EPIC RIDE II--or really we should call it the Epic Weekend!

Alright, I am tired of waiting for other people to send me pictures so I am going to knock this post out and I will have the pictures on a later post. The weather in Texas has been spectacular the last week or so. For Epic Ride I we had cool morning temps in the 50's with highs in the 70's. It has warmed up over the past week and now the lows are in the 60's and the highs are in the 80's. So as many of you who have been commenting on your blogs that spring has finally arrived in your area of the country, Texas is finishing up spring and we are rolling into summer very quickly.

The weekend started off with a BANG on Friday evening. We headed to Memorial Park for Transition Training. I have a nifty transition bike rack and we set that up along with a BIKE IN/BIKE OUT dismount line and a bunch of cones. There had been some rain earlier in the day but the sun came out in the afternoon. My goofy gang got their wetsuits on and started splashing around in the puddles. For their T! practice, they all dropped to the ground and did 20 push-ups and then stood up and spun around in a circle 5-6 times before running (stumbling) to the bike rack while stripping their wetsuits. They had to run their bike to the mount line and hop on for a 1/2 mile loop where some of them practiced starting out with their shoes already clipped to the bike. Then they zoomed in, hopped off for T2 and racked the bike and took off for a 1/4 mile run. They ran through that drill 3 times. They got really good about setting up their transition area and getting in and out fast. A few of us hit Cafe Express for some post practice food.

The next morning, a large group of us drove up to Montgomery, TX for a 36 mile bike ride and a 4 mile run. I had a blogger meet-up with Greyhound before his meet-up with the Montgomery Co. constable. The ride went well. My "back of the pack" gals all managed to stay together and my "front of the pack guys" ended up missing a turn and put in a few extra miles. I had the SAG drivers pull in a few gals that were done because their knees told them so and we talked again about looking at their fit. I love these gals for what they are doing, but I cannot understand why they won't let me raise their saddle up when it desperately needs to be raised. I know they they like the "comfort" of being able to put their feet on the ground when they come to a stop, but hey, they are supposed to come off of the saddle! O.K. enough of Coach's grumbling. Well after the SAG took care of everyone, I got to crank out my legs by myself to get back to the start!!! I was rewarded for hanging with my tri-chicas. I hit some hills hard and just enjoyed the smell of the honeysuckle and the warmth of the sun on my arms and legs. I met up with Ryan a.k.a. "Freaking Fast" on his way back out to catch some extra miles. He turned around and rode with me and we got a chance to chat. We saw Lauren getting some more miles in and we saw Greyhound on his quest for 100 miles.

There had not been many cars out that morning, but just as we realized that there was a black Lincoln Navigator gunning for us from behind, it was time to get out of the way. I usually will pick it up and sprint up ahead of the person I am riding with if I am in the middle of the road. Well, that position was where Ryan was and he decided instead to drop back and fall in behind me. I could hear the engine of the SUV and then I felt Ryan's front wheel rub my back wheel. It was more than just a rub. It was hard enough that it made me yell "F--K" and really work hard to regain my balance to not go down. I heard Ryan yell out "$#*!" and I heard him go down hard. I stopped as quickly as I could at the side of the road without skidding out on my wheels or Look clips to see the look on the woman's face in the passenger side seat of the SUV. She had a look of horror on her face and was looking out the side window and at me and then at her husband/partner/driver. Did he stop to render aid??? NO! He kept driving!!! I saw Ryan pull himself out of the ditch and check the bike. It looked like he took the worst of the fall, but there were no broken bones, just bad road rash and bloody cuts. We got back on the road and made it in the last 3 miles and I dove into my car for the new First Aid kit I had bought the night before. Norma who had her crash a few weeks ago and I went to work on Ryan as he started changing out of his tri shorts and into running shorts. He was on a lot of adrenalin and he wanted to go and get the run in!!! He was more concerned that his awesome tattoo on his shoulder was messed up and bleeding. the elastic on the liner of his running shorts was laying right over the huge road rash on his right hip and I was trying to get him to put anti-bacterial gunk on it before I taped on a huge dressing on it. I was trying not to get too much tape on the road rash but that meant that I ended up placing my hands and fingers in places that if he were not injured would have been deemed questionable. It is a good thing I know Ryan pretty good. Anyone else and it would have been very awkward.

