over the next couple of days. If so happens we will offer the slot to the runners up." The email said that I'd know by December 1 if I had been selected.

Reading that email, I realized exactly how badly I wanted the chance to go back to race in Norway. I was filled with disappointment. I didn't let myself hope to be selected as a runner-up.

A week later, on a business trip, sitting on a plane that had just landed in Charlotte, I casually checked my email on my phone. Imagine my surprise when I saw the email: "We are excited to confirm that we have reserved a slot for you in the 2016 edition of Isklar Norseman Xtreme Triathlon." WHAT?! I couldn't believe it. I spent the rest of that layover texting my friends and coach, and calling Mom and Dad to tell them the news. I think the best way to describe my reaction would be "over the moon."

Dad always said that with the knowledge we have from the first time we raced Norseman, we'd have a much better shot at the black T-shirt a second time around. Emily said that the experience I'll have from the two more years of training and racing will be invaluable, too. I know they're both right, and I know what I have to do.

I have another reason to be motivated for 2016 - I applied and was accepted to the Big Sexy Racing team. BSR is a team of amateur athletes led by 7x Ironman champion Chris "Big Sexy" McDonald. It's an honor to be a part of this team of incredibly talented, motivated athletes, and I'm looking forward to learning a lot from them. I have a feeling that 2016 is going to be a big (sexy) year! Looking forward to putting the work in to make it so.

My 2016, in a nutshell. Big Sexy Racing and Norseman!

Catching Up
Since I haven't blogged much in the last couple of months, I'll provide my excuses in the photos below:

I traveled for work. A lot. First to our office in Indianapolis where we got to see Real Fall Colors...

Then to our office in Virginia Beach. Next stop, California.

I didn't just travel for business - this view from a trail run in Colorado was pretty awesome.

After two months of traveling for work, being distracted by life, and Not Training, this is the only photo I'll post of Austin 70.3, because riding around the corner and seeing this was the best part of the day. Note to self: You know how you're always talking about how hard work works? Well, not working hard...doesn't work. Not a great performance at this race but a lot of fun with friends. Orissa and Linda rocking the donuts as the best cheer squad ever!

On a rainy Saturday last week, it was super fun to be back at it with Dawn. This photo taken post-Norseman drawing, when motivation has kicked back in.

I'm told that an alternative to indoor riding on rainy days is to ride a cyclocross bike, because they're "meant to get dirty." The only problem is, I can't seem to stay upright on mine. (I'm in love with it anyway!)