Utah Summer Games Triathlon

I feel like I have been training hard for this one and I wanted to do well. I had all the normal pre-race jitters, but the morning was good. The weather was overcast but fairly calm. The temps were mild.

I got my transition area set up, fueled a bit and was trying to attach a bandage to my ankle from my bike crash last week. The gash was right on my ankle bone and gets rubbed by my running shoes. A friend gave me some water proof tape which would not stick for one second to my skin. So I had to frantically try to find a band-aid at least that I could put on after the swim. I found one and put it in my transition area.
Swim. 1500 m. 37:00. I was very happy with this time. Last year, it took me over 50 minutes in a surf wetsuit and then I did it in a borrowed tri suit in over 40 minutes. My goggles leaked big time after the start and I had to fumble with them a ton. I got them to hold for the most part. But I still couldn't see very well, and the sun glare was bad. I had no idea where I was in the pack, but just did my best. The course was a two-loop one. The only people I passed were struggling men sprinters so I thought I must be the last woman in the water, but I wasn't. I finished in the middle of the pack.

T1. 2:42. This is usually my strength, but I was fumbling with a band-aid and decided to wear socks to keep the band-aid on and didn't clip my shoes into my pedals. They all just slowed me down.

Bike. 24 miles. 1:15:47 (18.8 mph). I was happy with this time. I wanted to get in the range of 1:15 and I did. It rained a bit and the roads were slick. I was a bit over cautious because of my crash as well. But I just tried to hammer the rest. I passed quite a few men and a few women. 1 woman passed me before the big hill. I passed her back on the hill, but she caught me again after the descent. I couldn't keep up with this fast 42-year-old. I was definitley tired by the end and was worried I wouldn't be able to run.

T2. 1:15. I usually get this under 45 seconds so this was bad. Again, I was trying to get a new band-aid on. I have got to work on these transitions before the next one.
Run. 6.2 miles. 49:03 (but according to my watch 48:01). I was happy with this. I wanted to get under 50 minutes. The first mile is downhill and I did it in 7:37. I slowed to 8:00 minutes for the second mile and then stopped keeping track. But I ended up averaging 7:45s. The girl who passed me on the bike was in my sights the whole time. I caught her just after the turn around, but she picked up the pace and I couldn't keep up with her. She ended up beating me by 30 or so seconds. I was beat by the end for sure, but felt really good about my time.

I finished 17 minutes faster than the same race last year and almost 8 minutes faster than the Kokopelli last year, which is the same course. I ended up as the 10th overall woman, 7th Utah woman, and 3rd in my age group (which is funny because last year I was second at 17 minutes slower - oh well.)

I am going to do a half-ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) in August. I just have to decide which one - Utah Lake or Bear Lake.

Full race results can be found here.

6 Weeks to Bryce

Run: 13 miles. Bike: 50 miles, plus 1 hour spin. Swim: 3600 m (2.25 miles). Other: 1 hour

Monday: I rode by myself, but I forget what I did and how fast. I think I rode 18 miles, to the top of the Sand Hollow hill, down it, back up it and home. No idea what pace was but I do remember feeling lethargic.

Tuesday: Track workout. 2 x 200s (:48, :51), 3 x 800s (3:19, 3:14, 3:16), 2 x 200 (:47, :49). Felt good and didn't work too hard.

Wednesday:

• 1 hour spin.
• 1000 m swim in a choppy lake with wind. 32 minutes. Wow! it was hard, but after I hit the turn around, I realized I could do it without drowning, it was just slower and harder.

Thursday: Futsol game. I was supposed to run as well, but didn't get it in. A good workout at futsol, though.

Friday: Swim, bike, run at the insane hour of 6:30 in the am. Wanted to practice transitions, which sucked.

• 1100 m swim (or something like that) 28 minutes.Water was perfect. And I felt great! I picked up the pace a bit and tried to actually get my heart rate going a bit. I still felt fine when I was done, but felt like I went faster.
• 8-mile ride. Computer wasn't working, but just went fast enough to get a good feel for riding after swimming.
  
• 1/2 mile run. Just wanted to get the feel.

Saturday: Utah Summer Games Triathlon (Olympic Distance). 2:45:48.
Swim: 37:00. With goggle malfunctions
T1: 2:42. Gotta work on this one.
Bike: 1:15:47 (18.8 mph). In the rain.
T2: 1:15. Had to fix a band-aid.
Run: 49:03. My watch said 48:01 (7:45 miles) and I like that time better.

10th woman overall, 7th Utah woman and 3rd in my age-group.
Full race report to follow.