So the group went out for their run and "Super Fast" Terry did two loops on the 4 mile out and back. I told him he did not have to do extra credit. Every one was getting used to the heat on the run. After we loaded things up, Terry, Louis, the kid and I stopped off and got some lunch at a good BBQ place. It was a good day. I had to get home to finish picking stuff up and do the last walk through the house before El Esposo came home from Venezuela. The house was good, all I need to do was get myself cleaned up. El Esposo was understanding enough to agree to let me go out and ride again on Sunday morning since I have IM Switzerland 70.3 in 5 weeks! All I had to do was be home by the time he had to go back to the airport and head to Mexico.

There were supposed to be a few of us, but it turned out to be just me and Terry. We met up at the Academy and drove out to Chappell Hill. This is one of my favorite rides. The last time I was out there, I had a horrible ride and bagged it after 11 miles because of low back and hip pain and junk in my shoulder that was robbing me of any power I could muster. I had more fun riding SAG with Ryan that day and taking pictures. This Sunday it was different. I was wanting to see what I could I do. I hoped that I wasn't bringing on BAD MOJO by wearing my Clearwater IM 70.3 World Championship Tri Top. It had crossed my mind that I would get passed up and the dudes would be thinking "how the hell did she qualify to go to the Worlds???" I was thinking positively and wanted to see what my legs had in them. Terry rolled out of town and the hills started right away. It was a little cool and I could tell that Terry was not totally comfortable on the downhills yet. My aerobar bottle was slipping around so I pulled over to re-adjust it and I let Terry get ahead. It also gave me a chance to watch how he was working the gears on the climbs and use my Coach Eye. He looked like he was getting the hang of using his gears so I cruised by him and took the lead again. I did not have to wait but only a few seconds for him to roll up at the intersections. It gave me a chance to grab fluids and shed layers.

When we rolled into Independence, TX we stopped at a little store to use the facilities. We saw some roadies that we had seen earlier in Chappell Hill who had left before we had. We got a chance to peel more layers off and gel up. Here is where the unveiling of the World Championship Tri Top happened. I was feeling a little obvious and I hate that feeling. I still don't feel fast and I don't want to do any false advertising that I might be, but that I am really just a poser. Another group of three tri guys and a gal rolled up and the gal took every one's eyes off of me when she stripped down to just her Nike tropical print bra top and her tri shorts to show off her tan stomach. Yes Terry, I know you were looking. :0) They rolled out before we did but it did not take long for us to roll up on them a few miles down the road. They had stopped near the bottom of hill and in the middle of the road. WTF!!! You see us coming, get over and get out of the middle of the road!

I asked if they were ok and got the thumbs up and I proceeded to power to the top of the hill and wait for Terry. All of sudden we had the road all to our selves. I took the opportunity to work the headwind and the hills to see what I could do. It felt good! I was cranking! When I hit the intersection about 6 miles down the road I had to wait a bit for Terry. I felt a little bad that I had dropped him way back. I secretly wanted to smoke those cats we passed on the road and that chick bearing her belly ring. I never saw them again, HA!!!

I let Terry choose to go right for nasty climbs or to go left for less nasty climbs. We went left and I gave him some on the bike coaching about how to work the hills and reassured him that the more he got out and rode the hills the easier it would get and it would become second nature. But as with everything, it takes time and it requires patience. We saw some amazing patches of bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush. The last 7 miles into Chappell Hill are peppered with some darn tough climbs that can take you out of the saddle and make you drop to the small chain ring. My chain had been jumping around a lot so I kept playing around with the gears. it was in these last 7 miles that the thought of Terry's idea of going for a run when we finished the ride was sounding like a sucker punch to the gut. We made it in and Terry thought better of the run. Whew! I saw that we finished the ride in enough time for me to get home in time that the kid was not by himself for more than 10 minutes or so.

