NOLA 70.3…err 69.1…Race Report

Sometime at the end of the last season I got the crazy idea that I wanted to race New Orleans 70.3. As I saw it, nothing better than a good 70.3 in a city that knows how to throw a post-race party. Luckily I found 10 friends who saw things the same as I; so off we headed to the Big Easy.

Going into this race, as the first of my season, like everyone I had hopes and goals; some for this race in particular and some for the season in general. Life has been crazy in the past 6 months, and a lot of my focus has been away from triathlon. With that said, I knew I was feeling good in my training and could tell in the last few weeks leading up to the race that I was peaking. Imagine that; the training plan works…. So I set my race goal to qualify for 70.3 Worlds without having to get a roll down spot (ie Top 3), and my season goal to win my age group at a major triathlon. I didn't tell anyone my goal to win my AG, not even my coach. Sometimes I like to keep my personal goals to myself. I had won my AG a few times at smaller events, but never at a BIG race. I figured since I was aging up, it was go time!

"Who wants to swim in that nasty lake anyway?"

In case you didn't hear, the swim was cancelled. Can't say I was too disappointed. We had checked out the lake the day prior, and it was nasty; like Tempe Town Lake nasty. It was cancelled due to high winds making unsafe conditions for both the athletes and support crew. They could not even place the buoys! Good call on the WTC's part.

So we all stood around trying to figure out what was going to happen. Here is where I learned my biggest lesson of the day. From now on I will always take extra food and warm clothes. We ended up starting about an hour later than our scheduled wave times, and I ended up starving. Luckily Angie saved the day with her huge bag of peanut butter filled pretzels. Plus the temps were a lot cooler out at the lake than in town, so I froze for a good 2 hours. Couldn't even go out and do a warm-up run as they closed transition, with the athletes in it. Lines for the porta-potties were well over an hour long!

Finally they were announcing the plan was to do a TT style start by wave. I was unsure how to best approach it, so I cruised over to watch how the pros would handle the start. As the majority began with bike shoes on their feet, ran to the mount line, hoped on their bike and took off, I figured that was the way to go. Before long they were lining up my wave to get out on the bike course.

"This is stupid! I can't NOT draft!"
In the end they had us line up two-by-two going out the bike-out. We were sent off in 3 second intervals and I was about 10 pairs back in the wave. I looked out toward the mount line and it was jammed up with people trying to figure out how to get on their bike. Realized there is no rule about mounting a good bit past the mount line, so when it was time for me to go I ran out hard, passed the mount line into the clear, jumped onto Speedracer and off I went.

We started off with a strong tail wind. Made me feel like a superstar as my speed was high and I was flying by people. I was able to pass a bunch of girls in my AG the first 5 miles. All of a sudden we made a u-turn and bam! the headwind hit. Yep that same wind that made it unsafe to swim, added a whole new challenge to the bike. It seemed like 75% of the race was straight into the wind and the rest was had a nasty cross wind. I actually felt sorry for people rolling discs. If I had been, I'm pretty sure I would have been blown into another state. I knew with a headwind like that I had to be sure to stick to the power and heart rate goals Lesley and I had set, or else I would cook myself and not be able to run, let alone have a good run. Just got into aero, put my head down and started grinding out the miles. Let two girls in my AG pass me; just told myself it's a long day and you never know what will happen.

The course was super flat and quite narrow (and boring!), which lead to a lot of drafting. All of the young AG guys started behind me, so I knew it was just a matter of time before they caught me. About mile 15 they began coming in packs. You would have thought it was the Tour de France. Really packs of 15-20 guys flying by. At first I tried my best to not draft, but after I while I realized it was futile. There was no clear road to go to. So I switched my focus to drafting as little as possible. I can't even imagine how the race officials could enforce the drafting rules. All I know is I saw no one in the penalty tents, and pretty much we all deserved to be there! They say Clearwater was bad, but I saw nothing like this draft-fest last November.

Finally the last 15 or so miles the roads opened up and I was able to take it back to transition under my own power. The bike flew by for me and before I knew it I was putting Speedracer back on the rack.

