JCC Race Report and random pictures

So, my goodness its been awhile since I last blogged, life can get so crazy and sometimes I'm not so sure people want to here my daily humdrumming. Anyhoo, I recently raced a sprint triathlon in Marblehead, Mass called the JCC sprint Tri, I haven't raced this course for over 4 years because its been getting increasingly hard to get into. Over the last few years I've raced Sudbury instead but this year this race fit my schedule better then Sudbury and I got off the wait list. My training goal is Ironman in August so there hasn't been any speed work or track work or any real zone 2 or 3 efforts so it was going to be what it was going to be on Sunday. I felt good, I felt confident, I really wasn't nervous I was just excited to finally race after 6 weeks and that the weather was going to be nice. I found out I was ranked #13 in the pool swim, it was crazy that I was ranked that high, I'm normally up there but not that high and I knew that I was the only female in the top 13 that wasn't a high school or middle school swimmer so my chances of leading on the bike and run were high, so a little pressure was there. The trouble with a pool swim triathlon is that someone who starts 5 minutes or 30 minutes behind you can still win the race, you could even finish first coming across the finish line and not be the winner so its a bit frustrating. Anyhoo, the swim went fine, I did end up passing #7 who clearly didn't put the correct time in, I definitely didn't all out sprint my swim, I felt really great coming out of the water, I probably averaged 1:24's and should of averaged 1:20's but the fact that I wasn't breathing that hard was a good thing and I knew I was going into the bike in a better position than I have had in the past. To get to the timing mat you have to get out of the pool climb two sets of stairs go through the entry hallway, out the door and outside, in total it could take anywhere from 20-45 seconds depending, I got to my bike with the bike shoes clipped in, my T time was quick because I decided to mount my bike this way. The place to mount the bike was ridiculous, you had to run down the hill out onto the street and then go about 30 yards on the street before you could mount, again, the time it takes to do this is crazy, so when you look at times you need to understand that all of our transtion times are in our individual splits so they are not accurate. The bike went by well, I was the leading woman, only 2 men passed me and I past most of the people in front of me except for about 5 people on the course. I believe I averaged somewhere around 21.4mph for the hilly ride and I was happy with that. Again, I feel looking back that I could of pushed harder but for some reason I was riding conservatively. I was able to come into the crazy long transtion with my feet out of my shoes and ready to dismount, no issues here so my transition was fairely quick. I felt good coming off the bike and ran the best I could on the day, it probably was around 7:30's but in hindsight if I had another women there or someone pushing me to go faster I think I could of. At mile 3 I was finally passed by the eventual winner, Kristin Lamb, man it would of been nice to cross the finish line as the first woman ( I've never done that before) knowing full well I wasn't going to win but crossing first would of been cool. But we had .5 miles to go. She looked great and strong and I knew she was having a great race. I finished well and I actually got 4th overall and 2nd in my age group. I actually placed 16th out of 200 male/female.

 My overall time of 1:02 was 5 minutes + faster than the last time I raced this course so I was happy with that but I do have to say I would like to go back next year and try to get close to 1 hour or even break 1hr if that is possible. Congratulations to all my friends who raced and who did well. Congrats to Kevin Reen the male overall winner, Vinny and Marty Miserendino who just crushed it ( after feasting at Maggiano's on friday night) and to my friends Christine, keri, meaghan and my new friend Kristin.

 I am currently training for my next 1/2 ironman in Hunter mountain, NY on June 10th, so long rides and runs are in the plan along with some hard pacing swims, so gooood on a lot of levels. After that I have an olympic in July and then IMMT in August. Today was a great day, my 2nd oldest turned 9 today, my little blondie I like to call him. My little Bill Murray everyone else likes to call him. He got his Leopard Gecko, his metal detector and a blue jay painting, he is a happy boy. He also got his pizza for dinner, what more can a boy want. I can't believe he's 9 but he is just the best and I love every minute of his existence.

 Anyhoo, I hope you like the random pictures, some are of the view of my house, Alex's birthday present and coachie stuck in the dog cage.

Vacation is over, tra la la la la

Its great to spend time with my kids but its also nice to be able to have time to yourself to do the things you need to do around the house, or other errands or workouts or whatever. Vacation time is always a challenge because my kids need to do lots of stuff, they can entertain themselves for short periods of time but otherwise are alway asking me for things to do for them or with them, they will constantly chat with me every 2 minutes until I drop what I'm doing and focus on them. I know its a great problem to have, healthy children who love you and want to spend time with you but I honestly feel that our kids today spend way too much time out of school, but thats a whole other blog post.

Anyway, I'm glad life will return back to "normal" tomorrow with all 4 kids back to school, I have lots of meetings this week, workouts, and house stuff to get done, I have a meet and greet and my house and lots of kids sports, it will be crazy busy but fun at the same time. Wish me luck.

