Norseman: Epic Race Calls for Epic Training

As we researched the Norseman course, Dawn and I quickly noticed that the first 25 miles of the bike is uphill. "Hey, that sounds just like Mt. Lemmon..." and the idea was born. Let's go to Tucson, AZ for some epic training for Norseman!

I've been to Tucson twice for grand coachie Hillary Biscay's awesome training camp, and while it's challenging, I loved climbing Mt. Lemmon both times. Starting in the desert among the saguaro cactus, the scenic Catalina Highway winds 25 miles up the mountain through beautiful rock formations and then through pine trees that smell delicious to a cute little town called Summerhaven, where cookies and pizza await you at the Cookie Cabin. I looked forward to two Mt. Lemmon climbs on this trip, plus some trail running and some swimming and pro triathlete star spotting at the University of Arizona pool.

We left on Thursday for our 4-day training adventure: 2 coaches (Dawn, of course, and Chris Aarhus - her former coach - an extremely knowledgeable guy and a GREAT teacher) and Tri-Belief teammate Trent (who will be crushing dreams at BSLT in a few weeks). I was certainly the weakest link in this group as far as riding and running go - and without the safety net of my girls and Shelly in particular, I was more than a little apprehensive about how the weekend's training would go. 

Of course it went great. It went better than great. It went so well that I can't even find words to describe it - so I'll just present a photo gallery of some of the fun. 

A trip to Arizona with Dawn would not have been complete without some car trouble. Flat tire changed in 21 minutes - of course we timed it.

And of course the trip would also not be complete without the use of fabulous recovery boots. We didn't use them in the car this time though...

We drove 12 hours to Tucson and then went for a ride that evening. Gates Pass/McCain Loop - omg still my favorite.

Day 1 on Mt. Lemmon - smiley smiley matchy matchy in new Smash Sunrise kit.

This guy taught me to ride my bike. I am not even joking.

A birthday cookie for Coachie!

Day 2, Mt. Lemmon: after a cold, rainy climb, we prepared thoroughly for the descent - plastic gloves held on with electrical tape to keep our hands warm - and plastic garbage bags down our shirts. 

...and then the sun immediately came out, so we stopped halfway down to take all that plastic stuff off and took some fun photos.

The next day we ran for a couple hours in Sabino Canyon - beautiful. And then Dawn and I looked back and realized we're both afraid of heights. Yes, there was a discussion of "look down there and see how far you've come," and yes, there may have been some tears.

I mean, look at this. Gorgeous! I have learned to love trail running. Yep, I just put that in writing.

Super fun pool shenanigans. We got to swim here twice. The most beautiful pool I've ever been to! Coachie put the hurt on us in the last workout of the trip - when we were done I couldn't move my legs and could barely drag myself out of the pool.

During one of the more challenging times on the mountain, as Dawn and I climbed for hours in cold rain and then screamed with joy in unison as the sun peeked out, Dawn mentioned something that she learned at Ironman Texas last week (while qualifying for Kona, no less). She said it's really important to have happy anchors to turn to during a long race like that (think Happy Gilmore's happy place), and that I needed to start building a library of them - maybe I could start with the feeling I was experiencing at that very moment? Yes! Mt. Lemmon climb - a happy thought to carry with me while racing Norseman (and beyond). And countless others from this trip. 

Thank you to Dawn for making this happen and to Dawn and Chris for the expert coaching and advice, and to Trent for the encouragement throughout the weekend. And after today's training ride I can say that I'm already feeling the gains made in Tucson! Best Trip Ever. :)

Norseman: So You Won the Contest, Now What

As soon as I returned from New Orleans, training for Norseman (which is now 2.5 months away) began in earnest. This included a hillfest of a 90 mile ride and an equally hilly 15 mile run the weekend after the race (usually the weekend after a race consists of "easily spinning out legs" - no time for such luxuries now!).

The ride was a gorgeous tour of the hill country on a beautiful day in which I happily chased my new teammate Trent, who showed no sign of cracking while I tried not to puke for the last 20 miles. After the ride, I immediately drove up to Boerne (without showering, Coachie would be proud) to meet with the family and formalize details about the trip. Dad is the ultimate planner and has figured out the entire vacation, and I am so grateful! 

