tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15764259664043933632024-03-13T03:39:28.898-04:00Alaina Case: Pro Triathlete(P)ractice. (h)ard work. (D)etermination.Alainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271146673396966211noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576425966404393363.post-67697625321834160822012-07-23T10:45:00.000-04:002012-07-23T11:32:11.886-04:00Rev3 Portland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.46557546174153686" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Better late than never!</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My flight to Portland went off without a hitch, and both my bike and I arrived unscathed. Managing the bike box and my other crap was a pain (Ryan, I missed you so!), but I did it, despite everyone staring at the skinny girl lugging a 58lb bike box with a 30lb bag on her back. I am so badass :) Now that I write it out, I realize that my luggage weighed almost as much as I do. Hey, maybe THAT’S why my swim sucked, haha!</span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As soon as I arrived, I drove the bike course. Wow. Breathtaking. The views, the climbs, the descents -- all of it was awesome! Driving the course was crucial because not only did I get to enjoy the scenery, I also realized how technical it was, and that I really would need to ride conservatively to keep my skin intact. </span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After enjoying some sushi in the town of Troutsdale, I made my way to Hope and Brian’s house, where I had a blast hanging out with their 3 dogs and talking triathlon with Hope. Saturday was the typical pre-race ritual: getting a quick run and swim in, heading to the pro meeting, and then relaxing for as much of the day as possible. </span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><mojo missing> For some reason, I just wasn’t as excited to race as I normally am. I didn’t feel nervous, exactly, but I just didn’t feel ‘on’. Unfortunately, this feeling didn’t go away, but I had made a commitment to myself and I was going to keep it. Even now, two weeks later, I still don’t entirely know why I felt that way.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Before the race I did a quick run and swim to get my body warmed up before the super fast start of the race. When the gun went off, I was in the back, like usual, trying not to get beat up. Actually, my issue in the swim has been LACK of contact, but this swim was an improvement over Quassy. I lost the first group immediately, but was with 2 or 3 other girls for half the swim. I worked my arms off to stick with their bubbles, and it was much better for my mental focus to have other swimmers right there in front of me, pulling me along. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I got out of the water and ran to transition, someone told me that a group of three was only a minute ahead of me. Woohoo!! And, amazingly, there was one other bike in transition. Not last!</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I started the ride, my legs were already complaining. I wanted today to be great and to race fast. But sometimes you wake up and just don’t feel strong, and racing a half ironman is hard to fake. I willed my legs to shut the hell up and ride, and as soon as the hills hit, they started listening. I maintained 5 watts more for the entire ride compared to Quassy, and I was in the mix with a lot of other girls much earlier in the race, which rocked! </span></b><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q3T6bY2nJpA/UA1b7nWLaKI/AAAAAAAADv8/ejaO63GRNVw/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-07-20+at+12.52.12+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q3T6bY2nJpA/UA1b7nWLaKI/AAAAAAAADv8/ejaO63GRNVw/s320/Screen+shot+2012-07-20+at+12.52.12+PM.png" width="213" /></a></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, the stagger rule for pro’s, on an open course with car traffic, does not rock. The officials were around me for a lot of my ride, and I had to brake and soft pedal way too often to avoid being too close to cars and other cyclists (non-racers). The course was amazing, overall, with only a few busy sections, and if I were racing as an age grouper, it wouldn’t have bothered me at all. However, I’m rightfully paranoid of getting a position penalty (for not staggering), because a lot of girls had to stand down for two minutes due to the stagger rule. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Basically, if you can see another cyclist anywhere in the distance, you have to be staggered off of them, even if they are a mile away. If they move left, you have to move immediately, or will get called for a position penalty. I understand the point of the rule, but there are times when this creates a dangerous situation (when riding in the shoulder, for example, with no room to safely stagger). This is completely different than drafting, by the way, because there is no limit to how far in front of you the other cyclist can be.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The last part of the bike course was an out and back on Marine Drive. This was flat and fast, and I maintained a very strong pace. My big mistake was that I didn’t grab a final water bottle. For whatever reason, I thought we were much closer to finishing than we were. In this half hour, I got behind on my hydration, and now I realize that this happens </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fast. </span></b><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a9Nh36JsLPM/UA1b1g0wv0I/AAAAAAAADv0/EXRG6XBppvQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-07-20+at+12.52.24+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a9Nh36JsLPM/UA1b1g0wv0I/AAAAAAAADv0/EXRG6XBppvQ/s320/Screen+shot+2012-07-20+at+12.52.24+PM.png" width="212" /></a></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I got onto the run, I was feeling pretty good for the first 3 miles. However, I usually have to pee immediately after the bike, and that didn’t happen. In fact, I didn’t end up peeing until almost 4pm! The first mile clicked by at 6:45, right on pace. The second one was 6:40, and I came up and passed a girl. The leaders were headed the other way, and I tried counting as they went by. It seemed possible that I could run up to 10th- I just needed to have a great run! But as the miles went by, my legs died a slow, dehydrated death, and I had no kick to go any faster. I ran with another first year pro, Kelly Fillnow, who had an awesome run and she did what I couldn’t do by running herself up to 10th place. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My run was nearly the same time as Quassy. This was disappointing because the Quassy run course was much harder. However, the fastest run of the day was only 6 min ahead of me, so I think we all suffered a bit from that bike ride, despite being a relatively flat run course. Since the race, I’ve discovered that I can lose 5 pounds of water weight in just a 50 minute run, and that’s almost 5% of my body weight! Next race, hydration will be mastered. The good news for this race, was that my bike split was the 8th fastest (of the girls that finished). I always have a hard time really pushing my limits on the bike, and my goal was to bike HARD- and that I did! </span></b><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bTVGcCB0rLc/UA1b74zEgFI/AAAAAAAADwE/9cZrpDPMTIw/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-07-20+at+12.53.01+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bTVGcCB0rLc/UA1b74zEgFI/AAAAAAAADwE/9cZrpDPMTIw/s320/Screen+shot+2012-07-20+at+12.53.01+PM.png" width="212" /></a></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As usual, Rev3 did an amazing job. The course is spectacular and well worth the trip to the wonderful city of Portland. I wish I could’ve spent more time exploring, but that stupid thesis just won’t write itself. Thank you to all of the awesome volunteers and police officers on the course, and thank you again to the Rev3 staff of for making everyone feel special.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now it’s back to the daily grind! Next up, Rev3 Dells!</span></b>Alainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271146673396966211noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576425966404393363.post-82210829835320721722012-06-14T10:40:00.001-04:002012-06-14T11:22:35.110-04:00Quassy Race Report- Progress!