Duel in the Pool Update: On Deck

Duel in the Pool Update: On Deck

Finishing my race schedule

Ok, so I finally was able to finish my race schedule to my coaches specific dates up until IM Mont Tremblant. The hardest was finding a 1/2 ironman that had a similar profile as mont tremblant on the specific date that coachie wanted me to find. Well, on June 10th in the Catskills on a very hard and hilly bike and run I found the, HITS series Hunter Mountain 1/2 ironman. Whats also cool is that they have multiple races throughout the weekend including a sprint, olympic, aqua bike, 1/2 ironman and a full ironman. I hadn't heard of the HITs series and have done some research and right now it doesn't look like there is a ton of participation yet in this new series and some people on slow twitch say this series might not last long but we'll see, Dave Scott is one of the race organizers so hopefully it will all work out. Anyway, its tough to find specific race distances on specific dates and add to that trying to coordinate with my husband and kids whats good for the family and not racing too much, etc... I also know that I need to find races a bit closer then Texas and the other races that were available that weekend were Kansas 70.3 and some other race far away. Well, financially I don't want to do that so Hunter Mountain here I come. It would of been cool to try to do Mooseman or Rev3 Quassy but they were the weekend before and that didn't fit. Good lord.

Anyhoo, 1 sprint, 1 half and 1 olympic distance race before Ironman. It seems a bit surreal about doing ironman again this year its been 2 years this July since Lake Placid, I am hoping for much better results, realistic results but better results. I think my mental framework is much better so my confidence in myself is better but at the end of the day its all about how to pace the bike and run the run, I just want to be able to run the run and feel good at the end ( well, as good as you can after completing 140.6 miles) I'm not looking for a Kona spot, I'm not expecting to place top 5 in my age group, what my goals are:

1. Execute my race plan, paces,watts, nutrition, mental
2. Run my own race, don't be intimidated by others and don't race someone else's race
3. Be proud of yourself for being able to do this
4. If able, get that HR up the last 6 miles and kick some ass.

Those are my goals right now, I may have some slight changes before the actual race but I think that sounds about right. We are 4 months out from Ironman and starting tomorrow after this recovery week starts my build to August. So, I would love to have friends join me on some rides and runs during the week, I definitely need some hilly rides and runs so bring it.

Texas 70.3 RR, motivation and some changes

Its the first time I've done an early 70.3 before so I was a bit nervous since most of my rides have been indoors, I didn't question whether I would finish my training has been solid a/w my numbers it was just I haven't raced since September and I felt a bit rusty. I flew out on Friday to Houston and got in at 11:30am and arrived in Galveston around 1pm, very non eventful. It was great to meet up with my friends later that evening and my roommate Nancy Thompson ( aka Nanamil). It was actually weird having a day and half before I raced, it actually felt too long, I usually arrive the day before, race the next and leave that same day. Anyhoo, the expo was neat, registration was simple because I was early, the only thing I took note of was the humidity and heat.

Saturday morning was great, big breakfast with all the Qt2 peeps at Denny's, I've never eaten that much and seeing what PW can put down in one sitting just astonished me, holy crap. It was so nice to be part of a team and to meet up with these guys before I raced, the nerves were just not there as they would be because I felt so comfortable and happy that I had friends with me the entire time. The day went by without a hitch except at bike check in I realized my power tap wasn't reading my watts, I was able to get it to work for everything else but not watts. I am getting extremely frustrated with all the battery changes I have to do in my hubs and with the unit head, I am seriously considering switching to either an SRM or something else, whatever is less cumbersome and more reliable and doesn't cost me loads of money. Anyhoo, I knew I had to race with HR guidelines anyway so I just shrugged it off, oh well.

I slept pretty well that night, much better than normal, Nan and I got up around 5am got ourselves ready and headed to the race site. Unfortunately we had to park a gazillion miles away but whatever it was dark out and not too hot yet. I felt so bad for Charlie he was already sweating with beads of it dropping from his nose, I was hoping he wasn't going to have a long day.
We got there and went to transition, man it was pack, 2900 people, it was crazy, I've 10 of these and never this big. Transition was huge and were I was locate really sucked for bike in and out but swim in and run out were fine. It was an easy set up, making friends with the girls around me, I didn't fret too much, I've done the work, it was going to what it was this day. I had 1 hr and 20 minutes from the pro start to hang out ( which really sucked) I was in wave 18 out of 20, really? This is getting out of control. Anyway, I waited for awhile at the swim finish so I could see the first pro's coming out of the water ( especially Lance- which was so cool, he was right there in the first pack) and then I headed over to the swim start.

