Erin's Nutty Balls

I came up with these during my first Whole 30 a year ago.  I'm not a huge fan of breakfast and these seemed to do the trick.  I'll eat 2 of these for b'fast and a half or a full one as a before bed snack when my workout volume is really high.  Lots of good fats, takes ~15 minutes to make, and they taste almost like cookie dough.

Ingredients:

• Dates (~15?) for the Whole 30 version, maple syrup for the non-Whole 30 version
• 0.5 lb shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1 bag of raw cashews from Natural Grocers (they’re the cheapest here, unless you can find them at Costco - I haven’t seen any at Costco in months)
• Cacao nibs
• salt
• coconut oil (this is to help keep the dough to stick together for the Whole 30 version. You don't need this if you add maple syrup.

Directions:

• In a food processor, make coconut butter (the texture is best if you liquify things)
• Once coconut butter is liquified, add in dates and blend until they’re in little bits.
• Remove coconut/date mixture and put in a bowl. Set aside
• Add cashews to food processor. Process until it resembles crumbles.
• Add in salt (I’d say 1 Tbsp?), coconut/date mix and blend. If you need more moisture to make things stick, add in coconut oil (start with 1 T and work your way up).
• Once things stick together, dump the entire thing on a cutting board. Form a mound, add in ~1/4 cup (its about a handful) of cacao nibs. Knead in with your hands until mixed. (I like the crunch so I don’t put these in the food processor)
• Once mixed, form balls (I use an ice cream scoop and form ~1” diameter balls). Put in a container and enjoy!

Food I'm Eating

Thought it would be fun to put a little collection of some foods that I'm having a good time eating.

Lunch is really hard for me.  I'm ok eating the same thing nearly every day, but its the planning ahead and making sure I can quickly grab something on my way out the door at 5 AM.  And make sure it is enough to fill me up.  Somedays, I think the latter issue is worse than the former.  I always have some sort of protein and lately (since buying the books Well Fed and Well Fed 2), I'm trying to add more in the way of veggie side dishes.  I'm also trying to figure out how to boost the calories of my lunches (so I don't want to eat my desk 2 hrs later) but to do that in a healthy (but nutritionally dense) way.

I'm also trying to make more things from scratch.  My latest kitchen triumph is making homemade mayo.  It sounds scary but it is really, amazingly easy.  The first batch, I ignored the warnings and used EVOO and yep, it was very olivey tasting.  I added a bunch of roasted garlic to it to mask the olive flavor, but it was a bit too much for me.  The second batch I used "light" olive oil.  (random side note: I'm irritated that Sprouts didn't carry this and I had to go to the big box grocery store that I really don't like and only go there when I'm desperate)  This batch had approximately zero flavor.  My most recent batch used a 1/2 cup of EVOO and the rest "light" olive oil and seemed to have a good balance.    Mayo recipe

I am addicted to the Todd Munn Chicken cakes in Well Fed 2, only I give them more of a meatloaf treatment instead of pan frying individual patties.  Less time on my feet and its less messy.  No recipe online (you need to buy the book) but they're little asian-curry-ginger chicken meatloafs of tastiness.

I've been experimenting with making my own "sausage".  Some have been good, some have been really, really dry.  I may go back to just getting the chicken brats from Sprouts.  They're $2.99/lb and already mixed up.  I can't make them for any cheaper on my own.

For sides, I've been doing a lot of cucumber things.  Asian cucumber salad (cukes, red onion, cilantro, rice vinegar, sesame oil, salt).  Well Fed also has a nice cucumber/vinegar/mayo salad.  I'm also trying to incorporate fresh fruit and avocado.

And this week I made a killer chicken salad that hits all the comfort food needs.  Its rotisserie chicken (Sprouts), celery, apple, salt/pepper, and mayo.  That's it.  And its super good.

IMCDA Nutrition Plan

When I was riding with my coach last Friday, she said it was time to start developing my race plan.  I, very sarcastically said "I suppose 'survival' won't cut it this time?".  Um, no. 

So, here's my nutrition plan.  I'd say its about 85% proven.  There's always a bit of an unknown factor, but hopefully this will work for me.  One big change: no salt pills.  Coach doesn't like them.  And after my 8 hr ride in Boulder, I don't think my gut likes them much either.  I was using PowerBar Energy Blasts (I love the cola flavor), but I read the ingredients and the glucose is wheat-based (really guys?  really?) and it turns out the Honey Stinger chews have a higher electrolyte amount.  Plus they taste good and they don't stick to your teeth.  And my stomach seems to like them too.  So I'm on board with Honey Stinger.  And the EFS line has electrolytes too, so lets just hope I get enough in for the race.

Race Morning:  Green Tea Extract (for caffeine), EFS, and a Honey Stinger Protein Bar.  The bar needs to be eaten no later than 4:30 AM since my swim start will be ~6:45 AM.

Pre-swim: about 30 min (maybe 20) before the swim, 100 cals of Liquid Shot + Pre-Race.  (seemed to work well at St G)

Bike: ok, this is where it gets complicated.  Goal is 250-300 cals per hour.  I've been doing more like 260 in training, but if I can get more down, I'd like to.  I'm hoping for 7 hrs on the bike but am planning for 8 in case there are issues.  That means 2,100-2,400 cal for the bike.

