Have I told you that I made the 2012 Rev3 Triathlon Age Group Team?

Have I told you that I made the 2012 Rev3 Triathlon Age Group Team? Well I did!!! Read my announcement here.

Revolution3 (Rev3) Triathlon is a top-notch organization and I am proud to be affiliated with such amazing people! The Rev3 national race series is taking the triathlon world by storm and creating meaningful experiences for athletes and their families. Many triathletes compete in the half rev (70.3) and the full rev (140.6) but there are also sprint, olympic and even kids races as well. For the new triathlete, Rev3 offers a quality training program at a very reasonable cost. If you're interested, visit their page and let them know I sent you!

Team Rev3 is comprised of about 50 athletes throughout the U.S. After learning more about my amazing teammates, I am even more excited to be part of this journey for 2012!

I will be competing in a number of Rev3 races this year including the Knoxville half, Wisconsin Dells half, Cedar Point full and possibly one or two others. Watch my blog for the complete 2012 race schedule!

Reflections on the 2011 Season

Wow, I cannot even believe that it is December 20th! Santa Claus will be here in five days! And I haven't updated my fitness blog since June (gulp...don't judge!)I can at least throw out some lame excuses like starting a new job and getting married or better yet TRAINING! Clearly one of my 2012 resolutions is to update my fitness blog more regularly!

So, for those of you who wonder if I just fell of the map after June, I assure you I was busy racing. Additional races completed since the last post in June were as follows:

• 6/26/11 - Akron Crossfit Sprint Tri - bombed the swim on this and had ridiculous cramps during the run. Should have most definitely won age group but was 4th in age group. Fail.
• 7/17/11 - Milton Man Sprint Tri - decent swim, decent bike, decent run. Took first in age group. 
• 9/11/11 - Revolution 3 Cedar Point 70.3 - finished first 70.3, had a blast. Swim was decent, bike was decent, dogged the run but had fun finishing with hubby.
• 9/18/11 - Portage Lakes Sprint Tri - swim was off, bike was terrible. legs sore from previous week's 70.3 so walked some of the hills, run was fine. Not happy here but managed third in age group.
• 10/9/11 - Towpath half marathon - Great race, crushed my old half PR by finishing with a 1:39:37 despite lack of serious training. Was 13th of 581 women. Not too shabby. Fantastic race course and weather conditions. definitely doing this one again!

I had a very up and down season with the heel stress fracture in April/May and came back to race strong in June-October. I am happy with how the year ended given the circumstances and learned some things along the way. Overall I feel my biggest successes of the year were The Twinsburg Duathlon, Miltonman Sprint, Completing the Rev3 Cedar Point 70.3 and finishing strong in the Towpath 1/2 marathon. 

I am training strong right now in the off season and gearing up to train for some serious stuff in 2012! watch for my next post NEXT WEEK (promise) about the 2012 schedule!

Mentor Flag Day 5K - Easier Said Than Done

My friends and loved will know this about me...that I sometimes have unreasonable expectations of myself when it comes to racing. They accept that about me because I have been known to throw a temper tantrum after a bad race (I'm working on this). The Mentor Flag Day 5K was one of these instances. It was a last minute decision to sign up and I wasn't really trained. I know what you're thinking...train for a 5K...who needs to do that? It should be easy right? That is what I thought too! Considering I had just started running again two weeks before and hadn't run more than 2 miles I somehow did not think I would stand the chance of bombing this race. In fact, I thought I might even be able to win if the super fast chicks stayed home. I thought I could pull out a 21 or 22 minutes easy. I thought wrong.

The race starts downhill and I mean downhill! So my first mile was 6:03! Just a wee bit more than the 6:45 I was aiming for. So by mile 2 I was pooped out and took a little break. Back to it and holy crap was it hot and hilly that last mile. Clearly I had underestimated this little 5K. I walked a couple more times that last mile and figure I easily lost 2+ minutes because of it. I was not a happy girl at the finish when I looked up and saw 23:57. Yuck! Not a bad time really but I was certainly capable of the 21 or 22 I had hoped for had my race went better. So I was mad and wanting to leave.

Steve on the other hand had a great race of 19:36...a personal best for him. I didn't think there was anyway I would place but thought he might so we stuck around for the rewards, which took a while. He placed third in his age group and amazingly I took first in my age group. The winning female times were 20-22 minute range. So while I should've been happy I even placed I was mad at myself for having a bad race. This is just me. I knew I could have done better.

Another one in the books. Lesson learned. The training continues and I hope to get my endurance back soon and to learn to be a little easier on myself.

Twinsburg Duathlon - Let the Good Times Roll!

I am a little late with this post considering the race was June 5. Better late than never I suppose. I am just happy to be writing in my blog again. Don't worry, I will not wait so long this time!

What can I say about the Twinsburg Duathlon? I thought it was a great race and I think I did well - especially because this was my first duathlon. North Coast Multisports did an excellent job of communicating and organizing the event. Packet pick-up and the little expo were the Saturday before the race so no scrambling on race morning to get that stuff.  Steve and I picked our stuff up and headed home to chill out and get our bikes and gear ready for race day. It was a pretty smooth evening prerace. We were a little nervous (me especially since I had just started running again that week following my heel fracture - yikes)!

On race morning we got up, brewed some coffee and had some multigrain waffles and juice, got dressed, loaded up the car and took off around 6AM. We arrived at the race site and I was feeling very excited and a little nervous. How would I run I wondered.  We racked our bikes and setup our gear and warmed up. I went to the bathroom a couple of times as I always do when the nerves are flared up and we lined up.  My friend and fellow competitor Laurie stood by me at the start and we chatted for a couple of minutes beforehand, which helped me relax.

We started and I blanked out everything but the run. Worries subsided and my feet took over. My first mile was sub 7 and then I thought I had better slow it down or I will be dead on the bike so I slowed it down and finished the first 2 miles at a 7:09 pace. Jumped on the bike and like an idiot I had my helmet on backwards so I stopped to adjust. Lost a few seconds there. The bike was fun but tough. The hill around mile 7-8 was killer. My legs were feeling it. Time on bike was 36 minutes for 10 miles but think my T1 and T2 times are in there as well since they don't break them out seperately. I think I averaged around 18-19mph. The second run was tough as I had not done one brick all season being out with the fracture. First mile was okay, second was rough and I stopped for a minute or two at the water stop. I lost time there not thinking I had a chance to place. I finished strong with a time of 1:07:12 - good enough for 2nd place in 30-34 age group and 8th overall female in the race. Not bad but I should have placed higher as 2nd and 3rd place were only 2-3 minutes ahead. Next year I will be ready to battle.

Steve also did well. He finished his first ever multi-sport race in 1:01:37 good enough for 4th in his age group and 19th overall in the race! We both had fun and at the end of the day that is what is most important! 

Thanks to North Coast Multisports for a great event! We will be back next year!