SWIM: jump off pier into water, in water start, temp around 71- felt warmer, against current for about 1/2 mile and some choppiness in the middle, a bit long I feel. I usually plop myself right in the front, making sure I gauge where the buoys are and the other girls, it was a fine swim, nothing spectacular, starting in wave 18 made for a ton of traffic throughout the entire swim, people just dead weight in the water basically stopped, it was crazy, I think I went through at least 3 waves of caps, I felt in control, could of pushed harder I don't know why, it was the most relaxed 1.2mile swim I've done, no issues with breathing, legs felt good, I was coasting. I got out and saw 32:20 on my watch- SUCK, SUCK, SUCK, but oh well, wave 18, first swim of the season, no legs or bodies to help me draft, it was fine.

T1- fine a bit long to get out so time was long, no issues, just needed to get my HR down which took over 40 minutes on the bike.

BIKE: In just a few words: flat, windy, hot, boring. It took over 40 minutes for me to get my HR down to where I needed to be to ride the bike, in other words one of the reasons for my slow first loop, it didn't help that we had a nasty headwind but I was concerned about the HR so I didn't push and just made sure I got in all my nutrition. Coming back the tailwind was so nice, seeing, 22, 23, 24mph was great however every time I tried to push a harder gear my right groin and sitz bone really hurt. I must of changed position on my bike over 50 times during the race and was tremendously uncomfortable. I'm not sure if it was the seat, the fact I don't ride aero for 2 1/2 hours at a time, a combination of both but I'm certain that it absolutely affected my performance on the bike on my over ally performance. I will need to discuss with my bike guys to get it fixed, I do not want to be that uncomfortable again when I ride. I was also concerned how I was going to feel on the run so it messed with me for awhile before coming into T2. Nutrition spot on, however I did not have to pee until I got off my bike, weird.

T2- uneventful, legs felt good, my back needed a few minutes to straighten out but besides feeling the heat right away I felt fine. MY HR was already 160, 12 beat above where I was supposed to be so I was concerned.

RUN: flat, windy at times, boring, 3 loops, what can I say. My first loop I did pretty well, averaged around an 8:35, my HR was really high and all I wanted to do was stay consistent, what could I do to not collapse and walk, I slowed down a bit to bring my HR below 160 which landed me around 9:15's which i was able to hold for the rest of race. I was even able to get my HR back up to 163 by the last two miles which I was happy about. I took in everything at every water stop, tons of ice, powerade, I did my 2 GU's on the run, sponges, it was fine. My feet were wet and sloshy but were fine, tons of people were walking, I mean tons' it was crazy.

Anyhoo, 32.30 swim, 2:56 bike, 2:01 run, 5:36 overall time. 27th in AG in a very competitive field, it was nuts.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS RACE AND WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE:

1. I need to lose weight, between 5-10lbs. With the heat and the flat course being 140lbs was definitely at my disadvantage, I felt if I was a bit leaner I definitely could of tolerated the weather better and had a much better performance. I will make changes over the next few months to accomplish this ( I know I've said it before) but it was really clear to me over the weekend the changes I need make.

2. Nailing your nutrition is key. I had a similar race with same conditions in florida a few years back and it was a disaster and it took me several days to recover. My nutrition was spot on, I didn't cramp, I was feeling really good that night and even better on Monday morning. My run was consistent and it didn't crumble because of my nutrition and watching the HR.

3. This is my 3rd 1/2 with QT2 since starting with them and each one is getting faster by 10 minutes, 5:56, 5:46 and now 5:36. I keep learning from each race what I need to do to get better and the changes I need to make to make it happen and I will get there, its a process that will not take overnight and I'm fine with that.

4. Racing with a team is very important to me and being part of a group. It made a world of difference for me psychologically being supported the whole weekend and having my teammates with me during the race cheering for me on the course and just being out there. It was so awesome to see my coach several times on the course encouraging me and pushing for me, it really made a world of difference. So thank you.


Thank you to coach Pat, Jesse, Nan, Charlie, John, Keith, Mary, Molly, Cait, Tim, Mat, Andy, Jessie, Dave, Jennie, Rick, Guido, Jacqui and all the other QT2ers that were there this weekend. Thanks for the support, my new friendships and just a great overall learning experience for me. Lets have a great 2012 season.

