2014 Tri Season

I would like to apologize to all my followers for not doing proper race write ups through my triathlon season....procrastination got the best of me. Nevertheless, here is a short write up on each race.

Wildflower Triathlon - May 4th

This year was a historic year for this race. Lake San Antonio was almost completely dried up, resulting in changing the course and having to move the swim about 2 miles away to another boat ramp where the last of the water was. Because the water was so low, it left a very long, steep boat ramp to run up once finished with the swim portion. This would now be Transition 1A (T1A).

The water was nice once you got out of the first 100 yards of it, which was almost pure mud. It was quite a weird sensation to be able to smell the mud while swimming. Fortunately, it was only for a short distance. The swim went ok for me. Was a little faster than I've swam for awhile but it was still slower than most of the girls in the top 10, which meant that I would have to try and make up that time on the bike and run. I was really excited though because after we went through T1A we would now have to run to Transition 1B (T1B) where our bikes were racked, which was about 2 miles. I made sure to take advantage of this as much as possible since running is one of strengths. I passed quite a few girls in my age group, which made me really happy and felt like I was in a good position but I still was unsure of how many were still ahead of me, if any. Swim time was 24:44

Bike went pretty well. My legs felt good through the majority of the course. I passed a few more girls but still had no idea how many were ahead of me. I thought I could figure it out by the time I got close to the turn around point so I could try and spot what girls were left ahead of me. Once I got to that point I saw only a couple ahead of me, but then lost track of them. I figured I would be able to catch them on the run. My bike time was 1:22.

Starting the bike/ Home stretch to the finish

My legs weren't feeling as fresh as I thought they were going to. Since we had the 2 mile run after the swim that distance was taken off of the original 10k. Now the remainder of the run was about 4 miles. Since it was shorter they changed the original run course. Parts of it were the same but the main part that was different was an insane hill! Even the original course has a hill but I don't feel like it was nearly as brutal as this one. Most all of the athletes had to walk it. I managed to run the entire thing though, but my legs sure were burning by the time I got over it. The rest of the course was slightly rolling with the last mile down hill. My run time was 48:11. My overall time was 2:42:14, placing 6th overall and 4th in my age group.

Was happy to be done/The best support group I could ask for!

Heart of the Valley - May 26

I originally wasn't going to do this race. Mostly because it was on the same day as my sister's birthday but she had no problem letting me race it...such a sweet and supportive big sis!

This race is a pool swim, which I don't generally like but this one is better than most since it's in a 50 meter pool vs. a 25 yard pool. My swim went alright. I felt better in the pool this year (I did this race last year) but my time was slower. I don't feel too bad about it though since after looking at the results a lot of people's pool times were slower this year. Swim time: 12:29

The bike course at this event is pretty fun. It has a lot more rolling hills and plus it is a beautiful ride. This year there was a slight drizzle during the bike making the roads a little more slippery so I had to use more caution on the turns. Bike time: 34:15

Dismounting the bike/Final stretch of the run

The run always feels fast on this 2 loop course. It's not a very spectacular course but I find it to still be fun. I ended up running a 19:33. Winning in a total time of 1:07:48.

Happy on my 1st place finish/1st & 2nd place females/Won a growler.

Blue Lake Triathlon  - June 8

The flat, fast course that is the Blue Lake Triathlon. I'm never that excited for this race because it is so flat and boring but I enjoy doing this for the fact that it is flat and you can really bring your times down and see where some of your strengths and weaknesses are.

The swim felt pretty good. I felt like I swam a good time but I don't know for sure since there was a timing malfunction through the swim and T1. The time they gave me though was 25:16.

The bike felt ok. My legs were feeling a little heavy and seemed to fatigue pretty quickly through bike. I pushed myself hard but was frustrated at how the legs felt. My time on the bike was 1:06.
It's always interesting to see how well my legs will respond after the bike. When I went through transition my legs were feeling fairly tight and fatigued. When I was changing into my run shoes I tried to stretch out my hamstrings at the same time to see if that would help.

