Louisville, Colorado IRONKIDS

The Louisville, Colorado IRONKIDS triathlon was Sunday morning! Louisville is right outside of Boulder, CO (as I discovered when I Map Quest’ed the directions)…and it’s about 10 degrees HOTTER than Colorado Springs!
On Saturday morning I had a really tough swim/bike combo workout…5000 meters in the pool followed by 8 repeats of the “Cave of the Wind’s” hill on the bike. After I got back to the training center, showered, packed, and ate lunch…I started driving to Louisville. It should have only taken 1.5 hours but with construction traffic on I-25, it took 2 hours…by the time I got to the rec-center to help with the registration, the entire crowd had already registered (sorry Jnet!). After helping with the last minute preparations, I checked into my hotel room and got ready for my last workout of the day, a light, one hour run.
IronKids always takes care of their volunteers and crew…this time it was a delicious dinner at Carrabba’s Italian Grill with a great group of 15 people and fun conversation. Hunter Kemper and his wife Val also drove up to help at the race…he got his start as an IronKid too! After eating and chatting, I had to get to sleep early…not only because the race started early in the morning, but I had to complete my tempo running workout before heading to the race site. That meant setting a 5:00am alarm clock and getting out the door and onto the running trails by 5:15am! It was extremely hard to do, but just thinking about the 100 degree heat the IronKids were going to be racing in later in the day…I wanted to complete my workout when it was nice and cool as the sun rose!
I got to the Louisville rec center in the middle of the madness that is race morning as a member of the race staff. We needed volunteers like crazy…everyone was doing the job of 5 people. After helping get the first wave of kids into the water, I headed down to the finish line to act as the back-up timing system for each finisher. In my opinion, it’s the best places to be on race day…cheering for each kid as they cross the finish line and run through the finish tape.
All the IronKids finished, the photos were taken, and the awards were distributed by noon. The IronKids crew (or Carnies as they like to call themselves) know what they are doing…they can tear down the race site and load the truck in under 2 hours! Unfortunately, I was unable to stay and help because, again, I had to get back for some training. The return drive was much faster…and I finished off the day with a bike & run brick session.
The weekend was a lot of fun and I’m so sad that I won’t be able to attend any of the other IronKids races this year…I have my own races to compete in! But there is talk about maybe 18 different IronKids races in 2007…I’m sure that I will be able to help at more than 2! For the national championships in Tempe, AZ on October 1st, 2006…Hunter is going to be the spokesperson…so I’ve left the kids in good hands:)!

Nothing Exciting

I did my part for the environment today by doing all my errands on my BIKE! My training schedule said to ride easy for an hour so I toured around town and stopped at all the places I had on my to-do-list. The funny thing was, I got home and was happy about how much money I had saved on gas…and then I realized that I spent over $90 picking up items and supplies that I needed! That kinda took away from the ‘gas saving’ excitement I had:(. I think my credit card was swiped 5 times on that bike ride…I knew cycling was expensive, but this is ridiculous:).
My morning workout was another session in the Sports Science labs…running 5 times 1 kilometers on the treadmill with supplemental oxygen. The breathing mask is a bit heavy and cumbersome when I’m trying to run at race pace, but after a while, it’s not the first thing on my mind…the pain in my legs is what I’m focusing on!
I’ve been talking with some people on the Westchester Triathlon race committee…I am going to be competing in this race along with the 9 other members of the U23 USAT squad. They have arranged for all of us to stay in the Wainwright House…check out the photos…for free for the entire time we are in town for the race!! This race is on September 17th in Westchester, NY…it will be the final stop on my 6 week “Europe Racing Trip”…I will be flying back to NY on September 11th after the Hamburg, Germany World Cup. When I was making my travel arrangements, I realized that 7 days is quite a long time to be in a hotel room and waiting for the race to start…SO…the amazing people organizing the race have found a family willing to put up with me until the rest of my U23 team arrives! I’m in the process of contacting them right now:).
In other news of my life…I’ve purchased a plane ticket home for Thanksgiving! Look out DeLand, Florida; here I come…November 20th until the 29th! It cost a whopping $10 and 25,000 United miles…but it takes me right from COS into Daytona Beach (my parents appreciate the DAB flight because it’s a lot easier than driving to Orlando to pick me up). Unfortunately, (and no surprise to me) going from one small airport to another requires THREE different flights…so the trip wont be a whole lotta fun, only getting to the final destination will be fun!

More Corner Brook photos...thanks to the Hann family...this is lap one (of 4) of the run, I'm currently in 2nd place, but as you can see, that is Vanessa Fernandez closing fast!!! Also notice the AWESOME chalk message...thanks to Jarret (we both wrote some the night before the race, but the rain washed them away...so I was pleasently surprised to see a HUGE smiley face during the race!!)

(L-R) Michelle, Me, Margie, Sarah...a couple of the American women who competed in Corner Brook...this was at the post race party on Sunday night at the Marble Mountain Lodge (at the base of the local ski mountain...now I'm already thinking about snow skiing and it's the middle of July!).

