First Aid Classes

If you ever have a reason, big or small, for taking a simple first aid class…please TAKE IT! You never know when you will use something you learned in that class.
For me, it was last night in my hotel room that I was a ‘first responder’…basically the first person on the scene of a person with a medical emergency.
10 minutes after we turned off the light to go to sleep, I heard my roommate making some interesting sounds (kind of like sleep-talking). But when I called her name, she did not respond and the noises got stranger. I called her name louder and reached over to shake her when I felt the entire bed shaking. I leaped over, turned on the light, and was witness to the first real-life seizure that I have ever seen.
This was where the simple instructions they tell you in First Aid Class come right to the surface of your thoughts. Turn victim on their side, don’t put anything in their mouth, don’t hold them down…just make sure they are not hitting anything that could cause injury.
After I got over my own screaming…I was able to grab the bed-side-phone and try to reach some USAT staff doctors. Unfortunately, because I had been sick all day and my roommate had just arrived, we were the only two people who chose early sleep over a birthday dinner party. The hotel reception desk was the only answer I got and I yelled for a doctor and an ambulance.
In a few minutes, three hotel ‘managers’ arrived in the room and said a doctor/ambulance was on-its-way. I was still at my roommate’s side on her bed and was asked three times by one of the hotel staff “Did you take any drugs?” “What did you take?” “Are you sure?” It was very degrading and I was slightly humiliated to be in that situation and have to answer the same question multiple times!
I was still in a panic but managed to remember that I have a “world phone” (BIG thanks to my Dad for paying for this option) and I could call our team staff at the dinner party. When our trainer (also an EMT) answered her phone, I was able to get out one long sentence about what happened and what was going on before I broke down into sobs and she hung up to start sprinting back to the hotel. Within 5 minutes, six members of the Elite staff were coming down the fourth floor hallway toward our room and my ‘first responder’ duties were complete.
My adrenaline was pumping so high at that point (8:30pm) that I felt better than I had all day with my own illness issues (24 hours of food poisoning). Eventually, the ambulance arrived and they took my roommate to the local hospital. I returned to my room to calm down and try again to get to sleep.
Today…I am feeling 100% better and glad that I only had a 24 hour problem. I have plenty of time to recover before my race. Unfortunately, my roommate is not so lucky and remains in the hospital getting tests to try and find a reason for the random seizure. She was told that she is going to spend another night in the hospital and will not be cleared to race on Saturday afternoon.
In the end, the only thing I hope this blog post has accomplished is to encourage one reader to go take a simple First Aid Class. They are cheap, short, and obviously very, very, VERY useful!!

“Tri-ing Around the World”

This is my second report for USAT...I'm doing a daily journal for the website...read on to see what has been going on for the past couple of days!

August 30th, 2007 – Reporting from Hamburg, Germany
Lots of good things come in groups of three...triathlon for example, is a perfect paring of three sports. Peace, love, and happiness…planes, trains, and automobiles…peanut butter, jelly, and bread. And then there is the saying that bad things also come in groups of three. Yesterday, three members of the Elite team were victim to a blood clot, a seizure, and food poisoning. I took the latter upon myself and had one of the most miserable 24 hours of my life!
Fortunately, everyone has made it through the night and is recovering with plenty of time before the races. This is the first time that I have felt well enough to type a journal entry and I am happy to be reporting from the Team USA bike room where we have free internet set up.
Our hotel, the Grand Elysee, is beautiful and just down the road from the race course. All the American Elite, U23, and Junior competitors, coaches, and staff are staying here. We have a room for storing and working on our bikes. We have rental vans for transportation to the pools. We have a great network of people in place to ensure that each American athlete has the best race of their lives.
The first races of this World Championships are tomorrow…Under-23 men and women and Junior boys and girls. In the early morning and in-between the races, the bike course is going to be open for ‘training’. During these ‘training’ times, you will see the 5k bike loop filled with men and women from the elite race stretching their legs and familiarizing themselves with the 10+ turns on each loop.
The entire American Elite team is in town…Sarah Haskins, Margie Shapiro, and Julie Swail were the last women to arrive. Today, the final American men will be arriving for their race on Sunday afternoon. Matty Reed has been racing and training in Europe for over a month so he just took a train into the station down the street. Everyone else was privilege to one of the 10 hour red-eye flights from the States to Munich or Frankfurt.
The Hamburg Airport, our final destination, is also right down the road. I want to send a big Thank You to Katie Baker who can now do the drive from hotel to airport with her eyes closed after taking care of all the athlete and staff pick-ups. There were some extra trips to the airport thrown in because a few of the U23 athletes arrived sans bike boxes and luggage…the airline’s response was “We have NO clue where your bags are…but, we will keep you posted!”
With the opening ceremonies for these World Championships only a few hours away, we have our fingers crossed that we have seen the worst. This leaves us open for some amazing racing and results from all categories this weekend. We are counting on the American triathlon fans sending positive energy and good luck vibes across the pond. Thanks again for following our journey!