Yep, that's a 30 year old map from when we lived in Stavanger. What could have changed?

The following day, I ran 15 miles solo, including a 4 mile out-and-back on Kyle Seale, one of the hilliest roads around here. I was happy until I hit mile 12, at which point I blew up and shuffled the last 3 miles back to my car, got in and started crying. Feeling overwhelmed, thinking, oh my God, I'm so tired, this is only week one, Norseman is HARD, what was I thinking, how am I going to do this??? 

In between all this I had been feverishly researching Norseman night and day. The elevation, what the climbs are like, the weather. Reaching out to some really nice people who have done the race before (Ann and Halvard) and asking logistical questions. Not sleeping, not eating, feeling sick all the time, and basically stirring myself up into a frenzy of nerves. (Nausea and nerves will make you think strange things, so thanks to BFF Valerie for helping me through a particular scare there.)

Then you see something like this on Facebook and it makes you smile all day. Of course I'm the luckiest person alive to get to do this!

After the implosion on that run, I cried to Dawn, who told me exactly what I needed to hear. This is not a pass/fail situation. This is a journey. I wouldn't have gotten the slot if this wasn't supposed to be part of my path. Take the days one at a time and embrace the adventure. As always, Coachie is right. So I took a deep breath and shook it all off, and decided to have some fun. This is all about pushing limits and seeing what you can do - and once I entered the right frame of mind, I have been crushing it. I'm proud of the progress I've been making the last few weeks. (I'm still not sleeping but that seems to be something that goes with the territory of Ironman training for me.)

We have a plan that makes sense to me. After some research and discussion, Dawn and I have figured out that I need to build mileage like I would training for a regular Ironman, but to include as many hills as I can on both the bike and the run to prepare for the 16,000 ft elevation gain (!!!). Although only the first 160 people to reach the mountain will get to climb it and go for the coveted mountaintop finish and black t-shirt, we're training like I'm going to be one of those people. So in addition to the usual run training, mine has involved trails (which are not as bad as I thought) and, at the suggestion of Ann, a stairclimber (which is worse). 

With my head back on straight, I'm enjoying the journey and looking forward to this amazing vacation in August. The plane tickets and hotels are booked and I'm officially registered for the race and looking forward to receiving my pack of goodies from blueseventy. 

This makes it official. O M G.

Next up - cheering for Dawn and my friends racing at Ironman Texas next weekend. I've been to the race every year, whether spectating or racing, and I just couldn't miss it, although it will mean moving some training days around. As we've all been on different paths and lost touch a little bit in the last few months, I'm SUPER STOKED to go Iron Spectating with the girls! If you're out there on the run course, look for matchy matchy green Smash and boxes of donuts. :)

New Orleans 70.3 2014 Race Report

I don't think I've ever had so much fun on a trip whose main purpose is a race! I'm not sure how much of this will be race report and how much will be food and related shenanigans report, but we'll see.

A bonus on this trip is that the drive goes through Lake Charles, LA, where my brother and his family live. We got to stop and have a delicious lunch at Steamboat Bill's and catch up with Adam and my adorable nephew William.

Carb loaded on crawfish etouffee stuffed baked potato. O M G.

Back on the road and we arrived in New Orleans before dark at the race's host hotel, the Hilton Riverside. The hotel was fabulous and with the IM group rate it was $200 less expensive than the other hotels in the area. I recommend it, even if you read on TripAdvisor that there's a train that goes by, we hardly noticed it. The location was close to the French Quarter and convenient with the packet pickup in the hotel and the morning shuttles to the swim start.

Couldn't even wait until morning to head over to Cafe du Monde for beignets!

I felt calmer on race morning than I ever have. We took the shuttle down to transition and got everything set up. Got to meet superstar Haley Chura, who asked to snap our photo! Squeal! How much fun to be matchy matchy with a pro! ;)

Me, Haley, Orissa, Aixa

The time trial swim start was a lengthy process and my age group went off an hour after the pros. We jumped 10 at a time off a dock and started swimming. Due to a constricted area within a marina, the swim was zig-zaggy in an "N" shape. We started in one part of the marina and climbed out on the other side next to the transition.