That's me...and that's Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada. Beautiful small town, with a big heart, and a great triathlon race!

I Was LIVE (in Denver)

This morning I jumped in my car and drove up to Denver. I had a date with some local TV stations for a LIVE interview about IronKids…because the next race is this Sunday in a little town called Louisville right outside of Denver!
I was in the car by 6:30am on my way to the Denver FOX station for the “Good Morning Colorado” show. It was doubly cool because I haven’t been in a TV station since my last college class in December of 2004. Things sure have gotten very modernized and computerized…but that’s a different story.
The interview went very well (at least I think so:) and I was on and off the air in about 3-4 minutes. They had some b-roll (footage they play while I’m talking) of the IronKids race from last year. After calling home and telling mom and dad all about it, I drove around Denver for an hour and got some breakfast.
I had to be at the ABC studio at 11am for their local news show. Same sort of routine…wait for my segment, get miked, sit on stage, talk about IronKids, and then say “thanks” and “goodbye”. I think that both segments went really good, I had a great time and I love ANY opportunity to talk to anyone about IronKids!
So I was back on the road by noon, heading south, back to the OTC. I got here just in time to grab a quick snack, rub on a bunch of sunscreen, and grab my bike. Since I missed out on swim practice this morning (boo hoo)…I had a good brick (bike/run combo) workout that I did in the afternoon. The whole time I was on my bike, the skies were threatening with thunderstorms, but it held off until I finished biking (and I did my run on the indoor treadmill just to be safe, and dry:).
Nothing as exciting as the afore mentioned activities happened for the rest of the day. I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the computer working out travel plans for future races and getting a head start with my professors for the next MBA classes. I’m going to be in Europe for the first 3 weeks of class so I need to have my books and supplies with me when I leave 2 weeks before the class starts (complicated, I know). I’ve also realized that I will have to travel with 4 WHEELS (2 for racing and 2 for training) and my nice compact bike box will only hold 2…and sometimes I don’t think it will close with just 2!!
But to solve the question of clean underwear in Europe, I’m shipping a big box of extra supplies to myself…I’m going to send it before I leave for Connecticut on the 3rd, and it should be waiting for me when I arrive at the Air Force base in Sembach, Germany on the 8th! One dilemma solved, 100 more to figure out:).

That's Sarah Haskins in the front with me hanging on her wheel up the hills! That white line on the groud was the 'bike prime' line (Sarah got them both since it was on an UP hill!:)

Finally...the transition area was SOOO far away from the pond...it took over 2 minutes and 30 seconds of running to get to our bikes!

This photo captures EVERYTHING! The steep hill, the strong women, the cloudy day....and the HUGE lead that Sarah and I had over the big chase pack!! I love this photo:)

Happy and Hurting

The race is OVER…COMPLETE…FINISHED!! And I’m sooo sore, tired, exhausted! Everything today went GREAT…I had so much fun and I’m so happy with the results!
I’ll start at the beginning when my alarm went off at 7:30am…
It was at the same time as the age-group race started…Jarret (my homestay) was off and racing in the pond while I was watching TV and eating breakfast:)! I flipped through some channels while I was stretching on the living room floor. I ran back and forth between the front yard and my room …cheering for Jarret on the run course and packing my race bag with gear. My running warm up was timed perfectly to get to the finish line and watch him finish.
Did I mention that I woke up to RAIN and OVERCAST skies! It was just what I asked for in the weather department…I knew that the roads would be slippery on the paint (especially in the downhill turns) but it would keep the air temperature cool and refreshing! So I had to ride down to the race site with quite a few layers of clothes on…and keep them on while I was warming up…until it was time to pull on my wetsuit (and then I’m warm no matter what temperature it is!).
We started at 12:00noon…and the skies were still holding a thick layer of dark clouds. The water was a wetsuit legal temperature…so I had another opportunity to race in my Orca…and the small pond forced us to complete 3 laps of 500 meters each. It was like a big circle…I felt like I was constantly turning toward the next buoy. After about 300 meters I pulled to the front of the group and Sarah Haskins got onto my feet to draft…we started pulling away from the rest of the competition right away. After 3 laps we exited the water with a :50 second lead…and started climbing the DEVIL of a hill to the transition area (it’s so steep that sometimes I wanted to use my hands to help me climb:).
After falling on my butt when I tried to take my wetsuit off, I exited T1 with Sarah and we immediately started working hard and working together on the bike to keep our lead…and we managed to keep it for all 6 laps of the HILLY bike! Our lead time over the chase back of 15+ women fluctuated from 40 seconds to over 1 minute at the end…I was sooo happy with our ride because I managed to stay with Sarah on all the uphill sections and she hung on my wheel for all the downhill sections (and the whole course was either UP-hill DOWN-hill…nothing in-between!).
Unfortunately, the hard part wasn’t over yet…this run course is the hardest of ANY World Cup triathlon because it has NO flat parts either! So I headed out on the 4 lap run and knew that the chase pack women would be running by soon…of course, “soon” does not properly describe how fast Vanessa Fernandez ran by me at the 2K mark…but I was the only person in the race that had her name in chalk on the run course!
My homestay family (remember, they live ON the run course) wrote “Go Sara” and “Smile Sara” all over the road!! I was actually looking forward to that part of the run because the Hann’s were in their front yard cheering and they had all the neighbors cheering for me too! I made it to the finish line in 17th place…and Sarah strongly finished in 6th…so it was a success for the breakaway of Sara(h)s!
After cooling down (didn’t take to long with the weather) and then warming up in lots of clothes, I headed back to the Hann’s house for a big refueling meal…and then sat in the front yard, in the lawn chair, in a raincoat, with a bowl of ice cream, and cheered on the USA men as they ran by on their 4 loops. I’m already sad about leaving this beautiful place…but I’m both glad and sad that 2006 was the last World Cup triathlon in Corner Brook!