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how we roll</td></tr>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5316740679554641" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After a great experience at Rev3 Knoxville, I was really looking forward to another <a href="http://rev3tri.com/quassy/quassy-news/" target="_blank">Rev3</a> race at Quassy. I knew the course was hilly and hard, which suits me, and the half-ironman distance is more my style -- more running, less swimming! Even more than the race, I was looking forward to seeing my family and my coach and friends that were all coming in from Boston to do the race. </span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We left right after work on Thursday and made it to my parent’s house in Rochester right around midnight, then got to Connecticut by Friday evening. After dropping my parents and Cody off at their hotel, Ryan and I made it to our amazing homestay. Todd and Marni were absolutely wonderful and made sure we had anything we could possibly need. We had a great time hanging out with them all weekend -- I wish we could’ve stayed even longer. I am loving the homestays almost as much (maybe more?) than racing!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Saturday morning we woke up to pouring rain, and although I felt terrible for the Olympic racers, I was so so happy to not be racing! <a href="http://typefathlete.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ryan</a> headed off for a 4 hour run in the woods (he is training for the <a href="http://www.leadvilleraceseries.com/page/show/311976-leadville-trail-100-run" target="_blank">Leadville</a> trail 100 run) and I loaded my Mom, Dad, Cody and fellow E3 Athlete <a href="http://czechchick15.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jana</a> into the car to drive the bike course. Despite having raced over a dozen half ironmans, 56 miles is still really far! Driving the course was helpful -- I got to see just how hilly the course was, and also got to enjoy the scenery with someone else behind the wheel :)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know this will get old at some point, but I still had a blast at the pro meeting. This time, I actually knew people, and had a few people shout 'Hey Alaina!' when they say me- how awesome is that?! Oh man, it is easy to make me feel special :) My wonderful Saturday was topped off with an awesome dinner with the <a href="http://e3ts.com/" target="_blank">E3</a> crew. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5316740679554641" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Saturday night I didn’t sleep really well, so Sunday AM came extra early. My morning routine went smoothly, but I was not in a race mood. I have a hard time enjoying race morning, and this was no exception. However, once we arrived at the race site, and I was surrounded by the excitement of the event, I started to feel better. I did a quick 15 minute jog to warm up, then put on my Xterra Speed suit to get in the water. </span></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As much of a smile as I could muster. Man I was tired!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I LOOOVE Rev3 Transition Areas!! I feel like a RockStar!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UqUfsb5J3ro/T9ntbkvbvqI/AAAAAAAADuM/6AIgojpq7Es/s1600/065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UqUfsb5J3ro/T9ntbkvbvqI/AAAAAAAADuM/6AIgojpq7Es/s320/065.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My parents, Cody, and I</td></tr>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I seeded myself towards the back of the pack, and when the gun went off, I just worked hard at maintaining a steady rhythm- but more importantly, remained calm and kept my breathing steady. I was in contact with the girls for a bit, and they didn’t seem like they were going all that much faster than me. Every time I sighted, it seemed like they were just a bit ahead of me. I felt decent in the water -- I wasn’t pushing myself as hard as I could, but I just focused on being strong and smooth. After the first turn buoy, I finally was aware of just how far the lead girls were ahead of me. They were well past the next </span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">buoy</span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and no longer in sight. This was discouraging, and I had the feeling that I was last -- I even had a kayaker following me along to make sure I didn’t drown! *groan* I hate swimming. I really need to gain 10 pounds....</span></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can't see me because I'm cowering towards in the back!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hcl8h3Coz3E/T9n1wuODSgI/AAAAAAAADvg/SKMZuaXiXA0/s1600/079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hcl8h3Coz3E/T9n1wuODSgI/AAAAAAAADvg/SKMZuaXiXA0/s320/079.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I miss my wetsuit!!</td></tr>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So yeah.swim.swim.swim -- it felt like forever. That’s because it actually did take me FOREVER to finish the stupid swim. As I finally emerged, I tried so hard not to look at my watch. When I did, I nearly curled up in a ball in the sand and quit right there. Then I got into transition and saw my bike, just sitting there, all by itself. And THEN, I had a million people cheering for me (out of pity, I’m sure) and I couldn’t get my stupid speedsuit off. I ended up tearing it down the front, Hulk Hogan style (but not on purpose) that’s how stuck it was. </span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It took every ounce of strength I had not to quit that stuid race right there. As I (slowly) mounted my bike, I heard someone yell, "GO GET THEM ON THOSE HILLS!", and I just had to smile. So much was in that statement (well, it’s obvious why you can’t swim -- you’re built like a toothpick -- so you must be good at climbing, or else why else would you be racing pro?!) So, I vowed to attack those hills and catch at least ONE girl on the bike!</span></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last out of the water :(</td></tr>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once on the bike, my watts were reading way higher than they felt. Good sign! I focused solely on that powertap and tried to quash the negative emotions. Luckily I had no idea how far back I was, or else I probably would’ve quit. I rode and rode and rode, enjoying the scenery, my legs, my bike and the wonderful hills. </span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was by myself until mile 25, when the first age group guy caught me. I thought they would’ve come sooner, so this was actually a positive!! I was able to keep him in sight for quite some time, so I know my biking has improved. Finally, I found the first girl and was able to pass her up a hill. Within a few more miles, I had another target and reeled her in. I can’t even explain how crucial this was to my race. </span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was at the point where the bike is just starting to feel long, and I was entertaining thoughts of riding my bike into a ditch, but seeing just one other person to catch got my brain in gear and I felt like myself again. I was happy to be riding and racing, and could not WAIT to run. I may have caught one or two more girls, but I can’t remember.</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-quk216-2-hg/T9nquGan_xI/AAAAAAAADts/fFXMmwQnyF4/s1600/photo+(11).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-quk216-2-hg/T9nquGan_xI/AAAAAAAADts/fFXMmwQnyF4/s320/photo+(11).JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That bike was fun!!</td></tr>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I got back into T2, I was just focused on getting onto that run course. Ryan informed me that a few girls I knew were only a minute or so ahead of me. I figured he must be lying, since both of those girls are typically faster than me on the bike. Once I started running, I was just feeling great. My legs didn’t really seem to react to the bike ride, and I just started clicking away the miles as best I could. I passed a few girls within the first mile, but I believe they ended up DNFing. </span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first few miles of the run course were super easy (downhilll), then came the long hard climb for what seemed like forever. It was a dirt road, just like I always run in Michigan -- it was just steeper and longer than any I have around here. I had pace goals in mind, but those kind of went out the window on this run course. </span></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting the run! I was so happy to be running!</td></tr>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5316740679554641" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once I got to an out and back section around mile 5, I could finally see 2 girls that were within my reach. My strength was starting to fade, but just like on the bike, as soon as I have someone in my sights, my brain kicks it up, and I can race harder than I thought I could. It still took me another 2 miles to reel them in, but my legs felt terrific, and I realized that I actually had a chance at a sub 1:30 half-marathon. On this course, that would be amazing! We had one final out and back, and I saw that the next girl ahead of me was about 2 miles up the road, no chance of catching her, but I still pushed myself to try and get a half-marathon PR. Too bad the last mile was all uphill and totally killed my splits. Oh well!