Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

Iron Distance Triathlon Coming to Colorado in 2012

It was just announced that there will be a Iron distance triathlon in Fort Collins, CO in 2012!

The HITS triathlon series is going to put on a full triathlon series including an open, sprint, olympic, half and the full distance.

I am excited that a full is finally back in Colorado, it is about a month after Coeur d’Alene on July 28th and 29th so I am so tempted to sign up for a second go at an ironman. I am not sure if this is a great idea, I will at least race the half.

Fort Collins is the cutest little college town, we ran our marathon there in May:

Marathon finish coming into old town.

We also ran our first half marathon there the Horsetooth Half Marathon in 2010.

The swim will be in beautiful Horsetooth Reservoir

Fort Collins is such a nice place to race! Who wants to come out and race it with me? Don’t live in Colorado? I have a spare room!


Weekend Wrap-up

Cory and I had a great Autumn weekend, we started off Saturday morning with Running with the Buffalos 5K we then headed home where we tried to do some errands while watching the live feed of Kona. It was such an exciting race so happy for Chrissy and Crowie.

On Sunday we woke up very early so we could volunteer at aid station number one for the Rock and Roll Denver Marathon. It has just turned cold so we bundled up

Apparently Cory was still asleep…probably shouldn’t have let him drive. It was dark when we arrived so it was hard to see the cups to fill them

I couldn’t believe how big the aid station was, I have never ran in a race this big.

We then headed home, picked up our dogs and took the “long way” to my parents house to enjoy some fall color

After eating a quick lunch we headed to Anderson farms for some fall fun

Baby Goats!

My brother erik expertly lead us through the corn maze

Not sure what’s going on here

We picked out some pumpkins

It was the perfect day, not cold, not hot with lots of sunshine. It was then back to the grind and a long work week. I am feeling ready to start ramping up my training. PT is going well, I am getting stronger and almost never have knee pain.

What is one of your fall must dos?

mine is visiting a pumpkin patch

Running with the Buffalos Race Report – and my first age group win!

It was not the best weather for a race, but it reminded me of running back home in Oregon. It was cold in the low 40’s and raining hard. We got up at 5:30 am so we would have plenty of time to drink coffee (most important), eat and gather our things.

So weird to race in cold weather clothing after being hot for so long! This was a very small race so we showed up 30 minutes before the race start, grabbed our numbers, shirts and chips. We warmed up quickly and lined up. I knew I could have used a better warm up but my legs felt heavy and lungs full of crap so I wasn’t really feeling it. We lined up heard some updates and took off. I tried to pay attention to where the other women were ahead of me but also run my own race. The course was nice mostly along a fine gravel trail with rolling hills. The rain lightened up to a drizzle for the race which was really nice. It was really nice to see familiar friendly faces racing and volunteering around the course. I love that we are really getting invested in the running/triathlon community, it makes it that much more fun.

I didn’t feel very fast while running and was focused on controlling my breath so I didn’t have an asthma attack. I did pretty well and finished feeling crappy. Yup I hate 5k’s they hurt and suck. Don’t let anyone tell you “it’s just a 5k” they are HARD!

Cory was at the finish cheering me on as he had finished a few minutes before. I asked how he did and he came in 4th overall, I was so happy and proud!

We milled around talked to fellow athletes, Randi from RMTC was there (she is doing Ironman CDA too). We headed to the awards ceremony with hopes that Cory would win one of the coveted buffalo trophies, he didn’t think he would get one as only the overall winners and first place age groupers get one. He was already making plans on how he could earn one next year when his name was called as the winner for males 30-39 I was SO excited that we would be taking home a trophy and that Cory had won his age group. I was talking to Randi (who took second overall, GO Randi!) about how great it was that Cory won that I almost missed that they had called MY name….wait, what? I won for women 30-39??? REALLY?!?! I walked up front to get my trophy, and Charley jumped in to say that Cory and I were married so we would be taking home a matching set.

There was a collective ahhhhhhh from the crowd, and we had our picture taken together. I have to admit that winning with Cory was pretty sweet, we both won our age groups and took 4th overall for our genders. Overall, a great way to start the weekend. The rest of the day will be spent doing errands and watching live feed from Kona, we were excited to catch the age group start and the pros go into T1.

Daisy is cheering for all the Colorado athletes out there today!

KONA

Anyone else super excited about the Ironman Word Championship in Kona? I am having such a good time reading about all the shenanigans that some of my favorite super athlete bloggers are having. Even if you aren’t a tri-tard I suggest checking some of them out since yesterday was the traditional underwear run, their bodies are SICK! If you want to follow along check out Sonja, Michelle, James, Beth, and many others. I am excited to stalk them online tomorrow.