The bike course was flat and windy, just as predicted. I enjoyed chasing my friends who I could see on the two out-and-backs. Although the prediction was for headwind on the way out and tailwind on the way back, because the bike course was kind of star-shaped, it didn't really feel that way. If there was a time I had to dig deep at this race, it was on the bike. Racing with a power meter for only the third time, I pushed to hold the prescribed watts. I really enjoyed being able to use watts as a guide and I think it made for a pretty even bike split that didn't leave me drained. I even got a little bike split PR. 

The point-to-point run course had been changed at the last minute from a run through the scenic French Quarter because of the French Quarter Festival that happened to be going on the same weekend. As I ran out of transition, guys started passing me left and right, and I thought, ugg, here we go. But within the first mile was a highway overpass, and to my surprise, many of them started to walk. I passed several people as I ran steady up the bridge and gained confidence with every step. 

I really enjoyed running along the waterfront. The volunteers were great and it was fun talking to other people on the course. I felt like I was running fast and I was having a great time. Around mile 8 I began to feel tired and started thinking of Norseman and how badly I wanted to go and how I needed to run fast to prove to myself that I deserved to.

Besides the ~6 hours I spent racing, every 5 minutes I was checking the status of the contest. 

A smack on the butt from Coachie at mile 11 sped me up as well, and I gutted it out the last 2 miles and down the half-mile straightaway into the finish line, turning heads with my lady-tennis-player-like audible breathing. I left it all out there and I was so proud of myself, and because I had forgotten to start my watch before the swim, I didn't even know what my time was. It turned out that I got a PR - the six minutes that I cried about last October at Longhorn when I was digging mud out of my cleats - I picked them up on the bike at this race. Woo hoo!

I mean when someone in a BOOT is chasing you and screaming, what choice do you have but to run faster?

Using everything I had left in the final stretch.

Usually after a race I'm wiped out and crying to Robert to carry me home. But this time we hustled back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and went out for delicious food at the Red Fish Grill. Met up with Coachie to get her that hurricane that she'd been craving, and had a ridiculously fun time with new friends on Bourbon Street refueling on hurricanes and hand grenades rather than protein shakes.

Gumbo at Red Fish Grill. Delish!

Coachie with a hand grenade. There's a guy inside that costume.

Bourbon Street shenanigans. Too much fun!

In namedropper news, I got to be a tiny little part of two pro race reports - Wes Anderson and Haley Chura. Now how much fun is that? Read them to see what goes on at the pointy end of the race!

My next race on the schedule was supposed to be Buffalo Springs but in planning for Norseman only 3 months away, Dawn and I have agreed that that weekend should be used for training rather than racing. So my next race is Norseman, August 2. I can't imagine that it will have anything in common with this flat race at sea level in New Orleans, but if my head can be in a similar place, I think I'll be in good shape.

I'm Going to Norseman!

The winning photo, taken by my hubby, Robert Cordova, at Ironman Arizona 2012

First - a thank you to everyone who gave suggestions on Facebook for renaming this blog. I decided to keep it simple and go with my name - what better way to say who I am? Siri Lindley posted on Instagram today, "You will believe what you hear yourself say, more than what anybody else says about you." I'm taking this as a sign that changing the name from "Snails are Faster" was a good idea, because I need to believe that I'm strong enough to succeed in my next adventure.

Now, about NORSEMAN!!
I won the Blueseventy Norseman 2014 contest! I'll be jumping off that ferry in Eidfjord, Norway, in August! I just have to say again how incredible it was to watch this contest unfold the way that it did. I cannot thank everyone enough for helping me to win this amazing prize; it's truly a dream come true. Within one day of the contest when my friends started to repost and tag their friends, I became overwhelmed by the understanding that other people - even people I didn't know personally - wanted to help me achieve a dream. I had friends and relatives and their friends and family on five continents spreading the word about this contest and my desire to jump off that boat and climb that mountain. The support that I received in this effort really did bring me to tears and I hope that everyone gets to feel the love of a community like this at some point. It's a powerful thing. So again, a most heartfelt thank you to all of you who made this happen.