Once I took off it felt a little painful but once I got through the first half mile they seemed to feel a bit better. I really wanted to break 40" on this course. I managed to have a guy ahead of me that was pacing pretty well and had a watch to help him. I ran a time of 40:05. I was happy with that but was a bit taken aback when I saw that I placed second overall to just 6 seconds! The girl that beat me was in a different heat but I know that if we were able to be in the same heat I would've got her. I was happy with the day's race. It was a step in the right direction since my training several weeks before were not very good. Clocked in a total time of 2:16:14.

Starting the bike/ On the home stretch

Tri at the Grove - July 26

I had been wanting to do this race for quite awhile but always had another race that was the same weekend or too close to this one. Same holds true for this year. I originally didn't have this race on my schedule but it made it on when I wasn't able to go to the race I had planned on racing. I am glad I was able to compete in this event though. The venue is absolutely gorgeous. The lake was clear and flat, surrounded by trees and hills.

The lake's temperature felt perfect. However, the first half of the swim I felt really stiff. I'm not sure if I didn't have my wetsuit on quite right or that I just didn't have my stroke. Finally, I was able to loosen up and got into a better rhythm. I knew my time was probably a little slow but I wasn't expecting it to be this slow....28:55.

Exiting the swim/ Starting and Finishing the bike

Now it was time to get to the bike and try and make up some time. The course was relatively flat, which I don't mind. I tend to like hilly courses a bit better but I also enjoy the flat ones. From the start of the bike my legs felt tired which is unusual for me. I worked through it and did the best I could on the day. I ended with a time of 1:11:11. I gained some ground and passed a few women that were ahead of me but I still had a couple more to catch on the run.

My legs didn't feel too bad coming off of the bike. The run course was an out and back. Most of the time these courses are a little boring but it served me well considering that I would be able to see who was ahead of me and how much ground I needed to cover in order to pass them. I passed a couple more women before the turn around and now I just had to catch one more. I had already gained a lot of ground on her and I knew that it was possible to catch her because she didn't look very strong. Unfortunately, I did not catch her. If I had one more mile I would've got her. My run time was 41:22.

Slipped going up the little slope....oranges are the best for immediate recovery.

After the race my family told me that she kept turning around. So at least I made her nervous! My total time was 2:23:07 which placed me second.

Won two pint glasses and a pair of socks!

Best in theWest - Sept 6-7

This is one of my most cherished events. Not only because of the beautiful venue but because I have been racing it since it's birth, and since then my family and I have helped with the race and are always excited to see how we can help it grow every year, while making sure to keep the western theme! :)

Like last year I decided to race both the sprint and the olympic. The sprint on Saturday and the olympic on Sunday. Last year I wanted to win both but ended up finishing third in the olympic while still winning the sprint. So it was a must to win both races this year.

I have one the Sprint race every year that Best in the West has existed. I felt I could win it again this year so I made another goal for myself and that was to try and get my time under an hour, which I knew would be hard on account of my previous course record being 1:06. Also, since I didn't want to completely waste myself considering I needed to race the next day, and being that that race was twice as long!

Day 1: I never wear a wetsuit for the sprint. I feel that the swim is short enough (500m) that I can tolerate the lake temperature just fine, and usually the temperature is around 72. However, this year they let out water from Green Peter making Foster considerably colder. I felt great for the swim. I was relaxed and found an efficient rhythm. I ended up swimming an 8:20, which is about a minute or so faster than I've swam at this race.

Day 1: Getting ready for the sprint swim/ Exiting the swim

I flew through transition and was headed out onto the bike. Usually, there are a couple women that beat me in the swim and get ahead of me on the bike. This year though, it felt like I passed a lot of them through transition. I think I only had to pass one woman on the bike and passed her within the first mile (12mile course). Legs felt pretty good on the bike. Again, I really wanted to bring my time down and I did take off a couple minutes on the bike leg. I clocked in at 33:51.

Coming in on the bike/ Happy with my first place finish and my oranges!

My legs didn't feel too bad going out on the run. The course is an out and back with a few smaller hills. The way out felt good and most of the way back was fine too. With about 3/4 of a mile to go my legs were starting to feel some fatigue. But once I got over the last hill I was able to use that momentum to coast on in and try to save a little for the next day. My run time was 20:22. Finishing in a total time of 1:03:42. Didn't quite make my goal of going under an hour, guess I'll have to meet my goal next year!