</span></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mwauh! I love running!</td></tr>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, the finish line was in sight and I was thrilled to be done. Ryan informed me that I was either 11th or 12th. I could hardly believe it!! After a heartbreaking swim, I got my self together and fought one of my toughest mental battles to get back into the race. I am terrified of finishing dead last, but I worked my butt of and went from 19th (who started) to 12th overall. </span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This race was totally stacked, and is considered the 'June Championship Race', with 1st place earining $17,500. <a href="http://mirindacarfrae.com/" target="_blank">Mirinda Carfrae</a> won, and the first 3 places were within 40 seconds of each other. Check out the race recap <a href="http://vimeo.com/43370544" target="_blank">here</a>. Even though those girls finished well ahead of me, I am making progress (well, we won't count the swim, mmmkk?), and feel like I do 'belong'. More importantly, I had fun while racing, and had an amazing weekend with my friends, <a href="http://typefathlete.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">husband</a> and my parents! </span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you to all of the amazing staff and volunteers at <a href="http://rev3tri.com/" target="_blank">Rev3</a>! They do an absolutely incredible job- for both pro's and age groupers. You just have to do this race. It is as hard as everyone says, but it is just awesome! Thank you to <a href="http://e3ts.com/" target="_blank">Coach Jorge</a> for believing in me, and getting me here. Thank you to my wonderful family for making the trip to cheer me on at my first Half-Ironman as a Pro! And thank you, most of all, to my husband <a href="http://typefathlete.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ryan</a>, for, well, everything!</span></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finished!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me telling Kristin White I want her abs!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jana, Coach Jorge and I post-race</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ryan, me and Jorge</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r0LaCrCHzkI/T9nuPaU-K5I/AAAAAAAADuk/2bfLwSuzwrI/s1600/photo+6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r0LaCrCHzkI/T9nuPaU-K5I/AAAAAAAADuk/2bfLwSuzwrI/s320/photo+6.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This makes me smile :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cody was exhausted from the long <br />
weekend of cheering! She was such a great spectator!</td></tr>
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</div>Alainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271146673396966211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576425966404393363.post-63354255749589799612012-05-10T19:19:00.000-04:002012-05-10T21:21:56.238-04:00First Pro Race! Rev3 Knoxville<span id="internal-source-marker_0.46081297216005623"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like a beginner, again! </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was a day of firsts, my first race as a Pro, my first race of the year, and my first open water swim of the season. How fun! What’s that saying? Don’t do anything new on race day? :) </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Going into this race, my only solid goal was to not come in last place. There are moments when I have my doubts about whether or not racing ‘pro’ is a wise decision, so I was worried that if I raced poorly, those negative thoughts would take over and ruin the experience of this whole year. Aside from that goal, I truly wanted to have fun and learn as much as possible. I am happy to report I was successful at all three!!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Race Lead-Up:</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;">The days leading up to the race were probably my favorite part of the whole weekend. Ryan and I had a wonderful drive from Michigan, enjoying the gorgeous scenery in both Kentucky and TN, rocking out to new music on Spotify. We made it in an easy 8 hours and headed straight to the race site. I was pumped to check out the Rev3 setup since this was my first time at one of their events. The race site was at Worlds Fair Park right in downtown Knoxville, at this gorgeous park. The expo was perfect, everyone was friendly, and I could already see how if someone brought their family, they would be very easily entertained with the bouncy house and other kid-friendly activities nearby. It also seemed like everyone had a dog, and it made me miss Cody-bear like crazy. I was so excited to get in line at the Pro booth, so I had Ryan take a picture:</span></h2>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--2imalVeh8g/T6wrLQEeGvI/AAAAAAAADm4/oAEL3Gwvd3w/s1600/IMG_0993.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--2imalVeh8g/T6wrLQEeGvI/AAAAAAAADm4/oAEL3Gwvd3w/s320/IMG_0993.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">As soon as I got my packet, we turned around and on the big screen -- there was my face!!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After dinner, we headed out to drive the bike course. The elevation profile hadn’t looked terribly intimidating, but everyone warned of a tough course. None of the hills were particularly gnarly, but there was also almost zero flat riding for the whole 25 miles. My weakness as a cyclist is maintaining my watts while going downhill or with a tailwind -- give me wind or hills and I’ll crank the power, but make it easy and I get lazy and enjoy the ride :) At the top of the most technical descent, I pulled my bike out of the Element for a quick practice ride. It was a blast, and I figured out the best way to take the turns, something I rarely have the chance to practice in Michigan. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, we headed to our homestay. One of the race coordinators put us up at his mother's place while she was away -- so we had a whole condo to ourselves -- how awesome! Well, not totally to ourselves. Our host for the weekend was Pearl, a gorgeous kitty that ‘required’ almost as much attention as Cody!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pet me...prrrrr</td></tr>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Saturday morning came super early for Ryan. He wanted to take advantage of our proximity to real mountains to get in some hill training for the Leadville 100 trail run in August. So while he headed off to the Smoky Mountains, I cuddled up with Pearl and listened to the thunderstorm roll in, hoping Ryan was OK atop the mountains! (Check out his version, <a href="http://typefathlete.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I met up with another pro athlete, </span><a href="http://meganriepma.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Megan</a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">, who was kind enough to invite me to ride with her. Whoa, hills. Yeah, tomorrow will be interesting! Ryan got home just in time to head back to the race site for my first ever Pro meeting! It was so SO cool to be in the VIP tent with all of these incredible athletes, many of whom I’ve been following from afar since I started this sport. Right before the meeting began, <a href="http://www.bennettendurance.com/greg.html" target="_blank">Greg Bennett</a> sat at my table, and was immediately chatting away with his buddies. I made some lame joke, and couldn’t believe when he actually laughed. I am such a LOSER, but it made my day. (You can roll your eyes, it’s OK).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The last stop of the day was a swim in the Tennessee river. The water temperature had dropped to 66 degrees, so the race officials confirmed it would be wetsuit legal. Nearly everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Greg Bennett made the same observation that I’ve stated -- some fat-ass at the USAT was the one who chose the 68F cut-off temp. TOO COLD! But 66 in a wetsuit is perfect! I donned my De Soto two-piece and hopped into the murky water. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Something is missing from that bridge...