IM Texas 70.3 Pro National Championships in Galveston Texas

Galveston Charm!




Well the second race of the season has come and gone.

I have had a lot of changes happen since my race in Costa Rica in February.
As some of you might know by now…my biggest change came in the form of a new coach.
After 4 years under the guidance of Coach Paulo Sousa who got me to multiple Top 5 finishes in both Ironman and 70.3 and who taught me a lot about racing and training….I decided it was time for a change.
Sometimes I believe it is good to change things up and get a fresh outlook on your training. So with a lot of thought, as it was a very difficult decision I decided to look for a new coach.

After a lot of research and chatting to a few unbelievably nice and knowledgable and respected coaches I decided to go with Jesse Kropelnicki of QT2 Systems based out of Boston.

Jesse, and his coaching plan was everything I wanted in a complete package.
QT2 Systems offers a detailed and structured program. In my hectic life of training and running around with two kids this is what I needed.

So after Costa Rica we devised a plan for the year…which involved many changes.
Those I will save for another blog so I can get down to my race report.

Texas 70.3 was going to be my first race to test out how my new plan was going.
It was a conservative and very doable race plan with the hopes that I would finish with a positive outlook on where we are headed and how training is coming along.

The result was everything I was looking for! POSITIVE!!!


OK Finally now down to the race…

Galveston Texas a carefree windy beachside community and tourist destination.




Galveston Texas a carefree windy beachside community and tourist destination.
Trying to stay off my feet while waiting for bike mechanics to do some last minute things to bike. Thanks Bike Barn Texas for all your help!


Race morning started at 4am with a hotel wake up call that never happened. Thankfully I had set a backup alarm on my phone as the call finally came at 4.45????
By that time I had already had my pre race breakfast of not much.
1 bottle of EFS
1 bottle of Ultragen
1 banana

By 5 I was heading down to transition.
The pre race start went very smoothly.
Marking,wheels pumped,helmut checked, bathroom, transition set up, 3 bottles of EFS set up and ready to go.

By 6.35 I started the 10 minute walk down to the pier where we would start. All the time hoping that my new TYR wetsuit would fit.
Now I would usually have tried my wetsuit out in the two days prior open water swim. But we were not allowed to swim in the lake and my attempt at trying it on at the Moody Gardens pool after a swim workout failed as I was alone,wet, and could not zip it up by myself.

Dockside at 6.55 I chatted with Teammate Hillary,Kelly, Tyler and Desiree. This was a big field of very talented girls racing. When you look around and see a dozen Ironman or Half Ironman Champions you know it's going to be a tough race!

The guys race started at 7am and then we were allowed to jump in the water and do a 2 minute warm up…which pretty much meant swimming over to the start.
As I jumped in the water and started swimming I could feel I had not pulled my new TYR Hurricane wetsuit up high enough and it felt like it was choking me in my neck. These wetsuits are made to fit so snug and I spent my last minutes just trying to get comfortable.
As soon as the gun went I sprinted staying nicely with the group. First buoy I was with the group…second buoy…still there but now on the back, third buoy on the back but with the stragglers. 4th buoy trailing the last girl who then stopped to adjust her goggles. So now I was off the back and feeling every bit of the tightness of my wetsuit. It was pulling on my neck and restricting my arms. The girl who had stopped….blasted by me and caught up to the pack and I was left alone at the first turn around buoy.

We turned and the water got so choppy. I was fighting it alone. Making the third turn we headed straight into the waves and the current was strong. My tendency when swimming on my own is to settle into ironman pace .Just then two girls came swimming by. I was pleasantly surprised and it gave me renewed energy and focus. I jumped on their feet and pretty much stayed there to the last turn around buoy where they decided to go super of fcourse and I decided to swim once again on my own but stay closer to the buoys. We pretty much ended coming out the water together.

I was happy as I would have some girls to push me. Sadly I heard them yell out Tyler Stewart and Karen Theurig two of the strongest cyclists in the sport. Tyler has biked 4.45 in an IM and Karen was an Olympic Cyclist. So it took about twenty minutes before both disappeared.
Then it was me and my awesome Kestrel...…alone. This gave me a chance to settle down into the race plan that Jesse and I had spoken about.
I tried to ignore the 20 mph plus wind that was blowing like crazy. I had decided to race with my disc on and I had been on the fence about the decision. It turned out to be a good decision as although I was getting blown around a little this was a steady head/cross wind and not big gusts. When the wind started to grow old I then took my focus on getting my EFS drinks down and drinking my liquid shots at the right times. Due to the lack of speed work in the days prior it took me so long to get in race mode and my legs finally seemed to come around at mile 15. I then started to settle in and was happy every 5 miles or so to see a girl in the distance and to make up a lot of ground and pass them and then look for someone else.