One of the awesome trophies my sister made!

Day 2: I was feeling a little tired and my legs were definitely not very fresh. After the sprint race the previous day I tried to do as many things as I could to try and get my legs to recover faster; ice bath, massage, legs in the air, drink lots of water with electrolytes and while I was still at the event to stay in the shade and stay off my feet. I believe that everything I did helped but I knew I wouldn't get my legs back completely. 

Wetsuit time for the swim. It's always such a tedious process to put them things on! But nevertheless they are essential and do help out a lot. I actually wasn't too nervous for this race. I think the only thing I was really nervous about was seeing how my legs would hold up through the race. 

The water felt perfect today with a wetsuit. I got a good spot for the start of the swim and was able to get out towards the front without too much fight. I felt good through the swim. Got a good rhythm and felt fairly fresh. I ended up coming out of the water in 3rd place. Only about 2 minutes behind the first woman. I had the fastest transition time by almost a minute so I was able to save some time there. My swim time was 25:00

Day 2: Olympic Swim

Going out on the bike my legs felt pretty decent but once I got to the turn around my legs were starting to suffer. I managed to pass both women that were in front of me though by that point. I pushed through and I tried to put some distance between them but then I got passed about mile 15. I tried to hang on to her but my legs weren't letting me. I at least was able to keep her in sight for almost the remainder of the bike leg. However, at about mile 23 I got passed by another girl and she went flying past me. There was no way I was going to be able to keep up with her. So I just stayed calm and kept telling myself that I'll catch them on the run. I ended up biking a 1:11:59. The second girl that passed me biked a 1:04:52 which was faster than any man or woman that day. After seeing that I didn't feel so bad.

Just over half way on the bike course/Dismounting on my way into transition.

Started out on the run and my legs didn't feel too bad or at least as good as they can feel after coming off the bike. Within the first mile I saw both girls and they weren't too far off. I passed them at about a mile and half and from there I didn't look back. I felt I had to make as much distance as I could because I didn't know how well my legs were going to last. Every little hill I went up my legs would start to cramp. Thankfully, there are only about 4 hills. I ran a 42:21, which I guess is the new run course record. I was pleased with this considering how awful my legs felt. I finished in a total time of 2:20:44.

Just passed the 2 mile mark/ Happy with my first place finish!

Overall Season:

The 2014 season was a lot of fun. I wasn't able to do some of the races I originally wanted but I gained more experience and knowledge. I didn't hit some of the times I had set out to accomplish this season either but I feel that I am now ready to take my performance to the next level. Plus, I can't be too down about it since I had my amazing support group (a.k.a. sisters) at all of my events and even more of my family/supporters came to my final races of the season at Best in the West. I couldn't ask for a better support group!
I also need to mention that the suit I am wearing at Blue Lake and the one at Best in the West were designed and made by my very own sister, Shavonne. She has made some awesome designs for me along with letting me pick out the colors. If you think the suits are as awesome as I do, she will have them available in 2015 when she launches her company!
I would like to thank my sponsor, blueseventy for the awesome gear I have. The wetsuit, goggles, swimsuit, transition bag and other goodies that have made my life easier. Plus, are comfortable, durable and top quality!
Thank you to all my family, friends and follows for all your support! I wouldn't be where I'm at if it wasn't for you. Thank You!
Now time to look forward to my 2015 season. Should be an amazing ride!

2014 Race Opener- Lifetime Tri Marquee + Arizona Fun

This year's first race came up fast. The goal for this race was to see where my fitness was and what things I need to improve on for the upcoming season.

We swam in probably the only body of water in Arizona, Tempe Towne Lake. Although, it's not really a lake, more like a canal. I viewed the race course before race day to get an idea of what to expect. When viewing the "lake" it looked very unappealing. It was very green, dark, and a had a few floating fish. This made me wonder if it was safe to swim in; other people must have asked about it too since the race committee announced to everyone that it was fine.

Race day came and I was a bundle of nerves....as always. I was excited for this race. Especially, the swim since I've been working at it a lot during the off season and my times in the pool were looking good. So I wanted to see how it would transfer in a race.

