Austin Marathon Race Recap and Seeing the Forest Through the Trees

Well it has officially been a week since I went on a 26.2 mile foot tour of the wonderful city of Austin, Texas! My last post came a week before the race and I was getting ready for the dreaded taper week, well I am happy to report that I absolutely ROCKED that week! I stuck to my taper plan, I moved a couple of meals around so that my diet was more balanced, but stuck to the overall plan there as well. It was hard not indulging on Fat Tuesday and Valentines Day, but every workout and meal that I checked off left me feeling more and more confident going in to race day.

I didn’t land in Austin until after midnight Friday, so after a bit of a bag debacle I pretty much headed straight to bed. After a kind of stressful hectic week I was out and didn’t wake up until my friend Lauren’s alarm went off the next morning (so glad she set one!). We got up, Lauren had coffee, I was still off the coffee so I made some tea and chatted until her Aunt and Uncle woke up. Lauren’s uncle Gary then joined us for a morning jog around the lake. Gary and Bonita live in a pretty hip part of town and are also right on a nice path. Gary and I did just under 3 miles, while Lauren took off for a bit more. The air was definitely cool, but I felt great.

Between the expo, driving the course, an early bird supper and crashing super early Saturday went by pretty quickly and next thing I knew it was 4:45 Sunday morning and it was time for me to get up. I cooked up some oatmeal, my new go to long run breakfast and sat down with my book and a little bit of coffee (finally!) and some nuun. Before I knew it was after 6:00 and we had to get our buns out to the start line. It was just about half a mile to the start so Lauren walked over with me. It was about 8000% humidity and misty. I found myself in the world’s slowest port-a-pottie line and had a couple minor freakouts, but handed my things over to Lauren and headed for the start as soon as I could. I started way further back than I had planned to, but I think this ended up being ok. My plan was to start slow and I definitely did.

The race starts running up a steady incline on South Congress. I was socked in between the 3:55 and 4:00 groups and was surrounded by many other people. I took it nice and easy, logging a few slow miles before turning and heading back down south 1st. I held back here as well thanks to the advice of the newspaper article. People were flying by me, but I held things pretty slow and next thing you know, 10k down! After crossing back over the river we turned onto Cesar Chavez and into the first flat part of the course. I picked it up a bit here and waved to Lauren and Gary who I saw at mile 7. This section flew by and all of a sudden we were turning onto Enfield and heading into the part that the article started by saying “Gird your loins.” I pictured Stanley Tucci saying this in The Devil Wears Prada and girded myself for 8.5 miles of rolling hills. Around mile 10 I ran past the November Project Austin cheer section. I was wear my NP tank, so even though they didn’t know me it was a great boost with lots of whooping and yelling.

There’s quite a climb heading into mile 12 and not long after this the half marathoners turned off and it was just us lonely marathon runners. Approximately the next 3 miles were mentally the toughest for me. There were not as many people around, my legs were not feeling quite as fresh, and I was thinking about how many miles I still had ahead. Around mile 16 my stomach started cramping a little, I was contemplating a bathroom stop for the next couple of miles, but fortunately it calmed down. Focusing on my stomach got my mind off of the things that had been bogging me down before and suddenly it was mile 18 and I had a second wind. I cautiously started to pick up speed as we were heading into a gentle downhill. Around mile 20 I decided I was good to go and really started cranking it up. This was also about the time that others were starting to feel some serious pain (probably because they hauled down those early hills), but not me. I was turning in 8:20 something miles and flying past people, only one person passed me during this section.

Around mile 25 I saw Lauren and I was ALL smiles because I knew I’d conquered the beast. Minor detail, this gnarly hill at about mile 25.8 that slowed me down a bit. I really wish I’d pushed just a bit more here as I crossed the finish line in 3:50:16 and would have loved to have broken the 3:50 marker, but I did still take 7 minutes off of my PR and I’ll take it. The course ended up being about 1100 feet of elevation gain so to PR by that much was a huge accomplishment. Of course I’d love to know how fast I could have ran on a flat course, but I cannot be anything but happy with the result. The biggest accomplishment for me was rounding the corner mentally and running a strong race.

26 Miles in

Final bit of concentration

I did it!