In other news I have to admit that I lied. I said I wasn’t going to race in October but Coach Charley is putting on a local 5k called Running with the Buffalos. The race promotes health and wellness in Commerce City and there is great support from the local schools and community. Last year the prizes included shoes and (anatomically correct) buffalo trophies. So if you are in the Denver area with nothing to do come on out, I would love to meet you!

Tomorrow it should be about 40 degrees and raining for the race and I am having a hard time figuring out what to wear. It’s been warm for so long that I have forgotten how to run in the cold (I will need to figure that out quick for all the long winter runs I will be doing).

I don’t think I will need to dress in snow gear, although I will be tempted since I am not used to the cold. We had a very mild winter last year. This was taken in January.

I don’t know if we will be so lucky this year.


Pumpkin Goodness!

Last night I was in the mood to bake so I looked up healthy pumpkin bread recipes and found this one from Good Housekeeping. I grabbed a few things on the way home from the store and put together all the ingredients I would need.

I used the recipe almost exactly except I added walnuts and made three mini instead of one big one.

I think they turned out great, easy to make and delicious. I added little spider rings for fun and gave one away to my PT Djimmer as a thank you as well.

At the store a couldn’t resist this pumpkin spice coffee as well, SO GOOD. Bailey and Winston like it too!

Share the Road

A friend sent me this photo this morning….talk about sharing the road!

This morning was back at normal training. I don’t start getting workout plans from Charley until November so I am still making it up as I go. In general here is the plan for October:

Mondays: Rest
Tuesday: am Interval swim between 2200 meters and 3000 meters, pm easy 2-3 mile run
Wednesday: am spin class
Thursday: am Interval swim between 2200 meters and 3000 meters
Friday: Interval Run (no more than 20-30 min) then 30-40 min elliptical trainer
Saturday: Long Ride (30-50 miles)
Sunday: Easy Run

This plan looks too easy when I write it out but I am not supposed to run for more than 20-30 min at a time or do any lower body strength training until Djimmer (my PT) gives me the green light. I will also be doing my PT exercises every night as well as plank and push-up. I can’t wait until my knee is better and I can start doing speed work and long runs again!

Don’t miss SUAR give away of marathon bars!

Planning Races

Isn’t it time to start planning for 2012 races! I know that it may seem crazy but it’s weird to me to not have a race lined up. The only thing I am signed up for is Coeur d’Alene and that almost 9 months away. I will probably take October completely off of racing since it is already so busy. Here are the things I am interested in doing:

1. A turkey trot fun run (a must!) we will probably run the Anthem 10k since that is where my parents just bought their new house. I ran it last year, the course is beautiful and challenging.

2. A winter series, the last two years I have ran the winter distance series. This is a well run series and I enjoyed running the progressive series (5k, 5m, 10m) but I am getting a little bored with it too. I am considering the Chilly Cheeks duathlon series. It seems fun but riding my bike in the snow is intimidating and I would have to ride my mountain bike, bleh. Both series have races in December, January and February.

3. I would like a winter half marathon, I am thinking February or March, I am willing to travel but hopefully not too far from home. Any Suggestions?

4. We need a spring tune up half ironman, I am considering the RAGE 70.3 in vegas some time mid April, anyone raced this?

5. A late spring marathon. Last year Cory and I ran the Colorado Marathon and had a great time but I would like to run a different race.

6. CDA Ironman, already signed up….this is going to happen!

7. A summer or early fall ultra marathon, I am not sure yet I will want to talk to coach Charley about timing and ironman recovery.

I am already so excited about next year, I really hope that between having a coach and physical therapy I will be able to reach all my goals with no injuries.

I am off to help my parents move into their house, glad we aren’t in heavy training now!

How far in advance do you plan your races?


Oktoberfest Race Report

On Sunday Cory and I raced our only sprint triathlon of the year. I really like this distance as I don’t have time to get bored. The one issue is that I try to go “fast”and end up having an asthma attack. I really do need to work with my doctor on that. But on to the race.

We woke up at 4am drank some coffee, ate oatmeal and hit the road for Longmont Colorado where the race was being held. It was a beautiful morning, I wasn’t really in the mood to race after being up late working the night before but as soon as we got to Union reservoir, and saw the sun rise I was more into it.


I have to admit it was a bit annoying that it takes almost as much preparation for a sprint triathlon as it does for longer races.

After setting up and squeezing into my wetsuit we headed down to the water to warm up a bit. The water was cold but not too bad and soon I felt comfortable. We were called up to the beach for the pre race meeting, at first I thought they were saying that the start would be a beach (run in) start and I got really nervous. I have never done or practiced a beach start and they terrify me for some reason. Lucky for me it was an in water start. I was in wave 4 so I had some time to say hi to my parents who came to cheer us on before wishing Cory lucky and seeing him off in wave 2.