The swim was a wetsuit legal race. I wasn't sure if it was going to be since it had been really warm but luckily it stayed in the right temperature. We had an in water start. I made sure to try and get towards the front to try and avoid getting trapped in the middle. Although, when the gun went off I still got thrashed around a bit. To avoid that in the future I need to get a faster start.
After I got myself out of the thrash zone I was able to get into a good rhythm and stay near a small group of girls. I had a little difficulty sighting some the buoys since I try not to rely on anyone around me that we are going in the right direction. In order to get out of the "lake" you had to hoist yourself up onto the stairs that were placed there for the race. Thankfully, they had people there to help you out. Even with someone there it was still a little difficult. Also, at this race was the Leadman race that went off an hour before us. Since that distance is similar to an ironman they had wetsuit strippers there and I thought they were only there for those participants but they were there to help anyone that wanted it. So of course I took advantage of that. My swim time ended up being 26:36. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't faster because I know I'm in shape to go faster.

Keeping my nerves in tact

Transition went well up until I mounted my bike and went to slip my feet into my shoes. One of the straps came completely out so I had to fiddle with getting it back into the loop while trying to get going. Not sure how long it took but I finally got it back in and was able to start chasing people down. The bike course was two 14 mile loops making the course 28 miles, which is a little longer than a normal Olympic distance. The course was pretty flat making it a fast course. Since it was a two loop course there were a lot of turn around spots. The first loop went really well. My legs felt good. I was passing a lot of people. One thing I like about loop courses is you can see what position you're in. However, I had absolutely no idea where the leaders were. So I just keep pushing through the second loop and that's when my legs started to fatigue a bit. My bike split was 1:17:55.

Heading out on the bike

Second transition went smoothly as well. The first couple miles of the run went well. I caught one girl that was ahead of me. I felt strong and felt like there was plenty of juice left in my legs to keep up that pace. My pace started to slip a little bit halfway through the run, but I was able to pace off some other guys and get my pace back. Once I got to about the last two miles I really started to struggle. I don't know if the heat was getting to me or if I didn't take in the adequate amount of nutrition. Or maybe it was a combination of the two. I got passed about less than 1 mile from the finish, which was a bummer. My run time was 42:39. It wasn't as fast as I wanted but it was faster than most of the other girls who beat me. So that was encouraging. I ended up coming in at 8th place with an overall time of 2:29:14.

This mist machine felt so GOOD after the race!

After the race I stayed in Arizona for a week to meet up with my coach and have some fun training in the desert. He's in Tucson, which was a little less than 2 hours South of Tempe. I had a couple swim sessions with him and they have made such a huge difference in my swimming. I found I was swimming several seconds faster per 100 than I had been, which is HUGE! He also taught me how to do a flying mount. I've been wanting to learn how to do that for quite some time. I've watched videos on youtube but was always a little scared to try it myself without any tips. I'm glad I waited because what he taught me was a lot easier than what I had seen done in the videos.

My sisters came with me on this trip and we made sure to make the most of it by discovering as much of Tucson and surrounding area before we had to come home. Since we were so close to Tombstone we made a trip down there. Tombstone is about an hour south of Tucson and almost to the Mexican border, which I had no idea until we got stopped at a check point on our way back to make sure we were all U.S. Citizens.

We also went and saw an Ostrich ranch which was a ton of fun. They had other animals there such as donkeys, deer, goats, prairie dogs, and some birds. We got to feed all of them which was a fun experience. It was cool to see the how different each of those animals with take food from you. Although, you didn't hand feed the ostriches. They made me a little nervous. It looked like would peck your hand off.

Another amazing thing about Tucson is that they are in the Saguaro desert, which is the only desert that has the Saguaro cactus. These cactus are absolutely amazing. They grow extremely slow and don't grow any arms until they are 70 years old. I don't really want to give you a history lesson on them (plus that would take a bit to type) but you should look them up. They are very fascinating!!

A Saguaro cactus

Our hike on a windy day

I didn't think I would like Arizona that much because there aren't really any trees, grass, flowers or any bit of green vegetation. But after spending a week I really loved it. Seeing all their dried up river beds really makes you thankful for all the water we have here in Oregon. I would also love to see their rainy season. I saw so many signs that said "Do not enter when flooded".