Last Minute Things

It's Monday morning...officially DAY 1 of 33 travel days before I get back to COS (today counts because I'm leaving at 2pm)!
Already this morning I have been to swim practice, ate breakfast, rode my bike, packed my bike and bike box, showered, put in a load of laundry, emailed my 'press release', and checked on my shuttle time to the airport. I've got my phone charging, my iPod has new songs, my laptop is charged, and my camera is packed.
I will probably go over my travel-check-list 10 more times before I can finally walk out the door. There might also be a bit of adjustments made to the clothes I already have packed. On my easy bike ride with Sarah H. this morning, she mentioned that the HIGH temperatures for our week in Hamburg will be between 63 and 65 degrees (with the lows in the 50s)! I need more long sleeves and pants to survive that weather!
Don't forget that I will be logging a daily journal entry for USA Triathlon's website...and it will probably double as my blog posts here (I can only type so much each day:). So if you want to read my babbles on a different web-page for once...go to the News section on USAT:).
**On a side note, my brother returned from Japan yesterday around noon. Unfortunately, I didn't know this and when I called him at 8:00pm, he was sound asleep and told me to call back tomorrow (today). I look forward to hearing his swim meet stories and what he thought about Japan. Since classes at UF started while he was overseas, he's probably got a lot of catching up to do outside of swimming...fortunately, he's a genius!
**As for my remaining family members...Mom and Dad are doing good. When I talked to them yesterday, they were celebrating the first rain at the house in over a month. Mom decided that her mood is effected by the color of the grass in the yard...the greener the grass, the happier she is:).

Sunday

Things I do on Sundays...
*visit the Post Secret Blog to see the new secrets posted every Sunday.
*my laundry...and today I filled 6 washers with clothes, towels, and sheets!
*print my training log for the upcoming week...and highlight each workout according to sport
*drive to Whole Foods to browse, shop, and snack instead of eating dinner here
*wake up at 6:45am (when my alarm usually goes off) and then roll over and sleep 3 more hours
*call home to check on my parents and talk about life, the universe, and everything
*watch a lot of bad television and rest my legs

Huge Start Lists

As of right now...I will be lining up with 77 other women on the starting line of the World Championships in Hamburg, Germany! There are 78 names on the most updated starting list. That will be the biggest field of competitors I have ever raced in an ITU race!
And then two weeks later, I will set another personal record by lining up with 84 other women on the start line in Beijing for the World Cup. The most updated start list for that race has 85 names.
On both lists, the USA is one of the rare countries that has the maximum of 6 women...Japan is the only other country with 6 women at World Champs and Beijing and Canada got 6 into Beijing. That is proof that we have a strong and deep group of American athletes representing the Red, White, and Blue! Go USA!

I'm In Triathlete Magazine!

For all the ridiculous articles that are usually in this magazine...I don't suggest getting coaching, training, nutrition, or racing advice out of a magazine and 90% of the articles cover IM and 1/2 IM races/athletes/products...there is actually something ITU/Olympic related! On page 82 of the September '07 edition of the magazine you can find a 4 page article profiling the top-5 American men and women heading into the final year of preparations.

On the men's side, we've got Fleischmann, Kemper, Potts, Reed, and Shoemaker. On the women's, we've got the three Sara(h)'s...Groff, Haskins, McLarty...Bennett and Swail. All ten of us also got a small action photo next to our one-paragraph bio.

Packing Has Begun

This is what I have in my bag so far...food for 2 breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for the time I am in Beijing before my race. Check out my new Hot Pot for cooking meals...I can make 'instant' anything. So you can see the pieces of the meals...oatmeal with soy protein powder and raisins for breakfast....instant noodles/rice/couscous with tofu or chicken for lunches and dinners. I've also got my peanut butter and honey to go on bread (can't be too hard to find) and my hot chocolate packets (can't go anywhere without my HC!).
All that is going in my luggage bag first because its going to be on the bottom, buried below everything else which I will be using during the three weeks of traveling leading up to Beijing. Next to go in my bag will be toiletries (shampoo, soap, toothbrush) and I've got to make sure that I have one-month's-worth of all those things.
On top off all that I will start packing my clothes, shoes, and other essentials. Our race suits, team shirts and sweatshirts have already been distributed so I will have a chance to wash them before traveling. My race suit is red and blue (USA colors) and I actually trained in it this morning during swim practice. Just as a precaution, I like to make sure there is nothing wrong, like a loose seam or suddenly the fabric disintegrates in the water...better here in COS than on the start line in Germany!
Other than spending about 30 minutes making an attempt to pack...I had very a relaxing Friday. We had to get up and swim this morning, but once that was accomplished, I took a friend out to lunch, went to a movie, got a massage, and watched another movie in my room. I saw The Nanny Diaries in the theater and watched 300 in my room. Tomorrow is one of our last big training days before we travel and taper. I'll be rolling my bike to the pool in the AM for a swim/bike brick session...probably a little lower intensity than when we are 4 weeks away from racing (I will be exactly one week from racing) but still a key session to remind the legs what it feels like to go from floating to pushing lots of watts!
Tomorrow I am setting a goal of accomplishing some more packing (by doing my laundry so I have some clean clothes to choose from) and starting to organize my bike box.