• diluted EFS + water, 1 scoop per hour (100 cals).  I'll have 200 cals in my Speedfill bottle and I'll have a concentrated 500 cals in a water bottle in my rear bottle cage.  I'll also have a concentrated bottle in Special Needs in case I lose a bottle.  Drink 100 cals per hour, or refill my Speedfill with water + concentrate every other aid station (or so).  I'm doing more of a "eat your calories, drink your hydration" approach.  This will give me some electrolytes but not mess with my stomach too much.
• 2 flasks of Liquid Shot (400 cals each).  One is up front in a handy little flask holder, one will be in the void space in my rear bottle cage.
• 4 packages of Honey Stinger Chews, 2 in pomegranate passion and 2 in lemon lime (for caffeine).  I like the cherry cola ones, but the color is too close to the pom ones, and I'd like to just grab chews and eat based off of color and not have to worry about which little bag I'm digging in.  I'll start with 2 bags of chews in my bento box, and I'll probably have a 2nd (empty) water bottle with another 4 bags crammed in there.  I did that for Elephant Rock.  You have to stop to extract the bags of chews, but I figure I can do that during a bathroom stop.
• Timing:  Drink to thirst but at a minimum, every 15 min.  Honestly, I'm going to try to drink everytime the thought "drink" pops into my little pea brain, because I don't think I drink enough.    Every :15 and :45 take a good swig of Liquid Shot.  I am shooting to use a whole flask in 3:30-4 hrs.  Every :00 and :30 eat 2-3 Honey Stinger chews, alternating btwn pom and caffeine flavors.
• Watch for stomach sloshiness and moderate (reduce) calorie and fluid intake accordingly.

Run:  whooo, boy, this is unproven ground.  Well, not completely.  I've done 2 bricks with the above bike plan and this proposed run plan and I've had 1 long run with this plan.  But I've never actually raced with it.  Yay?  I used to drink a concentrated drink mix or do Liquid Shot (sometimes with caffeine), but I've had issues with it.  My stomach would cramp or it would taste icky so I wouldn't drink it.  I did try Liquid Shot + water + green tea extract on a long run (where I also had chews) and I found that I gravitated more towards the chews and barely touched my hand-held bottle.  So chews it is, because this girl needs to learn how to take in calories while running.

• Handheld with water, so I can drink to thirst between aid stations.
• 2 Honey Stinger Chews (30 cals) per mile.  This works out to be ~800 calories.  Hopefully I'll be "running" for 5-6 hours, so this will be 130-150 calories per hour. I'll have the same flavors as on the bike so I can easily choose between normal and caffeinated ones.  This is a ton of chews - 6 packages.  I don't have a whole lot of room in my tri kit, so I will definitely be making a stop to special needs halfway through the run.
• Supplement with Coke as needed.

Hopefully this works for me.... there's only one way to find out.  :)

Ironman St George 70.3 Race Report

aka - that wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be.  And it was FUN.

(and good grief this is a long one.  Its like I haven't raced in 2 years or something!)

Thursday
So, we left Denver at 6 AM on Thursday for what should have been a 9.5 hour drive at 6 AM on roads that looked like this:

Taken in Silverthorne, wishing we had skis instead of bikes.  Will winter ever end?

Let me just say that this was the slowest road trip ever.  From having to deal with crappy ice-covered roads until Vail Pass (seriously, WTF CDOT?  Do you put the plows away after May 1st?) and having three very hydrated triathletes in the car who needed to stop and pee every two hours, we were s.l.o.w.  slow.  I will also say that this was a gorgeous drive, so it wasn't all that bad.  But it was nearly 11 hrs of slow.  Damn.

We rolled into St G at 5 PM and decided to head straight to race check-in and get our stuff.  We happened upon the pro introductions. This race was the US Pro Championships and most of the big names were out there.  We literally walked right past Crowie and the Wurtles and Leanda Cave and countless other pros.  Way cool.


Pretty much all of the pros said the course was "brutal".  Awesome! :/

And on the way out, I managed to get this photo of me and my new boyfriend.  I am certain that he got 3rd overall because of this moment.  Or maybe I PR'd the swim because he touched me? 


Me and Andy Potts!

I rented a condo for myself and 4 other Denver-based triathletes and it worked out great.  Plenty of room for our bikes and gear, a decent kitchen and a huge countertop, and a patio with a grill.  Perfect!

Thurs night, one of my condo-mates was invited to a Training Peaks - WTC VIP party and she asked me to be her plus one.  I think the event was more fun for her than it was for me, as she got to meet some of her Newton teammates face to face for the first time.  I didn't really know anyone and just talked to random people and ate free food.  I did get to meet Fireman Rob, who really isn't all that big in person, and who was also super nice.  I also got to meet some guy from Sugarland (Thad Beaty), which other people were really impressed with, but I had no idea who he was.  To me, he was just some guy that people were fawning over.  To his credit, he seemed really nice and down to earth.  I also got to talk to Crowie, but I didn't get a photo.  Considering I got a photo with him last summer, I'm ok with that.  Also: they were serving the largest and most amazing shrimp ever.  Maybe that's why I didn't talk to too many people, I smelled of an 11 hr car ride and was stuffing myself with shrimp.  It was a late night - we didn't leave until 10:15 and I got to bed at 11 PM.  Pre-race prep fail.

Friday
The day before the race is always crazy busy with so many things to do.  I tried to plan it so we had some time mid-day to sit and chill.  We did ok with this and I didn't feel like I spent too much time on my feet.

My coach and her best friend had a "team" breakfast at 8:30, so myself and 2 condo-mates headed over to meet the crew.  I had a tasty omlette with potatoes.  Mmmmm

Then it was back to the Race Expo to pick up a friend's bike.  And then a trip to the grocery store for lunch/dinner supplies.  And then back to the condo.  By that point it was already 11 AM.  Damn, that took a while.

