Sunday, August 31, 2014

3 weeks till race day, 2 weeks till we leave for China, 1 week till our send-off party

Yesterday on my way home from my bike ride, I stopped by Pedal Chic to talk to Robin about the event next weekend. I had a great time looking around and talking to people who were visiting about the Swamp Rabbit Trail and how great Greenville is. Greenville is lucky to have her and I'm so grateful for her support.

While I was there, I picked up some exciting new products that I can't wait to try out so I can tell you more about them!


If you are local, please stop by Pedal Chic next Sunday afternoon from 2-5 and help us celebrate! 

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Recovery week ride

I love recovery weeks! And I think I'm about to love tapering too. :)

A new crêperie opened in town and I really wanted to try it, but I knew with my crazy training schedule the only way I'd get there before about November would be if I combined it with a ride. Since I only had a 2 hour ride to do this week, I figured this was the time!

So I planned it for this morning and invited all my friends. I picked a meeting place that I could bike to, so I set out from my house and ran into 2 more people who were riding from their house. Fun to not even be alone for the 2.5 miles I normally do by myself. We met up with the rest of the group and ended up with about 15 total. We had a great ride on the SRT, then went by Furman and over to Paris Mountain. The climb wasn't exactly "enjoyable," but we chatted the whole way up, which made it go by a little quicker. Then around on Little Texas and up to the new end of the SRT. They just added about a mile and a half recently, and this was my first time on the new part. I really liked the section through the woods, and the sign at the end that says "end of trail (for now...)". Yay for extending the trail!

When we got to the restaurant, the line was pretty long, and some of the group decided to skip it and head back to town. I wish I'd gotten a picture of everyone before they left!

So 7 of us stayed and got some yummy crêpes. 


After we ate, we had a quick ride on the trail back to Greenville, and then I had a couple miles to get home. 


After I left the group, I stopped by Pedal Chic - can't wait for the send off party next weekend!

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Last big training weekend done!

After my ride yesterday, I needed a run and a swim today.

For the swim, I met up with the Greenville Splash masters swimming group at Lake Jocassee again. I just love swimming in such cool, clear water with the mountains all around. :)




We had a great group and I was able to do the full 4000 meters and then some! Longest open water swim ever at 4800 yards. :)


I checked my watch at exactly 4000m - 1:26 for a 1:57 pace - on track for my 1:30 goal for China. Hooray!

After the swim, I came home and had lunch and then headed out for a 9.5 mile run in my brand new Asheville Marathon Ambassador tank. 


Brad ran the first 4 miles with me and my friend Lindsey ran the last 5.5 - perfect! And it was even slightly cooler than yesterday.

After a quick shower, I headed over to Pedal Chic to talk about plans for our send-off party. So fun! The owner, Robin is amazing and I'm so grateful for her support and enthusiasm. 

Since it's Foodie Fest in the Upstate this week, Brad and I celebrated the end of the last long weekend of training with dinner out downtown. 

Recovery week starts tomorrow, then a 3 week taper and we are there!







MAC for kids (last long ride and first Caesars Head climb)

Yesterday was a beautiful day, though a little hot. A friend of mine and some friends of his were doing the MAC for kids metric century ride, and I'd been wanting to ride up Caesars Head, So I joined them. 

The weather started out nice and the ride through Dacusville was pretty and rolling. The ride was well-supported, with aid stations at least every 8-10 miles or so. I lost sight of my group shortly after the start, so I skipped the first aid station and kept looking for them... found them about a mile or so later where one of them was changing a flat. I joined them and we started on when he was ready. We made a quick stop at the 17ish mile aid station and continued on. We stayed more or less together until the bottom of the climb, but I wasn't drafting, so I wasn't too close.

It was a long climb to the top, but shaded and pretty low traffic. I passed a fair number of people on the way up and found out when I got to the top that I was the second woman to get there. 


The people at the top were so amazingly positive, helpful, and encouraging. It was great to meet them. I'd definitely do this ride again, and I'd highly recommend it!


The descent was fun and then just a few rolling climbs on the way back in to Easley. The after party was good too - with burger and hot dogs and great people to hang out with.

Last long ride in the books!

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Chinese visa + let's have a party!

I got 2 excellent pieces of news today!

First, our passports came in the mail with our shiny new Chinese visas in them! As the sports travel guy we're working with said - "no more excuses!" Everything is ready - we leave 3 weeks from Saturday.

And second, a local bike and triathlon shop is having a send-off party for me and the other Team USA athlete from Greenville! So if you're local come on out to Pedal Chic on September 7 from 2-5! More details to come, but it should be lots of fun!