The swim: 17:36

This was the best swim of the season, we didn’t swim into the sun and my goggles didn’t fog so I spotted well and didn’t swim off course (yay for progress). I could feel that my asthma was acting up during the swim so I pushed as hard as I could without having a full on attack. Overall I am happy with my swim.

T1: 2:21

I exited the water waived at my parents and kept moving into transition. T1 was normal for me, I still have cycling shoes not tri shoes so that takes me longer than I would like.

Bike: 36:13 (20.5 mph)

I am very happy with my bike. As soon as I got on my bike I couldn’t catch my breath but I can push pretty hard on my bike without having an attack so knowing this was a print I tried to keep my heart rate high. The course was three loops, I didn’t like how many corners we had but it was rolly and flat and I knew what to expect so overall I really like loops (good thing since CDA has loops). I had a great time on the bike, thanked volunteers, and ran into transition feeling good.

T2: 1:29

T2 nothing special..

Run: 31:03 ugh…..

As soon as I ran out of T2 I knew I was in trouble, I couldn’t breath and had to slow way down, but I refused to walk. I saw cory heading into the finish (it was an out and back course). I told him I needed my inhaler at the finish line and kept going. It was hard to watch so many people pass me on the run after feeling so good on the bike, at least 4 girls in my age group passed me on the run, I knew my legs could go faster but my lungs just wouldn’t let them. It is such a frusterating way to end a race. Cory was super nice adn ran my inhaler out to me and caught me at about mile 2 I took my inhaler but it didn’t help much. I headed into the finish not super excited about my time. But I was happy with my overall results.

Overall: 1:28:40 for a PR! 16/46 in my age group.

If I had ran at a pace closer to what I know I can run I would have placed more liek 6th or 7th in my AG. Frusterating but it’s something I will work on and try to improve. Overall this was a nice way to end the season (can’t be too mad with a PR) and officialy move into off season.

Now it’s time to start planning next years races, heal, build strength and enjoy free time while I have it!

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad


Things that are making me happy this week…

Work had been demanding BUT it has still been a pretty fun week. On Sunday Cory and I raced our last triathlon of the year, it was a small local sprint call Oktoberfest, it was a (mostly) fun race and my only sprint of the year. Full race report coming soon.

On Sunday evening we headed to a Coeur d’Alene 2012 BBQ. A bunch of RMTC members are signed up so we wanted to get together to meet each other, celebrate, and make plans for winter training and spring races. It was SO nice to meet other crazy triathletes and even get to meet Sonja who is such an inspirational athlete, and her daughter Annie is even cuter in person. Randi, the host made this sign:

It was SO exciting to see the sign and think about the upcoming year. I think I am as excited about the training as I am about the race, we’ll see if I still feel that way when we get to peak training. She also made us these super cute cookies.

It was a great night, I can’t wait to get started!!!

Monday was my 31st birthday, and while I had to work it was a great day because when Cory got home we headed off to the apple store where I picked out an iPad 2 as my birthday gift, I LOVE it! I will be able to keep up on everyones blogs on the go now 🙂 oh and read work email.

I need to spend some time really figuring out how it works, I really like it so far BUT am frustrated about downloading pictures so it may be more difficult than I wold like to write my own blog on it.

Tonight I have my second PT appointment, I am happy to be working on strengthening my weaknesses and getting my body ready for ironman training.

What has made you happy this week?


PT and Fall Fun

Yesterday I had my first PT appointment with Rebound Physical Therapy, it was a great experience, Djimmer explained everything to me and reassured me that with some time I would be as good as new and thought that I would be able to complete an Ironman and an ultra marathon (not at the same time). I need to focus on strengthening my gluteus, so that is my task for this week. I am not surprised since many triathletes have weak gluteus. I have a set of exercises and stretches that I am supposed to do everyday this week. I can’t wait to go back on Thursday so I can keep moving forward.

Yesterday Cory and I headed up to Georgetown in the Rocky Mountains. The Aspens have started changing so we wanted to go see them before it was too late

We took the historic train loop, it was a beautiful fall day, I was in heaven. Fall is my favorite time of year and always goes by too fast

Prepare yourself for photo overload….

We are very proud of our elevations in Colorado.

We also took an historic mine tour, it was really fun and I learned a lot about how hard the lives were of the miners. Makes me grateful for my cush job!

Cory and I looking stylish in our hardhats.

What’s your fall activity? I have many but I LOVE picking pumpkins


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