Ryan and I took a quick 30 min spin on our bikes to make sure everything survived the road trip.  And then he had a quick run while I tried out these things:

I know they are expensive and should have loved them, but they were weird.  It felt like a boa constrictor was eating my legs.  And they squished the hell out of my right foot and now (5 days later) my metatarsals hurt.  They felt fine during the race and right after, but they're a tiny bit achy.  And that makes me cranky.

Around 2 PM we loaded up and went to Sand Hollow Reservoir to drop off our bikes and to get a swim in.  Bike drop off was pretty simple.  Just rack your bike, let some air out of the tires so they don't pop in the heat and then wish your bike a good sleep.

Then we headed over to the lake to get in a 15 min swim.  I haven't done an open water wetsuit swim in 2 years.  The water was ~60 degrees and clear.  And beautiful.  Seriously.  We swam out to this baby rock and climbed onto it then dove back in and swam back to shore.

 

Who actually looks good in these things?

After that, we were running short on time and booked it back to town for the 4 PM athlete meeting.  We got there at 4:15 and missed the meeting.  Oh well.  We hung out and got some free stuff and then went off to drive the bike and run course.  My coach had already driven the run course and said it was "no joke".  Yay (?).

We drove the run course first because it started from the race expo. Hills and lots of them.  At mile ~2, you go up this 8% grade for ~1/3 of a mile.  Driving up that thing, I was just laughing hilariously.  People expect me to run up that?  HA!  So yeah, my expectations of doing much running were set pretty low.

We didn't drive the full bike course, just the part from where it crosses over the highway and into Snow Canyon.  The canyon was the big climb, so we felt if we saw that, we'd have a good idea of what we were up against.  Again, I have to say, this is the most beautiful course.  Wow.

petrified sand dunes in Snow Canyon State Park

We drove through and looked it over.  Ryan and I both agreed that it wasn't easy but it was definitely do-able.  Actually, the canyon profile looked similar to Palmer Lake with stair-stepping uphills.  There was a steep part at the top, but in all honesty, it didn't look any steeper than the steep bit in Palmer Lake and maybe twice as long.  For once, I was looking at a hard bike course and I wasn't petrified.

blurry, but you get the idea.  See that flat green-ish bit up on the right?  We were riding our bikes to the top of that.

After that, we went back to the condo and made dinner and got all of our race crap put together.  I was a dummy and didn't think to make sure I had enough Liquid Shot for the race.  I barely had enough.  :shakes head: 

Race Day!
I planned on waking up at 4 AM (ugh) but my condo-mates were up earlier so I got up at 3:45 (double ugh).  We had to check our run gear in at T2 and then hop a bus to Sand Hollow by 5:30, so that made everything much earlier than normal.  We got a sweet parking spot a block away from the finish pavilion, dropped our run gear, and hopped on the bus.  Which was free.  (I'm looking right at you Boise, charging racers $8 to ride the bus to the swim start).

We got to Transition and I was feeling ok.  Not really nervous or anxious, just neutral and ready to get the show on the road.  I immediately got in line to air up my tires - it was ridiculously long and took probably 15 minutes.  Then I got to work getting everything set up just so, talking to my rack-mates, and talking to some other friends.  With 15 min left before transition closing I hit the port-o-can line.  They had a bazillion out there and each line was only 4 people deep, which meant very little waiting.  They closed transition down and I somehow found my club-mates and we all hung out.  I was in an earlier wave with Daria, and we were the first ones of our group to swim.

Random sidenote: it was so awesome to race with friends.  We had 7 people from my club and I knew probably 5 more other racers.  I saw friends (mostly passing me) the whole race, which was great.

Daria and I made our way down to the swim start.  I had taken a hit of my inhaler and some Liquid Shot with Pre-Race and was READY to roll.

Swim
They had a deep water start, which meant you swam out a few hundred (?) yards and hung out at the start buoys.  Everyone in my wave was super cool, no jostling or aggression.  I was maybe 2 rows back, which is unusual because I like being in the front normally. The horn went off and away we went.  Nearly immediately I found some good feet and did my best to stay with them.  The water was so clear that it was really easy to just follow bubbles.  I managed to hang onto those feet for the first leg of the swim.  We rounded the buoy and I lost the feet.  I just focused on swimming close to the buoys and staying stretched out and relaxed.  The back stretch seemed to take forever, so I'd play games.  Switch to breathing on my left, take ~10 fast strokes and then cruise for a bit, switch to my right and repeat.  It seemed to make things move a bit faster. I was moving through earlier waves and encountered quite a few people swimming backstroke.  Ugh.  I made the final turn buoy and almost immediately found feet and focused on just following them.  This was the first time in a race that I did a good job in finding feet.  I looked at their kick and decided that given their pace and form, they should be decent swimmers and hoped that they were swimming straight.  I think I looked up maybe once that whole way back.  About half way through the final stretch of the swim the fast guys started coming through on the left side, hugging the buoys.  It reminded me of the water pipeline with the sea turtles in Finding Nemo.  I put myself as close as I could to them and tried to stay with them.  I got dropped a bunch but I think the net effect was helpful.  I just channeled my Inner Dory and just kept swimming.  I swam until my hands touched and stood up and went up the boat ramp into transition.

I felt that my pace was pretty comfortable.  I wasn't working super hard but I wasn't exactly cruising.  This felt like my IM pace.  I think.