</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The rest of the day was just easy- for once in a very long time, I wasn’t nervous or worried. I was just happy and excited-- the way racing used to make me feel. The field was so stacked with short-course experts that I knew I had no chance of placing- and that was OK, in fact, it was terrific, because there were absolutely no expectations other than to race my best. </span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Race Day!</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alarm went off at 4:30 and I easily got out of bed -- this is almost my usual wake up time. I let Ryan sleep a bit more, and by the time he got up I had already finished my breakfast. Now this is notable because I typically have such bad pre-race nerves that I can’t eat and usually puke up anything I manage to get down (not conducive to racing my best!). First major success of the day!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One great thing about having raced so many times is that it took me about 5 minutes to set up my transition area. I decided to put my shoes on the bike and use rubberbands to hold them, but stupidly never really practiced my T1 since last season (or, um, maybe ever...). What’s that about race day and new things again? I keep forgetting....</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rev3 really made me feel like a Pro!</td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cju3MiuDW6A/T6wuvJP_EwI/AAAAAAAADpw/NiSIuosifns/s1600/IMG_1089.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cju3MiuDW6A/T6wuvJP_EwI/AAAAAAAADpw/NiSIuosifns/s320/IMG_1089.JPG" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once at the race start, I did the wetsuit dance while chatting with some other female pros. A few minutes before the male pros began, I jumped in the water and did some hard warm ups to get my body ready for the intense pace of the swim start. I felt totally ready, and was in a good place before the gun went off. This was the calmest I’ve been before a race, ever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The male pros took off, and we followed 3 minutes afterward. I seeded myself in the middle of the bunch, and just off the front line. As we began the swim, I had zero contact with any other girls and just swam my brains out. For about 100 feet I was with some other girls...and then they were gone. Of course! Right after I lost contact, I started to have my first ever open water panic attack. Despite having warmed up a bit and feeling used to the water, my wetsuit all of a sudden felt like a vice around my chest and neck. I wasn’t having any trouble taking in air, but it didn’t feel like I was actually getting oxygen. The distance I had to swim was suddenly insurmountable, and the urge to just flip on my back or get to a kayak was practically unbearable. It took all of my mental energy and focus to get my sympathetic nervous system back under my volitional control. Throughout this little episode, I never stopped swimming, but it took another 10 minutes or so to get to the point where I could really push myself again. That was a pretty cruddy way to start my race, but I focused on the positive, which was my ability to get it together again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The swim exit was directly from the water onto a dock, with no stairs, ladders or handles, and everyone just stood around watching me try to pull myself up, flopping around like a fish out of sea. I hope they at least laughed :) The run to transition was nearly a quarter mile, and I heard Ryan cheer me on. I had no idea if I was last out of the water, but it sure felt like it! Once I got to my bike, I saw a few other bikes, and breathed a sigh of relief that no, I was not dead last, or at least not yet. </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RLJ44Mn850A/T6xJT4eEyMI/AAAAAAAADqY/B7x5gzj208g/s1600/IMG_5650.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RLJ44Mn850A/T6xJT4eEyMI/AAAAAAAADqY/B7x5gzj208g/s320/IMG_5650.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I went through T1 like I’ve never done a transition before in my life. I didn’t realize that I only know how to mount my bike from one side, and when I was on the wrong side, I practically froze up and didn’t know what to do. Once on my bike, I couldn’t get my feet into my shoes- my feet were still wet and my shoes are about a half size too small. Disaster! If someone has a video of it, it should be titled what NOT to do in a race. Gr.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, here I am, starting the bike, and I’m in a pretty bad place, mentally. I’ve just had a crappy swim, complete with my first panic attack, a totally embarrassing T1, and my head is just filled with thoughts of WHATAMIDOINGHERE?! Unfortunately, things got worse before they got better...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Within the first mile of the bike, we had to go over a set of railroad tracks that were in the middle of a downhill section. I rode my hoods in case I needed to brake, but ended up hitting the tracks hard. My water bottle flew out of my aerobar cage, and I was unable to catch it. For a split second I thought about ditching it, but since it was my only bottle and I didn’t want to litter, I screeched to a halt, turned around, and retrieved it from the pavement. Turns out, the stupid POS bottle landed on the top and broke the nipple-part off, causing it to slowly leak GU Brew over the next 20 minutes. I drank as much as I could before it splashed out, covering my bike, hands and legs, but was still a bit nervous that I’d be without fluids for the first half of the ride. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Going up the first hill, I heard an awful screeching sound from my back wheel. NO! not another problem! I’ve had a few stupid mishaps with my bike in the past, but this time I was careful to have both Ryan and I go over every detail to make sure no part of my race wheels could rub anything! Unfortunately, when I hit the railroad tracks, it unseated my wheel just enough to rub my brakes. I made the quick decision to just release the brakes, and hope that they might still yield some stopping power on the descents I knew were coming up. Wow. This was a really, REALLY crappy start to my pro career, HA!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I tried so hard to overcome the mental anguish of the start of this race, but my legs were being stupid and would not put out the power I knew I had. I was 12 watts under my target, and spiraling down into a very bad place. And then, it happened. I saw my first competitor up the road. Moody Alaina instantly turned into competitive Alaina, and my thoughts were back under my control. I passed her up the one big hill that I had practiced on, and amazingly enough, I was NOT caught on the downhill!! And the tide finally turned...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From there, everything improved. I was able to push myself a bit harder and even caught a second girl heading into T2. My T2 wasn’t as ugly as T1, but I still have room for improvement. As we left the parking garage, I was right behind another girl, and Ryan informed me that my new friend Megan was just up the road. The first mile clocked by at 6:07, and I was astounded at the pace- it actually didn’t feel too bad! I resisted looking at my pace too often, and instead focused on racing, and staying with this one girl, who was running a solid time. By mile 2, we had passed another girl and we were still holding low 6’s. The guys were headed back to the finish, and Greg Bennett was just ahead of Cameron Dye. What a close race! </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heading out on the run!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Right after the turn around, we caught another girl, but this time my running partner was starting to pull away from me. I checked my pace, and I was still waaay faster than my target pace (6:30-6:40), so I just ran what I could manage. My energy got a little low, so I took a Vanilla GU and immediately perked up. Up the road, my mark was catching and passing Megan. By the time I looked up again, Megan had passed her back, and I found myself closing the gap. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the 30 minute mark, I passed the girl I had been following this whole time, and worked super hard at catching Megan. We were nearly running together for that last mile, but every time I tried to take a step ahead of her, she could still put on the jets and keep me at bay. The last ½ mile was all uphill, and I just didn’t have enough strength (mental and physical) to get ahead of Megan, so we crossed the finish line within seconds of each other. I had an absolute blast running that 10k. It was so tough, but I felt like my training finally paid off, and I ran much faster than I thought I could. I was also surprised by how many girls I passed, and that no one passed me!