I felt very strong the last ten miles on the bike and came into T2 feeling good. The run was a 4 loop windy and windy concrete run around Moody Gardens. Coach Jesse had given me a race pace and a heart rate plan to stick too and this is what I did.The result was as the run progressed I started to feel stronger. It is always encouraging to be passing girls later in the race. So I finished the race with my fastest miles and a big smile on my face.

Even though this race left me in 14th place. It was a very solid day out there for me. It was a star studded field. Every girl in front of me had earned her spot there. I feel this was a good start to the season under a new training and racing plan!

After the race I had a large bottle of Ultragen ready and a quick massage so I could hurry up the recovery process as I knew I was in for a big training week. The day after the race I left Galveston Texas and headed to Woodlands to check out the Ironman Texas course and then flew straight to Orlando to a QT2 Systems camp in Clermont FL. It's been a fun busy hard training week!

Next up St Croix!

Thank you!

Eric Wynn Photography



Thank you all for the birthday wishes. Facebook/Twitter is great and it was so nice to hear from friends from all over the world, that took the time to say a quick hi and wish me. It really made me feel special!
It too was great being home to celebrate with my family!

My daughter wrote me a card that touched my heart and made me cry.
For those of you that did not see it on FB...It went like this

Love is possible...it is!
Mom,
My angel!
"Buttiful,nice,great,talented,Ironman,helping,winning champ,comfy,sleepy(lol) and my perfect angel!
You are the best person in the entire world!"
Love Sydney!


I'll be honest I don't like getting older...I'm not happy about it at all....but I did have a fun rewarding birthday.

Winning a race always feels good...and making a decision to dedicate my race to Sally, to the people of Japan and to my good friend Basil who passed away from cancer last year was a good reminder to make it all count!!! Too push beyond...to hurt because we get to live another day, run another day and they don't!

Remember why you train....Why you race...Do what you love...Have passion!!! Celebrate with friends and family!
Make each day count..each workout count and each hug meaningful....because life is too short!

Racing... makes me feel alive...pushing myself,my boundries,pushing out of my comfort,challenging my mental and physical self...competing..I have always loved it! Training, being outdoors,with nature,feeling my heart beat and sharing it with like minded athletes and friends is my passion.

Watching my children compete is now equally as wonderful!
Sydney came home after my race and wanted to go running. Tanner rode his bike next to her while she ran a mile sprinting like her mom to the finish....she definitely has the running bug!

So life is good and I cherish every moment!

St Paddy's 10 mile race report

Yesterday I raced the Freehold St Paddy's Day 10 miler. Every year I want to do this race but every year I have been in New Mexico training. So finally I got to add it to my schedule as I knew I was going to be around.
This was my first 10 mile race that I have run in probably 5 years so I was really excited to test out my fitness.
I have not done any speed work since last year so this was going to be a real test for me and I was quite nervous.




It was a brisk 38 degrees at race start with a cool breeze but I warmed up pretty quickly. I treated this race as I would a triathlon race and went in nice and rested, so I felt amazing at the start. I ran very comfortably and held back the first mile.
From then on I pushed hard and pretty much ran alone through mile 5. Mile 5 and 6 was a long climb but winter hill work paid off and I did not feel to bad. At mile seven I saw a girl about 400 yards behind me. I said to the guy next to me. It's my Birthday and I am going to win this race so I am going to have to push really hard now.
That is exactly what I did and managed to descend the last mile for a 6.09 mile...with a stop to hug my kids :-)


It was so much fun and it was great to see all my running friends. The atmosphere was great and it felt so good to actually race a running race. Big congrads to all those who raced...Tom One Shot for a nice PR and John P for impressing me with his running speed!