A day in the life of a mom of 4 ( + puppy)

1. Wake up to daughter at 2am coughing in face- need to escort her back to bed, rub vicks vapor rub on her chest,cough medicine and restart humidifies

2. Go back to bed

3. Husband wakes up early and feels wife needs to know how beautiful it is out so wakes her up, I think it was before 6a, I guess time to get up

3a. Puppy up, needs to go out and pee and poop, mommies job, take plastic bag out to pick up shit

4. 2 loads laundry done, 5 beds made, 4 kids dressed, 7am

5. eggs and toast made for kids, fruit cut up, tea made for mom, time to get kids in car to go to school ( only 2 of them)

6. Drive 2 kids to school

7. Go to starbucks for 5k meeting with TriROK peeps and bring my two older sons who I bribe with scones and who read for pretty much the whole time ( love my boys) 1hr 45 minutes

8. Race to get to sons friends house to pick him up at 10:15am to drive to Hyde Park to go to SkyZone ( indoor trampoline place with 3D dodgeball) Drive takes over 1hr to get there, 3 boys fighting in car, almost killed them

9. Got to SkyZone at 11:50am signed in and jumped for 1 1/2 hours with the boys, cheered them on in Dodgeball

10. Rushed home to bring 8yr old son to therapy in Salem at 2:50pm, had cousin meet me at doctors office to pick up other 2 boys to bring to friends house. Had cousin pick up other two kids at school because I'm at meeting with son.

11. Have husband take 8 yr old home after therapy to get violin to go to lesson at 4:45p

12. I leave office to return rent a car to pick up my car of which needed 4 new tires, an alignment, inspection sticker and oil change ( UGG)

13. Get home at 5:45p to make dinner for 5 people, take the dog out, unpack 5 boxes of new pool furniture, change a lightbulb, feed the dog, cut the meat up for my kids and now sit down to write this blog at 7:49pm. You can guess that working out did not happen today and got moved to tomorrow which will start the whole process over again.

I need a beer.

Kids in Sports- So many questions

Ok, I have so many questions and finally have a few minutes to put some thoughts down on my blog. I would love anyones feedback but parents especially would be great.

So, I have 4 kids who are all very involved with sports, music, etc... Each child plays between 1-3 sports at any given time but typically each sport only takes up 2 days a week, sometimes 3. They are never forced to play but are highly encouraged to be active. When your kids are younger you have town soccer, t-ball, swim lessons, nothing too major and certainly nothing that takes up too much of your childs time. As your child gets older the committment to each sport especially if they love it and are good at it at the same time can increase. So whats the limit? 2 days a week, 3 days a week? At what age can your child decide that one sport is what they really want to do? Do you encourage your child to play a sport year round?

So these are some of my questions and here are some examples:

1. Oldest son currently plays club soccer which involves two practices a week and a game. We decided to not have him play town soccer because we didn't want him playing 5 days a week. Instead he plays basketball two days a week and he has piano lessons once a week. The question I have with regards to my 10 year old is that he is a very good soccer player and club requires you to play year round. You play fall/winter/spring with a 6 week break in the winter and then June-August off. My opinion is different then some people, I don't feel that my child is playing too much soccer, he loves being with his friends, he only plays 3 days a week and he is able to cross train with other sports. He loves soccer, he is injury free and with the continuity of playing consistently he has gotten so much better. Some peoples opinions are that we are getting are kids involved in year round sports too soon, increasing their risk of injury and burnout. I don't disagree with this statement but if you can control some aspect of your childs life, i.e., if he doesn't want to go one day he doesn't go, if he decides he wants to take a break you let him, etc... you allow the child to be part of the process of making the decision of playing their sports but at the same time making sure as a parent that you are making sure your child isn't overtraining, is getting proper coaching, fueling his or her body appropriately so that they can excel physically as well as mentally, I think this is fine.

I think what is also important is that you make sure that the child is doing what they want to do not what "the parent" wants them to do. The, " I am living through my childs life" comes to mind with a lot of people. I also feel that you support your child and make sure that your always positively reinforcing what they are doing will always be beneficial.

2. Scenario #2: young daughter- age of 7, is currently swimming on a club swim team, swims 1hr 2-3 times a week, usually 2 but if their is a meet coming up she will swim 3 times in that week. Her swimming is very periodized where she has her build weeks and her recovery weeks, she also plays club soccer 2-3 times a week and basketball once a week. Club swimming requires a year round committement with some time off during the winter and about a 5 week break at the end of July through till the beginning of the school year. My husband thinks that my daughter should take off the winter and just swim fall and spring. I understand where he is coming from but I also know how difficult it is on the body to build up so much fitness take off 3 months and then spend the rest of the next season rebuilding what you have lost. Now, that being said my daughter is only 7 and is not training for the olympics or anything but she is very good and she absolutely loves swimming with her friends. Whenever she needs a break I let her stay home, she has never asked to not go I usually have to be the one that calls her coach to tell her she is taking the day off, I know my daughter I want her to swim ( if she wants) for a long time, I don't want her to lose love of the sport.

So my questions are:

1 Should kids play year round sports, if so at what age is it appropriate?
2. Should kids play more than 1 sport at any given time?
3. At what age do you think its important for your child to consider specializing in a sport so they can focus on just 1 or 2?
4. If your child is really good at a sport and you know they could really do well do you encourage them in the sport, do you let them dictate to you what they want, do you allow them to just walk away if that is what you want?

We all want to do what's right for our children and fitness and activity is very important but what is the limit?