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Blue Ridge Breakaway

I had wanted to do the Blue Ridge Breakaway anyway, but I hadn't committed enough to sign up until I didn't get to finish the Roan Moan century. I signed up the next day.

So last night I drove to Cullowhee to spend the night with my parents and this morning my daddy drove me over to Lake Junaluska. 

The ride was well-organized and started out smoothly. I recognized the route as we started because the King of the Smokies tri based their bike course on the BRB 30-mile route. 

We rode through fog for a while, but Jonathan Creek was still pretty scenic. I also remembered the first climb, on Coleman Mountain Rd up to way above I-40. It was definitely easier than it felt a year ago. I had decided that I would do 70 miles without stopping again, so I passed the first aid station at Fines Creek.

There was a pretty big climb on Highway 209, but it had a nice descent too, and then the next rest stop at Crabtrew, which I also passed (but I did wave to my daddy as he took a few photos). 

Then we went into Clyde and through Poison Cove before a pretty hard climb up Stamey Cove. Then through Bethel and up 215, where I recognized more of the route from the Lake Logan tri.

Since I couldn't do Lake Logan this year, I broke my own rule with a teeny tiny stop for a photo.

After Lake Logan, there was another rest stop that I passed before the 12 mile climb to the Parkway (and eventually Richland Balsam). That was a long climb. Really long. But finally, finally, finally I made it onto the Parkway, past the rest stop at mile 63, and to my stop at mile 70. Hooray. I spent about 15 minutes at this rest stop eating all of the food. I actually don't know how long I was there, but I do know I ate the equivalent of at least 1 whole peach. And I took a picture of the Haywood-Jackson overlook. 


I was pretty happy to be there. Until I looked at the elevation profile and saw we had another climb coming that was almost as long. But anyway, I eventually set off. 

And then we got to Richland Balsam almost right away, and OF COURSE I needed a picture with the sign. 

(PS- If you haven't seen it, the sign says "Highest Elevation Blue Ridge Parkway Motor Road." Yep.)

Then we went through a tunnel. It was pretty scary until a car came up behind me and once I was sure it wasn't going to hit me I liked that I could use its headlights. 

Then there was a lot of really fun down that made my toes cold and my brake fingers tired before we got to what I had been dreading since I saw the map at mile 70 - Balsam Gap, and the start of an 8-mile climb up to Water Rock at mile 82. Who starts an 8-mile climb at mile 82???

So anyway, I won't bore you with all of the ways that was miserable. I just pushed on and thought about how it was sort of equivalent to having to run after 70 hilly miles in China. And finally it was over and we were at the last rest stop at mile 90. Yay.


Lots more food and I was ready for the last 3/4 of a mile up before the long descent down the Parkway (fun except somebody crashed), down Soco (scary), through Maggie Valley (pretty fun), and back to Lake Junaluska.



105.1. Longest ride ever.

And, it turns out that I was 84/149 century finishers (and 8th female!). I'm good with that. Now, time for bed. Tomorrow, back to running or swimming - or both!

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Sidlelined with one month to go

Hey y'all. Guess what?!? We leave for China 1 month from today! And the race is 5 weeks from Sunday. Not that I'm counting...

Unfortunately not a lot of training going on here this week. I started feeling bad Sunday night, but I usually get a little congested and rundown feeling after a big race and thought that was all it was. By Monday I was feeling nauseated, but I went ahead and did my bike ride Monday afternoon. When we finished, I felt horrible. I really wasn't sure I was going to be able to drive home, but I made it. I was feverish and had chills Monday night, but I still went to work yesterday. I ended up going to the doctor around mid-afternoon and came home to sleep. Today I knew there was no way I could go to work, so I did as much as I could from home and tried to rest and hydrate. I also found out that at least 25 people on various triathlon forums who raced in Milwaukee have reported some sort of stomach bug... sounds like either something from the water this weekend or something that went around. Not ideal timing, but maybe the rest will be overall good for me anyway.

Hoping to feel better and be back to training tomorrow!


Saturday, August 9, 2014

USAT Age Group olympic nationals

I had a great race today! Beautiful fast, flat course, perfect weather, and an PR in olympic distance by 9 minutes. 

Since my wave didn't start until 9:50, we only had to get up at 6 so I could set up in transition before it closed at 7:30. I can't remember the last time I got 8 hours of sleep before a race!

Setting up in transition was pretty quick and easy, other that the fact the I've never been in a transition area big enough to need letters identifying the rows. I was in row M, but even once I was on the right row I kept running past my bike until Brad pointed out that it was across from the Vermont flag. After that I didn't have a problem finding it. 