Also, saw some wild burros

New Coach and Sponsor

I am happy to say that BlueSeventy is sponsoring me again this year. I love all of their swim gear, especially their swimsuits. I am still amazed at how long they last from swimming in chlorine. I am still swimming in the same suit that I purchased from them over a year ago and it still fits like the first day I got it. I even raced in it at Wildflower last year. Along with their amazing swimsuits, their goggles are great too. Others I've had in the past put too much pressure around the eye socket and leave them feeling almost bruised...not to mention making you look like a zombie when your done. With blueseventy's googles, they are comfortable and I don't feel like they are ever suffocating my eyes! The last product I will mention before sounding like a salesman, is their wetsuit. It is very comfortable and allows for good arm movement. The wetsuit I had before felt constricting in the
shoulders, so with this wetsuit I get a larger range of motion. Since most all of the triathlons I compete in are open water this suit comes in to great use! So if you are looking to get some good quality swim gear at a good price, blueseventy is for you! (Last salesman comment, I promise :) )


Blueseventy is not the only thing "new" for me this year. I just recently got a new coach, Cliff English. I have been training with him for about a month and so far he is great! He relieved me of the stress of training myself since I was getting to the point of frustration and making no gains. Every workout he gives me has a purpose. At first it was a little hard to adapt to since I wasn't use to it and therefore made me constantly tired. For instance, usually I do a long run on the weekend that would be from 70-90 minutes long, and the goal was just to run that length of time at a steady conversational pace. Now instead of just one pace it's usually in the form of a tempo type workout for that length of time. Longer warmups and cool downs but also some good tempo work, like 3x8mins or 2x15minutes at 10k effort. They usually leave me pretty tired when I'm done but I know that I'm making huge gains with these kinds of workouts. I guess in other words you could say that now I am doing more quality over quantity for workouts.

My first race is in a week. I'm really excited to see how it goes and also a little nervous. But I feel very prepared for it. Much more so now than I did a month ago! It is in Tempe, AZ. I'll be driving down with my sisters on wednesday. It should be a fun trip as we plan to stop quite a bit and make more of fun journey down rather than our normal straight shot down. Let the season begin!!! :)

End of Season/Year Update

Since my last post in July many things have happened. A few of the highlights are my last couple races of the season that I never got around to writing....sorry. First, was the Eugene Triathlon that was on August 25 and the second was Best in the West on September 7th & 8th. Amongst those events I also had my 25th birthday on August 17th. I had the most amazing cake. My mom and I made it. It is suppose to be the cat bus from the movie My Neighbor Totoro; one of my childhood classic movies. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you watching it. 

Originally, I did not have the Eugene Triathlon on my schedule of races, but getting injured earlier in the season made me miss a few races, therefore, cutting my season short. Plus, a friend asked if I wanted to race it since he was directing it. Eventually, I agreed to race as I was helping with setting up the venue for the race. This was supposed to be a triathlon but ended up being a dualathon due to a blue green algae bloom. I did the sprint which was the normal bike and run distance. I don't remember what the distance was for the first run, but I'm thinking it was probably about half of a 5k. For this race, since there wasn't a lot of participants, they started all the guys at the same time followed by the women at a 5 minute lead. Before the first part of the run was done I had already passed quite a few men and just continued to pick them off through the bike. By the time I got to the final 5k I was in first place over both men and women. I ended up winning by 6 minutes. I was unsure of this when I crossed the finish line but I must say it was a great confidence booster to beat everyone with even a 5 minute handicap.

My family was unable to get any photos so I had borrow some
 from the event site. Credit goes to the photographer.

My last race of the season was Best of the West. I ended up racing both the sprint and the olympic. Saturday was the sprint, which is always a fun race, plus I had to keep my title :) I was about 5th or so coming out of the water but passed quite a few of them through transition. My swim was a little slower this year but I made up for it on the bike bettering last years bike split. The run went well and it's always such a nice run. I also bettered my run split from last year by knocking off about 37 seconds. I won with a time of 1:06:12 and placed 4th overall men and women. 