7 Weeks to Bryce / 2 Weeks to Summer Games Tri

Run: 16.25 miles. Bike: 27 miles, plus 1 hour spin. Swim: 1400 m. Other: 2 hours.

Monday: 20-mile bike ride with Ashley followed by a 2-mile run. It was good. We did the Sand Hollow hill for practice. I taught Ashley how to tuck on the descent and we got up over 40 mph. I think I maxed at 45.1, my fastest ever. I think the average was right around 17 and we averaged 7:35 for the 2 miles. I was surprised I could do that after the bike, but it felt good.

Tuesday: 5 mile on the treadmill. 1 easy mile followed by three tempo (7:24, 7:19, 7:14) followed by a cool-down mile. I am trying to pick up my tempo runs. I should be doing 4-5 miles at sub half-marathon pace, which if I want to break 1:37, is 7:25. Yikes!! Not this week, but the following, i will try to get that up to 4 tempo miles. I was about to die at the end of that third mile, but I feel like I am getting stronger.

Wednesday:

• 1 hour spin at the gym. I was on a broken bike that wouldn't chnage tension, so I was stuck at a slight incline. It was still a good workout.
  

• 1200 m swim at Sand Hollow - 28 minutes. I tried out Carol's $600 wetsuit (the nicer, long sleeve version of mine.) I like mine better. I am glad I got the long john. Carol decided to return hers and get mine. After she gets it, I will have to try out her smaller size.

Thursday:

• Track workout with Dennis and Tony. 2 x 200s (:47, :48), 1 x 1600 (6:47), 3 x 800s (3:16, 3:19, 3:19 ), 2 x 400s (1:36, 1:37), 2 x 200s (:47, :48). It was hard, but felt good.
  
• Futsol game. We had no subs so I played hard the whole game. We lost and I fell a few times and have a good bruise to prove it.

Friday: 1 hour Turbo with Ty. It was great to have Ty back. Great workout.

Saturday: Mini-triathlon. 2 mile run, 7 mile bike, 200 m swim. 43:80. It was a fun little workout. I won, but was racing mostly 12-year-olds and 70-year-olds. I think my pace for the run was right around 7:45. 18.4 mph on the bike and who knows about the swim. It was hard to do it last and like I said before, I am not a pool swimmer.

I plan to taper a bit this week and then try to get my speed and endurance up.

8 weeks to Bryce / 3 weeks to summer games tri

Run: 12.75. Bike: 117 miles, plus 1 hour spin. Swim: 3100 m. Other: 1 hour.

It was a good week. I had some great workouts and a lot of fun.

Monday: 93-mile bike ride. Tom and I got to go it was tons of fun. We averaged 17 mph. It took us right around 6 hours with two stops (bathroom, drinks, etc). We rode all over the county and did a big portion of the Ironman route.

Tuesday: 4.5 on the tread. I ran the first mile easy and tried to do 3 tempo miles (7:25, 7:40, 7:33). I was supposed to do them all at 7:25 but my legs were definitely fatigued from the ride. Hopefully I will do better this week.

Wednesday:

• 1 hour of spin at the gym
• 1200 m swim at Sand Hollow. I went with a group of friends. It was good. I used Marilyn's wetsuit, which is short, but I still felt good. Mindy swam with me without a wetsuit and stayed right with me. I think it took us about 30 minutes.
  

Thursday:

• Track workout. 2 x 200s (:48, :50), 5 x 800 (3:16, 3:18, 3:20, 3:22, 3:26) 2 x 400s (1:38, 1:35). This was hard, harder than 10 x 400s last week, but it was good.
• Futsol game. We lost, but I got a good workout and had fun.

Friday: 700m swim at the pool. Wow! This was hard. I much prefer the lake and a wetsuit. I should work on my form in a pool, but I suck so I think I may just stick to the lake.

Saturday: Brick workout - 1200 m swim followed by 24-mile bike (summer games course). Ashley, Carol and I met up with the southern utah tri club. A fun group.

• Swim. 1200 m in my new wetsuit (woohoo! xterra vortex 3 sleeveless.) I love it. I felt awesome, came off like butter and kept me afloat. Took two minutes of my time. 28 minutes.
• Bike. 24 miles around sand hollow. 17.8 mph. I felt good and just rode on my own. This was my first time on the Sand Hollow hill this year so I wanted to see what I could do. I would like to get my speed over 18 for the actual race.

I plan to work real hard this week as well and take it easy the week before the race. Then, I will start focusing more on the half. But I am having so much fun riding and swimming.