Robert and I were standing in line at a cafe counter in New Orleans, the day after racing the New Orleans 70.3, when I received that amazing little email telling me I had won. I was already on Cloud 9 after achieving a new personal best time at the 70.3 distance on a difficult day. I had a fantastic race because I was focused the whole time on proving to myself that I deserved to go to Norseman if I won the contest. In fact, as I crossed the finish line and collapsed in a chair, when asked if I was okay, my reply was "I just want to go to Norseman," as I started crying. The next morning in the cafe, the other customers looked on with curiosity and amusement as I stood stunned staring at my phone, then squealed, then put my face in my hands.

Why is this particular race important to me? I grew up in quite a few places as the child of a (now retired) geologist working for an oil company. I was able to see much of the world in my early years, and I spent 4 of them in Stavanger, Norway. As an adult-onset athlete, I've also spent time in the shadow of my amazing Dad, a sub-3 marathoner, a Boston qualifier who makes it look effortless, a guy who climbed to Everest Base Camp, a man who follows his dreams and makes them come true.

A year or so ago, Dad brought up Norseman and commented that he and Mom would love to be my crew if I ever went. I was already fascinated by the race, and was amused that he had heard about it too. We joked about it because it's so hard to get into, and so far away, and almost just a fantasy to consider going. And then this contest came up. And I thought, why not try? What's the danger in dreaming big? Then it happened. Wow. I'll follow in my Dad's footsteps of chasing dreams - and how much fun to have him, Mom, and Robert with me as we take on this adventure together.

It's also not lost on me that a photo taken at Ironman Arizona, a race where I had a devastating DNF, is the reason that I'm getting to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. To me, this is just more proof that everything happens for a reason, even though you may not understand at the time. What if I had finished that race and been a "one-and-done" Ironman? That's fine, but for me, it became so much bigger. I am just so grateful for what this sport has given me.

One day after receiving the news, I got a text from Coachie, who had already returned from New Orleans. "Have you come down off the cloud yet?" she asked, "let's plan this." In the middle of the night last night, I realized that the race is only 3 months away. I somehow thought I had 5 months to train. So yes, now I'm down off the cloud and ready to get to work. Here we go!

Help Me ReTitle My Blog

Ever since Michelle Simmons, who I hold in highest regard, barked at me in a comment that I should change the title of this blog, I've been thinking about it. I think her actual words were, "F that, Snails are NOT Faster!" I've had this blog for years and at the time I created it, I thought it was a cute, self-deprecating title.

But the time has come to change it - this isn't who I am anymore. Somebody who throws her hat into the ring for a Norseman slot cannot also claim to be slower than a snail. Plus it just isn't true. It wasn't true at the time I created the blog, and it certainly isn't true now.

The problem is that I can't figure out what to call it instead. Does anyone have suggestions? Maybe I'm overthinking this. Help! :)

Oh and also, please vote for me in the Norseman contest if you haven't already. Voting ends on Monday and I'm still in the lead! xoxoxo

Shameless Self Promotion - Norseman Blueseventy Contest 2014

What you need to know:
Please go to Blueseventy's Facebook page, vote for my photo and help me win an entry into Norseman!

The photo looks like this and it's labeled with my name (Kris Cordova):

Additional details:
Blueseventy is holding a contest in which the lucky winners (one male, one female) get a coveted entry into the Norseman Triathlon, a sold-out iron distance race in Norway in August where you get to start by jumping off a boat into a fjord and end at the top of a mountain. I've been stalking the contest and it appears that I'm in second place for the female spot...so this could happen! OMG!

This race has always been on my radar as "something I'd like to do one day." But then this contest came up. And then, right before the deadline to enter last weekend, I raced the Tyler Tri and one of my roommates, Maggie Rusch, casually mentioned that she is already entered to race Norseman this year! I took this as a sign that clearly it's meant to be, and I rushed home and entered this photo into the contest.