26.2 done and still smiling

After a hot tub soak and a nap we got to go out and celebrate a bit. Monday we met up with the NP Austin folks and toured Austin by BCycle. I headed back to a frigid Colorado on Tuesday and was back to work Wednesday. My body felt great so I decided to try a run Wednesday evening, legs felt fine, but I angered a blister I had on the ball of my foot (I think because it was so misty and humid that my feet got wet) to the point where I had a tough time walking Thursday. I ended up accidentally tearing part of the roof off Friday morning in the pool when trying to take a blister bandaid off, I’ve had it covered, but have been afraid to run, which has been tough, which brings me to the reminder that my college swim coach would always give us “you have to be able to see the forest through the trees.” I got signed up for the Colorado Marathon last week, which is 10 weeks away. I still don’t know if it’s realistic to think I might BQ there, but I definitely want to take some more time off my PR. While mentally I’m struggling with not being able to run right now, if I mess my foot up more I’ll be out for longer so in the meantime I’m waiting patiently while spinning, swimming, and lifting the weights.

This race was huge for me because I finally hurdled a big mental barrier. I’m hoping to get back out there for a few easy runs this week (foot is feeling good) and hopefully be good to go for the trail half I’m running on Sunday in Moab (woohoo!), then bear down and get serious about training for the next Marathon. I know the next ten weeks are going to require a lot of hard work and dedication, but I’ve decided that it’s worth it. As with any race there’s a chance it won’t go well, but I’m going to do the work and believe that anything is possible. Also, I was a sucker and bought the race pictures because I want to remember this one!! 🙂

T-Minus 1 Week to 26.2!

Holy guacamole I am running a marathon one week from today! It is always crazy to me how these races sneak up on you, not in the sense that I feel unprepared, but in the sense that it seems like yesterday I was at the beginning of training and then all of a sudden, boom! Taper time! So it’s time to reflect on the last 15 weeks of my training and mentally get myself through this hellish week ahead.

Austin will be the third marathon that I have completed, but it will be the fourth that I have trained for. Yes if you are good with numbers you realize that doesn’t quite add up. Well back in 2015 while training for the Colorado Marathon, my first marathon, I came down with the flu and failed to complete a 20 miler and was experiencing knee pain in the weeks leading up to the race, no doubt the result of trying to cram miles after recovering from being sick. There was a voice in the back of my head that told me to drop to the half at the expo and I probably should have listened, instead I started walking around mile 13 and hobble/ran to mile 17 where I had cell service and threw in the towel and called a friend to pick me up.

Portland Marathon, 10.15

Eugene Marathon, 5.17

Since then I’ve completed two full marathons, Portland in fall of 2015 and Eugene last spring. I’ve also approached both of these races with a healthy serving of anxiety and self-doubt. As a collegiate athlete I was a complete headcase, often mentally psyching myself out before races and I’m sure that my mindset before these marathons was a hindrance, especially in Eugene where I was quite possibly the biggest basket case I’d ever been in the weeks leading up and was also trying to taper while simultaneously recover from running racing a very hilly half two weeks prior to the race.

Going into Austin I feel completely different, I feel much more calm and confident than I ever have before. I am attributing a lot of this to better preparation, I’ve logged 514 miles in the last 15 weeks, roughly 100 more than at this point prior to Eugene and they’ve been higher quality miles on top of that. I’ve also decided to put my BQ dreams on hold and just go for a PR, which took a lot of mental stress off my shoulders. Yes, there’s still a chance that things could go terribly wrong, I could trip on a curb, I could slip on ice this week, I could catch a cold on the plane or I might just bonk at mile 21, but I don’t think this will be the case.

I’ve reflected a lot in the past few weeks and did so more this morning during my 12 mile run, my last long run before the race. I’m still not excited about the upcoming week when I have to practice extreme self-control around food and not exercise much at all, but I know I can do it and I know that I need to keep it together so I can rock the race next weekend. In an effort to be prepared I’ve planned my whole next week out down to my meals and caffeine consumption, smart or neurotic?

Hopefully this time next week I’ll be reading this and saying “yep Alex you were right!” In the meantime my apologies to anyone I may snap at this week, even though I’m prepared I’m bound to still have a few irrational taper moments!

Winter Vacationing

Another Winter Break has come and gone and I’m two weeks in to the second half of the school year already, how does time go so fast? I spent almost my whole break traveling and spending time with friends and family. It was not the most relaxing two weeks I’ve ever experienced, but I’m not complaining one bit because I had a really great time!

I only took one day off the entire first half of the school year so when the final bell rang on Thursday December 21 I was SOOOOO ready to be outta there! I stuck around Fort Collins for a bit then headed to Denver Saturday afternoon to stay with a friend so I’d be closer to the airport for a VERY early Christmas Eve flight. As I drove down I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been to Denver. After a very busy summer I mostly stayed put in the fall, which isn’t a bad thing, but made me realize that it was good I had so many adventures planned for break.