"The Rock"

What I learned today: most Canadians refer to the providence of Newfoundland as “The Rock”. The area is quite forest-y (if that's a good way to describe it)...quite a few trees cover all the land (which is rock underneath) and the main thing in Corner Brook is the Paper Mill down on the waterfront. There are SO many trees/logs stacked around the paper mill...we actually ride right by the paper mill on each lap of the bike course. Surprisingly, it is not smelly like paper mills are in the USA.
Last night, Jarret (the son of the family I'm staying with) took me on a car tour of the area...I saw the ski resort, the harbor, the mountains, lots of trees (as mentioned before:), learned a lot about the area...and completely FORGOT my camera! Who is surprised? But I’ve got mental pictures that I will never forget…and I can’t ever forget them because this might be my one and only trip to Corner Brook…this is officially the last ITU World Cup at this location so I will have to find another reason to visit (it probably won’t be hard to come up with a reason, the town is small, the area is beautiful, the roads are great for biking, etc).
The Paper Mill was the official sponsor of today’s Swim Relay at the Glinnmill Inn Pond…we raced at 6pm. My team of Hunter Kemper, Joe Ump, and I had a very fun race and we finished 3rd overall behind another American team (Andy Potts, Sarah Haskins, and Timmy O’Donnell) and a Canadian team. I wish that EVERY World Cup would have a Swim Relay before the race…it would promote ‘fun’ competition:)
So I’ve just been informed that we are going exploring again this evening…so I’m going to grab my camera and try to get some photos of the sights!

From Corner Brook

I'm officially in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada! (Look it up on a map if you have no clue where I am...it's the huge island off the east coast of Canada and Maine!) I finally arrived at 3am this morning...on the way to Deer Lake, my final destination, the plane turned around half way and went back to land in Halifax because there was a warning light on...after they got it fixed we took off again and finally landed 1.5 hours late!
So I enjoyed a nice sleep in until 11:30am...had some breakfast and then built my bike (no delays with the luggage, my bikebox made it onto all 3 flights!). Now, I'm thinking about getting geared up to go explore the town and the race course. The house I'm staying in for the weekend is actually RIGHT on the run course..I can look out the window right now and see bikers and runners going by (I should be one of those people in a few minutes:).
My homestay family is awesome...the Hann's live in a beautiful house and their son Jarett is a triathlete too (he won a local sprint race last weekend and was in the newspaper this morning!). I've got my own bedroom (their daughter's room who is currently somewhere else in Canada) and yummy home-cooked food!
Tomorrow is the first race of the weekend...the Swim Relay...and I am 100% sure that I have the winning team!! We are all Americans...it's me and 2 guys...and we are going to dominate (which will be nice because there is a small amount of prize money up for grabs!) I think it starts at 6pm, or something late in the afternoon. The air temperature is nice and warm right now but it is supposed to cool down a couple of degrees as the weekend approaches! It will NOT be 95 and humid like last weekend in Minnesota...keep your fingers crossed for me!

Yes, that is me...and no, I didn't eat the whole steak in one bite! But it sure was a yummy piece of meat:) Just being with lots of friends for the whole night was the best part...you can't see them in this photo because everyone is enjoying their own food:)

Leanda Cave and I at the Famous Steak House...full of yummy food:)

Photos from Bourgee night (thanks to Leanda who actually brought her camera)! Tim with all the ladies:) It was the yellow sports coat with the purple tie that was magnetizing for us!!