I saw 0:44 on the clock and I had to idea what that meant for swim time.  It felt solid but it also felt like a 40 min swim.  I tried to do the math on the bike but my brain just wouldn't compute.

Swim time: 36:52
Swim Pace: 1:53
Swim Rank: 18/118 AG, 656/2685 OA

Holy shit, a swim PR by ~3.5 minutes.  And this was the first time I was in the top 10% in my age group for a 70.3 distance race.  I guess I need to find feet and keep my head down more often.  My coach commented to me about my swim times and how I should be getting better times.  This time, my time reflected my ability.  Go me!

T1
Something about not having raced in a wetsuit for 2 years made for a really crappy time getting my wetsuit off.  I couldn't find the zipper cord.  And then I got it unzipped but I couldn't get the damn thing off my upper body.  I actually had to have a stripper peel the whole thing off me from shoulder to feet.  I don't know if my hands were cold or if I was out of practice, but I know I can do better.

not a swamp-monster photo but it still isn't flattering.

I got to my bike and was happy to see there was only 1 bike missing from the rack.  It felt like I was taking my time, putting on gloves and my helmet, making sure I got nutrition in my pockets.  La la la, I'm racing but taking forever.

T1 time: 3:19

A near-2 min PR for my 70.3 distance T1.  I guess I wasn't that slow after all.
Bike
I got on the bike and started rolling along.  Here was my plan:

• Spin up the hills to save legs for Snow Canyon and the run.
• Push the downhills
• Medium pace (145 HR and cadence of 85-90) for the flats or shallow hills.
• Nutrition: on bike - 40 oz of EFS (400 cal), 1.5 bottles of Liquid Shot (600 cals), 2 packs of Honey Stinger Chews (400 cals), 1 SunRype Fruit Source Bar (120 cals), and some salt stick pills.  Idea was to drink EFS for the first hour or two and dilute it with water at each aid station so it was mostly water by the time I hit the mile 40 aid station.  Supplement with Liquid Shot for add'l calories and take in chews as I felt I needed to.  After Snow Canyon, start gobbling up calories for the long 10 mile downhill to allow time to digest prior to the run.

My stomach felt a little iffy right off the bike, probably because I had swallowed some lake water.  I gave it 5 minutes before drinking and it felt much better.  The air temp was fairly cold and I had my DeSoto Cool wings on (I wore them under my wetsuit) and I was actually pretty damn cold.  Those sleeves work. 

At about 4 miles in, there was a nasty little climb.  Not cool.  I must have pushed it a bit too hard going up because my right adductor decided to get cranky on me.  (This used to happen on hilly or hard effort 2-3 years ago.  It hasn't happened in over a year.  I was not a happy camper that it decided to act up).  It was also on this hill that Daria passed me on her sweet new Specialized Shiv.

Things weren't that exciting.  We were on chipseal for a good long time and I felt slow.  I didn't know if I had a flat tire or a brake rub or what.  But it felt SLOW compared to what I was used to doing.  In talking to others after the race, I think my legs were just cold from the swim and it took a while to get them warm and moving.


somehow, I managed to have my helmet on straight in all of my photos this time!

The bike was pretty uneventful.  I rode, I talked to people as I passed them up the hills, I enjoyed the scenery, I took in calories per my plan.  I hit the harder calories (chews and Liquid Shot) when I felt like I had some good downhills ahead of me.  This didn't work all that well because I didn't really know the early part of course and somehow managed to have some climbs with a belly full of chews.  It was only slightly uncomfortable and really not that big of a deal. 

Ryan passed me right around mile 35, most everyone else passed me much earlier.  It was also at mile 35 that I decided to really get in some calories to prep for Snow Canyon.  I jammed my front Liquid Shot into the velcro holder thingy too well earlier on and it was now stuck.  That meant I got to practice reaching around to my rear cage and getting my back-up container and then putting it back in.  I'm actually glad I had the back-up and it was a good thing to identify for CDA.


Merlin likes to fly

At mile 40 I stopped to pee, get my front Liquid Shot unstuck, stretch my adductor, re-filled my 40-oz bottle (it was 75% water at that point), took a few hits of my inhaler (preventative) and soaked my sleeves with water.  I also made the aid station workers admire the sparkly clear coat on my bike.  Because I'm a dork.

Then was the test - Snow Canyon.  Which was actually my favorite part of the course.  For starters, it is BEAUTIFUL.  The canyon was ~4 miles long and had ~800 feet of climbing.  Merlin (my new Alchemy bike, in its triathlon debut) felt super light and nimble.  I just rode up the canyon, giving myself gentle pep talks on the steeper parts.  The stair stepping helped, because it gave me a chance to spin my legs out a bit on the flatter bits.  The other cool thing about this part of the course if that you can see the road all the way through the canyon, with cyclists winding their way to the top.  It was a bit intimidating but also really cool.


This part of the ride was going to hurt but at least the scenery was beautiful

I wasn't quite to the hard part and there were people having issues.  Having to stand and pedal or worse, having to get off and walk.  I was concerned about the really steep push at the top but I just told myself to try it.  Just try it and see what happens.  My HR was in the 170's but I told myself to hold on and keep moving forward.  In my head, I kept thinking about the Boulder Epic Century ride from last September and how that, right now, Snow Canyon was not the hardest thing I had ever done.  I just kept focused and pedaled my way up the hill.  And I actually passed people.  That never happens.  It was awesome.  Merlin kicks ass. 