After hanging with friends in Denver, catching my CRAZY early flight, and making the journey over Snoqualmie Pass I was reunited with my family by noon on Christmas Eve and was tired, but happy to be with family. We had a pretty low key Christmas, which is just how I like it. We did get snow that night, which made for an interesting Christmas morning run, thank goodness for yaktraks! A few days after Christmas my friend Lauren drove up from Bend and we spent some time enjoying some winter adventures. The weather in Central Washington was pretty typical of this time of year, little sun and lots of cool temps. The first day Lauren was in town we hiked to the top of “The Ridge,” a hike I’ve done many times, but never in the winter. We used yaktraks and enjoyed the few brief hours the sun was out during my entire trip. The next day we enjoyed breakfast with my parents at a new restaurant then headed up Highway 97 to Blewett Pass for some snowshoeing. We didn’t do the whole trail, but ended up with about 5 miles round trip. We saw hardly anyone else on the trail that we took and it was a wonderful and peaceful with snow falling lightly the entire time we were out.

View of Kittitas County from The Ridge

Blewett Pass Sno-Park

My trip to Washington was quick, but wonderful. I enjoyed spending time with family and friends. In addition to spending time with Lauren we got to see one of our former classmates from grad school who is now a professor at Central Washington University. I also saw my friend Joe, who is one of my oldest friends who I haven’t seen in quite some time. Hoping to see him again next month when I am in Texas where he lives now.

UNC Reunion at The Tav!

I returned to Colorado and just missed an incredibly warm Friday where temps got into the 60s. I arrived in time for the temperature to drop and I spent a very chilly weekend at home getting some running and cooking in and prepping for my next adventure. I took off early on Monday, New Year’s day to head to Utah to spend a few days in Moab. I didn’t get quite as early a start as I’d have liked, and after making a few stops along the way I did not arrive in Moab as early as I’d have liked to so I didn’t get a hike in Monday afternoon. I checked into our Motel, Barley and I got a quick run in, had dinner, and turned in pretty early.

I ended up trying to fit most everything in to one day, on Tuesday. I got up early and headed to Arches National Park for a sunrise hike. It was quite a bit cooler than I realized it was going to be, 6 degrees according to my car in the parking lot for the Delicate Arch Trail. I packed A LOT of shoes, but was feeling very happy that I’d thrown my winter boots in. I started at a brisk clip and fortunately the temps increased as I got about a half mile into the trail so I heated up a bit. I found a few other people when I arrived at the arch, which was nice, but unfortunately there was a group of college age girls who had to do a 15 minute photo shoot right at the arch during sunrise. It was a completely clear morning so the sunrise wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was still an amazing view. This was my second trip to Delicate Arch, but I don’t think this spot will EVER get old.

Delicate Arch with a blanket of snow

Moon set from Delicate Arch

After the hike I drove back to Moab, grabbed some coffee (the coffee maker in the room sketched me out), and headed back to the motel for some cuddles with the Barles. We left later that morning for a little drive up Highway 279 along the Colorado River. I was thinking about doing Corona Arch, but kept driving just to see the sights and ended up seeing a sign for someplace called Jug Arch. I assumed it was a trail, but ended up being a somewhat dicey dirt road. I ended up at a spot I couldn’t personally navigate and after a bit of a heart thumping turnaround I headed back. Turns out the road is “Long Canyon Road” and had I made it through I would have found myself in good position to get to our next destination, which was Dead Horse Point State Park.

Long Canyon Road

View back down the canyon

Dead Horse Point State Park is locate at the end of Highway 313 very close to Canyonlands National Park. The park offers great canyon views as well as an overlook to the Colorado River. Barley and I did about 3.5 miles of the rim trail. If I had gotten there a little earlier I would have done the whole rim, but I didn’t want to find myself out after dark so we turned back and drove to Dead Horse Point, which is definitely beautiful! Since we were so close to Canyonlands I popped in and checked out the view from Mesa Arch, still beautiful. Mesa Arch is generally a destination for the sunrise so it was almost completely deserted at sunset. Again, nothing spectacular, but still enjoyed the view. The light dusting of snow made everything in the desert a bit more magical!

Rim Overlook

Dead Horse Point

The first time I went to Moab, back in February of last year the sun did not come out once and it rained most of my trip, so even though I didn’t get to see any great sunrises or sunsets I was just happy to enjoy some sun during my trip. I will definitely be back to Moab in the future, I’d love to explore The Needles area of Canyonlands park and of course head to Delicate Arch again.