Random Thoughts

Life in Colorado Springs was nice. It was SHORT, but nice! Now I’m all packed and ready for my trip to Corner Brook, Canada tomorrow.
During the 72 hours I was back at the OTC between races I got a few things accomplished. A bit of swimming, biking and running. Some laundry. Returned my library books and checked out new ones for this trip. A hair cut. Dinner with some friends tonight. Bought a lot of airplane tickets online for future travels.
I’m looking forward to meeting my homestay family tomorrow (well, actually early Thursday morning). I’ve looked at the weather for the weekend in Corner Brook and it’s going to be quite chilly…I actually checked the weather while I was packing my clothes so I had to take out some shorts and add some pants:)!
When I return from this trip I have a note written to remind myself to get started on my next UCCS MBA classes. Have I mentioned that I actually registered for 2 more classes (surprisingly, after how much I enjoyed the Statistics class)? But I’m willing to give everything a second chance. Before I depart for my long trip in Europe I have to talk to the professors and purchase the class materials (nice words for ‘expensive books’).
Next weekend is the 2nd IronKids race of 2006…it’s in a town right outside of Denver so I will just drive up on Saturday, help with the set up, spend one night, and help with the race on Sunday. I told a couple of my training partners here at the OTC about it and they are interested about coming to help also…the more the merrier!
Sara Lee (the title sponsor of the IronKids race) and IronKids have a marketing person that promotes the races. He had been in touch with me before the Atlanta race with some questions about pre-race nutrition (I’m not the perfect person for those questions:) and now I’m getting some emails from him about doing some interviews at the ABC and CBS stations in Denver before the race! EXCITING! I will post the show times if I find out more info…but it’ll only be in the Denver area…unlike the LifeTime Fitness broadcast on NBC which is supposed to be nation-wide!
If you happen to be a subscriber to the Inside Triathlon magazine…or see one on the magazine stands…my teammate, training partner, friend, and across-the-hall-neighbor, JASMINE OEINCK is on the cover! It’s a really cool photo of her at the Garden of the Gods…unfortunately, there’s not really an article to correspond with the photo…but it’s still cool!

Some of the men on the run course in 2005...I'll have to enjoy the beautiful scenery before and after the race and focus on running fast during the race!

Check out the climbing required on the bike! Each loop is uphill in one direction and down hill in the other!

Women's Corner Brook World Cup start in 2005...it will probably be wetsuits again this year and I've heard the air temp. will be cool too!

There is the Corner Brook World Cup race map. We swim 3 laps, bike 6 laps, and run 4 laps. I've been talking to my homestay via email and they live somewhere ON the run course...which means I don't have to travel very far before or after the race!

2/3rds of Life Time

If there are three parts to a triathlon, I had a great race for two-out-of-three on Saturday morning at the Life Time Fitness Triathlon in Minneapolis, Minnesota!
My alarm went off at 5:30am…I had time for my secret pre-race breakfast and loaded up my water bottles with LOTS of ice (the predicted temperature of the day was somewhere between 95 and 100!). The chartered buses departed the hotel at 6am for the race course. It was about a 25 minute drive this morning because there was light traffic on the roads so early in the morning.
First thing I did when we unloaded was take my bike for a test ride…since Dad and I did a lot of adjustments last night to the derailleur and shifting tensions, I wanted to make sure that all my gears were shifting properly. I did a few accelerations and spin ups on a side street…went through all my gears…and was happy with how I felt and how smooth the bike was working!
I rode over to the transition area to set up my gear…we were lined up on the bike racks in the same order as we chose for the swim start at the pre-race meeting. I was third from the right side (between Debbie Tanner and Lauren Groves). I went for a short jog with some running drills and then headed down to the lake for a short swim.
After the skydivers landed in the lake right in front of us (where it was shallow:)…the race start was right on time at 8:00am. We had 9 minutes and 49 seconds head start on the men…and I made the most of that time by hauling butt in the water!! The swim course was a good distance (not too short!) and took me 18:06…and I had about 50 seconds on the next women. I hopped on my bike and took off…right behind the lead police motorcycles…and right next to the NBC video motorcycle:)!
At mile 8 (I know the exact mile because they had signs marking every mile) I was passed…and then again a few minutes later…and then again a few minutes later. But when I was passed by Emma Snowsill and Laura Bennett, I was able to up my pace a little bit and keep them in sight. It’s hard for me to keep a strong pace on my own, but when I have motivation right in front of me, it’s like a carrot on a stick (or chocolate bar on a stick for me…that will get me to do anything:)!
So I had a great ride…the roads were a bit rough and bumpy…but it was mostly flat with a couple of rolling hills. I got into T2 in 6th place (only women…no men had caught up yet) and headed out on the run for 2 loops around the lake (5k each loop). I think the temperature was getting up into the 90s at this point so I made sure to get lots of water and ice at every water station…most of the water went over my head and the ice went in my suit to keep my body temperature down. And then I started counting the women (and now the men) that went by. I knew that the prize money went 12 places deep for each gender so once I was the 13th woman I turned my effort down a notch so that I would not have another ‘meltdown’ during the race. I was pretty close to going right past my ‘red line’ and into the ‘hospital bed’…so I am very proud of myself for finally recognizing that feeling and controlling it!
My Dad was all over the course cheering and waving a “GO SARA” sign…I tried to give a smile every time I went by. I was able to have a big smile at the finish line, even though I was near the end of the pros. I gave a big congratulations to Sarah Haskins (my roommate) who was the 4th woman…Sam McGlone (training partner) was 3rd woman…Hunter Kemper (swimming buddy) was 1st overall and took home the BIG check and the Toyota Rav-4!
After a bit of relaxing time in the shade with yummy food from the hospitality tent, my Dad and I rode the buses back to the hotel. He had a flight home later that night so we watched a movie and got some lunch in Downtown Minneapolis. I packed up my bike and my bags in preparation for a 5am departure from the hotel to catch the Light-Rail to the airport. It was easy and quick to travel on the train at 5am…I got to the airport with plenty of time to check in, get some breakfast, board the plane, and then fall asleep until we got back to Colorado!