I dropped Terry off so he could go meet up with a bunch of the other TNT gang for an open water swim and I went to pick up the kid and take him to El Esposo's company picnic where they have a bunch of fun stuff for the kids. It was a great training weekend not only for the TEAM, but for me as well.

Tomorrow is another training day and then the much awaited for Crawfish Boil at Louis and Angela's casa.

I will update that and another TNT Fundraiser that Erich did on Thursday night as well in the next post. Until then, I wish you all warm tailwinds and sunny skies!

Have a great weekend!

Liz

NOW SHOWING--EXCLUSIVE PREMIER!!!

Ok, yes I do have to get up the Epic Ride II post but I am waiting for pictures.

In the meantime, I would like to welcome my TNT Bud Terry to Bloggerville! He is a very cool cat and I am sure that he has been lurking around on some of your blogs reading about all of your interesting adventures and about Steve's Shaving Tips!

Hop on over to his page and give him a shout out!

Have a great day ninos y ninas!

Liz

Epic Ride I

I am not sure if I have been busy or lazy this week. I have been busy and I have gotten a lot of training in, but then I have been lazy and had my butt glued in front of the TV for two nights watching my "Guilty Pleasure" Dancing With the Stars. Yes, I know, a hard core tri chick like me who abhors make-up, high heels, and sequins should be able to resist the hip swivels of the Cha Cha and the bare chest of Christian de la Fuente. BUT NO!!! I must have more Jason Taylor and Christian de la Fuente in bum hugging pants!!!

Wait, I was supposed to be talking about last weekend's Epic Ride after the Blue Bell 10K. Sorry for getting side tracked. So last Saturday morning, I had my TEAM out there in Brenham, TX getting it done and looking good doing it. I made a special purchase of a pair of "Fast Shorts" earlier in the week and had worn them for a training run to see how they would do. I would rename my "Fast Shorts" to "Smokin' HOT Shorts".

The guy handing out awards took a painfully long time, so we did not get out on the road until 2 FRICKIN' HOURS after I had wanted to get going. I had one of those gut feelings that I needed to work as a SAG driver rather than ride with the TEAM. That gut feeling proved to be correct. Everyone did a great job, but the winds were crazy and we have an new expecting mommy in our group that I just found out about and I did have to provide SAG for her as well as make several quick pull overs on the shoulder to keep the inside of my Honda Element barf free. The combination of the chip seal, the hills, and the wind made this ride extra challenging. There were more people who needed the SAG on the way back. One of my TEAM is 72 year old John. John ran a 1:06 10K that morning and after laboring 18 miles on his hybrid bike, decided to call it a day. What an AWESOME job, John! Anna is a returning Alumni TEAM member and I was so proud of her hanging with the fast guys up near the front. She is proud of herself as well since she really never considered herself to be an athlete. Notice that cool yellow Trek Hilo she is riding. That is one of the ponies from Coach Liz's bike stable that she is riding. Hey, all my bikes need love even if they cannot get it from me. Drew had his longest ride and actually put more miles on his bike on that ride than the bikes total number of miles it had on it since he bought it. Skylar put in Bonus Miles and rode past the turn into the school parking lot where we were parked and his sister Heather had to go pick him up 3 miles down the road. He was too exhausted to ride back 3 miles.

It was a great breakthrough workout for this TEAM. On Saturday, we have Epic Ride II with more hills, chip seal, and probably wind for another 40 miles plus a 4 mile run tacked on. I promise this time to make sure to get pictures of the wildflowers.

Have a great training weekend!

Liz

WARNING!!!

Don't go to bed with wet hair after taking a shower to wash off your running funk!!!

You end up with hair that looks like the Memorex Guy or Wolverine from the X-Men.

Blue Bell 10K

Our day started out good and early at 5:45 am in the parking lot of Academy and we made a caravan up to Brenham, TX. When we got out of the car, the weather was windy and colder than the weather in Houston. We went to register and then stuck around the field house to keep warm. It was a little awful to peel off the clothing to walk up the hill about a quarter of a mile to the start. What I knew was that the cool temps and wind would feel great on the run. As soon as they stick pictures from the event up, I will post them here.