I have to say I’ve been dragging a bit now that I’m back to work. January is not my favorite month by far. I always find myself with the post-holiday blues, it has been less sunny then normal, and we’ve been having super cold mornings with some ice thrown in. I’m working on snapping out of it, maybe I’ll even write a second blog post this weekend with a race report for the half I ran last weekend. We’re supposed to get another storm tomorrow so it’s going to be an interesting week ahead trying to get my peak miles in, yes that’s right another Marathon is almost upon me! 4 weeks from tomorrow I will be soaking up the Texas sun while running 26.2 miles! The Texas trip kicks off a few trips, I’ve got a big trip every other month for a bit and while I’m wondering where I’m going to get the money for it all, I cannot wait to hit the road!

2018 Goals

I am not a huge fan of New Year’s Resolutions, goals however; I think are a different thing. I always think of things that are my goals, but haven’t ever really written them down. Perhaps its part of turning 30 this year, but I’ve decided that it’s time to get more serious about achieving the things I want to achieve. So here is the short list of some of my big goals for the next year!

1. Qualify for the Boston Marathon-This has always been one of those “maybe light years in the future” type of thoughts for me, but in recent months I’ve made the decision to go for it. I’ve started doing speed work and have upped my mileage (safely don’t worry). It would be a big time drop to qualify at my next race, Austin in February, but I’m training with the intent, and if I don’t it’s ok. I’m also planning to travel to Boston for the race in April just to experience it and I am SO excited!
2. Lose 5 pounds, and keep it off-I have always been afraid to write down a weight loss goal or make it public, because I tend to fail. This year I decided maybe I need to put it out there in order to be successful. For the record I know that I am not overweight, but I’ve spent over a year being incredibly unhappy with my weight, which isn’t fun. I’ve also put on more weight this year.  I’ve  already been working on some new habits (NO snacking after dinner, less chocolate at work, etc). I know the holidays are a hard time to start this, but given that there will be extra indulgences, on the other hand it might be the perfect time to work on the old self-control. I also know that if I drop 5 pounds, I’ll be running faster.
3. Read 30 Books-This is a lofty goal, but I’ve been reading a lot more lately! I want to read at least a few classics as well. I’m hoping to get 25 books this year, but shooting for more next year. I also just joined goodreads, find me here.
4. Keep Working to be a better teacher, especially to those “tough kiddos”-This has been something I have been working a lot on lately.  A lot of this is a combination of having more patience, and also trying things from a different angle. It can be hard to flex your expectations, but the biggest thing I’ve learned is that in an ideal world you can hold your whole class to the same standard, but let me tell you something, I’m not teaching in an ideal world! That isn’t a complaint, but there are a lot of kids with tough lives and you have to be flexible with them. This is something like I said that is tough for me and that I am working on.
5. Get into the “dating scene”-Whew this is a big one for me. Again, I think part of this is coming from turning 30 and taking stock of my life and really identifying things that I am unhappy with. I have to say I really HATE the idea of online dating, but that may be what it involves. I’m giving myself until the actual new year to decide on the whole online bit, but I just feel like it’s time to get myself out there, as much as I love my time one-on-one time with Barley, she and I could both benefit from some male presence in our lives.
6. TRAVEL!-I am realizing that I really didn’t get around that much this year. Part of this is because I spent 3 weeks on the road this summer, most of which was spent with my family. This was a great trip and I loved it, but it kind of limited my other travel. I did got to South Dakota over spring break so I did get one new state (ok 2, I came home through Nebraska), but otherwise didn’t see much new stuff. I already have a few trips in the works for next year (Austin, Boston, New York) and I’m hoping to find time for even more!

So there you have it, my big hopes and dreams for the coming year. More important than EVERYTHING on this list I want to keep living my life to the fullest. I think these goals will help me to do that, but the thing I want most is to keep myself in a positive place. Here’s to a great 2018 of attacking my goals and continuing to really enjoy this life!

The Yurt Life

I got home earlier today from an absolutely AMAZING weekend in a yurt. My old roommate and his girlfriend spent a weekend in a yurt back in the spring and I have been curious about them ever since so I finally bit the bullet and booked a weekend. My friends Gina and Nora were interested as well so we picked a weekend we were all free.

There are a number of yurts located throughout State Forest State Park, one of my favorite spots. The main drawback to most is that they do not allow dogs in the winter because you have to drink snow melt, but there are 3 yurts that are drive up year round so dogs are allowed. We booked the Aspen Yurt, one of the North Park Yurts, located just outside the North Michigan entrance to the park. These yurts are decent sized (supposedly can sleep 9) and have an outhouse and a deck.