"Do you think Coke wants to sponsor me?"
Off on the run I went. My legs felt heavy but not too bad. Within the first 1/2 mile I came upon a girl in my AG. I gave her words of encouragement as I ran past, but she did not look like she was going to have a very good run. Ouch! Unfortunately about a quarter mile later I began to cramp. My medial quads always cramp about a mile into the run. Not convinced it is a salt thing. For me I think it is a electrolyte, hydration, fatigue combo thing. I did what I always do; a couple of salt tabs, a bunch of water and a little conversation with the quads. Luckily this time the cramps eased for the remainder of the run.

I really enjoyed this 70.3 run. The majority of it was in a very pretty city park with wide tree lined streets. Like the ride, it was totally flat, which I was not complaining about for sure. I build into the run in the first few miles and then settled into my pace. At first I was not paying too much attention to my competition, as I was dealing with the cramping issue. Then I realized it was time to start trying to get some calories into me, as I had not met my goals on the bike. A friend at Honu last year swore Coke was magic. I tried it a bit at Worlds, but only a few sips for fear it would make me sick. For some reason it just sounded really good, which is crazy as I never drink soda and usually have a lot to say on the evils of HFCS. I know they say never do anything new on race day, but I grabbed a cup at one of the first aid stations, and I swear in 30 seconds it kicked in and I was a new girl. Ended up fueling the entire run on coke, water and a few shot blocks. It truly IS magic and I am now considering asking them to sponsor me!

About mile 5 I realized I should probably pay attention on the out-and-backs to anyone who may be in my AG, as I did not have anyone out on the course to help out. I must say it is pretty hard to tell what AG people are in from the front; some of those 40+ ladies are looking good! The race induced dementia doesn't help either. Luckily at this point there were very few ladies out on the run course with me. I spotted one girl ahead of me whos jersey I recognized from the bike when she passed me. I slowly made my way up to overtake her. Figured I was gaining on her at my current pace, so no need to blow up at mile 6 for the pass. Also no idea how many more girls were ahead, so I needed to reserve some energy.

This was also about the same time I spotted Greg "The Commander" Garrison a bit ahead of me. If you know Greg, you will understand how much fun it was going to be for me to drop him. If you don't know Greg, well I just can't explain. Let me just say Greg and I are actually friends and were hanging out with the same group the entire time in NOLA, but this was going to be SO much fun! Once again I realized it was not worth blowing up for, but I knew if I just kept up a steady pace I could overtake him. Slowly but surely I made my way up to him, and at mile 10 I caught him. Unfortunately that was right when he decided to stop and walk a bit to ease his cramps, so it was not quite as fun as I had anticipated, but still….

Miles 11-12.5 took us out of the park and down towards the French Quarter. I had a plan to pick it up just bit when I hit this street. The plan would have worked beautifully, except for the fact that the street was super rough and uneven. I was having enough trouble keeping myself going in the forward direction at this point, let alone dealing with cracks, potholes and other road obstacles. My mind was taken off of this as I was passing a guy right in front of a race photographer. He yells out to her, "I'm going to kill you if you take a picture of me getting passed by a girl for all my friends to see!" She yells back, "I took two and just posted them on Facebook!" I was cracking up!

The last bit of the run took us straight into the French Quarter with the finish in front of Jackson Square. It was great as it was lined by cheering spectators, a lot I'm sure were tourists who got tangled up in this crazy race. As I was trying to look for the finish a guy yells out, "You better hurry. She's right behind you!" Now I have no idea if he was talking to me or what was going on, but you better believe I took off. Heart rate maxed out and I was not seeing straight. Gave it all I had left until I crossed the finishline.

I didn't know anyone at the finish, so I wandered off to get my gear bag, as I was expecting a special call from someone tracking me from far away. Got my bag and the call came in. The cliffnotes version is:
Special Caller: "Wow! You're superfast"
Me: "I had a good day"
SC: "Yeah but you rode x:xx and then ran x:xx"
Me: "You could do that too. You did a lot of my training with me."
SC: "But you won your AG!"
Me: "What?"
SC: "You won. I have it here on Athlete Tracker"
Me: "What? F%#@. Your kidding. Are you sure? &*$#!"
For some reason having no glucose going to my brain makes me have a really bad potty mouth.

Never in my wildest dreams would I think I would be able to accomplish both of my goals in my first race of the season. It was super sweet to be able to share the day with a bunch of good friends and party the night away! OK I admit I didn't make it out too late.

Not too sure I would hurry back to do this race again, but is defiantly one I am glad I did. Vegas here I come!

What I Learned...