I had a great run and experienced my FIRST runner's high. At first I thought it was the "I'm pushing too hard" tingly cheeks feeling, but then this wave of relaxation and almost euphoria washed all over me at mile 4 after an uphill. It was freaking awesome and I ran past a bunch of people on the way back in to the high school. I was pleased with my finish. "Fast" Mauri, "Super Fast" Terry, and "Freaking Fast" Ryan were all cheering Coach on at the finish line. We had a great showing at the event! There were 20 Team in Training people out at the race. The draw is all the FREE Blue Bell Ice Cream you can eat at the finish. The only bad part of the event was that the finish times were screwed up and the guy handing out the awards screwed up several times.

We had 4 in the gang net a top 3 Age Group Finish!!! "Fast" Mauri got first in her age group. Not surprising since she has run the Boston Marathon. "Super Fast" Terry snagged second place in his age group and has earned the nick-name "Number 2". "Freaking Fast" Ryan was far and away the first place winner in his age group with a 38 minute 10K. Jarntip was able to get third place in her age group as well.

More pictures on the bike ride that followed after I get back from work.

Have a great day!

Liz

Bummer!

Well, not only did I not get a lottery slot, but my interview for the 70.3 race was not on the broadcast. I was not watching the broadcast because I was on my way home from SAGing in a bunch of my tri guys and gals after a really windy ride.

Sorry for all the hype, but I guess I ended up not being that interesting and ended up on the cutting room floor. I am now free to choose any race I want to for the fall and stay only slightly interesting with my training and racing.

Good news though, I had four of my TNT tri group out of 20 who ran the Blue Bell 10K, finish in the top 3 in their age group!!!

I will post pictures tomorrow and give the lowdown on the bike ride that followed the run.

I'm off to bed for a well deserved night of sleep.

Hasta Luego,

Liz

OMG!!!

When you tune in to NBC on Saturday, 5 pm EST, 4 pm CST, (and west coast I have no idea what time it will air) you will get to see the broadcast of the 2007 Ford Ironman 70.3 World Championship Race.

But this is the really interesting part that I just found out...

They are going to sneak peak the winners of the 2008 Ironman World Championship lottery!!! I am frickin' nervous. Why am I so darn nervous about this? I do have my name in the pot twice, but so do hundreds or better yet thousands of others. I have not put anything on my race calendar past the Switzerland 70.3 because I have always though, "What if I win that Kona slot? I am going to have to seriously train for that for 6 months and it is going to cost me a bundle." My husband might not be too happy that I would win a slot, but being on the slow side, this the only way that this chick is ever going to get to go to Kona unless I just stay in triathlon until I am as old as Sister Madonna Buder and pray really hard that the other fast chicks in my age group give up the sport sometime in their 50's and 60's.

So now I get to be good and nervous for the next 3 days...

Liz

$#!^% OUCH!!!

As you can see from the angry red patches on my back, there were some things that I was allergic to on today's 80 prick allergy test. Were they kind enough to tell me what I was allergic to??? NOPE. I have my second round of allergy testing on Thursday where they inject a small amount of the stuff that makes me itch and scratch under my skin with a needle to make a wheal or raised bump. Oh yeah, don't scratch.

Have a scratch-free day!

Liz

Spring Cleaning

Well, since last weekend was race weekend, this was a really low volume week for me. I have been trying to figure out what to do with a whole bunch of free time and only me and the kid in the house. It hit me like a ton of old magazines and clothes I have not worn in over a year...

SPRING CLEANING!!!

So far I have been to the recycling bins at the school to unload three laundry baskets full of old magazines that I will never look at again, but in the past I thought that I might just do that. There must have been 4 years of Bicycling magazine, a couple of years of Texas Monthly and Lifetime Fitness' Experience Life Magazine, a year of House Beautiful and Popular Mechanics, and odds and ends of Women's Health and Consumer Reports. Dumping all of that stuff into the recycling dumpster was kind of fun.