We all had to work on Friday and didn’t end up leaving Fort Collins until almost 5:00. It was snowing for most of the drive so it was slow going and we got to the yurt right around 7:00, it was blowing snow so it was definitely an experience getting ourselves moved in, but we quickly made the yurt cozy with a fire in the wood stove and some dinner and wine. We found a Jenga game in a cupboard and enjoyed some wine, jenga, some more wine and laughs and next thing we knew it was pretty late and time for bed. It had gotten really hot so the first night we were all a little uncomfortable due to heat and didn’t get  a ton of sleep, but it was still great.

Saturday we got off to a pretty slow start, made coffee and breakfast and just chilled for a bit while the sun warmed things up outside. We finally were ready and headed out around 11 to go snowshoeing. We drove into the park and decided to snowshoe on the Grass Creek Road. We had a little trouble finding the road, but enjoyed breaking trail anyway and it was absolutely beautiful! My car said it was 19 degree out, but the sun was shining and there was only a slight breeze so we all ended up getting hot. We logged just under 4 miles of snowshoeing as we were getting tired and Barley wasn’t loving it (she’s a bit of a diva about cold).

Grass Creek Yurt

When we got back we were all tired so we had a nap before prepping dinner. After dinner we enjoyed beers and they finally taught me how to play  Cribbage. We also decided to roast smores in our wood stove, because, camping. We were all still pretty beat so we ended up going to bed around 8:00. Night two was WAY too cold! I think I actually got less sleep because I kept waking up freezing, even though we kept restarting the fire. We got up around 6:30 to check out the sunrise and I decided to just stay up and cuddle up with Barley, some coffee, and my book.

We made more coffee, breakfast, and more coffee as we cleaned up and loaded up our cars. We headed out a little after 10:00, made a quick stop off at the Visitor Center, then headed on home. The drive over Cameron Pass was absolutely beautiful with fresh snow on the surrounding mountains and made for a great end to a wonderful weekend away.

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I cannot wait to do another yurt trip and also to get out and do more snowshoeing! I have never had my own snowshoes until this year and now I’m hooked! This week is a short week, only two days of school before a five day weekend. While I got home around noon, I ended up getting in my long run this afternoon so I’m more than a little pooped and am very glad that the work week ends on Tuesday. Happy Thanksgiving friends!

Any advice on doggies learning to love winter (she has boots and a vest)?

And the whole wood stove situation, how do you keep the yurt a comfortable temp all night?

Westy Half Marathon Race Recap

I ran the Westy Half Marathon this past weekend. One thing I’m planning is to write race recaps for all of my races in a (somewhat) timely manner. So one week later for this one, I’ll shoot for better for the next!

After my 70.3 I really wanted to run a half marathon and run a PR. I ran 1:44:14 at the Spring Equinox in March 2016 and have run 1:44 twice since then, but haven’t been able to actually PR so I decided to look for a race, unfortunately there weren’t many options around here in the fall/early winter. I was able to get a comped entry through Nuun to this race so I signed up. The course does have some elevation gain, but after running 1:44 at the Horsetooth Half in April I was feeling confident that a little hill wasn’t going to be a problem.

After the tri I worked on getting 3-4 quality runs in every week including a tempo run once a week, usually Tuesdays. I have also been doing most of my runs in the morning before work because I feel like I get a better workout in before spending all day on my feet. I’ve also been swimming twice a week and doing strength training 2-3 times a week. Anywho I was feeling really confident heading into race weekend and was just cutting back a bit, but wasn’t going to do a full taper.

Friday night before the race I met an old friend who I hadn’t seen in years for dinner and a couple of beers. I stayed out later than normal, but nothing crazy. I woke up Saturday not feeling the best, which eventually developed into a full blown hangover and I was feeling like the oldest, lamest person. I ended up spending all Saturday on the couch and by the evening I realized I was coming down with a cold and woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat.

I was hoping I could still pull a good race so I headed down to Westminster and got ready for the race. My time goal was 1:40, which would mean 7:37 average pace for 13.1 miles. I started out feeling OK, but quickly started feeling not so great. The course was an out and back starting at the Westminster Promenade and running up to Standley Lake. The first half was a steady incline up until the last mile when the incline increased and oh of course we were running into the wind so I was feeling optimistic for a speedy back half. I started back from the lake hurting, but knowing that I could be tough.