The contest required a photo that inspires you. I'm inspired by this one because it holds that moment before the start of a race (Ironman Arizona 2012), where the athletes are getting ready to start an amazing day after an incredible journey to get there, and their supportive loved ones look on from the bridge. At that moment, anything is possible.

Thank you in advance for your vote! xoxoxo

Breaking Bad(Ass)

We're due for some nice, dry weekend weather here in San Antonio - for two weeks in a row, Saturday morning has been a rainy mess, which makes for some unpleasant cycling. Last weekend, the girls and I hit Castroville and managed to get all our efforts in before the rain came. The last hour of our ride was spent in misty drizzle in traffic on slippery streets with road grime flinging up from passing cars and trucks into our faces. The highlight of that ride was having a driver pull up at a traffic light next to us in her (warm, dry) car and tell us "I just want to tell you guys that you are so badass." Were we badass or stupid to be out there? We decided on "reluctantly badass" because we had tried to outrun the rain, but failed. It still felt good to hear. 

Last Saturday's mudfest.

When you're on a journey trying to morph from not-so-badass to Super Badass status (whatever that looks like to you), you're going to have to face your fears at some point, whether it's on purpose or not. Yesterday turned out to be an exercise in facing fears, although I didn't know it when I set out. I rode with Dawn and Trent, a new member of our squad. Dawn was planning on an easy 70 miles. 

Fear #1 - Dawn's "easy rides" are never easy for me. I don't know Trent and I don't know how fast he rides. Will I be able to keep up?

Then, as soon as we exited Dawn's neighborhood, it started raining. ARGH.

Fear #2 - Robert just detailed my bike for me last weekend after I rode in the rain. He's going to kill me. (just kidding - sort of)

Real Fear #2 - I'm afraid of riding in the rain in traffic in a group that I'm not at the front of. I always feel safer in front. And clearly I am not going to be riding at the front of this group. 

As we rode easy up Blanco Road, Dawn was trying to decide on a route. She picked Kendalia/Edge Falls because it would have less traffic on this rainy day. 

Fear #3 - The route. Dawn described this route as "Alphanso's first 100 miler, remember, last year?" I do remember, but not because it was Alphanso's first 100 miler. It was a ride that I totally melted down on. On a rainy, cold day, very much like this day, we rode with a ton of people out to Kendalia/Edge Falls, and I was having a bad day. I couldn't keep up and I was pissed. The folks on the ride who were doing IMTX were expected to do 100 miles, and some were just along for the group ride. Freezing our butts off in the rain on scary high-traffic highways, Orissa and Brian, who were not doing IMTX, decided to turn back and cut the day short early. I opted to go with them. I ended up standing in the middle of Amman Road with Dawn (who had turned back to check on us) screaming at me about mental toughness, and me screaming back that I didn't need to build any character, I had plenty, thank you very much. I ended up continuing the ride and reluctantly building mental toughness. It's hilarious to look back on now, a year later, but as we rode yesterday, those memories kept resurfacing as I struggled to stay with our speedy little group that now included a stray roadie that we had picked up along the way.

Dawn, me, Trent, and the Stray Roadie (think his name was Greg).

Fear #4 - Riding in my aerobars in a group. Yep, I'm still not over this. And I need to get there before I race again. I know I won't be racing in a peloton, and that sometimes it's safer to sit up on a group ride, but sometimes you need to just suck it up and practice being around people in your aerobars. So yesterday, I did a 10 minute effort in the rain at the front of the group, in my aerobars with Dawn next to me yelling to stay in my aerobars. I did, and I even turned corners and I didn't fall down, and I lost a tiny bit of fear.

It ended up being a ride that I was proud of, and I do feel somewhat more badass for facing some fears and pushing a little bit past them. I've had conversations about fear - with Dawn, regarding riding in aerobars in crowds and wet roads - "aren't you afraid to fall and break your collarbone again?" "Yes, but I'm more afraid to ride slow and let my coach down." Maybe sometimes it's about choosing which fear to listen to. And then today on our run, I talked about it again with Brian - "Aren't you afraid to ride in the rain?" "Yes, but I'm more afraid to be screamed at by my coach for being a weenie." Whatever works, right? Moving forward. :)