The Overall Result
First Women 6th Overall with a time of 1.02.39 Pace 6.17
Summary Pace per mile
1 00:06:17
2 00:06:08
3 00:06:26 Pulled back as I was worried I went to hard.
4 00:06:19
5 00:06:17 Climb
6 00:06:30 Long climb
7 00:06:15
8 00:06:20 Rolling hills
9 00:06:23 rolling hills
10 00:06:09

It was a great way for me to celebrate my birthday but what was even more special was that I was raced for others too.
I chose to support the fundraising for Japan. www.runforjapan.com
The other was to honor Sally Meyerhoff who was a very talented marathoner and budding triathlon star who was recently hit and killed while riding her bike.
This was such a tragic event and I wanted to do something in her honor. Sally liked to wear pink socks so I wore some pink socks for her.
So while I raced I said a prayer for Sally and told her I was racing for her because I could.
It always feels good to race for something other than yourself


Thank you to BoB Both from the Jersey Shore Running Club for the awesome photos!

Next up Texas 70.3!!!

People always ask what I eat and how I get my calories in!

Here is this weeks shopping list for me and my family

Big on Fruit in my house as my kids don't love all the veggies!
Blueberries
Apples
Mangoes
Papaya
Kiwi
Tangerines
Raspberries
Strawberries
Melon
Banana's
Mixed frozen fruit for smoothies(big in my house) I like to add whey protein.

Veggies
onion
portobello mushrooms
avocado's
sweet potato's
potato's
celery
peppers
baby fresh spinach
corn
carrots
broccoli
baby tomato's
fresh basil
cilantro
lemons

Chicken breasts
Whole chicken
Chicken broth

Vegetable broth
Sea bass
Shrimp
Maple Ham
Canned tuna

Raisins
walnuts
pine seeds
Olive oil
natural peanut butter
agave syrup
honey
balsamic vinegar

Feta cheese
Gruyere cheese
Fresh Mozzarella

Spagetti
Quinoa
Whole wheat penne
Whole wheat bagels
Wheat Tortilla's

Skim milk
almond milk
coconut milk
fag'e yogurt
green tea
OJ
coconut water

SNACKS
chocolate ginger
peanut butter pretzels
vegetable chips
stacy's chips
guacamole popcorn chips
Nilla wafers

More Costa Rica photos to come...

Rev 3 Race/Nutrition Report Costa Rica

Rev 3 ROCKS!!!!




After 8 days of a lot of vacation and a little training.... race morning finally rolled around.
I got a 4am wake up call. Room service arrived. Cereal, OJ,banana's, toast and jelly.
All I really felt like was my First Endurance Ultragen smoothie....at that time of the morning. But I sat on the verandah eating a slice of toast ,jelly and a banana, I decided that I needed caffeine so I made a cup of coffee too.
I filled a bottle of Ultragen which I would sip on until race start. I decided to race with 2 bottles of EFS although for an Olympic one was more than enough.

5am
The race start was mello and all the pro girls were chatty. I got my Kestrel ready to roll in transition. I then checked and rechecked my gear...Always a good idea first race of the season. After a little warmup run where I almost twisted my ankle in the dark I decided I would just chill at the room until 6am and then I strolled down to the beach.

The energy was good down there and after a warmup swim, a quick sip on EFS liquid shot, we were doing the count down to the swim start.
6.15
I knew my swim was not going to be super as I don't have that short course speed and secondly I had not been in the pool doing any speed in ten days. So I just put my head down and tried to swim as hard as I could. Team mate Amanda Lovato and I kept each other company and we headed onto the bike ready to hammer and catch the girls in front of us.
The bike was a challenging fun course with a 200m gravel section and then straight into a long steep climb. I made the rookie mistake of not shifting into my easiest gear, and not wanting to take my hands of the bars so I just grinded my legs to the top. This was not what I had practiced and I had to laugh at myself because there was a second where I thought I may not make it.
I had seen age groupers walking in the days leading up to the race but with all eyes on my I sucked it up!
Once on the flat I quickly got into a comfortable speed. I kept reminding myself that comfortable was not where I should be...and pushed harder and harder. Descending the ride and catching and passing two girls, with two more in my sight.

I felt good about my bike and headed onto the run carrying a liquid shot flask with me. For the first two miles I sipped on the shot and water.


The run headed out straight onto the beach....a beautiful section overlooking the ocean where I had taken stunning pics the day before. I reminded myself to focus and push hard. I had not seen the whole run course and did not realise that most of the course when it was not on the beach was up a long hill and then up a steep hill....a nice little surprise! I was happy for the hill work thar I had done in training.