I was holding just under 8:00 miles and was feeling like my time goal was probably not going to happen, but I could still PR, that is until I hit a slight uphill at mile 11. At this point everything started to hurt and I just wanted to finish. I crossed the finish line in 1:45:46. It was a small race so I ended up 5th overall women and 2nd in my Age Group. One of my coworkers also ran the race and she told me she thought it was a tough course to even dream of PRing on, which made me feel better. Since the race I have been fighting a minor cold/sinus infection making me not feel so bad about my results.

Back in February I had a similar experience at a half and ran 1:49 so on the one hand I felt great that this one was so much faster, but I also decided to learn from that experience. Back in February I pouted and kept running, but quit strength training for a month because I was grouchy. I’m not going that route this time, I’m going to put my nose back to the grindstone and keep working. I know that I can run a PR and may drop into a race in December as long as the weather is good, but either way I’m gunning for a Marathon PR in Austin in February and am officially signed up!

Running is like life, it’s full of ups and downs, but you can’t just give up because of a few disappointments. I know that these struggles will make the good races seem so much sweeter. This month I’m focusing on strength and speed while increasing my mileage slightly before really ramping up in December. I’ve also been fighting the little bug for the last week as well. Cold, sinus infection and now eye infection. I’m hoping a lazy Sunday is just what my body needs and that I’ll be close to good as new this coming week so I can get back into training. Even with being sick I ran right at my 5K PR yesterday at the CSU Veteran’s Day 5k, which a bunch of my students also ran (and totally rocked). Feeling better I had decided to celebrate with a little brewfest fun, maybe wasn’t best for recovery, but sure was a good time!

CSU Veteran’s Day 5k

Brew Babes!

 

Curious what other people do to move on from a bad race? Also searching for the best marathon speed workouts!

My Top 5 from Summer 2017

After our first snow, then a jump back to summer we’re officially enjoying fall-like conditions around here. I am really going to try to be a little better about blogging as we move in to winter, more for me than anything else, but for now I’m going to throw it back a bit and recap my top 5 from the past summer.

5. Wednesday Project-I know I’ve mentioned these folks before, but I still am loving this group as much as ever. This was the first summer I didn’t coach swimming in awhile and while I worked, I still had WAY more free time than I’ve ever experienced before, which was good, but sometimes it could be a bit much. I’m used to be busy, busy, busy, but this summer I was not as busy and most of my friends were not available during the week so it was great to have something to look forward to every week with familiar faces!

4. Getting back into Tri Training and Learning to Love Cycling-After I ran the Eugene marathon in May I had a hard time getting back in to running so of course I decided to bust out the road bike and try a few rides. I was feeling ok so I signed up for the Lake to Lake Triathlon in Loveland at the end of June, that went well so I decided it was time to finally sign up for a 70.3. Cycling has always been (and still is) my weakest link of the race. I still feel proud of the work I put in on the bike this summer and I achieved this by making sure to try some new routes and explore new places on two wheels. For me to be more competitive I am definitely going to need to up the cycling in the future. I’m working on some strength training this winter that will hopefully help me in the future. Can you say dead-lifts for days? #gainz

Rare smiles on the bike

Heading out of transition

3. Camping/Mountain Time-I managed to fit in quite a bit of good mountain time this summer and I felt like it was a good mix between solo and with friends. I already wrote about a few of my camping trips that happened early in the summer, but I had another fabulous trip right before my dad came in just Barley and I. We camped at North Michigan Reservoir, which is in State Forest State Park near Cameron Pass aka one of my favorite places. The camping trip was very interesting (people in the site I had reserved online, crazy storms), but it is such a beautiful area, I got a couple of great hikes in and saw my first moose (combo crazy cool and crazy scary).

Michigan Reservoir

Wildflowers on the American Lakes Trail

Thunder Pass

Jewel Lake

2. Sister P’s Wedding-The main reason for my trip home this summer was for my little sister’s wedding. It was a great evening and I couldn’t be happier for my sister and Olivia. I was also happy to share Maid of Honor duties with one of my sister’s closest friends who I’ve known for most of my life. I wish I would have been a little less busy and had had more time to cut a rug, but that ok. It was still a wonderful night and I got to eat WAY too much food and WAY too many donuts.