After I was set up, we watched the first few waves start and then walked over to where we could see the rest of the swim couse. Then we sat in the shade for a while... then I ate more food... then I walked briefly through the expo... then we sat some more... finally, around 9:30, it was time to get ready.


A few minutes later, they let my wave into the swim warm-up area. It took me a few minutes to adjust to the 68-70 degree water and then I was ready. See? That's me waving.


About the time we should have started, they announced that they needed to delay. Still not sure why, but they had us get out of the water for a while. Then we got a chance to warm up again and finally started about 15 minutes later.


Brad got on the bridge we swam under and got some great pictures. 



It was a beautiful swim, but there were so many people! I've never been jostled so much. Luckily I've learned to handle it (for the most part... there were still a few times I had to do a few strokes of breast stroke to get calmed down). Eventually the swim was over and I got to get on my bike. 


I felt great on the bike for most of the race and averaged 19.7 mph! The course is mostly flat, except for a couple bridges and on-ramps, but there was some wind in places. 

Even though the bike was pretty fun, I was still glad when it was time to run.


The run was also along the lake, and completely flat. There were some out and back parts, so we passed aid stations at least 4 times. I passed a LOT of people in my age group on the run (and got passed by a LOT of 20-24 guys who started after me). I averaged 7:44 overall on the run, for a 48 minute 10K.

Brad got this picture in Milwaukee:
And my mom got this one from the live stream:

I finished with a new PR of 2:40 and absolutely nothing left. No way I could have run another 6 miles... so I guess in China I'll need to go a little slower. :)

After the race, we hung out for a while and watched the women's super sprint, which was kind of amazing. So fast! I won't be surprised if some of those ladies wind up in Rio in 2016. 

Back at the hotel, it was time to shower, eat frozen custard (so glad it occurred to me yesterday that Wisconsin has frozen custard... not as good as Goodberry's, but it will hold me over until we're in Durham in October), and rest for a while.


Then we had a nice dinner on the riverwalk.




Now we're back at the hotel and got the bike packed. Early to bed tonight before our very early flight tomorrow!

Friday, August 8, 2014

Pre-race - USAT Age Group Nationals

Hello from Milwaukee! I am resting in the hotel room getting ready for USAT olympic nationals tomorrow.

The journey started Wednesday night with the bike packing (practice for China!)...
... and continued Thursday evening with 2 flights after work and eventually a reunion with my bike at the Milwaukee airport... thank goodness!

There were bikes everywhere in the airport! After flight delays and waiting for our shuttle (GoRiteway is a great option - they fit 2 bike boxes + luggage in their van) we made it to the Hampton Inn very late last night (aka early this morning).

We slept in a bit before breakfast and bike reassembly. The reassembly went mostly OK (and took less time than the packing!) except I needed a new skewer. So we headed off for packet pick-up, bike mechanics, swim familiarization, rules briefing, and bike check-in. Whew.

The bike maintenance by Wheel and Sprocket was great. $13 for a new skewer and we were off. 

The swim familiarization was great! The lake wasn't too, too cold, and the water was clear. And Milwaukee is actually pretty! 




After the swim, I took a quick spin to be sure my bike was good. There's a great path that's part of the run course that was a perfect loop to shift through gears and check breaks, while checking out more of the lakefront.


Then I racked my bike in transition until tomorrow.


They have state flags all around transition, so I found both NC and SC. :)



(And for the record, I normally don't wear race t-shirts before finishing the race, but I was getting WAY too much sun in that tank top.)

We walked by the finish line on the way back to the hotel - hope to be here again tomorrow!


After a restful afternoon, we went to the pasta party at Il Mito. I wanted to love it, and the food was really good and a good price for 3 courses, but I was disappointed by the long wait for a table even when we had reserved (and pre-paid!) for a time and the long wait for water once we finally got seated. But we had some really fun table mates and like I said, the food was good when it finally came, so all-in-all it was probably worth the price.

So, here we are, my bag is packed, my race number tatoos are on, and my Team USA uniform is laid out. Time to sleep!

Friday, August 1, 2014

Recovery week and family vacationing

My husband's family is in town this week, so I switched my training schedule a little so it would be a recovery week. Since it was recovery week, it was a little easier to incorporate my training into fun vacation activities. 

First, for my run on Sunday, my sister-in-law and I jogged to take our nephew (her son) to 2 different playgrounds:

Then for my swim on Wednesday, we all went to the pool and played for a while before I did my workout:


And then today, we biked to the zoo and to lunch at the Swamp Rabbit Cafe:

So much fun! I wish every week was recovery week... back to building next week, though.