#24

There are officially 20 men and 20 women that will be on the starting line tomorrow morning. I will be wearing the yellow cap in the water and have a pink #24 on the bike and run.
This morning I rode the bus (chartered bus for all the pros) down to the race site to check everything out. Sam McGlone was cool and showed me a lot of the technical parts of the bike course. We didn’t want to ride the whole course so we checked out our bikes and gearing on the first few miles of the course. It’s pretty flat, couple of rolling hill, and the roads are a bit imperfect.
When we got back to the transition area I changed into some running gear and jogged on the race course for about 15 minutes. My legs felt good and I didn’t want to run too much because it was really hot and I’ll be sweating enough tomorrow morning!
To cool off, I threw on my swim suit and checked out the swimming course. The buoys were already placed (and I like how far from shore they appear to be:) so I swam around a few. The lake is a bit murky…not sure I want to drink much of it on race day!!
When we got back to the hotel, Sam, Leanda, Rina, and I went to grab some lunch in the mall. A Subway sandwich was my choice, followed by a hot cocoa. I went back to the hotel to buy 24 hours of Internet access so I could check emails and stuff and wait for my Dad’s flight to arrive.
Around 4pm, my Dad got to the hotel room and we did a bit of last minute bike tuning. My gears are always a bit ‘off’ when I put race wheels on…thanks to Dad, they are actually shifting the way I ask them too:)! We relaxed a bit in the room and chatted…its nice to see a family member again…before heading out to find a place for dinner. We ended up at Chevy’s…Fresh Mex type of restaurant. It was delicious and just what my belly wanted…no ice cream for dessert this time, a biscotti cookie and a hot cocoa instead!
Now I’m back in the hotel room with a full belly, a bit of nerves, and a lot of pre-race packing to take care of! I’m looking forward to a fun race in the morning and I can’t wait tell the race story afterwards!:)

What is With This Race??

Everything about this race has a ‘last minute’ feel! The invitation, the race entry, the plane ticket, the bike building…and now the packing. It’s 11pm on Wednesday night and I started packing about 30 minutes ago. But I’ve got it all finished…even the bike is in my bike box!
And that was hard…the time trial bars do not want to cooperate and fit in a friendly way like my drop bars. I’m hoping that the airplane people are not extremely violent and when I open my box in Minnesota tomorrow everything is still in one piece. Because earlier today, it was NOT in one piece…I decided to stop by the bike shop and cut down my fork and my aero bars before my 1 hour training ride. So there I am in the shop, with my bike upside down on the stand, with a hacksaw in my hand, sawing away at my fork and wondering why it’s taking so long to get through a bit of carbon. Then I look through the open end of the fork and realize that I’m actually sawing right through the metal headset bolt that holds the fork on the bike! Oh boy…talk about a stressful moment, I’m thinking my bike is completely unrideable…but then the local mechanic told me I can get a replacement piece at a local bike shop!
So my bike ride was postponed while I threw my bike in my car and rushed over to Colorado Cyclist…fortunately, they kindly helped me with a replacement part and I was ready to ride (except that the rain clouds had just showed up…so more postponement!).
Eventually, I got all my training finished which puts me to this moment in time…where I’ve just finished packing up for the Life Time Fitness Triathlon this weekend! I get in tomorrow around 1:30pm…just enough time to take the train to the hotel, hopefully get a run or swim to loosen up, and then rush to the pro meeting at 3:30pm. This is an important meeting because they officially announce the “Equalizer” time…how much time the men start after the women start! Last year is was 9 minutes and 32 seconds…but a man won the race. So this year I think they will be giving the women more of a head start…or so I hope:)!
My dad is making a short trip up to Minnesota on Friday to watch me race on Saturday morning! It will be fun to have a family cheering section at the race…only other race my family has seen this year was St. Anthony’s (because they were racing in the relay:). I hope that I have a good race to justify him coming all the way from Florida to watch…but if I don’t, I’ve got a bag of stuff that he needs to take home to my mom, so that will justify the trip too:) Haha…just kidding, I can’t wait to see my Dad…only the second time this year I’ve seen him…I barely recognize him in the Grand Canyon photo below (but then again, he’s got 4 days of scruff on his face!).
I’m going to ‘hold my breath’ on the hotel in Minnesota having free internet…so maybe I’ll have updates for you before I get back to COS! See you at the next post.

With his new, waterproof, digital camera...my Dad took a photo while floating down the LCR (Little Colorado River). The other people are the passengers on the river trip.

My Dad (l) and Irv (r) on the Grand Canyon/Colorado River in June.