The following day, Sunday, was the olympic race. This is the first time I have raced it, but since I live so close to the venue I am able to get some training in on the course. I was a little tired before the race started but I didn't think much of it and figured I would do just fine. The swim felt great but was a little slower than I wanted. I knew I had to make up time on the bike in order to be a top place contender. When I was about half way through the course I could really start to feel my legs fatiguing a lot faster than usual. I tried to push through for the rest of the course to catch the last two that were ahead of me but I couldn't get my legs to spin any faster. So I figured I still have time, I am a strong runner and should be able to catch them on the run. As I was coming into transition off the bike I fell right at the dismount. At that moment I think I was more embarrassed than anything, but everyone was so helpful and made sure I was ok. As I went through transition I felt like I was moving so slow, but my results don't show that. When I was about 300-400 meters in I had to stop for a couple seconds to regain my composure. I was a little shaken up after that and was about to cry. Not because it hurt (which it did sting a bit) but I think more of a natural reaction. Once I got going again I was fine because I was now focused back on racing and not on the blood running down my leg. Although, it didn't really help when I passed several people and they asked in such concern if I was ok. The rest of the run went alright. I gained quite a bit of ground on the girl in second but just like the bike I couldn't get my legs to move any faster. I ended up finishing 3rd overall in a time of 2:25:20. Was not my best performance but I'm still happy with it after racing the previous day, falling, and volunteering all weekend. 

The lovely road rash. I couldn't sit normal for probably about a week.

The most amazing face cutout ever made by my sister Cassandra!

Overall, the season was a great learning experience. I wasn't able to do all the races I wanted to due to injury and other events that were out of my control. Seeing with how I somewhat sabotaged myself in a few of my races I know that I need to develop a tougher mindset and know that there will be obstacles. I should already be a master at this with being a competitive athlete for so many years. Alas, learning how to handle them, I feel will be one of the biggest keys to having a great season. Knowing that, I am super excited for the 2014 season. I've already picked the races I want to compete in and am also planning on going to a training camp in Mallorca, Spain with Joe Friel as the coach. He is one of the sports best coaches. I can't wait to go on that trip and see what advice he gives me.

We got a bunch of snow a few weekends back, which of course always means I have to go out and play in it. I also like to include everyone in the family....including my pets :) Here is my cat, Jasper, playing in the snow.

Epic Boulder PeakTriathlon

This event, Boulder Peak Triathlon, turned out to be quite an event, and I don't necessarily mean just the race itself. The traveling went really smooth aside from some lightning on our last plane ride home. Thankfully, it was far enough away that it didn't cause any problems.

Leading up to the race I had workouts everyday and it was my plan to get in the water each day as well, since I was told that swimming at altitude is like breathing through a straw. However, on the first day I went to the reservoir to swim there was a lightning storm, and I guess you are not allowed to swim in that type of weather. Some of kind of safety thing :P On a side note, I thought it would have been a fun experience. The next day, which was the day before the race, I was to swim, bike and run. I did the bike and the run first and was planning to leave the swim for last. You know, wash off all the sweat from the previous two exercises. Nah, actually I just like to leave the swim for last. Anyways, I finished the bike and run and was just headed over to do my swim when all of a sudden Thor got really mad (at who knows what; yes, I did just watch Thor and the Avengers) and brought on another lightning storm. Lifeguards seeing this, started to herd everyone out of the water.

At this point, I was really starting to wonder what Thor's deal was. Because everyday he brought on a thunder storm. I will have to admit though, on the first night he gave us (me and my sisters) a marvelous show. The only noises you would have heard from us that night was a bunch of whoas, ahs, and oooos. On a more serious note now, I guess I just was not meant to swim before the race.

Swim caps can be such a pain!

It was finally race day and I would be hitting the water at 7:07. Through the course of the race I would be racing at 5,202 ft up to 6,394 ft. elevation. Like the race at Pacific Crest the weather was perfect. Nice and cool in the morning and it wouldn't be heating up too bad until the time I finished. Usually, at most of the races I've raced the waves have colored specific swim caps. Here they did the start different by allowing the athletes to pick which wave they wanted to go in based on their approximate swim time. So all the women wore pink and the men green. This confused me a little at first but it didn't take long for me to remember why. Then there was the Elite group, that I raced in, and you had to have certain time qualifications to race in that wave.