Not only did I have a fantastic ride today; I learned a lot!

- My bluetooth charger can double as a Garmin charger to be used driving to the ride start!

- There is a lot of roadkill on the road these days.

- Running into friends you haven't seen forever and getting to catch up while riding is awesome!

- Sometimes your heartrate won't go up when you want, but will go up when you are trying to keep it low.

- Although it is February, it is probably best to wear sunscreen on all rides.

- Firemen are always really nice when you stop to fill up your water bottles.

- Be extra careful of cars when riding near Indian Casinos; some people get really excited to sit on their ass all day wasting money, or maybe it's the buffet?

- Although it is February (as I've established), salt tabs are also good to use.

- Chamios cream really does work.

- Stopping to take off your helmet when a bee flies in is a good idea.

- Running off the bike is not too bad, even if you haven't done it in months.

- If you stop at Target on your way home and look like you are going to pass out at any moment while in line to pay, people will actually let you go in front of them!

San Diego!

This was one of those weekends that I felt so lucky to live in San Diego!

We had lots to do, but managed to stop to watch the sunset...

and our toes got to play in the sand.

Life is sweet!

A New Year

I'm trying to start 2011 out right by being more consistent in my blogging. I had good intentions in 2010, but things just got really busy. I know I'm a few days late in my first post of the new year, but I was busy soaking up the last of the holiday festivities and awesome So. Cal weather; then work was really busy after the long weekend, I had some training to do, and those clothes and dishes weren't going to wash themselves... so you see how it goes.

If someone told me a year ago that my 2010 would play out the way it did, I would probably not have believed it.

The winter made for tons of awesome training with great friends. From getting my butt kicked by Lesley, Tammy and the Slow Step boys to rides full of gossip with Jen, I logged a ton of miles on the bike.

Spring is when the race season began and it was a fun one! First up was the Desert International. All I can say is it was FREEZING. Tough way to try to get back my racing legs.

Next up was Wildflower. I was stoked to be back racing this course and it did not let me down. Of course the best part was hanging with the TCSD crew and eating S'mores (I swear I was carbo-loading!)

After that I was fortunate to find some great friends who wanted to go out to Hawaii for some racing and a lot of vacation fun! Although I had a great race on the Big Island, I'm yearning for another crack at the course.

In summer I took some time away from racing to get back in some base training. This down time coincided with being re-introduced to a special someone. Beginning a new relationship, increasing the training volume and continuing long hours of working provided challenging, but well worth it.


Summer also came with time to see lots of friends both old and new. A highlight was a girls weekend with my closest friends from college. It had been quite sometime since we were all together last, but somehow it seemed like no time had passed.

As summer turned to fall, my prep for 70.3 Worlds heated up. I was fortunate to race the San Diego Triathlon Classic, which only got better in its second year. Despite taking a serious fall on the run, my race went well. Better yet was hanging out with tons of friends and racing in "my own backyard."


In November I had the opportunity to race the 70.3 World Champs in Clearwater. There is a lot of controversy surrounding this race, but I had a blast. I'm sad that it's leaving Clearwater for 2011 as I would have definitely gone back! Highlights of the weekend included hanging with my coach and good friend, Lesley in our amazing hotel room (we got the upgrade of the century!), my parents coming out to see me race, and finally having the swim I had been working so hard for all season. As a bonus, I came home to find that I had been voted in as a partner at work while I was away in Florida!


The triathlon season ended just in time for the holidays (that is actually a bad thing as I find myself now a little pudgy around the middle). I've truly enjoyed having more time to spend with my boy and my family.

I really have no idea what is in store for me in 2011, but I have a hunch it will be a good year. I haven't made any true New Year's Resolutions, but there are somethings I will be focusing on for sure. For now if I can just keep up the blogging...

Starting out 2011 right. Riding and coffee on a gorgeous day! What's better?

Where have you been?

The past few months have been crazy busy! All of my time and energy have gone towards working, training and spending time with friends and family. Too hard to recap all I have been up to, so I will sum up the last few weeks and months with a few pictures...

I've spent a bunch of time sucking the wheels of these ladies.

I've seen this sign multiple times... and often several times on the same day!

Round and round in circles I've gone. Watching the sunrise and the sunset... Which is this?

Been up this hill more times than I can count on fingers and toes! Gotta love the fire station.