Weekend of Racing

Check out the results from the Edmonton World Cup triathlon this morning…Team USA had great results with a silver and bronze in the men’s race!!
The Atlanta IronKids race went smooth this morning…results aren’t online yet but should be up ASAP. All the kids were so cute and so excited to be racing. The weather was cooperative and stayed cool well past 9am. I had a great time cheering on the racers, helping out where I was needed, and handing out the awards. Of course I did a bit of heavy lifting at the end of the day to help the strong guys load the truck…but, come on, I’ve got to stay away from injuries and stuff…Life Time Fitness Triathlon is 6 days away!
The August edition of Triathlete Magazine is out…check out page 82 for the IronKids article with some cool photos and quotes from me and Neil (the big man in charge)! And if that wasn’t exciting enough, the race recaps from St. Anthony’s and Escape from Alcatraz are in the same magazine and I got my name mentioned in both:)! Someone pinch me!
My late night flight from ATL back to COS was uneventful…I arrived at 8:30pm, opened a bit of snail mail, checked my email, wrote this blog…and now I’m ready for a nice sleep-in. I’ve had 3 days of early alarms for the IronKids race. I was awake early on Friday for my flight to Atlanta, awake early on Saturday for my workouts before setting up the race site, and awake early on Sunday for the actual race.
My brother raced the third Beaches Fine Arts Triathlon on Saturday morning…unfortunately, the surf in the ocean was too big so they decided to cancel the swim and make the race a duathlon. No swim is always a bummer for the McLarty family…but he had two great runs and a solid bike ride to finish in 3rd place!
It was a weekend of racing for everyone except me…but I’ll have my chance next weekend in Minneapolis, MN…more about that later:)

I think this is during the second run of the duathlon on Saturday morning...Dustin finished 3rd overall!! GOOD JOB BUDDY!:)

That's me and Sarah Haskins working together on the bike...roommates!!

Photos are up from Pro Nationals...I like this one of me across the finish line:)

Moon = Cheese

It appears that the moon is made of cheese...because I'm in my hotel room in Atlanta and freely connected to the internet!! Thanks Holiday Inn Express:)
My flight this morning was uneventful. I slept for about 2 hours and then enjoyed the personal TVs in every seat on the Song/Delta plane. It's been a while since I've flown anything but United...I'm thinking they need personal TVs in every seat!!
I was picked up at the airport by David, another IronKids volunteer and we drove about 30 minutes outside of the big city to the small town of Alpharetta, GA where the race site is located.
It was sooo nice to see Jnet again (she's the creator of the IronKids races!!)...she was waiting at the hotel and then we went to lunch at Atlanta Bread Company (fitting for the city we are right outside of).
With a full belly and plenty of energy from sitting all morning, I spent the next two hours stuffing race bags...it was an assembly line of volunteers putting all the race numbers, pins, t-shirts, and schwag into each racer's goodie bag.
The pool was right next door and I tried to get in for a swim workout...but the pool was going to close in 10 minutes at 5pm. Fortunately, it's going to open back up at 7:15pm...so that's where I'll be for about an hour tonight.
A lot of my teammates from the OTC departed yesterday or early this morning for the World Cup this weekend in Edmonton, Canada...Jasmine, Hunter, Joe, Brian, Haven, etc. They are all going to kick butt in the race because we've all been rocking at training sessions! You can watch the race live online at ITU's website. They race on Sunday...the women start at 1:15pm (Mountain Time) and the men start at 3:30pm.

Another 4:45am shuttle to the airport awaits me in the morning! Have I mentioned that I’m flying from COS to ATL tomorrow? It’s IRONKIDS time!
Since I’m going to be at the Atlanta IronKids race all weekend…today I had a lot of things to-do before departure.
This morning I had a hard run workout on the treadmill…yeah, I know, that sounds boring and typical. But today I ran on the treadmill in the sports-med center and was hooked up to ‘supplemental O2’ via a mask on my face! It was CRAZY…but really easy to run fast when I’m breathing a mixture of 60% oxygen instead of the normal 21% of planet Earth. The mask was a bit hard to get used to but once I was running fast (and I really was running fast:) it was not what I was thinking about. The workout with O2 was 5 x 1K at race pace with 90 seconds between each. We’ll be doing more workouts with extra O¬2 in the future because it simulates running at sea level (which is where most of our races are located).
After the run I grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading out for a long spin on my bike. I had to increase the length of today’s bike ride because I’m going to be without my bike for the whole weekend. No worries…I’ll be doing all my swim and running workouts in the Atlanta heat:)
I was soaked when I got off my bike…not because it rained…but because I thought it might rain so I dressed for that kind of weather and then it DIDN’T rain, instead it got really warm out so I was sweating like crazy! I’ve been here for a year and a half and I still can’t remember that Colorado Springs weather is one of the most unpredictable things in the world!!
As soon as I was off my bike I was taking parts off it and putting them onto my Kuota frame…first the seat, then the pedals, and the wheels. If you’ve read the ‘last minute’ post below you will know that I’ve got a really important non-drafting race coming up. So I took my old road frame…and lots of time-trial parts that I’ve gotten over time…down to one of the local bike shops for them to re-cable into a TT bike. It’s not going to be cheap when I pick up my bike on Monday…I had to purchase bar-end-shifters but at least I had all the other parts already, I’ll just have to swallow the mechanic’s charges with a grain of salt.
At 5:15 I went to the OTC yoga class for a bit of relaxation and stretching…since one of the Syncro Swimming teams was also at yoga, it wasn’t as easy as I hoped it would be. Those girls are VERY flexible which made the yoga teacher go into all the complicated moves to challenge them…and left me struggling to just attempt some of the poses!
After a quick dinner I went over to the pool building to lecture at the USAT Level 1 coaching clinic. I gave the same lecture as the June clinic and then went up to the pool to practice drills and open water techniques. Its pretty cool to be asked to share my open water knowledge with the future coaches of this sport!
Now I’ve finally got a few minutes to chill in front of the computer and catch up on emails, blogs, and e-bay items before leaving for the weekend. Maybe the hotel will have internet connection (and maybe the moon is made of cheese) and I’ll be able to post some photos from IronKids!