Freezing!

Where did this weather come from?!?
Two days ago I did my run workout inside on a treadmill so that I didn't melt in the afternoon heat.
Today I woke up for our outdoor swim practice and almost froze when I walked outside in shorts and a long sleeved shirt! It is overcast, windy and very chilly outside right now. I'm looking forward to bundling up for my next adventure outside today.
It seems like the Summer season is over and Fall is making it's first appearance here in COS...just in time for me to depart for a month! I will have to start looking up the predicted weather in Germany/S. Korea/Beijing/NY/FL for the days I will be there so I know what kind of clothes to pack.

Researching: Cheju, South Korea

I thought I would hop on my computer for a bit and find some information about the place I will be living and training for two weeks in September. One quick Google search for "Cheju" and I was overloaded with information.
I also opened up Google Earth and did a flyover from the USA to the island of Cheju (now known at Jeju). It's not part of the mainland of Korea, it's the really big island directly to the south of the Korean peninsula.

Actually, it isn't that far away from Ishigaki Island (part of Japan) where I have raced 2 World Cups.

Of course the best way to become acquainted with the place is with PHOTOS (and photos will also keep YOUR attention longer:)...so here are some good ones that I've found (yes, I just copied them off the Internet, GetOverIt:).

Pretty self-explanatory...a map of the island. In the middle of the island is a large mountain with a volcanic crater in the center (Mt. Halla). I don't know exactly where our accommodations and 'home base' is located on this map...I will figure that out when we arrive.

Obviously some pretty epic beaches line the shores. I hope we take full advantage of that blue water and do a LOT of open-water training!

All the websites talked about all the multitude of hiking trails on the island...this one climbs up to the top of the volcanic crater (an estimated 8 hour-round trip hike...probably won't see that on our training schedule).

There are a TON of beautiful waterfalls on this island. Some of them inland and some of them pour off the cliffs right into the ocean.

"The island turns yellow with forsythia and other flowers in the spring." I ripped that quote right off a travelers-guide website...but it describes this photo perfectly!

Passport Addition

I just got my passport back from the Chinese Embassy...actually, I got it back from the USAT staff that sent it to the embassy...but I now have my first Chinese Visa! It is good for multiple entries for one year starting on August 13th, 2007. That means I can go into the country next month for the World Cup Triathlon...and then if I make the 2008 Olympic Games, I can enter the country again on the same visa (as long as I get in before August 13th)!
I might have to reapply for another Visa before then because the Triathlon race is on the 18th and with the bad air quality, I probably won't want to be in the country for 5 days before the race...just like this year when I am arriving into Beijing less than 48 hours before the start of my race.

My big Chinese Visa...of course they HAVE to take up a WHOLE page of my passport that is already running low on blank pages! After this race season is over, and before we head 'down under', I am going to have to send it in and get some extra pages added.

Extra pages are one option, and getting a new passport is another option. My expiration date is fast approaching...at the end of 2009...my only concern is that they let me keep the old passport when I get a new one (there are a LOT of memories stamped into this one)!

When Do We Taper?!?

Ohhhhhhhhhh...I'm hurting! No rest for the weary though...it's still a tough week of training here in COS for everyone. We rocked a O2 session on the bike yesterday morning (hooked up to extra oxygen, simulating sea-level, working extra hard) and I was very happy with the wattage that I was able to hold on my efforts. After the bike we had a 'strength' oriented swim practice (meaning most of the swim involves some sort of pulling equipment).
At the end of the day I ventured outside into the ridiculous heat for my aerobic run...made it about 100 meters and then turned left into the gym to run on a treadmill. I think it was a smart decision because I perspired quite a bit inside even with the A/C and I also stayed out of the sun's brutal rays. Right after my run, I rinsed off in the Recovery Center and had a flushing and relaxing massage on my sore legs.
After a discussion with my massage therapist, we came to the conclusion that my calves and lower legs are going to take a few days to recover from all the standing and walking that I did in Atlanta during the IronKids race. I'm not used to being on my feet for so many hours in a day and my calves are revolting...with some rest, lots of liquids, and recovery massages, they should be back to normal before I head to Europe next week.
This morning we started off in the pool at 7:30am with a speed-oriented practice. I had some sub-30 second 50 freestyles off the blocks. That left me with a good feeling for the start-sprint at the big races. I like to break free and get far ahead of the pack ASAP! (My one bad race start in Hungary last year resulted in some unnecessary physical contact with other competitors in the water...and I don't EVER want to be in that position again!)
After swimming and a quick stop for breakfast, about 15 people met up for a group ride through the Broadmore area. Some light climbs, fast descents, big-house googling, and chatting for 90 minutes and then we were back at the OTC.
As for the remainder of today, I've got a long list of 'Things To Do' that I need to tackle. A lot of these things need to be completed before I leave on Monday...like ship my time-trial-style aero-bars to New York so that I don't have to carry them with me all the way around the world...restock my traveling-toiletries bag with lots of toothpaste, shampoo, etc. And as I write all that about what I have big plans to do, my post-lunch-food-coma is starting to kick and I am tending to lean towards taking a nap as my next big adventure.