1. Quality Family Time-I absolutely LOVE living in Colorado, unfortunately all my relatives still reside in the state of Washington. As I get older and have a career I find it harder to get away and see them as often as I would like. This past year has been extra skinny on family trips, but I was fortunate to be able to spend 3 weeks with family over the summer. My dad flew out to Colorado, spent a couple of days with me here before we drove back to Washington. I spent a week and a half in Washington all with family before heading to the Oregon Coast for the last few days of family time. It was great to spend this time and while I’m not excited about the miles on my new car, I’m having a hard time imagining not driving back in future summers. Barley also got to meet all of her cousins and while all 3 cousins could be a bit overwhelming she says, she did really enjoy some quality one on one time with good old Batman.

Daft Badger Brewing

Cousins!

Mariners Game

I’m enjoying cooler fall temps, but also am dreading the shorter days. What am I up to these days? Well other than working of course I’m training away. Saturday night finds me watching 101 Dalmatians while drinking a beer and resting up for my long run tomorrow followed by a trip to the pumpkin patch. I have a half marathon next weekend and then I’m focusing on training for the Austin Marathon in February. I also have a yurt trip planned next month with friends! Happy fall friends!

Harvest Moon Triathlon Race Recap

This past Sunday I raced in my first Long Course Triathlon, which is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike (course was actually 54.5), and a 13.1 mile run (course was actually 12.5). I did the Harvest Moon Triathlon in Boulder, CO and here are my stats:

Swim:    26:30 (4th AG, 13th Women)

Bike:      3:06:05 (11th AG, 68th Women)

Run:       1:56:02 (5th AG, 33rd Women)

Overall: 5:34:00  (6th AG, 36th Women)

I really had no idea what to expect going into this race being my first of this distance. I prepared by biking a lot, doing some brick workouts (bike then run), swimming a little bit, and biking some more. Having some time since the race to reflect I currently feel better about my stats then I did upon finish, but I’ll break it down by portion for ya’ll 🙂

Swim- Being a swimmer I’m sure everyone assumes that the swim is my favorite part of tri’s…WRONG! I don’t do a lot of open water swimming so I usually have a hard time getting into a rhythm/freak out a bit about the cold and all the people flailing. I have rented wet suits with sleeves before and while I like the buoyancy, I feel like the sleeves are constricting so I was happy to reserve in time to get a sleeveless for this race. I settled into the swim much sooner than usual and the first 3 buoys were yellow, so I had no problems sighting them (another thing that causes me to freak out). The 4th buoy was orange and I had a bit of trouble, but found it and from there I knew it was easy going. As I approached the shore I suddenly felt something weird in my stomach. I was hoping it was nerves and from being in the cold and pressed on. I was shocked to see 25:00 on my watch when I hit the beach, and while my watch said 1.2 miles I’m pretty sure it was short after talking to others post-race. I’m still thrilled with my time and I swam much straighter than at Lake to Lake in June when I was having open water anxiety and zig-zagged everywhere. Like seriously, the GPS of my swim is hilarious. This was my best portion (4th in my AG), but given my swim background I know I can do better. If I want to be competitive I need to start doing more open water swimming during the summer.

Bike- I didn’t rush in transition, sat down to get my suit off and shoes on, made sure I had the food I wanted for the bike and headed out. The bike course was two loops so I figured the first loop was a good time to get a feel for the course. I’d done parts of the course previously during Olympic distance races, but there were some changes. It was pretty chilly, I think around 50 when I came out of the water, but I felt ok on the bike, especially as your climbing during the first portion of the ride, but my stomach was still not thrilled. I ate a CLIF bar during my first loop and tried to drink and just relax. As I headed out on the second loop I decided pushing at all on the bike was probably out. I made a plan to hit the port-a-potties during the next transition. My second loop was slightly slower than my first 1:32 for lap 1, 1:34 for lap 2. I was bumming hard when I passed the aid station the second time, I declined water, but got a great laugh from the volunteer who offered me pizza. 🙂

Run- Came into transition, switched my shoes and grabbed my things and hit the head. Not to get too graphic, but I didn’t get the result I was hoping for, moving on! 3:00 in transition, slowest transition ever, but that’s ok. The run was also two loops, mostly on dirt roads. I knew I needed to take it easy on the first loop, but was excited to be running as it’s my favorite leg and usually my time to shine. I started out slow (or so I thought), 8:50 for my first two miles and was thinking I should start trying to pick it up. I ate a ginger CLIF shot block (seriously, the best thing ever) and that settled my stomach a bit, but then a pretzel and banana at mile 3 started to upset me again. As I hit the brief stretch of pavement where the run and bike briefly met and biker told me I was looking strong, which made me feel confident, but didn’t make me any faster, I downed another ginger chew and pressed on. I finished lap 1 in 56:00. I really wanted to negative split, but I was struggling big time at this point. I decided to stop worrying about pace and just focus on keeping moving and NOT walking! When I reached mile 9 I really tried to dig down and pick it up, I moved a bit faster, but was still struggling. When I finally hit mile 12 (really more like 11.5) I dug deep and kicked it up a notch, it was all downhill and managed to move a bit faster before failing to make any progress in the finish line slip and slide (it was uphill). My second lap was 1:00.