Dustin will be returning to Jacksonville, FL this weekend to defend his title at the Beaches Fine Arts Series Triathlon...he was First Overall at the June 10th race. Good Luck to Duster Buster on Saturday morning!

Talk About a LAST MINUTE Invitation

It was never in my tentative race schedule…I hadn’t even considered racing…I didn’t even apply for a slot on the start line…
But yesterday I got an invitation to the LIFETIME FITNESS TRIATHLON on July 15th!!
This race has the largest prize money of ANY triathlon in the world, it’s non-drafting on the bike, and it’s invite-only for 22 professional men and 22 professional women…but the best part is that the women RACE the men (and visa-versa)!!!
It’s called the Equalizer…the men start about 9 – 10 minutes after the women start and who ever gets to the finish line first is the winner! This will be the 5th annual race and last year was the first time that a man finished first.
But…more to the point…Am I going to race?!? OF COURSE I AM!!
The race is next Saturday (July 15th) and I bought a plane ticket yesterday…surprisingly, it wasn’t too expensive. The race organizers take care of hotel (hopefully, at least…there might be a problem since I’m such a ‘last-minute’ entry). I’m flying to Minneapolis, Minnesota on Thursday…arriving just in time for the pre-race meeting at 3:30pm. After the meeting there is a fancy dinner (so at least one meal is provided:)
On Friday I’ll get to see the course because they have a bus to drive us to the location. I’ll probably do a little loosen-up swim/bike/run and then spend the rest of the day relaxing.
Saturday morning the women start at 8:00am…they only tell us how much time is between the men and women at the pre-race meeting:).
So, basically, my MAIN goal at this race is…follow along closely here…exit the water more than the ‘equalizer’ time before the first man. Did you understand that? I want to PUT time on the men during the swim leg of the race…a.k.a. “have a faster swim time”!!
Check out the website for tons of information on the race…unfortunately with my last-minute-entry I’m not on the start list. But also note the TV broadcast on NBC on July 29th at 3:30pm (Central Standard Time…which is the zone between Florida time and Colorado time…I guess it’s Minnesota time).

The 4th of July & "Bourgee Night"

Fitness, Food, Friends, Fun, and Fireworks are on my agenda tomorrow! First I’ve got to do the training, and then I can do the celebrating!
I think I’ve got a bit of running and swimming on my Training Peaks workout schedule. I’ll be getting an early start on it all because I’m headed to a friend’s house for a 4th of July party! After having a good time at the party (which starts at 1pm!) everyone is going to hike up into the hills and have a sweet view of the Colorado Springs fireworks! Last year I watched them from the Velodrome…about ¼ mile away from the launch site…so it will be cool to watch from a different location.
I just got back to my room from a 2 hour baking spree at Jess’s house (she’s got a kitchen and I’ve got a need to bake…it’s a good combination!). I looked at some recipes online, took what I like about a few different ideas, and then made my own cookie creation…since I tasted them at every stage of the baking process, I can tell you that the cookies are YUMMY:)! So the 55 cookies that ended up not eaten, broken, or messy are going with me to the party tomorrow...if that’s not encouragement for everyone to show up, I don’t know what is.
The energy for that 2 hour baking session is a result of today’s workout schedule: DAY OFF…and that’s basically what I did: took the day off to recover from yesterday:)!
I’ll start at the beginning of Sunday…7am alarm and 7:15am breakfast. By 8am I was out the door and on my bike for an interval session at the Garden of the Gods. It went really well and I was happy with how I felt on the bike. I was back home around 10am for some rest and relaxation. After watching the finish of Stage 1 of the Tour de France and seeing George Hincapie take the yellow jersey, I headed into the heat of the day for a short (but fast) run on the trails. That workout was also very successful and I was encouraged by how strong I felt on the 1 minute efforts at 5k pace. After the training, it was time to start preparing for the long awaited, planned, and anticipated ‘bourgee night’!!!
Bourgee has been shortened from the word bourgeois…and the event was created by our “official-unofficial-party-planners-of-the-OTC”: Jasmine and Timmy. The motivation was a reason to get dressed up and take downtown COS by storm! After an hour of prep work (aka…getting dressed and doing hair and makeup) we started with our 6pm reservations at ‘The Famous Steakhouse’. I’ve been craving a good steak for ages…and this was the place to go! I had an amazing filet mignon and a sample of the 4 family-style sides that we ordered as a group: creamed spinach, onion rings, Portobello mushrooms, and green beans…and then I had NO more room for food!! It was absolutely delicious but only the start to ‘bourgee night’. Part number two was a trip to ‘Poor Richards’ (a coffee shop in Downtown COS) for a warm drink (hot chocolate for me) to settle dinner.
The group involved in ‘bourgee night’ got much bigger at part number three: a fun little place called ‘15C’. It was not very crowded when we arrived so our huge party (mainly triathletes and their dates or significant others) took over the back room…we pushed all the tables together and even created our own dance floor in the empty spots!
As the hours got later, the group of 20+ started getting smaller. But there were a few hard core ‘bourgee’ people that were determined to keep going…of course I was one of them! We made a decision to move on to part number four: ’The Ritz’ for some good music and lots of dancing. Although there were only 7 of the original ‘bourgee nighters’ left, we managed to take over the stage as our personal dance floor…I think I should be able to record 2 hours of dancing into my workout log because it was HARD work!
All that dancing left us tired…but more importantly…HUNGRY! What could possibly be open and serving food at this time?? A trip to DENNY’S made part number five!!! Since it was officially Monday morning…what could be more perfect than a Grand Slam from Denny’s?!?! Pancakes, eggs, and some strips of meat gave the remaining 5 ‘bourgee nighters’ the energy to go on! And go on we did…stop number six was over to the Dunkin’ Donuts (also open 24/7) for a few Boston Crèmes and one blueberry cake (my favorite)! Now that I was on the LARGEST sugar rush of my life…as official driver of ‘bourgee night’, I made part number seven a trip back to the OTC to get some sleep!
I’m already looking forward to the next ‘bourgee night’ and whatever Jasmine and Timmy plan next! But first I’ve got the 4th of July party and 55 cookies to get rid of (which shouldn’t be hard…any takers??).