I took a huge load of clothes out of my closet to the Goodwill store front. My closet looks a little bare right now. Since I work in technical clothing every day, the need for dress/street clothing goes WAY down. I must have gotten rid of 8 sweaters, 4 or 5 skirts, 5 or 6 dresses, a blazer, at least 25 button down shirts and tops, a couple of fleece jackets and pull-overs, several sweat shirts, and a bunch of 5K and event t-shirts that really held no meaning for me. There was a lot of other stuff as well such as tank tops, hats and scarves, and clothes that still had the tags on them because they were too big or I had found a hole in it and I was too lazy to take it back to Marshall's.

I got a good start on my bathroom but I have yet to finish it. I cleaned out all the drawers and tossed out a mess of make-up that I never wear. I can't really wear the stuff when I am working as a personal trainer, and then I just forget to put it on. So, into the trash it went. I started cleaning out the cabinet above the laundry hamper. I had a bunch of lotions, perfumes, and other stuff that had been my mother's and when she passed away almost 6 years ago, I had cleaned out the bathroom at the house for my Dad when he was at work one day. Most of the stuff was new or barely used and I had never used it. Well today I was able to part with it and it all went into the trash except for the tiny perfume bottles from Paris that my Mother's friend who lives in France would bring back from trips for her. I am dreading it, but tomorrow I have to clean the tub and tile. The reason I am dreading it is because it is a huge Jacuzzi tub that basically a whole pre-school class could fit in. Seriously, in time crunches, there have been three people comfortably in there for a shower. So take your standard tub and raise it to the 4th power and that is the tub that I have to tackle. I am not environmentally friendly enough to wash my $2.99 Ikea plastic curtain liner. I am just going to hang a new one and try to listen for the far off screams of Al Gore. Sorry for increasing my carbon footprint there Al.

I have started looking at the pantry in the kitchen but I have to finish my bathroom and bedroom first. I really want to pare down to the bare bones so that it looks like a nice hotel room. I am finally going to frame and hang those wonderful French Cycling Posters from the 30's that one of my friends gave me for my birthday a few years ago. I love how these decorating magazines give you hints like, angle a mirror in the corner of the room to make the space look bigger and to provide some "wink wink" interest. Keep the lighting low and only use 60 watt or lower bulbs in the lamps. Banish the television from the room and pets as well. I guess these people don't live like the rest of us, HA! Well, Oprah's decorator, I don't have the TV in the room, but one whole wall is a closet with 4 huge sliding mirrors for doors. That will up the kink factor! Now, if I could just get my road bike out of the room...maybe the EPX would feel more at home down in the family room with the Kuota.

One room at a time. I will clean up my act. I will make my house look like real people do not live in it.

Monday is a whole lot of fun with getting my back poked with 80 to 100 different things that I might be allergic to at the Allergist's office. I will give an update.

Also!!! Set your DVR or TiVo for Saturday afternoon. NBC will be broadcasting their coverage of the Ironman 70.3 World Championship Race and I am one of the featured athletes! I am sure that they will edit out the entire interview so all I really say is something on the level of "I like dolphins" or something nice and cheesy like that. I will get all the specifics out in the next post.

Have a great day kids!

Liz

Lone Star 1/2 IM: Coach Liz's Race

The post you have all been waiting for...to poop on! Sorry, I have this thing for Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.

O.K., I was up at 4:30 am and I had to get in some food and get dressed. The rest of the crew at the Beach House was still asleep and the gang racing the 1/4 IM race were getting up at 5:30. I had 2 bananas and a Power Bar Nut Naturals Bar which is glutin-free and corn free. I had some juice as well. I filled my Gel-Bot Bottles with Clif Shot and was almost ready. I got my kid up and got him dressed and then loaded the bike in the car. I had to get the kid to the Moody Garden's Kid's Camp-Day 2 by 5:45.