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After the race, Ryan and I hung around, chatting with all the other props. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves a lot, and it was fun to be able to congratulate everyone on how well they did. I was SO happy to come in the top 20. This race was seriously stacked with some amazingly fast women, and a lot of ITU girls as well. I have almost no experience at this distance, and it hurt just as much as I expected. Despite my rookie mistakes, I still raced pretty well, but I also know it wasn’t up to my full potential, especially with such a short run! The whole experience got me fired up for the rest of the season. I was also happy to meet most of the girls that are racing Rev3 this year, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the familiar faces throughout the summer. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Total Time: 2:14:40, good for 19/25. Swim: 22:25, Bike: 1:08:50, Run: 39:05 (from Garmin)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last but not least, I want to give a HUGE thank you to <a href="http://e3ts.com/" target="_blank">Coach Jorge </a>for getting me to this point- not only to race hard, but for all of the years leading up to this point. And thank you to my amazing husband Ryan, for doing everything for me at this race-- this life would be impossible with out you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This race is a must do! The course is gorgeous and FUN. Not a PR-type course, but not terribly hard, either (I don’t know about the half though). Rev3 does a tremendous job all around, and they made me, as a rookie pro, feel really special. Now on to Rev3 Quassy in June!!</span>Alainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271146673396966211noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576425966404393363.post-50440229408249168942012-05-03T09:47:00.002-04:002012-05-03T09:56:57.231-04:00Important Questions<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <a href="http://rev3tri.com/" target="_blank">Rev3</a> folks sent out a questionnaire to the
athlete's asking a few random questions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are the questions and my answers!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What song is playing in your ipod RIGHT NOW (the song you
most frequently listen to before a race)?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My <a href="http://typefathlete.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">husband</a> just resurrected an oldie but goodie-
Bombs Over Baghdad by Outkast- great song to get pumped!! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Non pump-up music currently rotating are: the new <a href="http://theriflesspiral.theshins.com/" target="_blank">Shins</a>
album, <a href="http://tune-yards.com/" target="_blank">Tune-yards</a>, <a href="http://thecivilwars.com/" target="_blank">Civil Wars</a>, <a href="http://ilovem83.com/" target="_blank">M83</a> and <a href="http://www.alabamashakes.com/" target="_blank">Alabama Shakes</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is the last book you read? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since I have almost no time to read books printed on paper, I love listening to
audiobooks during my runs/rides, and the last book I read/listened to was
called 'Cutting for Stone' by Abraham Verghese. I've also been enjoying a Norwegian author, Jo Nesbo, and have finished a few of his books recently
as well. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you could be any character in fiction, whom would you be? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Book- Huck Finn. I grew up as a tomboy and loved the idea of
a river adventure. Or Hermoine, 'cause magic is awesome and I want to fly!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TV/Movie- Either Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Charlie from Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory </span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What would we find in your refrigerator right now?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">STRING CHEESE, orange juice, milk, eggs, salmon, grapes,
spinach, peppers, cucumbers, beer and ice cream </span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gluten free or bring on the gluten?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #073763;">Wheat and my GI tract are not friends. Not celiacs,
just happier being wheat-free. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Favorite beer? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So...despite being 'wheat-free' I still drink beer every so
often :) Favorites are Bell's Two Hearted IPA and Dark Horse Brewing Company's Crooked Tree IPA (both Michigan beers)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Favorite candy? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chocolate covered almonds and Reese's pieces</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Post race indulgement?</span> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I give up the wheat-free thing and eat
McDonald's cinnamon rolls while eating a Reese's peanut butter cup
flurry. After EVERY race :) </span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Best training tip?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quality over quantity. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Least favorite thing about racing? (nerves, taper, waking up
early, etc)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pre-race nerves...makes me puke :( </span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Challenge myself to go just a little bit harder.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturdays -- always, and if I had the time, I would nap every
day. Occasionally I'll curl up under my desk at work and snooze for
20 minutes -- but don't tell anyone! :)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Experience the seasons or chase summer?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love summer, but my dog looooves snow, so for her
happiness, I will experience the seasons. Shoveling snow is good core work,
right?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What would you do if your were not a pro triathlete?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I am only a professional triathlete in my 'spare'
time. When I change out of spandex, I don the garbs of a poor graduate student-
lab coat, geeky glasses and everything. I am in my 5th year as a PhD student in
Neuroscience at the University of Michigan. I am studying the role of the basal
ganglia in internal motivation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And in conclusion, here is my newest Cody adventure: taking a ride in a motorcycle sidecar! Cody is now demanding we ALWAYS travel this way:</span></div>
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<br />Alainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271146673396966211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576425966404393363.post-21784084693292185072012-04-27T11:15:00.002-04:002012-04-27T15:56:12.643-04:00Dreaming of Knoxville<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My my, time flies.... my conscious brain has been in denial that April is coming to a close. My sleeping brain however is very aware that </span><a href="http://rev3tri.com/knoxville/knoxville-news/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Knoxville</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is creeping ever closer, and that means the pre-race dreams have begun! Each night, a new tri-related dream/nightmare awaits, and each night I ride another race-related crazy-train. Some dreams involve me repeating previous mistakes -- such as not realizing my wheel is rubbing my bike frame, or purchasing new goggles the day before the race and actually using them for the first time on race day :) Others are totally bizzarre and have me WINNING. Haha! Only in my dreams.....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reality is that Knoxville will be my first ever race as a PROFESSIONAL triathlete. Me? A 'Professional' Athlete? I still don't really believe it....maybe it will finally sink in as the gun goes off next Sunday morning....but until then, I'm still just a Professional Nerd. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hey look- there I am!!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since it is my first race, both for the season and as a Pro, my goals are to have fun, first and foremost, to not race like an idiot, and to learn as much as I can from the experience. Since the only Olympic distance races I've done were part of the </span><a href="http://www.americantriple-t.