I've taken in some amazing views around the county.

My new "secret" training grounds. Can ride for miles and miles with no stop lights and very few cars; just like I like it!

Lots of good post-training meals and great conversation with this guy!

Super Sunday!

This post is totally late... but I've been busy! Work, Training, Hanging Out with Friends, Sleeping... You know how it goes.

Sunday was the San Diego International Triathlon. It's the only race I've done consistently since I began triathlon, so I use it as a benchmark of my improvement. Luckily I saw improvement again this year, so all the training has been working for me it seems.

My favorite part of this race is seeing all my triathlon friends. Even though we all live in the same city, it seems like I only see people at races. This is a bit of a problem for my pre-race warm-up, as I'd much rather talk, than actually do a warm-up. Point-in-case: Mer didn't think I was actually doing the race just 15 minutes before our wave went off

I had it in my mind to be aggressive on the swim. To that end I lined-up front and center. The horn went off and we surged into the bay. I caught some fast feet and made it my mission to hang on. About 300 yards later I knew I'd made a mistake. I became super nauseous and got that "my-wetsuit-is-way-to-small" feeling. So I had to back it off.

I think the lack of oxygen got to my brain, as I rounded the turn-around buoys and began swimming back to the swim exit. The next thing I noticed was I was way off course. I usually do a great job of swimming straight and staying on course, so I'm blaming oxygen deficit! Corrected my error and took it hard back in.

The bike was awesome as always. Backed it off a bit up Cannon, as to not fry my legs for the rest of the race. Once to the top I just put my head down and hit the rollers hard. I love the ride out to the end of Point Loma! Just gotta make sure I'm racing and not taking in the views too much.

The best part of the bike was my clear shot from the guard shack to the bottom of the hill. Usually I'm trying to dive-bomb it down, but have to slow up due to all the guys who can't remember to "Ride Right, Pass Left" This year it was just me and Speed Racer!

Started on the run and could tell my legs were cold. They felt all tight and not in the mood to run like I wanted. Could have been due to my pre-race gabbing and not stretching. Settled into a nice pace. As we went onto Shelter Island I came up on a guy in the 25-29 AG. I made a move to pass him, but he picked it up. This happened a few times, so I decided to draft off him and see what he did. Was pretty funny as his pace would drop, so I would come up even with him, then he'd pick it up again. Finally I started to make comments to him and got him laughing. We ran together a good 3 miles. Took my mind off the pain in my legs.

At around mile 4.5 I could hear someone coming up fast from behind. As she passed, I knew it was Kim Muller. First thought, "She's super fast. Don't go with her!" Second thought, "Hey wait. She's dry. Must be doing the relay. Really DON'T go with her!" I told my little pacing buddy not to go, but he went anyways. Needless to say 1/2 mile later I saw him. He'd run out of gas! Sorry buddy, but bad move. So he got chicked x2!

Took it hard to the finish, and knew I'd given all I had on that day. Was supper happy with my effort. Didn't stick around to see the results as I had been invited to brunch with friends and knew the food would be much better than any post-race food they may have.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out with friends I had not seen in a long time. I think they were appalled by the amount of food I consumed. Recounting my race stories, I may have talked some of them into trying out the sport! I was awesome to just be able to relax knowing that I had had a great day at one of my favorite races.

Honu Done!

Sometime last year, one of my best friends mentioned she wanted to do a 1/2 Ironman this summer. I told her I would do which ever one she choose; and being a Hawaii-girl (she lived 18years on Oahu) I was soon informed we would be racing Hawaii 70.3, AKA Honu!

I ended talking two more friends, Kris and Jay, into racing with us, and a trip was planned.

We got in Thursday afternoon, and Friday was for race prep. The am plan was to swim the Ironman World Champ course (OK just a little of it!), run Alii Drive, eat breakfast at Lava Java and go to the market in Kona to get all the stuff we needed to stock our condo. Check!

Then it was off to the Expo. The day turned quite stressful, as we had three bike to pick-up for TBT and one from Bike Works Kona. At the Expo, also T2 the run stuff had to be left and then the bikes had to get to T1, some 6miles away and we had to be back for the pre-race meeting. Two rental cars, a ton of luggage and gear, and four bike were not going to make the trip up. Jay and I decided to ride up, which was perfect to squelch nerves and get the creaks of of my legs.