I got to the top of the canyon and got ready for some fun.  I had conquered the hard part of the race and felt awesome.  I was having fun and was riding along with a huge grin on my face.  So happy.

Per my plan, I got to work stuffing my face with calories.  I also decided to take 2 salt pills, as a preventative measure for the run.  I'm happy I did the pills first, because when  I took out my 2nd bag of chews from my bento box, I lost my container of pills.  Lame.  I got down a few handfulls of chews and a few gulps of Liquid Shot, chased that with some water and I got ready to fly.

My front brakes got gunked up with Liquid Shot from when I got my front container unstuck.  I acutally had to unscrew the lid, which resulted in some goop leaking onto the front of my bike.  I tapped the brakes for the first time and my front one make this awful squealing noise.  Tried it again, same noise.  Ok, I'm using my back brake only for the end of the ride. 

From this point on, I just focused on staying tucked and flying.  The road was smooth and had wide sweeping turns.  I took one downhill in aero at 44 mph and later hit 44 mph on my hoods.

Then we had one nasty little weird out and back (with a detour on a bike path with several 90 degree turns) and a return uphill.  I wasn't very happy with that last, tiny uphill (maybe 120 ft in a half mile), mainly because I was on cruise mode.  And also because I had a full stomach and it didn't feel that great going uphill with all those calories bouncing around.

After that bit, it was all smooth sailing to T2, where there were crowds of people cheering for us.

Bike time: 3:37:49  (6 min off my PR from Galveston... which was flat)
Bike Pace: 15.43 mph
Bike Rank: 70 /115 AG, 1584/2685 OA

T2
Got my bike racked pretty easily, gloves/helmet off, shoes on.  Grabbed my race belt, hat, and handheld bottle and put those on as I headed out of transition.

T2 time: 3:38

Run
So let me just say that I had ZERO expectations going into the run, given the hills and the heat.  And I also didn't really have expectations for the race as a whole, other than "survive". 

My plan was to run/walk based on HR intervals.  I set my Garmin to beep when I hit a HR of 165 (high limit) and 135 (low limit) and would run until I hit the high limit and walk until I hit the low.  For nutrition, I had 400 cals of Liquid Shot and a full scoop of Pre-Race, mixed with water.  The idea was to take a good sized sip at every aid station.  I still had on my Cool Wings and discovered that I could cram ice down the sleeves to stay cool.  Way, way awesome and I will be wearing these things for every warm race from now on.

So the run starts with you going out the chute, up a small hill, around a roundabout, and onto Diagonal which is a gradual long hill.  Right out of the chute, I came across Fireman Rob.  Since I felt like we were buddies (I talked to him for a whole 30 seconds 2 nights prior), I decided to joke around with him.  With two transitions, we had to keep all of our run gear in our red run bags.  I jogged past Rob and joked "I'm sure all that gear didn't fit into one red bag!"  That got a big laugh out of him and he commented that it took many red bags to store his fireman get-up.

So yeah, the run.  I don't think I ever hit a HR of 165.  I'd get to 158 or 160 and start to walk.  But, I think I only hit a low HR of 135 once, and that was during an aid station.  Typically I'd start running again when I saw 148 or so on the Garmin for my HR.  I just plugged along doing that run/walk up hills, chatting with people and making friends.

This was a really strange run course because so many people were walking.  The aid stations were pretty laid back, people taking their time to get things, acting like it was a buffet.  Very few people (by the time I went through) were hustling.  We were just trying to get it done.

I made the turn from Bluffs to Red Hills Blvd and I heard "Erin, is that you?"  It was the wife of the guy I was supposed to relay with in Boise last year.  I stopped, made jokes, and posed for pictures.  During a race.  (yes, I know.  :facepalm:  also see: low expectations).  Then I started to make my way up the 8% grade, running and walking per my plan.

I don't remember that first uphill being awful.  I was pretty fresh off the bike, feeling cool thanks to the ice in my sleeves, and generally happy.  I got to the top of the hill at mile 3 and I cruised the downhill parts.  When I was running, I was running around a mid- to lower- 9 minute pace.  When I was walking, I was sticking around a 15 min pace.  Pretty good.

The course took you up a big hill for almost 3 miles then you had a saddle and up to the top at 4.5 miles, then a dowhill for a bit, then through a park with rollers, then more downhill to a turn around, where you got to do the course in reverse.  Yay (?)

First time through the park, feeling good, singing to myself

I saw Michelle (my coach) on a uphill portion maybe around mile 4.  I told her I was ok and I killed the bike and wished her luck. I also saw all of my club-mates on the opposite side of the road (ahead of me) and we high fived eachother.

I'd say I was pretty happy for the first half of the race.  After my broken heel last year, I was just happy to be out there.  Anytime I didn't feel like running, I'd remind myself that last year I couldn't run, and then I'd get going.  And the ice in my sleeves were brilliant.  I wasn't hot.  I just sang a dumb little song in my head, like a kid: "I've got ice in my sleeves, I'm not hot, everyone else looks hot, this is awesome".  I'm a dork.  But at least I'm a happy dork.

After going back through the park again (mile 8?) my stomach got hungry, and I said uh-oh.  I was supposed to drink from my hand held every mile but I put too much Pre-Race in it and it tasted disgusting (bitter) so I was only taking baby-sips, if that.  I took a few bites of my SunRype Fruit Source bar (still in my tri shorts pocket from the bike) to take care of the hunger pains and started hitting the Coke at the next aid station.  The next few miles weren't pretty - the damage was done in terms of calorie deficit.  Dummy.  I got to the top of the hill, still doing my run/walk thing, but I was only running until I hit a HR of ~155 or so and I was letting my HR drop into the low 140's before I started to run again.  I forgot how to properly drink water and decided to inhale it.  I can breathe while swimming - surrounded with water - and be fine.  Apparently I can't drink while running.  So that kicked off my asthma.  Super.  And let me tell you, running downhill with an asthma attack going on sucks.