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">American Triple-T</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, where I raced back-to-back Olympics on the same day (with an uber-hilly Half-Ironman on tap the next morning), I don't have a solid sense of what paces to expect. And that's fine- with how well my training has been progressing, I am looking forward to just that-- NO expectations-- just race. HARD. It will be fun to see if I can mentally and physically push myself way out of my comfort zone! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am also SUPER excited to race my first <a href="http://rev3tri.com/events/" target="_blank">Rev3</a> event! Without even having met anyone in person yet, or having done an event, I've been extremely impressed with their race organization. Must be why 28 female pro's are signed up to race! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And since I haven't posted in a while, here is my latest favorite picture of the snuggly-cuddle-bug Cody:</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Life is Good"</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And with that, I am off to clean my bike and get race-ready! Bring it on, Knoxville!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Alainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271146673396966211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576425966404393363.post-31991162379108309402012-03-28T12:09:00.000-04:002012-03-28T12:19:06.555-04:00Good Things<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whenever I find myself lamenting about how tough it is to balance my PhD-Self with my Triathlete-Self, I realize I have to take a step back and appreciate how truly lucky I am.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#1 Amazing, supportive husband! He cooks for me every.single.night and only <i>occasionally </i> complains about my wheat-free, almost vegetarian diet :)</span></div>
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<a href="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/422598_10150654361914614_760134613_8861341_1532483140_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/422598_10150654361914614_760134613_8861341_1532483140_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#2 No Time Clock, my schedule is flexible!! Those 60 hours of data analysis, lab work and thesis writing can squish like jello-brains around my training.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aPw6TnqG8JY/T3MqhkA0iBI/AAAAAAAADeQ/h2MkojV31EE/s1600/jello+brains.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aPw6TnqG8JY/T3MqhkA0iBI/AAAAAAAADeQ/h2MkojV31EE/s320/jello+brains.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#3 No additional responsibilities (like kids, for example). Just this fuzzy-wuzzy nubbins that wants to spend every waking minute with me.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-toj2SM_l508/T3MrYZr0W_I/AAAAAAAADeY/Us2ogYwdOJM/s1600/photo+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-toj2SM_l508/T3MrYZr0W_I/AAAAAAAADeY/Us2ogYwdOJM/s320/photo+(1).JPG" width="274" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#4 My pool is a 2 minute walk from my office!</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.recsports.umich.edu/rentals/photos/ccrbpool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://www.recsports.umich.edu/rentals/photos/ccrbpool.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#5 And to go with that- the rats don't care what I look like! Goggle eyes? Wet hair? No problem!</span></div>
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<a href="http://hilltoplabs.com/public/longevans.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://hilltoplabs.com/public/longevans.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#6 Michigan is actually a decent place to train (when the weather isn't below freezing, so, um, half the year :) ). We have an amazing <a href="http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/details.aspx?id=462&type=SPRK">state</a> and <a href="http://www.metroparks.com/parks/index_all.aspx?ID=6&r=0">metropark</a> system with relatively safe roads to ride on. The best open water swimming lake EVER is 20 minutes from our house. From my door, I can run almost 15 miles on all trails, ride my tri-bike for 80 miles while only stopping at 4 stop signs and 2 lights, or ride my cross bike on dirt country roads for unlimited miles with more tractor traffic than car traffic.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TUQ9NtfnNJk/T3MzaM1g2FI/AAAAAAAADeo/LskQTV5aGq8/s1600/photo+(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TUQ9NtfnNJk/T3MzaM1g2FI/AAAAAAAADeo/LskQTV5aGq8/s640/photo+(3).JPG" width="425" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So yeah...stress can suck it- life is good :)</span></div>Alainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271146673396966211noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576425966404393363.post-91159666460449287832012-03-21T16:27:00.003-04:002012-03-21T16:30:15.132-04:00<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Week In Review</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's right- warmer than San Diego!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3138529285788536"><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another week of training is in the books! And what an amazing week we’ve had. Michigan decided to skip over spring (and winter, I suppose) and head straight to summer. This was the 5 day forecast (and since then, it's only gotten warmer- 84 degrees, as I type):</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3138529285788536"><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Going into last week, I had high hopes for massive volume and quality sessions, and for the first half of the week, I was crushing it- great pace on my runs, and some strong watts on the bike. Wednesday night I caught some type of stomach bug/food poisoning and it’s amazing how one day of feeling crappy can derail your training for days. Despite that, I got in some quality sessions on the bike, and got to ride outside lots :) I know global warming is *technically* bad, but it sure does benefit Michigan in March!</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3138529285788536"><span style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last week, I decided to join the 21st century, and got an iPhone 4s. I am in LOVE :) The camera on the 4s is truly amazing, and despite the fact that I'm typically a crappy photographer, I was able to take these pictures on my rides around Michigan: </span></b></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aK5jIWhIZuk/T2o5jPXB1_I/AAAAAAAADc8/WRmputuh5js/s1600/bike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aK5jIWhIZuk/T2o5jPXB1_I/AAAAAAAADc8/WRmputuh5js/s400/bike.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...but the lake is so pretty!!!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I LOVE green barns. My goal is to own one, someday</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cody doesn't always like to get her picture taken, but she hasn't totally figured out that my phone is actually a camera (it's the flash she hates)- so, I've had a ton of fun taking pictures of her gorgeous little face:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And finally, here are some cool pictures I took at our local cemetery. The fog was clearing just as we were walking through, and Cody found this interesting toy on the ground.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Winter is Dead</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Onto this week! I am on track to have my biggest volume week this year. Now that the racing season has kicked off, every time I read an article about an event, I get butterflies in my stomach! Eeeek! I have to keep reminding myself, as I read about the women's pro race, that I will BE with them- racing as a 'Pro'. Somedays, it's extremely motivating and exciting, but I will admit there are days where that prospect is terrifying. Either way, it certainly keeps my life interesting!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Alainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271146673396966211noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576425966404393363.post-9826228359092042212012-03-10T20:07:00.000-05:002012-03-10T20:29:12.249-05:00Red River Gorge Days 3 and 4<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Red River Gorge Days 3+4</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After a full night's sleep, we awoke to another sunny Kentucky day. I had the intention of heading out early for a bike ride, but the temps were in the 20s, and would quickly rise to 50. By holding off for a few hours, I could really enjoy the warmth- so that's what I did. After enjoying a leisurely walk with Cody, who frolicked in the Red River, I found some popular routes on mapmyride.com and headed out on my own to climb some Kentucky Hills (which, compared to Michigan, were Mountains!