DUSTIN UPDATE #3!!!!
By the way...Dustin swam the 400m IM yesterday in Japan. He had a great swim in the morning but just missed the 'A' Finals. He came back at night to swim in Lane 4 of the 'B' Final and retained his top seed by winning the heat. He was behind one guy going into the final 100 freestyle but he chased him down and got his hand on the wall first! 9th place and a time of 4:22!
For the third day of the meet, I found his name listed for the 200 freestyle and the 200 backstroke. Neither are his strongest events but if he keeps his focus and digs deep like he has been, we might be seeing some more swims in Finals! Good Luck Dustin!

Dustin Update 2

The alarm on my cell phone was set to ring at 6:45 this morning. Apparently, I didn't need to set it last night because I was woken up by a phone call from my brother in Japan at 6:27am!!
It was night time for him and he had just returned from swimming in Finals! I got a real quick summary of his day of swimming...our conversation was kept short because lots of other athletes were waiting to use the phone.
In the prelim heats, he swam best times in both his events...2:02 in the 200 Butterfly and 3:58 in the 400 Freestyle! Awesome! He was way outside of the top 16 in both events and was not expecting to swim in finals...but apparently there is a rule at this meet that only TWO athletes from each country can swim in each of the two heats at Finals. Sooooo...because Duster was the ONLY American male in the event, and there were lots of Australian, Japanese, and Polish swimmers ranked above him...the 16th slot was passed down to him and he got to swim again in the 'B' heat at night!
And he didn't disappoint...ANOTHER BEST TIME! 3:57 in the 400 meter Freestyle! That means he is almost lapping me now in a 400! I also discovered that Dustin has one of the FASTEST reaction times of all the men in his events. While it's a silly number that shows up on the results page now that swim meets have timing pads on the starting blocks (to catch false starts)...in the three events he did yesterday, he was the fastest 'reactor' in two and second fastest in the third! Maybe this means he should have been a SPRINTER?!? Hummmmm!!

IronKids Photos

First, thanks to Brian MacDonald for sending these photos he took of his daughter, Emily, at her first triathlon in Dacula last weekend!

This photo is of the pool deck where the kids hung out for hours in the sunshine waiting for their race to start!

I believe this is the group of 8-year-old-girls getting lined up for the swim start. (You can see me in the background, holding the microphone, standing against the building, squeezing into the two feet of shade that remained!)

This is Emily in her first triathlon...I think she likes it! That is EXACTLY what my bike looked like in my first triathlon...just switch the purple colors for a light blue and yellow color scheme...I probably even waved at mom and dad with the video camera:)!

This is the last 100 meters of the run before the FINISH! It was located on a football field so there was NO shade except for the large inflatable arches. There's the beautiful IronKids semi-truck in the background!

My Former Sport

WAY back, before I was a professional triathlete...I dabbled in the professional world of Open Water Swimming.
Of course, I decided to officially leave the sport 4 months before they announced that it was included in the 2008 Olympic Games...but that is a different conversation entirely.
I still have many friends and contacts in the OW world and one such person just created and launched this very informative website for people looking to educate themselves on the newest Olympic event: The 10K Open Water Swim.
Thanks to Steve Munatones for putting together a great visual slide show of how the 10K race "goes down". (You can even find ME in a few of the photos from 2005 World Champs in Montreal).

A "Dustin" Update

I got an email from my lil'bro who is over in CHIBA, JAPAN for a big international swim meet!
---------------------
Hi,
I made it fine. The flight was long but i brought two subs and my bag actually made it. The food is all buffet style in the very nice hotel we are at. The food is very good with plenty of choices. I have swum in the competition pool, it is very nice. A little shallow, but still feels fast, and the air is much better than nationals. We explored a mall near the hotel today and everything was basically American. Same stores with the same stuff inside. The town is very quiet, big buildings, but no one around like in Des Moines. Well I feel good, still trying to adjust to the time but everyone on the team is nice and it is good to have rex and clark here.
well I will try and write again tomorrow.
bye,
dustin
---------------------
Well, it's "tomorrow" and I haven't heard from him again. I'm sure he doesn't have a ton of time (or desire) to sit down at a computer and write to his family! But I did find a blog posted from one of the USA Swimming Staff members over in Japan with the team. Only from his post did I find out that the team was in TWO EARTHQUAKES on their 2nd and 3rd day of the trip! Only 4.5 and 4.3 on the scale...but still, I think that is Dustin's first time in an earthquake...and we don't hear ANYTHING from him!
Let us go back a few years...I could probably find it right here in my blog...to my first time at the OTC in Chula Vista in 2005. I was woken up in the middle of the night by a small earthquake...my first and only experience...and I IMMEDIATELY CALLED HOME! That was something that just HAD to be shared with the family (especially my dad who grew up in Cali and didn't care one bit for my exciting piece of news)!
Back to the "Dustin Update"...here is a link to the event info, team roster, and results for the Japan 2007 Swim Meet. Today he was entered in the 200 Fly, 400 Free...but that is all I can tell because all of the 'Results' pages won't open on my computer because they require Japanese formats (I'm not going searching for my Adobe installation CD!). I hope that USA Swimming will post an English version of the Day 1 results soon...or maybe an email will arrive from Dustin himself!