You get to the top of the last hill and say to yourself, "sweet, its 3 miles to the finish and its all downhill".  Only the race director is evil and put this mean little out and back up and down leg into the end of the run.  That part really sucked.  And there was a photographer there to document how happy we all were.  

focused

Once I finished that point, I had about 2 miles left.  I had no idea where I was on the clock and I flipped my Garmin display to show time of day.  I saw that I had the potential to PR if I ran the whole way back.  Holy crap.  Unfortunately, due to my asthma and idiotic lack of nutrition, and also developing blisters, I just couldn't make myself run downhill those 2 miles.  Boo.  I managed to run 0.2 to 0.3 miles then walk 0.1 mile, repeat.  Until the last bit, where I'm pretty sure I ran at least the last 1/2 mile.  It helped that the crowds got denser and I could hear the finish line by that point.

I went down the hill, back around the roundabout, and I could see the finish - and it was all downhill.  Finally.

I had the chute pretty much to myself, which was really fun.  In the past, I was so focused, I just zoomed down the chute, not really taking things in.  This time, I was still running, but I was also high fiving kids and absorbing the atmosphere.

I heard them say my name and my town.  Then I crossed the finish line.  And then I was done.  Awesome.

If you look closely, you can see the ice that's still in my sleeves :)

Run Time: 2:45:29  (5 min faster than my worst 70.3 run split, only 8 min slower than my best)
Run Pace: 12:37 min/mile
Run Rank: 78/115 AG, 1639/2685 OA

Overall Time: 7:06:52, 78th in my AG.  This was 8 min slower than my PR (Galveston) and my highest placement to date.

Closing Thoughts
My race experience in St George was beyond expectations and fantastic.  It was one of those truly perfect days.  The entire town is genuinely proud to host this race - they're so friendly and helpful.  The couse is BEAUTIFUL.  It is hard, but not impossible.  I'm so glad I followed our tri-club head lemming and took the leap.  Other races wouldn't have been as hard and I certainly would have had a huge PR, but I wouldn't have learned anything either.

This race was a huge confidence boost for IMCDA.  I know that my training is solid, based on my bike performance.  This makes me really excited to put my head down and get to work for the final stretch to CDA.

Big Weekend

I was joking during my ride on Saturday that this was my "walking on Sunday night is optional" weekend.  Turns out, I really wasn't joking.  Yowzers.

Friday I did my Masters swim workout in the morning, which was 3,000 meters.  I am on swim team #4 since moving here, and so far so good.  However, its only been 2 weeks.  The workouts are pretty good, though.  I joined LifeTime fitness.  The pool is an appropriate temperature (81, but it doesn't feel that warm) which is nice.  Meters pool, which is ok.  But the lanes are about 6-8 inches narrower than they should be.  That makes group swimming a bit more of a contact sport than I'd prefer.  Thank goodness for that crazy IMTX swim - now contact doesn't bother me anymore.  Workouts seem pretty varied, which is good.  Friday was 10 x 200s, which with my previous team would have been all freestyle (zzzzz).  This set was varied, with some pacing, kicking, pulling, and IM.  Not zzzz.  Cool!

Friday after work was fun because I got my new Team SunRype kit!  Last year, I was a bit bummed with the Sony kit, it was soooo monochromatic, all black, grey, and white.  And the shorts were awful - tons of seams and none of them were flat.  I'd get chafing marks from a 5K!  The SunRype kit is much, much better.  Flatlocked seams (yay!) and this sucker is colorful.  Will also approves, because it is primarily Broncos colors.  Ugh.  The bonus: it coordinates really well with my obnoxious new Newton Motus shoes.

After much messing around with my new kit (read: procrastinating) I put on plain boring running clothes (but kept the shoes on) and hit the trail for a 1 hr run.  This run sucked.  It was crazy windy out, to the point where I almost had to point myself sideways to maintain forward motion.  It also sucked because it was just plain hard to run.  The legs just weren't feeling it.  But I got it done.

Saturday called for a long brick - 2.5 hr ride and a 1 hr run.  Wa-hoo!  I did the ride with my tri club and we took the hilly way around town.  Three (?) weeks ago when I did this route, I honestly thought I was going to die going up the hills.  My heart rate was in the high 170's and I was hurting.  This was also my first ride of the season outside.  Happily, this ride was much better!  HR never got above the low 160's and I felt like I could climb easier.  Woo-hoo!  I didn't do the full loop because of my 2.5 hour limit, so a few of us broke off and rode the trails back to the Rec Center.   I immedately stripped my warm layers off in the parking lot (I got a lot of looks from the soccer moms) and took off for my run.  In my fancy orange shoes.  This run felt FANTASTIC.  Funny how maybe all I needed was a bike ride to warm up my running legs.  I kept with my nutrition plan from my long run a few weeks ago: 1 sip of a Liquid Shot ever 2 miles, sip of water ever 1 mile.  My stomach was a bit crampy after the Liquid Shot, so I adjusted my pace slower for a minute or two following the nutrition and that really seemed to help.  I managed to throw down 5.5 miles in 1 hour, which is my fastest run this season.  Woo-hoo!