During the race and day of I was feeling really down about the results, now that I’ve had a few days to reflect I feel a little better. I know better than to have a time goal the first time you race a new distance, the goal should just be to finish, which I did easily. I also now know more about how I can train differently in the future. I definitely need to do longer duration workouts so my body is ready to be active for so long. Biking also continues to be my weakest link, 11th out of 13 in my age group is not so hot. So time to work on that and possibly consider a new bike (I’m pretty sure mine is not the correct size for me).

I’m happy to have this experience behind me and am mostly considering it to be a very expensive learning experience. I’m already signed up for a half marathon at the end of October, I’ve been doing some speedwork and feeling fast so I’m excited at the possibility of finally running a half PR. I plan to try to incorporate more cycling into training for my next marathon as well, Austin in February! I also am going to try to be better at blogging! I was reading a blog I follow today and the author mentioned that she does it more for her, which I agree with, if you want to read great, if not that’s ok too, but its nice for me to get my thoughts out sometimes so hopefully more blogs in the future. Like maybe this weekend because I am taking tomorrow off to hit the hills! 🙂

Barley’s First 14er, and Other Summer Adventures

Oh my goodness I have been doing the WORST job of blogging this past month. In that time I absolutely rocked the Lake to Lake Triathlon (blog post to come, maybe, I wrote it I just need to edit it), went camping a few time, went for many hikes and Barley and I successfully completed the first 14er of the summer.

A couple of weeks ago I decided at the last minute to head to the mountains because I had two days in a row off. Barley and I headed to Frisco on a Wednesday afternoon. I’d done a little basic research and decided we’d try our luck for a campsite around the Dillon Reservoir. We lucked out big time and got an AWESOME sight at the Peak 1 campground that was right on the reservoir. It was a bit pricey ($24 for one night), but when we roll solo I feel more comfortable in an established campground with other people around, and seriously it was an awesome spot. After setting up camp we headed to town and checked out Outer Range Brewing. They sadly didn’t have flights so I settled for the Corduroy IPA and it was very good!

Home for the night

Just over the hill, about 20 yards from my tent

After the beer we headed back. We both had dinner, went for a walk around the res, and sat and enjoyed the view while I read my book and Barley lusted after chipmunks. We turned in early and I was happy to find that it was pretty quiet and we were able to get a pretty decent night of sleep prior to my 4:30 am alarm.

The drive to the Quandary Peak trailhead was about 30 minutes to the south through the town of Breckenridge. When we arrived I didn’t realize the first lot was the lower lot, but it only adds on about a tenth of a mile and the upper lot was small and people were parked like idiots, so I’m actually glad I was parked at the other lot. We started on the trail around 6:00 am. The first mile of the trail is really nice, in the trees and a nice dirt trail, but the last just over two miles was very exposed. The last mile up involved a lot of stopping and resting, but then we made it to the top and the views were spectacular! There were a few other groups at the top so we hung out for a bit, had an apple and just reveled in our achievement.

I knew the first mile down was going to be tough with Barley because of how steep and rocky it was, but that was the understatement of the year. Barley was totally obsessed with the Pika and Mountain Goats and was pulling very hard so it ended up taking us almost 2 hours to do the first 2 miles of the descent, including me getting pulled down and sliding down a snowy patch once. At this point I was pretty upset and ready to never try another 14er with Barley again. The last mile was much more pleasant and by the time we got back to the car I was less upset and it just took her sitting down and smiling in the car for me to forget my anger.

How can you stay mad at that face?

We had a rough drive home, a lot of traffic and accidents so we were pretty wiped out when we finally arrived home around 6:00. Overall I’m glad we went though. I’m not sure if there will be time for us to get another 14er in this summer, but if so I’ve done some research about trails that might be a bit easier with a dog.

Since then we’ve done a few small hikes, we’ve enjoyed working out with our Wednesday Project pals and are trying to stay cool amidst the summer heat. I have a week of work left then 3 days off before my big vacation. We’ll probably head on a pre-vacation vacation up to Cameron Pass, but we’ll see. Hopefully i’ll find some time to write, I really have no excuses not to aside from summer laziness 🙂