With one loop to go I passed two more girls and ran hard towards the finish. My kids were there waiting for me and asked if they could run with me.
I grabbed their hands and ran for the finish, placing 7th in the women's pro field!

What more could we ask for than ice baths and fresh coconut water at the finish line! What a way to end a fantastic race experience!


As always the first thing I did when I got back to my room was have my Ultragen smoothie to help with my recovery. It worked with no sore legs the next day!!!

It was a brutally hot day, getting up to 104 degree's and later I went back to the race to cheer on the guys doing the half.

We ended our day by relaxing at the pool then heading out on a sunset ATV ride.
A great way to finish off our trip!

Big thanks to all the guys from Rev 3 who worked so hard to put on a great few days of racing and to my team mates for racing so well!
Everyone needs to put this race on their calendar as a great winter escape!

My Costa Rica Revolution 3 trip Part 1

KESTREL GOES TO COSTA RICA!!!!

Loved the riding out there...so many big hills to climb!!!








I cannot believe the inaugural Revolution 3 Triathlon race was a week ago already. My family and I are still having flashbacks of all the good times. Like missing the sun,the pool,the sounds of the ocean, the massages on the beach and the fresh air to name a few!
Costa Rica was a dream trip and Rev 3 race was exciting and challenging! Both first class and the result one happy family! Which ultimately makes me very happy! Racing can be tough on the family so when they get to go and reap the benefits in beautiful destinations...all the better!!!


I have to say I was truly proud to be a part of the Revolution which focuses on bringing outstanding and fun experiences to all who are racing and the supporting families.
It was decided over Christmas that we would make this our big family trip and it never disappointed! Costa Rica was the perfect place for a get away and the most beautiful place for a race.
There is nothing better for us athletes that work so hard at our sport to beable to race in beautiful surroundings. You can feed off the elements and it makes all those hard cold weather training so worth it. Being able to share the experience
with your family makes it all the better. I have been to a lot of solo races without them and it is always nice to have their support.
It brings a different dynamic to my race. It puts things in perspective because at the end of the race no matter how it goes I still have my children there with big open hearts and smiles, so proud and ready to run with me over the finish line…so excited for me and happy!


Costa Rica is one fantastic place. Everyone kept saying "Pura Vida" to me before I left and I was not prepared for how free and what a great escape this would be. In a time that we all really needed it.
I had come back from a solid ten days of training in New Mexico and had picked up a bad cold that kept my training very inconsistent. We have had a brutal winter and the whole family was ready for a warm weather escape.
It felt great to get off the plane and quickly change into shorts and Tshirts….Love it!

I immediately fell in love with Costa Rica. The pretty beaches,palm tree's, the simple life that everyone leads. There was no cell service which meant a break from the constant calls and internet time was cut back a lot!
.





Our days were spent pool side,at the beach, zip lining through tree tops and riding horses on the beach. Many experiences and memories to last a life time.


We went out a week before the race and I ventured out onto the Costa Rican roads with no cell service . I have to say I was a little apprehensive for about five minutes but then I fell in love with biking there. I got some phenomenal climbing in with hills that reminded me a lot of the beast in St Croix. My family escorted via kayaks on a few open water ocean swims where I treasured swimming with an array of colorful fish within inches of me.

Running too was so therapeutic. When you run solo it allows for a lot of introspection and running on beaches in beautiful places evokes such a feeling of nostalgia to why I love to run and the freedom it gives you. The things you can see and discover, the sunrises you see, the quietness of the world waking up,birds chirping, nature at it's best. The best therapy you can have. With no watch on I would just run on feel, breaking out into intervals of pure highness on life!

Ok so I have got a bit off track what I really want to talk about is the Rev 3 race!

Five days before the race we made the trip to Playa Conchal to the race site. Nobody knew about the triathlon yet and I had to explain that before they knew it there would be hundreds of people wearing skimpy clothes ,drinking energy drinks and riding bikes taking over the area.They did not seem to convinced. but checking into the race hotel on Thursday the atmosphere was changing. The Costa Rican guys all wanted to touch and lift up my Kestrel. It stood at the entrance of the hotel carefully guarded all day.
I went down to the beach for a open water swim and met a few nice guys and we did a beautiful ocean swim. The race hotel was absolutely perfect...all inclusive and they gave me a room within steps from the race start. I was ecstatic!

The few days before the race people were rolling in. It was so much fun to go down to the race expo and see how excited the locals were getting for the race.