Then the rest of the day was an ice bath, a nap, and some chinese delivery.  I am a bundle of excitement.

Sunday called for a long ride - 60 miles.  It wasn't going to be very windy and for some reason, I decided that it was a good day for Palmer Lake.  It is so pretty up there, but that 20 miles of rolling uphill climbing (2,000 ft in 20 miles) is hard.  I had ridden it a few times last spring and it kicked my ass, so I was interested in seeing where my fitness was this year.

I finally got out there by 8:45 AM and it was chilly.  I think the temps were inthe 30's.  Brr.  Not a happy camper, and I tried to store this feeling in my cons list for considering IMCDA next year.  The elevation increase starts from the very beginning of the ride and pretty much doesn't stop for a little over 20 miles.  Immediately, my legs were dead.  Like, there was nothing there at all.  Hmmm, this was going to make for a long 60 miles.  I always approach this sensation with my "30-minute" rule.  Give my legs 30 minutes or so to warm up and then evaluate things.  Thirty minutes went by and things weren't great but they were tolerable.  By mile 9 I had a full bladder so I stopped at a tree-lined ditch.  That seemd to help things and I was having an easier time riding.  By that point, I wasn't sure if I was going to be ready for the big hill, so I decided that maybe the way to go was to do two 15-mile out and backs to get to my 60 miles total.  At mile 11, the legs were cooperating and I was doing better.  By mile 14, I started recognizing things and realized the big hill was maybe a mile away.  Legs felt ok and I decided to suck it up and go for it.  I saw the hill and realized it really wasn't that bad.  Well, not that long anyways.  I went for it and I think I actually did a bit better than last year.  This hill is a bit deceiving, though.  Its not long, but its steep.  And it banks around a pretty sharp curve.  There's no shoulder and with the banking, it makes it a bit scary.  Once you start going up, you're committed!  And of course a big truck was behind me and honked at me.  I really don't know what the honking accomplishes.  If there was a shoulder or bike lane, don't you think I'd be riding in it?

I rode up towards Palmer Lake, but finally at mile 22 I was done.  I'm pretty sure I was at the last major hill but I was not feeling it anymore.  My legs needed a break after nearly 2 hours of uphill work.  So, I turned around without actually making it to town. 

I really have no idea why I can't manage to keep my helmet straight...

I really love this ride because you hug the foothills and even get up into the foothills a bit.  The whole area is ranch land and open.  So even though my legs weren't happy, I just focused on the pretty-ness and appreciated the fact that I was riding in Colorado and not Houston.

Definitely not Houston

The way back is mostly downhill, so you can cruise.  I had a hard time figuring out the winds.  When you were standing around, there were no winds.  When you were riding north, there were swirly winds.  I didn't remember feeling like I was riding into a headwind on the way up, but riding down, it felt mostly tailwind.  With some scary swirly crosswinds.  I was hauling at 30 mph in my aero bars when a gust came out of nowhere and made me wobble a foot sideways.  Freaked me out, as I had visions of going down with a broken collarbone and I had just purchased my $300 entry to Boise.  It was just going to be one of those descents... the kind where you don't get to enjoy it as much as you've earned the right to.

On the way up I noticed a herd of pretty rust-colored cows.  So on the way down, I stopped by to take their picture.  They were all lined up nicely against the fence and then a huge line of 15 motorcycles blew by and scared them away.  Sigh.

no amount of sweet talk could coerce them back to the fence.

The clouds were so neat that day!

In the middle section, there was a bit of a dip and climb.  I should have had about 42 miles round trip, which meant I had about an hour more of riding left on my schedule.  My hope was that about an hour of nice, easy downhill riding would recover my legs enough where I could ride that last hour and be ok.  This little bit of climbing was pretty awful and I decided that 3 hours and 42 miles was going to be it for the day.  And traffic going south-bound was picking up.  I'd been honked at a second time (again - no bike lane! not sure what honking will do!) and my mood overall was just not great.  Not sure what the deal was, but my legs were just not playing along.

I love this barn in the background but never made the time to stop and take a picture.

I think given how my legs felt from the begining, 3 hours is still pretty good.  I wish I hit 60 miles, but I've got 8 weeks to Boise and have at least 2 more 60 mile rides in my future.

That afternoon, we were getting our patio ready for a bbq.  Just walking up 3 steps while holding patio furniture killed my legs.  Walking upstairs was even worse.  My legs were JELLO.  Even with taking a super-cold ice bath.  It was almost funny how wasted they were.

I'm trying to evaluate my nutrition and see if maybe that didn't have something to do with it.  My legs actually felt fine Sunday morning.  No soreness from the previous day's effort.  It was like there was no gas in the tank.  Saturday I didn't have a recovery drink, which in hindsight, was a bad call.  I had an iced coffee, which has no nutritional content to it at all.  And then about an hour later I had 2 pieces of pizza.  Sunday morning I had a Coke Zero, an apple, and almond butter.  I ate basically the same thing on Saturday and felt fine, but maybe I needed a bit more in the tank for a consecutive hard training day.  Either way, it was a good reminder that I need to have a recovery drink ready in my truck.  Or get something a bit more nutritional at Starbucks.

Brick

And Boise training continues.....  Last Saturday called for a medium brick, so I headed out to Aurora Rez and did a good chunk of the Harvest Moon HIM course.  The Boise course is hilly, so I figure if I alternate between Harvest Moon and riding up Crowfoot (a street with a big ass hill near my house) a bunch, I will be set.  No nightmares of walking up hills for me this year! 