Pre-World Champs Video

Check out the video on the Hamburg World Champs web-page. It's just a short music montage with highlights from this past season of racing. Make sure you don't blink when "yours-truly" is running along the swim pontoon with Laura at the Des Moines World Cup!
Damn...I have to race all those fast and fit women next week in Hamburg! I am SOOO ready for this...especially after Sarah H-K told me that the weather in Hamburg has been very cool lately!

D*rrrrty South Weekend

I am back in Colorado and slowly recovering from an exhausting weekend in the greater-ATL area (Dacula, GA to be exact).
Friday afternoon I departed the COS airport on a non-stop Delta flight into ATL. I was so glad to just sit down and relax...my entire morning was spent training, eating, packing, and doing all sorts of other things that needed attention before I left for 48+ hours. The plane arrived a few minutes early (around 8:30pm) and I caught a ride to the IronKids Staff hotel where I promptly walked into my room, fell on the bed, and went to sleep.
On Saturday morning, I had an alarm go off at 5:45am...remember, that is 3:45am Colorado time!...so that I could get into my running gear, hop on the hotel treadmill, and pound out a 1 hour up-tempo run. Once I got started with the TV blaring music videos and the AC cranking out cool air...it was a great workout and I was so happy that I completed it!
The Hampton Inn had a large breakfast buffet that I took part in...had to restock energy from the run session and fuel up for the many hours of race-set-up to come. We all got to the YMCA/Park area around 9am and didn't leave until 6pm that evening! Basically, it was a 9 hour session in the heat, humidity, and sunshine that has been rocking ATL all summer. From 1-5pm we registered, checked-in, answered questions, and solved problems for over 350 race participants and their families (yes...there were over 350 kids in the race)!
By 7pm, all the IK staff was showered, changed and sitting in a restaurant for dinner. I chowed down on a steak and cooked veggies while chatting with my friends that I only see four or five times a year! We couldn't party long because everyone knew what times their alarms would be ringing the next morning.
On Sunday, there was NO time for me to complete a training session before reporting for work...we were at the race site by 6am and already there were families waiting to start setting up their race gear! At 8am, our first group of 14-year-old athletes were in the water...and by 11am, the final wave of 7-year-old athlete were out of the pool. I was on the pool deck with a microphone directing the kids, starting the heats, cheering on the athletes, and entertaining the crowds (at least I think I provided entertainment:). The awards ceremony took place around noon...not many families braved the heat long enough for the awards, but we appreciated the crowd we had. After a few more hours of tearing down the race site and packing up the semi-truck, we were released back to the hotel for a refreshing shower, lunch, a nap, packing and then departing for the airport.
My flight home departed at 8:30pm. I purchased some food to get me through the three hour dinner-time flight...but once I got on the plane, I fell fast asleep and didn't wake up until we landed in COS! I loaded my bags into my car, paid the three-day parking fee, and carefully made my way back to the OTC. I was in my room and asleep again within an hour! This morning I find that I am still on East-Coast time...awake and hungry around 6am and already blogging by 8am!

Going Shorter

After re-looking at my blog today...I have decided I need to go back to writing more posts, more often. When I leave things for too long, they build up into a ridiculously long post that is probably very daunting to read!
So, this is me getting back to the shorter versions, with like one topic per post (not 109). I'm really motivated on the computer right now...and I'm not even at my computer. I think that when I sit in the Athlete Center in the first floor of the OTC, there are less distractions than in my room. It's kind of like when I went to the study hall in college to get my work done because if I tried to do anything in my room, something would distract me. If I had homework to do...I would get more laundry washed and my room would be cleaner than any other time during the week:)
I am running on fumes right now...today was a BIG training day and I should be crashing soon. Even though I got to sleep in this morning, my first workout of the day was a big Brick session (bike/run) in the Sports Science Lab. I was hooked up to the O2 machine to simulate sea-level...this allows you to work harder, push more watts on the bike, run at a faster pace...but then it's harder to recover because once the oxygen mask is off...it's back to 6000 feet elevation where the air is rare! After a quick lunch, it was over to the pool for a 4000 meter swim workout (90% was pulling!). I can foresee myself sleeping very well tonight!