Finally after what seemed to be the worlds longest and most stressful pre-race day, we were able to have a great pre-race dinner and get to bed early.

Race morning was actually uneventful. All our gear was already there, so all I had to do was give the bike a once over, get body marked and do a quick warm up swim. The wind was already blowing something hard, and there was a chop on the water, so my nerves were on edge.

Honu is a mass start swim, which was totally new to me. You have the option of starting on the beach or in the water. I did a hybrid start. My only orders for the swim, was to stay out of trouble. This was an impossible task! It was a washing machine from start to finish. I got hit, I got kicked, I got pinched, but it was actually a really fun swim! My time was a bunch slower than I would have liked, but it was super hard to get around anyone, and I was trying to conserve some energy for what I knew was going to be a long day. I did decide that I like swimming without my wetsuit. Arms not achy at the end!

T1 was pretty good. Everything for the bike was in a bag. So it was all about the dump the bag, get the stuff on and the swim stuff back in the bag. I had a quick freak-out moment when I was unracking my bike and saw a speedsuit on the ground. Quick check... Not mine!

The bike plan was to Hold Back. I have a history of going too hard on the bike, and then cramping on the run. I had no intention of getting a spot to Kona, so this race was to be a little of an experiment. Everytime I saw a girl infront of me (no AG #'s so no ideas if they were in mine) I would tell myself they were racing for a Kona spot and I was just racing for _____. I filled in the blank with things such as ice-cream, a cold glass of water, a nice ocean swim, etc.

The bike was tough! Mentally and physically. Long stretches of black asphalt surrounded by black lava, left me feeling like I was riding on the sun! Also the field was pretty bunched due to the mass start. Lets just say men DON'T like being passed by a small girl on a small blue bike, so they tortured me all day long with the pass and then be passed game. And riding right and passing left is not a skill that many people have developed. The good news was that the "hill" to Hawi, was really not that tough!

Finally we were headed back to the resort and T2. I had no idea how T2 was going to work, so I just got my feet out of my shoes and tried to pay really good attention to what the volunteers were yelling. It actually went smooth. A volunteer ran me to my transition spot and helped me sort out what I wanted. She told me to leave everything on the ground and she would repack it and put it in my spot. Thanks!


The run has been my nemesis of late. I love running, and actually do it quite well, but I have been cramping a ton the past year. So this race was all about NOT cramping. To this end I held back on the bike and took in a ton of salt! The only thing left to do was to go for it! The first mile felt great, so I knew I was golden. I got in a small pack of girls in the first few miles; I had to go really deep into myself to make sure I was going MY pace. The heartrate monitor really helped me.


This was honestly one of the most challenging runs I have ever done (Yes I'm comparing that to Wildflower!) No big hills, just constant rolling. Off and on the golf course (soft but hot and humid) and the road (hotter and hard). It was a series of out and backs and circles. I never quite knew where I was. But the aid stations were awesome! I began to think of them as buffet stations. Found a good aid station rhythm: Cup of water- sip in the mouth, rest on the head. Cup of Gatorade- Sip or two in the mouth. Cup of ice- down the shirt. Sponge- Squeeze out on the head and chuck it.


With all of the out and backs, it was great to be able to see friends and cheer them on. Mile 9-12 was the "Out and Back to Hell!" Black pavement, lots of lava and no shade. People were comparing it to the Energy Lab. I saw a friend up ahead who I wanted to say Hi to, so I just put my head down and slowly made my way up to her. Singing to myself helped too!

Finally back on resort grounds and I knew the end was near. I could not see the finish chute, but knew it had to be close. Picked up the pace and all of a sudden the clock was in front of me and I was done. It was very anticlimactic!


Post race was all about getting fluids in and watching friends finish. Then off for a nice ocean soak. Unfortunately I totally cramped while sitting in the surf. Ouch! Luckily I have nice friends who brought me water and salt tabs down into the ocean while I spent the next 30minutes trying to uncramp.


Results were up and I had placed 5th! Very excited but I knew this meant I was in the running for a Clearwater spot. What to do? Could think of nothing better than to debated it over some nice fruity, tropical drinks and french fries and.... Well let's just say I'll be going to Florida for the first time this November!

The race was brutal, but hanging out with the best race friends ever and seeing my friend Kristin complete her first 1/2 Ironman with a smile on her face made it all worth it!