Full disclosure - the RDs put that dang aid station smack in the middle of the uphill AGAIN this year.  I need to do a hand-up for water this time.  If I stop, I will end up walking up that stupid hill... again.  Dumbest spot for an aid station ever!

I met with a fellow tri dork who was also riding the course.  Only he is crazy fast.  I kept telling him that I was fine riding solo and that he should go ride his own ride.  But then he hung with me the whole time.  I'm not sure I should be annoyed or flattered.

It was only mildly windy and super sunny.  I was in shorts (yay!), a tank top, and a jacket.  We left at 8 AM and I had to ride 2.5 hours, so just shy of 40 miles.  At the turn around, I was dying and took off the jacket.  Sleeveless on the last day of March.... craziness.

Not the most scenic, but hey, its close to the house.

The ride was pretty uneventful.  I did have an interesting slip and slide adventure.  I found a large (several feet) pothole that was filled in with sand/dirt/asphalt chunks.  It looked solid before I rode through it.  Nope, it was like riding in sand.  A bit scary, but fortunately I had good balance and cruised through it.  Also had one big truck honk at me for riding in the road.  When the shoulder/"bike lane" in 6 wide and full of sand and debris, I'm sorry, I'm going to ride in the road.  Hey, at least he didn't throw anything at me. 
I felt ok going up the hills.  A bit wussy (probably just comparing myself to the other guy who smoked me) but I stayed in my big ring and somehow, my heart rate stayed below 160.  Interesting.  I'm used to dying as I climb....

zoomed in a bit to show the hills.  They looked more impressive in real life.  Having my
garmin map would be handy too... if only I could find the USB connector thingy
to download my data....

The one good thing about riding out here is that you can ride into the Rez (for free) and use their bathroom facilities.  Woot!

After riding 38 miles, I took off to go run in the heat.  Ugh.  I had 20-40 min of running on my schedule.  And of course, it was hilly.  Boo.  I took off on the dirt path next to the road leading into the Rez and after (no kidding) 3 minutes I had to stop and walk.  Crapola.  I kept pushing onward and did ok until the dirt path turned into weeds and large cracks in the dirt, resulting in ~1 mintute or so of walking.  Fortunately this was at the turn around point (I compromised and told myself to run 3 miles).  Then I pushed myself to run the whole way back, including up some hills.  Holy schmoley, it felt hot.  Sadly, it was maybe 75 degrees.

wow, those are some pasty white arms

Today was a test of my new nutrition regime.  I brought 2.5 hrs worth of fluid of Grape EFS for the bike (40 oz Profile bottle and an 8 oz running bottle).  Sadly, I still had about ~1/4 of my profile bottle left by the time I finshed.  FAIL.  For the run, I had some leftover Liquid Shot from the previous weekend (I froze it so it wouldn't spoil).  I mixed it with water (equal amount LS and water) so I could sip it frequently and not have to also carry water.  Not sure my stomach liked this plan as the side cramps started up mid-way through my run.  Bummer.  I may be stuck with taking in nutrition every 2 miles and carring extra water with me.  I will experiment and see.

Afterwards I was TOASTY and hungry and headed over to Jamba Juice.  I freaking love Jamba Juice.  The home for a shower, ice bath, nap, and quality time with Gunny on the couch.

IMTX Nutrition Plan

Race week is here!  Race week is here!  (I'm not sure if this is panic or excitement here).

Here's a summary of my nutrition plan for IMTX.  I'm a bit worried that this isn't 100% proven since its been so cold here, but there's nothing I can do about that.

Pre-Race

• 3 hours before - Honey Stinger chocolate covered cherry protein bar, Coke Zero (my usual pre-race food).
• right before the swim - debating on sucking down a gel, just not sure.  I've never done this before and I prefer to swim on an empty stomach, so I may just skip the gel.

Swim

• nothing - hard to eat/drink when you're in the water.  And I am NOT drinking that nasty lake water.

Bike

• Infinit bike mix - lemon lime.  I've got my aero bottle (~28 oz), Profile bottle (40 oz) which will be mixed for a 3 hr intake, then I'll concentrate another 4 hours into a bike bottle for my cage.  Goal is to drink ~24 oz per hour.

• Water - I'll finish my aero bottle in the first hour, and use then I'll that for water.  Plan is to get water at every aid station (every 10-12 miles).
• Hammer Gel - half a gel every 30 min starting 30 min into the bike.  Keep this up as long as my stomach will handle it.
• I've got some Honey Stinger waffles and some PowerBar gels to try to eat if I get hungry.  On my long rides, I would get a bit hungry but the gels would take care of things.   Not sure how I'll feel during the IM, so I thought having some options would be helpful.
• Salt Stick tablets - 1 pill every 20 min (3 per hour).  Want to get in 1,000 mg per HOUR of sodium.

Run

• Concentrated Infinit mix in a hand-held bottle.  Still not sure how much I want to concentrate it or if I want to re-fill at special needs.  I think a 5 hour concentrate in a 12 oz bottle is RIDICULOUS so I may end up concentrating 2-3 hours (which is the mix I had for LoneStar) and see how I feel at special needs.  I have a feeling with the heat, I won't feel like taking in all that many calories, and typically, I take in fewer calories running than I do cycling.
• WATER WATER WATER.  ICE ICE ICE.  at each aid station.  I don't care how many bathroom breaks I make - I MUST stay hydrated.
• I think I'll try out Coke too.  Haven't tried it in training, but I hear its a magical elixer.