Lots Of Random Updates

My latest post-race story is up on the USA Triathlon website...check out the Elite Update from Longmont. Jason, the USAT media guy who is in charge of the website has just asked me if I want to keep a daily journal at the World Champs next month! Of course I said yes...I will probably be posting the exact same updates here on my blog (double duty:).
So I leave Colorado Springs on Monday, August 27th at 3:55pm. I fly through Denver and Frankfurt before arriving on Tuesday, August 28th at 1:55pm at my final destination: Hamburg, Germany. I guess I'll start the journal on either one of those days...it will mean that I have to lug my 40 pound laptop with me...but I think I was going to take it anyways (what else will there be to do in South Korea for 2 weeks?)!
Before heading "Around the World" (which is now officially abbreviated to 'AtW'), I have a quick trip to Atlanta this weekend...the second IronKids event of 2007 is taking place at 8:00am on Sunday morning at Dacula Park. I'm hopping on a plane on Friday afternoon...nonstop Delta flight right from COS to ATL. Same flight on Sunday night...nonstop back to the Springs.
Since I will not be taking my bike, training had to be adjusted for the weekend. My coach solved the problem by throwing some extra cycling in during the week (like today, for example) and just writing 3 running workouts for me on Saturday and Sunday! Yikes...normally I'm just exhausted from helping at the check-in and at the race...I'll make sure that I find some motivation to do my training sessions (especially in the heat and humidity that awaits in Atlanta)!
I just got off the phone with my brother...he's almost finished packing for his USA Swimming trip to Japan! He flies out of Gainesville tomorrow morning, into Chicago, and ending in Tokyo. Being the well seasoned world-traveler that I am (haha), I gave him all the advice that I could think of...like bring water bottles to stay hydrated on the plane...pack snack food in your checked baggage so that you don't starve (he's the pickiest eater EVER!)...don't exchange money, just withdraw from an ATM, you get the best rate...pack one of all the important things in your carry on (suit, goggles, cap, toothbrush). The list went on and I'm pretty sure that he stopped paying attention to me after a few minutes:).
He made this USA Swimming trip by swimming a qualifying time in the 400IM. I had to ask him if he was limited to just swimming that event or a full meet schedule. He answered that he's entered in his typical Big-6 (200 & 400 IM, 200 & 400 Free, 200 Fly and Back). That was almost my exact Big-6, just substitute the 800 Free for the 200 Back! It's like we are related or something:)!
As for the latest 'going-ons' here in the Springs...I was invited to a very nice dinner event on Monday night. It was hosted up at the beautiful Cheyenne Mountain Resort for The Hartford (an insurance company, I think) because they are one of the major Paralympic Sponsors. I represented the regular-Olympic athletes...hey, I wasn't complaining...all I had to do was 'schmooze' for 3 hours, eat some yummy and free food, and get paid some $$ for my time!
During the cocktail hour, we were entertained by the men's National Trampoline Team(apparently, this is a new Olympic Sport). They travel the country with some trampolines and put on shows with normal trampoline stunts and then add snowboards and snow skis to demonstrate the Winter sports. It was really cool to watch (they get HIGH) and I found out that one of the guys lives here at the OTC as well!
Other than that, I've just slowly been getting back into training after Sunday's race. Monday was a very light day with just a fun swim in the outdoor pool. On Tuesday it was back to a little bit of everything (swim, bike, run) and today I finally had to push the pace and get my heart-rate elevated during all three sessions. Swimming this morning was awesome...the main set was 8x300 where the first 4 were negative split (swim the second half faster than the first half) and the second 4 were just all fast. I was very pleased with the times I was holding in the pool...also happy with my 90 minute hilly bike ride in the middle of the day...and finished it off with a tough but achievable 60 minute treadmill run. Now I'm just working on recovery, rehydration, and relaxation!

Back To The Grind

The Longmont Triathlon was my main event for last weekend. It was nice and close, only a 1 hour and 45 minute drive north from Colorado Springs. I headed out on Saturday after morning swim practice and breakfast. I was in no rush because the pre-race meeting was at 2pm and that was my only mandatory event of the day.
I found Longmont, thanks to my MapQuest directions, drove the bike and run courses, attended the meeting, checked into my hotel, relaxed for an hour, and then braved the afternoon weather for some training. After cooling off and cleaning up, I headed out for a yummy pre-race pizza and ice cream dinner with some friends.
I booked a nice hotel online...big king bed, a suite, and a free breakfast buffet. One good thing about the afternoon race times are that you can eat a decent meal before racing. With the 6am race start...a 4am wake-up...it's more like a bowl of oatmeal for sustenance.
Back to the race... it was hot just like predicted. I had a lot of fun, survived the heat but dealt with a few mechanical issues. In the end, I was happy with my 5th place finish...right at the bottom of the prize money (so the weekend wasn't a complete waste:).
After the race I was picked for drug testing. Talk about 2 hours of thinking about peeing...and being so dehydrated that it's not even an option! So around 6pm, I was finally loading up my car and getting ready to make the drive home...after gassing up and grabbing some delicious gas-station snacks to keep me awake and alert! The traffic cooperated with me all they way back into COS...with all the construction going on in this town, we have come to accept going 25mph on the interstate as they rebuild 3 out of 4 of our bridges!
I pulled into the OTC, ran inside and took the world's fastest shower and change before heading back out again. This time I grabbed Tim and Brian and we met Cliff and Sam at our favorite restaurant for a celebration dinner (Sam won the half IronMan in Boulder that morning...we had something to celebrate:)! After an afternoon race, I am always too wired to go to sleep at a normal bed-time and this day was like all the others. After getting back from a yummy dinner at 10pm, I was out watching TV on the couch until midnight. I forced myself to crawl into bed...now is not a time to skimp on sleep and get sick...two weeks out from World Champs are crucial for 100% health!