With the kid succesfully dropped off, I headed to body marking and to get my transition area set up. I was in my own world with my iPod on blaring Beyonce's Naughty Girl and Public Enemy into my head. These two songs would help me out later in the day. Bloger Jane had her bike on the other side of the rack from mine and I wished her good luck with the dog bite on her leg. I made my way up to one of the areas I knew had flush potties and there was no line! SCORE!!! After that I started to get the wetsuit on. I saw Greyhound and said hi to him. He is looking fit and greyt. One of my gals that I am coaching found me and I was glad I found her. I asked her to hold on to a bag for me that contained my flip-flops and most importantly my Proventil inhaler. This is a new pre-race thingy that the Allergist wanted me to use. I had taken my anti-histamin and the decongestant, but I was willing to try the inhaler to see if it would work. Missy was glad to see her coach nervous before the swim. Really I was nervous because I had a ways to walk to the pier and I could not remember what time I was starting. I took a Clif Shot and got going to the pier.

Once I got to the pier, I found Kevin who takes my indoor cycling class. He was ready to go and I wished him luck. I found some of my other HRTC gals and soon it was time to take a 7 ft jump off the pier and into the water. The conditions were cloudy and almost foggy. I was glad that I had choosen the clear goggles. When the gun went off, I headed out but I had the hardest time finding the buoys to sight on. I felt really slow on the swim, but I was getting it done. There was quite a bit of chop on the long stretch of the back side. Once on the way back in I had a huge paddle wheel boat to sight on near the finish.

On the way to T1, I had a smoking fast wetsuit removal by the wetsuit strippers. I dashed to my bike which was easy to find and then it was out on to the bike course.

Once out on the bike and after I got my feet into my shoes, I realized that I had forgotten to attached the wires to my SRM. CRAP! I pulled over hooked that baby up and got going again. Once up onto the Seawall I realized that it was going to be a crosswind kind of day. Basically that means that there was not going to be anything easy about the bike. On the way out through the fog to the first loop turn around I was hauling 20 to 21 mph and passing lots of people. I saw the pros heading back in. At the turn around, my speed dropped off about 1 to 1.5 mph. Two of my athletes I coach who are brother and sister found me along this stretch and cheered me on. That was great. On this part of the course back in to Moody Gardens, no one passed me. YES! Once I got back near transition and the turn around for the second loop, lots of my peeps were cheering for me. That always raises my spirts. I yelled really loud for this guy to get out of my way and that I was passing on the left. I guess I did a good job of yelling at him because the spectators went nuts and the cowbells went wild. My inner bitch was coming out. Beyonce was singing in my head, "I'm feeling sexy, I want to hear you call my name..." OH YEAH!!! I saw Terry, my 2nd place First Timer on the way out on loop two handing out fluids at the Houston Racing Aid Station. I would be glad to see him in his pirate outfit later. The wind had picked up and loop two was slower. I could not complain though, I was going a lot faster than the year before when I had done this race. I wanted to finish the bike in under 3 hours, but I did not have an acurate time since I had to pull over to hook up the computer. Oh well, I would be really close. I had consumed 2 bottles of Accelerade, a Gel-Bot bottle of water and 2 Strawberry Clif Shots, a bag of Margarita Shot Blocks, and Clif Kids Fruit Twist and 6 Sports Leg caps.

T2 was funny, I almost lost control of my bike running it back to the rack and then when I grabbed someone's water bottle to give my feet a quick rinse, red Gatorade came out all over my toes. YUCK!!! I found some water and cleaned that up. With my shoes on, I grabbed my Fuel Belt and I ran out of there.