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first exciting part of my ride was going through the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnjQhaBz3kY&list=UUbTtAqIsHpRcXbPgV5uNT6A&index=1&feature=plcp" target="_blank">Nada Tunnel</a> on my bike. As you can see from the video, it's pitch black in there, and I didn't have the luxury of headlights on my bike! That was totally freaky-awesome. The next part of the ride was a ridiculous climb of 500 feet in just under 2 miles- OW! I don't think I've ever stayed over 250 watts for that long before! The road for this climb was barely a 2 lane road, with excellent pavement and more incredible scenery. However, there were no guard rails, and one wrong move would send me tumbling down the side of the Red River Gorge, splattering my parts onto the rocks below, so it made it tricky to enjoy the views as much as I would've liked. After turning around, I got to enjoy a screaming descent, hands gripping the brakes for dear life. Not quite as scary as the Keene descent in Lake Placid, or flying down Torrey Pines in San Diego, but still one of the scarier/thrilling moments I've had on two wheels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The rest of the ride was just more gorgeous scenery, more crazy climbs (I almost had to walk my bike on a 28% grade hill!!), and hardly any cars. I didn't have my camera with me, so I don't have pictures to share, sorry :(</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Once I finished my 62 mile ride, Ryan, Cody and I immediately set out to hike some more trails.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Day 4- Final Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first part of the day was spent on gravel roads. We finally found the only flat roads in Kentucky, and enjoyed flying around on our cyclocross bikes. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kentucky Gravel</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That rock in the background looks excellent for rock climbers</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After that, Ryan found another route to run that was considered 'HARD' for hikers. It started out easy enough, with a fun jaunt to a 'true' natural arch- one that had water running underneath.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">A True Arch</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cody swimming under the arch</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Cody was the closest to a triathlete today- she spent more </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">time in the water than I do in a typical week!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yup, this was the 'trail'</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">From there, running started to look a lot more like hiking, at a slightly faster speed. The trail was GNARLY. Barely 2 feet wide, with only roots and rocks to gain footing on, and a sheer 100 foot cliff off to our right. One little trip on a root could send you into the gorge. Cody was like a little billy goat- her 4 dainty legs traipsed across the ground like a ballerina, never missing a step and always picking the safest, easiest path. When she's motivated (or when we're running super slow) she is the best trail-running partner ever.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ozlakHMAY2Q/T1k5dAwVIcI/AAAAAAAADC0/2cgshwBa-Z4/s1600/IMG_5433.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ozlakHMAY2Q/T1k5dAwVIcI/AAAAAAAADC0/2cgshwBa-Z4/s400/IMG_5433.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JmhER8ulJ0c/T1k5Wgt_PSI/AAAAAAAADCk/2gj2ask9vxo/s1600/IMG_5422.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eventually, this particular trail got to be too much. We weren't running at all anymore, and we had only made it 3 of the 7 miles in. Ryan's ankle is also on the mend, so in the interest of preventing injury and death, we turned around, got back to the car, and found a new trail to try. The second trail started out much easier, and right around the time it got to be too much, we had run enough miles for the day and ran out of the gorge and back to the car. Overall, we ran 10.5 miles, but it took us 2 hours and 20 minutes!!!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">A spot to run!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cody- the most amazing trail running dog ever</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">EXHAUSTED</span>! </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">EXHAUSTED #2</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The end of this run meant the end of our time in Kentucky. It was a wonderful 3 day weekend, and all 3 runners were spent. It was tough to get back to the daily grind, when our lives felt complete, training in the hills of Kentucky, living in a gorgeous cabin on a hillside, with everything we needed (except alcohol!!) right there....maybe someday....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>Alainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271146673396966211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576425966404393363.post-79393279376140296192012-03-03T11:44:00.000-05:002012-03-12T13:12:32.010-04:00Red River Gorge Weekend<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Red River Gorge Days 1 and 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This weekend, Ryan and I needed to get out of the Michigan cold, so we looked for a training locale within 6 hours of Ann Arbor where we could get some warmer weather, mountainous biking roads, remote gravel roads, and a large system of hilly running trails that Ryan could use for Leadville 100 training. And this lead us to...Kentucky! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />Within the Daniel Boone National Forest in eastern KY is a geologic area called Red River Gorge, best known for its diverse collection of 50 - 200 foot natural rock climbing faces- <a href="https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gs_nf=1&tok=hNDXRDRH3CweI2pxwK0qMw&cp=24&gs_id=g&xhr=t&q=red+river+gorge+climbing&rlz=1C1AVSC_enUS442US442&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=685&ion=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=jzdST8KcPLCDsAKnr5nwBQ" target="_blank">Look at these crazy climbers!</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While scrambling at work to alleviate the guilt of leaving for the weekend (*gasp*- a full 3 days off?!), Ryan packed all of our gear into our amazing Honda Element. With 3 bikes, 2 humans and 1 dog loaded up, we hit the road with the sun still </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">out and headed south to Kentucky. I used this time to catch up on some lost sleep (sorry Ryan! You are a wonderful driver!) and before I knew it, we were headed to our cabin in the </span><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=red+river+gorge&hl=en&rlz=1C1AVSC_enUS442US442&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=M0BST8mmD-n9sQLMsYjwBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CD8QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=685" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;" target="_blank">Red River Gorge</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our cabin was in the Natural Bridge state 'resort' area, in a place called <a href="http://quietwatersatnaturalbridge.com/11f14361f4ec467b9fa786f17515a216/homepage.html" target="_blank">Quiet Waters</a>. Even with our late arrival, there were people out enjoying the crisp evening drinking around the campfire or partying in the hot tub. Cody desperately wanted to make friends, but we wrangled her and our gear up to our amazing cabin- the Butterfly Suite. We rarely go into a hotel or vacation home with any expectations, because we are almost always travelling on the cheap- but this place just blew us away. The decor was all natural wood, using simplicity to highlight nature's beauty. It had a perfectly sized kitchen/living area with a gas fireplace and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a wonderful king size bed so th</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">at dog and humans could all stretch out to their heart's content (reducing the amount of nighttime growling)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Saturday morning we were up and ready to tackle some awesome trails. Ryan picked our route based on difficulty, remoteness and total elevation- and they all lived up to his very high standards!