The Great Colorado Triathlon Photos

Julie, Sarah, and me...first ones down to the starting line at the edge of the Union Reservoir Lake water. Check out my cool suit colors...this was the first race that I brought out the purple/yellow combo! They were 'light' colors to keep me cool in the hot sunshine.

And we're off! The swim was 2 laps around a 750 meter course.

I was the first one out of the water (surprise), followed closely by Sarah Haskins (see the pink cap next to my left leg). The lake was a nice cool temperature...and then we headed out into the heat of the day on our bikes and during the shade-less run!!

Here I am on my Litespeed...pedaling through a turn on the 'suburbia' course. Since you can't see anyone else in this photo, I assume it was taken during the 8 miles I rode alone with one of my brakes rubbing (I couldn't figure out WHY it was SO hard to ride fast)!

"Night With Lance" Photos

Yes, through the blurr and all the bright lights...that is Lance Armstrong at the podium talking about how important a bike was during his childhood!

The Triathlete Crew all dressed up for dinner at the Broadmore! Sam, Cliff, Me, Tim, and Jasmine in our swanky gear:)

Packing, Driving, Racing, Driving

I'm so excited for my first race in Colorado! I think this is the first race that I have ever driven to by-my-self (with out Mom or Dad doing the driving) and it is only 2 hours down the road from the Springs. Check out the Great Colorado Triathlon website...be warned, it is designed using some ancient software and not that organized (still, funny to see something so out-dated:). Today I'm going to do all my packing and race-organization. Tomorrow morning I'm going to hit the road after swim practice and breakfast. I only have to be in the town of Longmont by 2pm for the mandatory pre-race meeting at the YMCA. I've booked a room at some Marriott Suites (for a cheap price) for one night before the race. I've got my maps ready...I'm just looking for a travel buddy from here at the OTC that wants a ride...the obligation is that they have to keep me awake!
Did I forget to mention that last night...I SAW LANCE!?!? Yep, the dinner and talk was really nice. It was at the Broadmoor so the room was big and decorated, the food was nice (especially dessert), Chris Carmichael gave a nice introduction for Lance, and then Lance talked for about 15 minutes about how having a bike at a young age gave him the opportunity to do all the things he accomplished (like 7 Tour wins). Unfortunately, the place was sold out and packed with 800 people so Lance was kept in a VIP room until he gave his speech and then he headed out right afterwards. I was hoping to get an autograph or a photo, but I understand that he would have been completely MOBBED by the crowd if we had the opportunity.
I did ignore all the signs that said "no cameras" and snuck mine out to try and get a shot of Lance while he was talking. The photo didn't turn out the greatest, but I got lots of good mental photographs and now I can say I've seen him in the flesh!
I'm having a problem with my Blogger website...I can't up load Lance's photo. I will try to get it on here later...along with the group shot of my friends and I dressed up after the dinner.

Love That Oxygen!

This morning I was the first person scheduled for the bike-run Brick workout in the Sports Science Building. It was a tough session but since I was hooked up to 'sea-level' oxygen the whole time...it was very successful and I was happy with my wattage and speed! My brick officially started at 7:45am so I had to be awake, fed, dressed, and warmed up before that time. I had an alarm set for 6:30am but I was actually awake a few minutes before then so I turned it off and got up to eat some cereal. I packed a bag with some water bottles, towels, and a post-workout change of clothes and then I was off to the weight-room treadmills to get warmed up.
I set my bike up on the Computrainer around 7:30am, did some quick spin-ups to get my legs going and then it was right into the workout: 8 x 3 min efforts with 2 minutes easy on the bike...switch the oxygen tanks to the treadmill for 3 x 2K with 1 minute break and 1 x 1K fast to finish the workout!
As I was halfway through my run...Sarah H-K came in and started her warm up on the bike because she was starting her workout at 9:15am. I'm not sure who else has an O2 session today...but they will all be finished by 3pm at the latest because we have swim practice this afternoon at 3:30pm.
Speaking of SWIMMING...the Gator Swim Team is in town for the week to get some hard, high altitude training! I've seen both my brother's roommates (Grant and J.B.), Lochte is in town, Caroline is here...but I haven't run into Coach Troy yet! I'll probably see them all this afternoon when we are finishing our swim practice and the Gators are heading into the pool to start their second practice at 5pm. That will be after we have bust out a tough 4.5-5000 meter workout and they are probably preparing to swim between 8-10,000 meters:) Haha...I don't miss it ONE BIT!

Photos from IronKids

This was before the races started...inside the pool building...I'm giving the kids some pre-race advice and answering Katie Baker's (she was the race announcer) questions.

"Every Finisher Is A Winner!" I gave out the Bronze medals, Scott (from the Sara Lee company) gave the Silver and a loaf of IronKids Bread, and Hunter awarded the Gold medal and an autographed Wheaties Box!

The coolest request of the morning was to sign this kid's bike...I wrote "Go Fast" on the top tube!

The traditional post-race group photo under the finishing arches. This was the best view I've ever seen at the finish of a triatlon...Pikes Peak was right through the arches!