How Past Meetings Relate to Future Travels

I can’t believe that almost 1 week has passed since my last race…time really does fly when you are having fun…or in my case: time really does fly when you are really tired because as soon as we got home Coach Cliff threw some seriously intense training sessions at us!
I had a fun swim on Monday morning at the Belmont pool in Long Beach…Barb, Laura, Greg, Sarah, and I loosened up for about an hour…3000 yards. We had to get in and out of the pool really early because the National Teams Summit started at 9am in the conference room back at the Hyatt. They had some yummy breakfast foods out for us and as soon as all the National team members had shown up, the meeting was in session.
We talked about a lot of things pertaining to USA Triathlon elite/pros…future meetings…early season and pre-world champs training camps in different parts of the world (I was ALL for the training camp in Australia in January)…creating an online forum for everyone to communicate easily and quickly…qualifying criteria for the Pan Am Games in 2007 and the Olympics in 2008…how the National teams are structured and how they are funded. We also got an in-depth presentation about the World Championships for this year in Switzerland…where the USA team hotel is located, how the course is designed, when we travel, and lot of cool info about the Air Force base in Germany that will be the location of the pre-world champs training base.
I’m really excited to be able to use the training base in Germany…they’ve got great training facilities and it’s in a really beautiful countryside. I will be flying to Europe in early August (after the Continental Cup in Connecticut on the 5th) and dropping a bit of luggage off in my room on the base. Then I’m going to fly to the World Cup in Hungary on the 13th. After Hungary, I’ll be staying at the training base right until I take a short flight to Switzerland…there’s about 3 weeks between the two events and it will be much easier than flying all the way back to the USA between!
The U23 World Champ race is on September 3rd, the men start at 6am, the women start at 8:30am, and the elite men and women race later in the day. We must be out of our rooms at the chateau in Switzerland on the day after the race…but I’ve yet to make my final decision about where I head next. I am entered in the Germany World Cup race on the next weekend (6 days later)…I can travel back to the training base in Sembach, Germany for a few days and then travel again to Hamburg, Germany for the race…or I can go straight to Hamburg…decisions, decisions, decisions!
One thing that’s for sure is that traveling in Europe is going to be easy and cheap compared to traveling in the USA…plane tickets are cheap from one country to another…or you can even take a train! Another thing that’s going to be easy is mail…the Air Force base we are staying on is American so mailing packages and letters is just like mailing it in the USA (except is traveling all the way to and from Germany).
All of these plans are so far in the future…I’ve still got a few races in North America to complete before I even start making Europe travel plans! I’m officially on the starting list for my second World Cup on July 23rd in Corner Brook, Canada. My travel plans are all set (expensive little plane ticket to this island on the East Coast!) and I’m waiting to hear back from the race organizers about a home-stay for the weekend.
Now that I’ve entertained you with my travel plans for the next 4 months…its time to start thinking about my next workout. I’m heading to the treadmill in 15 minutes for a 70 minute INSANE running workout…if you never hear from me again, you’ll know where my heart exploded…probably around number 5 of 8 times: 3 minutes at 10k pace with 2 minutes at ½ marathon pace!!!