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Beginning of Gray's Arch trail</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Taking a moment to enjoy the scenery</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> One of the many Natural Arches in the area. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Happy runners at the top of one of many ascents.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Is this really Kentucky?! If it weren't for the 30 degree temps and lack of ocean, the scenery reminded me a lot of Hawaii!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cody stays within 5 feet of either of us almost the entire time we are running. She also picks excellent paths for running on tricky terrain, making her an ideal running companion. She also complains the least out of the 3 of us, but does take more swimming breaks :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Where did the trail go?! We crossed this creek at least 5 times during our run. Good thing I was wearing my trusty Brooks Adrenaline GTX trail shoes! My feet never got wet. Ryan's? Notsomuch. I love Gore-Tex!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Happy, Tired Dog. Happy Alaina.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our total run was 'only' 9.2 miles, but we managed to climb almost 2,000 feet. There was a lot of time spent power-hiking those climbs, either due to footing or steepness- but it was all awesome. This was the perfect start to our weekend, and all 3 of us had shit-eating grins on our faces the entire time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After the run, we made a quick stop into town to pick up some food. This was when we realized, to our disbelief and horror, that the county we were in was DRY. As in- NO ALCOHOL. WTF? I had no idea that was even a remote possibility. I mean, this is 2012, not 1920, right? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The rest of the afternoon we ate, relaxed, found the nearest place to buy beer and attempted to ride our cyclo-cross bikes on some gravel roads. Three out of four of those ventures were successful, but the 2 roads we attempted to ride on either ended abruptly despite continuing on the map, or ended in secured gates with 'No Trespassing' signs everywhere. It was still a wonderful day.</span></div>
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</div>Ryan Casehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264292362594749025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576425966404393363.post-6214189794431531592012-02-21T12:17:00.005-05:002012-02-21T12:32:33.152-05:00Training the Ratties<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You know that giant beautiful chord at the end of The Beatles' A Day in the Life? The one that seems to ring out longer each time you hear it and sounds like the kind of grand entrance theme you'd like to play every time you enter a room. I want to say that chord is what a day in the life of a grad student is like, but really it's a lot closer to the sound of a three year old learning to play a piano in the apartment next to yours. Mostly it's clanging that you can't control, but occasionally it's surprisingly awesome. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This morning I got out pre-dawn for some hill repeats at Nichols Arboretum (henceforth known as The Arb), which boasts a 2/3 mile long switchback climb on a gravel trail entirely lined with trees. The Arb is only 2 miles from my door, so that makes for a nice warmup before crushing your quads and calves. Since it doesn't get light until 7:00, I stole the birthday present I gave my husband -- a Petzl Myo RXP headlamp -- and clicked on my latest audiobook, We Bought a Zoo. The rabbits and other furry critters were stirring in the blacked out forest while the lions in my book were roaming restlessly, which stirred some extra adrenaline in my legs. Overall, a great morning run.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j2URvezG4gQ/T0PPcmDAXjI/AAAAAAAAB3k/LYOjQUfUFlA/s1600/IMG_5650.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j2URvezG4gQ/T0PPcmDAXjI/AAAAAAAAB3k/LYOjQUfUFlA/s400/IMG_5650.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gravel Trail on left. Taken earlier this year.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I take the 10 minute bus ride to and from lab every day and usually listen to more of my book while consuming a recovery drink- this is the only relaxing part of my day. I got to work at 7:30, and I'm proud to say that I trained my undergraduate assistant to do rat brain histology- delegating tasks has the benefit of reducing my workload and passing on a little bit of knowledge. While he worked, I ran some Matlab programs and clustered cells while watching episodes of Grey's Anatomy, a guilty pleasure that pulls every emotionally manipulative move in the soap-opera playbook. An excerpt from a gchat to my husband about an episode,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> "<span style="background-color: white;">and now they just had a car crash after a marriage proposal </span><span style="background-color: white;">with a pregnant lesbian </span><span style="background-color: white;">jeeze </span><span style="background-color: white;">what a stupid.sho</span><wbr style="background-color: white;"></wbr><span style="background-color: white;">w". Stupid, of course, because it gets me every single time. But check out these beautiful cells I clustered! Those are real rat-brain neurons!</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2B-06dJEXx4/T0O-T8VB2zI/AAAAAAAAB3c/Miyb-pFxA-E/s1600/Lab_cellClustering.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2B-06dJEXx4/T0O-T8VB2zI/AAAAAAAAB3c/Miyb-pFxA-E/s400/Lab_cellClustering.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For the rest of the day, I'll be training my rats, working on the intro to my thesis, and packing in as many healthy calories as I possibly can, since all I seem to do right now is shed weight and it's not helping my bike power. Speaking of the bike, my day will probably end around 5:00pm, when I'll come home, go for a hike/walk with Cody pup, and then ride hard for 1.5 hours while my awesome husband makes dinner. I'm in bed by 9:00 and then we start it all over again! Just a day in the life!</div>Ryan Casehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264292362594749025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1576425966404393363.post-51743682115548610662012-02-19T10:52:00.005-05:002012-02-19T11:14:33.747-05:00First Post!<b id="internal-source-marker_0.10560925188474357" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-align: -webkit-auto; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">My invitation to the big leagues came this week, after five years racing as an Age Group triathlete. I received email confirmation from the USAT yesterday stating that my application to race as a professional triathlete has been accepted. Eeeeeeeeeeeep! And so the adventure begins. I'm excited and nervous for the coming challenges this year, but I also know that I'm going to work my tail off in training to be ready for all my races. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I’m working with Coach Jorge Martinez from E3 Training Solutions once again this year because I know that his evidence based training strategies will have me mentally and physically ready to test myself against the best triathletes in the world. He's helped me get to 70.3 and Ironman World Championships, pushing me toward personal bests along the way. Now it's time to step that level of intensity up even more.</span></b><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; "><b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-align: -webkit-auto; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another piece to this year's personal challenge is balancing my work on a PhD in Neuroscience at UM while training hard and racing around the country. I'm a 5th year student now, which is when people start asking me straight up that stomach knotting question, "soooooooo, what are you going to do next?" To which I quickly change the subject with an awkward non-sequitor about my fuzzy nubbins Australian Shepherd dog named Cody. Like the time she rolled onto her back and slid down a snow covered hill like a slick otter. So cute. See how I did that? </span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm looking forward to an exciting and adventurous year of training, racing, and playing in the water, on the bike, and on the run. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZeaLQksYXeI/T0EftWGYXQI/AAAAAAAAC_s/Liko5OJbrUo/s1600/IMG_5535.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZeaLQksYXeI/T0EftWGYXQI/AAAAAAAAC_s/Liko5OJbrUo/s400/IMG_5535.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5710880666369416450" /></a>Alainahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271146673396966211noreply@blogger.com1