2 McLarty's On 2 National Teams!

Congratulations go to my lil'bro, DUSTIN, for making his first USA Swimming National Championships Final in the 400 IM on Wednesday night! He qualified in 8th place and won his first National medal, a 7th Place, in the evening swim! He was in Lane 8 and closing fast in the last 100m on the guy in Lane 7...but got out touched for 6th place by 4-100ths! (that's like a fingernail!)
Now, the story gets even more exciting! Based off his time in the finals swim (a new personal best-time, by the way) Dustin was invited onto the USA Swimming team going test the pre-Beijing Olympics training camp in Singapore and then compete at the Grand Prix Meet in Japan! So he had a big decision to make...the USA Swim trip leaves on the 16th. Dustin is scheduled to be in the middle of Grand Canyon on that day (his 8-day GCE trip departs civilization on the 11th).
Without a second of hesitation, he announced that it looks like he needs to find a replacement Swamper for the GCE trip because he's going to be training and heading to JAPAN to swim!! I'm so proud of Dustin...he straight-up earned this opportunity through hard work during the swim practices all summer and a little bit of 'guts' when he was chasing the 6th place guy in the pool (because that's how he made the cut-off time by less than one-tenth of a second)!!
On the other hand, that same day that Dustin was tearing up the 400 IM, my Mom was getting ready to depart civilization for her 8-day GCE trip. If no replacement is found for Dustin's Swamper position, my mom will have one day between her current trip before heading back out to the Canyon to fill in for Dustin!! What a hard decision! 16 straight days on THE River...too bad I've got my own National Team competition approaching:)!!
Speaking of my National Team Trip...I just purchased the most expensive thing I have ever personally put on a credit card! Yesterday I happily gave my MasterCard number to the United Travel Agent who proceeded to charge me $4074.22 for my "Around the World Ticket!" It's officially booked...I'm traveling for 1 month and 1 day (August 27th to September 28th). I will compete in 3 triathlons during the trip (World Champs, Beijing World Cup, Westchester). I will land in 4 countries (Germany, South Korea, China, and the USA).
Although I fly out of COS, my ticket ends in Denver because I threw an extra spurt from New York to Florida on the ticket (didn't cost me ANY thing!) and I had one segment too many in the USA to make it back to COS. The travel agent offered me one solution: purchase a $400 ticket from Denver to the Springs...are you SERIOUS?!? That's a 17 minute flight...I wouldn't pay $40 to fly that...so hopefully I can find a friend that is willing to make a few $$ and drive my car to the airport and pick me up:)!! (There are also plenty of COS-DEN shuttle companies that I could take as well).
More on this "Around the World Trip" as it gets closer...I've actually just got a flight itinerary for a trip before that one. The next IronKids race is in Atlanta on August 19th...I'm flying down to ATL on Friday night (the 17th) and back to the Springs on Sunday night (the 19th). Just a quick jaunt across the country...but for a great cause, of course! Thanks Neil, J-Net, Tom and Sara Lee for letting me be a part of this great event series!

I'm Gonna See Lance!!

Just faxed in my information to get a seat at the "Kids on Bikes" Benefit Dinner on August 9th! I'm so excited! I've even got some friends that are also attending...my coach, Cliff, Sam McGlone, and Jasmine and the Haskins-Korteums are still deciding! Now I've got to go find something nice to wear...oh boy, shopping trip!
Dustin is at Summer Nationals this week in Indy...he called me yesterday after he time-trialed the 200 Fly with a new best time and another Olympic Trials qualifying time: 2:03! Almost as fast as my best 200 Free time! Today he swam the prelims of the 400 IM, seeded 9th and moved up one spot to 8th so he's swimming in Lane 8 in the A Final tonight! I wanted to call him when I saw the results on line but I was pretty sure that I would interrupt his mid-day nap (not a good thing).
I'm currently on the phone with a travel agent at the USOC travel desk trying to figure out my first "Around the World Ticket"! I've got to book something for this big trip coming up and I have been told that this is the best way to go (rather than individual segments). So from COS I'll go to Hamburg, from Hamburg to South Korea, from S. Korea to Beijing, from Beijing over to New York, maybe throw in a surprise visit to Florida, and then finally make my way back to COS! She keeps putting me on hold because there are so many restrictions and rules for the ticket...I want to make sure it's perfect before I shell out the $$ for this trip!
This morning we had an awesomely hard swim practice and a short break before heading out for a group bike ride. The Rudy Project (one of my sponsors) crew stopped by to organize a photo shoot of the team in their gear. We had the photographer leaning out the side of his car next to us for most of the ride. Since we chose to ride through the Garden of the Gods, I'm sure some of the photos are going to be gorgeous. After the ride I grabbed some lunch and took a shower, I headed back down for the final part of the photo shoot...the Casual Wear:) Six of us modeled some of Rudy's new line of casual glasses around the OTC...just laughing and being care-free...it was hilarious! Maybe I'll make it into the '08 catalogue, how fun!
So, I am now off the phone with the travel agent...I have a 6-stop ticket being processed...I'll get an email copy of the itinerary to check everything over...and then it looks like I'm set for three races and one stop home, all on one ticket!