As soon as I got out of T2 and on the run course, I paused to activate my Polar R400 Foot Pod and I got moving. I wanted to run a consistant pace. The readout on the Polar shows me pace, time, and heart rate in that order. I never once looked at my heart rate. I went totally by how it felt or rate of perceived exhertion. I glanced at pace every once and a while. I saw the a--hole from last year who did not like a girl passing him on the bike only to come back and kick his butt on the run. Well, I passed him again on the run around mile 1.5 and I thought that he was trying to keep up with me because I heard foot steps shadowing me for a good 3/4ths of a mile. Turns out it was not him but someone else. HA!!! I watched the port-o-cans go by and thought about stopping, but realized that I really did not need to. On my other races when corn and wheat products had been in my diet, by the run I was looking desperately for the little blue outhouses. Not this time. It was hot on the run and the sun had come out. I was dumping water on my head and getting some of it down my mouth as well. I had Accererade on the Fuel Belt and the plan was to use one 10 oz. bottle per loop. When I ran past the Team in Training tent I got a huge reception with cheering and cowbells. I had some guy say that he was gonna stick with me for all the support that I was getting. As I headed to the back loop I saw more TNT peeps. One gal I know told me to get out of my zone. NO WAY! I was feeling good and feeling fast. Lots of my other athletes were out there cheering on Coach! I was headed back to see Terry and the rest of the HRTC pirate crew. On the way back in at mile 5 I saw Major A--hole and he was pretty far behind me. LOL, sucker!!! I checked my time as I was just before the half way mark and I did a double take when I saw 57 minutes. I went nuts and kept myself on track to have an awesome run. On the bike it was Naughty Girl, but on the run it was Public Enemy with How Low Can U Go?!? I kept up my pace and started asking the aid staions for ice to dump down my sports bra. I was in the ZONE and no one was going to kick me out of it. More love at the Team in Training tent as I ran by on loop two. As I was heading out to the back of the run course, the fast people were finished and cheering us on. I saw Kathleen in her pink race gear and she was helping cheer on the sidelines. More Accelerade and S-Caps went down the throat. I got to see Terry one last time on the run. Sorry for not being more annimated on the run Terry, I had my game day face on. The only thing that would have cracked it would have been seeing an aid station run by nude people. I told myself that I was not going to look at my time until I got right near the finish. I was soaking wet from all the water cups and sponges that I had poured and squeezed over my head and my shoes were making that slurpy sound. On the last 1/2 mile in, I was still feeling good and really consistant with my pace. I had only walked briefly to stick a bottle back in the Fuel Belt or to swig down some water without having it go up my nose. I checked my time and I gave out a shout: 1:58 and some change. I could not believe it. I was going to have an awesome 1/2 marathon time. Possibly my second fastest one. When I ran into the finisher's shute, I saw the time clock and knew that I had once again completed a sub six-hour 1/2 IM race. By how much I did not know but it was sweet!!!

Finish Time
5:49:25
A NEW PR!!!
Age Group Place/Gender Place
19/39 (4 of the top 10 gals in my AG) 61/177

Swim Time and Pace
42:30 2:12/M

T1
2:07

Bike Time and Pace
3;01:01 18.6 mph

T2
1:44

Run Time and Pace
2:02:00 9:19/mile
SECOND BEST 1/2 MARATHON TIME!!!

Run Ave HR = 158, Run Max HR = 162 Talk about being dialed in!

Well, for feeling slow, I rocked that race. The nutrition plan worked and other than a few tight muscles in the neck that got worked out at a sports stretch session, I have had no muscle soreness. The best part is that my speedy guy Ryan that I coach called me "Wicked Fast". How cool is that!!! I'm still really slow, but now I am starting to catch up to the faster chicks. Whoo Hoo!!! I will post more pics when I get them from ASI.

I'm off to bed now.

Have a great day!

Liz

Lone Star Part 2: The Sprint!

On Saturday, I woke everyone up nice and early at 4:30 am and the house started to come to life. Once we had gotten some coffee going and everyone had gotten ready, we loaded the cars and headed up the road 5 mile to Moody Gardens. I was rushing to get my kid to the Kid's Camp that started at 6 am and I forgot the waivers sitting on the breakfast bar of the beach house. At least they had extra copies for goof-balls like me who forgot them. Once I got the kid squared away, I walked over to the Transition Area. Everyone was getting their transition area set up and getting nervous. Here is part of the gang that I was able to find in the Transition.

I headed over to the Swim Start with Louis and Angela who drove down to take pictures and grill some steaks for us later that afternoon. Angela was on the TEAM last year and Louis is a super "bike wrench" and helps me out a lot on group rides and for squaring everyone away on bike fit and simple maintenance. Once we headed to the swim area, we found more of the TEAM and they were all pretty nervous. I gave them some words of wisdom that the swim was the shortest part and then they could climb on the bike. We made our way back towards the Swim Exit after the Pro/Elite men took off. As I was waiting for my peeps to exit the water, I heard someone call my name. I turned around and had a Blogger Meet-Up!!! Greyt-Times from Iowa had driven down for the race with some other gals and she was watching the Sprint and getting geared up for the half-IM distance on the next day.

Louis, Angela, and I moved to the finish area and waited for Ryan to blow by. Ryan is one of my TEAM mentors and he is scary fast. Last year, this was his first triathlon and he did really well finishing in 1:16 and coming in 77th overall. Not bad for a first triathlon and a field of over 800 athletes. This past year he has gotten faster and we were waiting to see what he was going to do. Ryan ran his first 1/2 Marathon back in January and he ran a 1:27 with two bathroom breaks! Dang that's fast!!! So we waited patiently and we did not have to wait for long when I saw him come around the bend. I yelled at him to pick it up because someone was closing in on him fast. He crossed the line in 1:05, 3rd in his age group and only missing 2nd place by 8 seconds, and 19th overall. He got a really nice award! I had one of my Rookies come in 2nd overall in the Men's First Timer division. Terry is just a little competitive...HA! He is very competitive. He wanted to race in the First Timer's division so that he would have a better chance at finishing well. Terry did spectacular!!! Not only is he a gifted runner but he has such great potential as a triathlete. He finished in 1:15!!! I am so proud of him. The rest of the group did fantastic as well. They all commented on how they freaked out on the open water swim. I told them that it was normal to do that and at one of my triathlons where I had my first wetsuit swim I did the "I cannot breath" panic attack as well.


After the awards ceremony and picking up the kid from the Moody Garden's Kid's Camp, we headed back to the Beach House for relaxation and BBQ. I had to get my bike ready for the next day and there were five others plus Super Ryan who were going to be racing the 1/4 IM distance the next day.

Part 3 is on it's way! WHOO HOO!!! Coach Liz's amazing race is next!!!

Lone Star Triathlon Race Report

Wow,

Sorry, my email has been down and right now I am sucking off of Panera Bread's WiFi. It was a very exciting weekend! I will back up and give you some pre-race info as well.

On Thursday, I had my last 30 minute run. It was hot outside as you can see from the way I am dressed for the run. I have a nice 3.2 mile loop that I run around my house. I was able to knock that out in 28:36 and get home before the kid got off the bus. I had to start getting my race gear and race fuel together. I can drink Accelerade and use Clif Shot and Shot Blocks. I had gone out and gathered my nutrition and now I had to split it up for each of the legs of the event. I got all my stuff together and stuff that I would be taking to the beach house.

On Friday, I had to work. Last year I took the day off. Why I did not do that this year is beyond me. I was very busy teaching classes, working with clients, finishing payroll, and getting nervous. I finally cut out and drove home to load the Honda Element and pick up the kid early from school. We drove down to the Beach House and arrived around 4:30 in the afternoon and started unloading. The house was amazing! It was huge and was going to be perfect for the group of 13 of us who were staying there. I started to get dinner going and fixed chicken and beef kabobs with a variety of veggies, baked sweet potatoes, corn on the cob (all on the grill), some jasmine rice, a nice salad, and my Magic Brownies and vanilla ice cream for dessert. As everyone started showing up, there was more commotion in the house and we were all having a great time.

After the meal, I sat down with my gang that were going to be doing their first sprint distance tri in the morning. We went over USAT rules, how to set up their transition, and how to learn to relax in a tense situation and to have a plan if something went crazy. I got them off to bed and it was lights out...


O.K., got to go teach a class. More on the First Timer's Sprint and my Half Ironman in a bit.

Have a great day!

Liz