I was the second wave to hit the water and it always seems like it takes forever for the start. Plus, it was weird being in a wave with only 9 girls... The men were off and now there were a couple minutes before I would have my turn to run into the water. 5...4...3...2...1 GO! I took off towards the water and tried to get ahead of a few before starting to swim, but there wasn't enough land to make a huge difference. Right before I hit the water my knee buckled backwards. I'm still not really sure how that happened but I'm guessing the sand had something to do with it :/ I felt it a little for the first few 100 meters and then forgot all about it. All the way out to the last turn, which was the only turn, I was pretty much by myself but still could see a few of the girls ahead of me. The water was so nice and flat that it made for a great swim, almost as if I wasn't racing. Then all of sudden as I turned and was on my way back I started to get passed by the wave behind me. My once calm water now turned into an angry, rage of sea monsters! This was quite disheartening getting passed but I knew my swim hasn't been super strong this year so I tried to make the most of it by trying to latch on to some of the athletes who passed me. As mentioned earlier about swimming at elevation, I didn't find it difficult to breath at all. Felt the same as going for a swim in Foster Lake, which is just over 500 ft elevation. Now it was on to phase 2. The bike!

This part of the race turned into a first time event for me. I was about 2-3 miles in to the course and being that the roads are still open to traffic there was a commuter bus stopped just ahead. The athletes that were in front of me were going around it on the left. I was about to go that direction as well but then the bus started to move forward so I figured I would stay on the right like we were suppose to. Apparently, this bus driver was unaware that there was a race commencing right then and decided to turn off to the right without using his signal. At this point, I was about 8 yards behind him and when I noticed he was turning I slammed on my brakes. I didn't have enough time to go around him and I ended up slowing down just enough that I hit the back of the bus lightly. I almost fell over as well but was able to get my foot un-clipped in time. It took me a little bit to regain myself but was able to get going without too much lag time. As I passed the incompetent bus driver I may have said a few unpleasant things that aren't worth repeating. Now that I got myself composed again it was time to climb the 1,283 foot hill. It was a fierce climb! But it was nice to have all the spectators cheering the whole way up. The rest of the course was more mellow. A fair amount of downhill and a few rolling hills.  

The run was not any better than at Pacific Crest. If anything, it may have been a little worse. As I look back on my run there shouldn't have been any reason for it to have been worse. First, I was able to get in a couple more weeks of running, even a couple track workouts (that went great!) Second, the course was flat. Lastly, it was warm but not hot and there was an aid station every mile. So I have concluded that my mind was not in the right state and therefore, I sabotaged my run. I'm sure I could blame some of it on the elevation, but honestly I don't believe it had much of an affect. As far as elevation goes, I think most people struggle with it because everyone always makes a big deal out of it. But people forget to realize that the body adapts very quickly. Therefore, I can not blame my performance on elevation. I'm sure it sounds like I'm being very hard on myself, and maybe I am, but at least I can learn from what happened and what I did and work on those things as to not repeat in future races. 

Starting the run.

On a happier note, my main goal for this race was to qualify for the Hyvee Triathlon in September, and I qualified!!! So this made for a bitter/sweet race. I was 8th in the Elite division and 7th in my age group. I finished in the time of 2:29:02.

On another awesome note, this race also had a Pro division. They started about an hour after the age groupers so I was able to at least watch the run, which was a pleasure. Lisa Norden raced. If you don't know who that is, she was the silver medalist at the 2012 Olympics. At the awards ceremony I was sitting about 5 feet away from her. I had the perfect opportunity to go talk to her but I was too much of a chicken. Next time though......right?!?!? :D

Had some fun exploring Boulder.

I'm so strong! :)

My Journey Through Pacific Crest Triathlon

Leading up to Pacific Crest was definitely a challenging time for me. Especially, after having a great performance at Wildflower. I originally was set to race at Blue Lake and Tri Monroe but had to pass on these two events and settle for racing at the Pacific Crest Triathlon before my race in Colorado. Right after Wildflower I came down with a cold. I was so excited after my win that I wanted to get right back to my training and I think this may have put too much stress on my body because I came down with a cold a few days later. This wasn't really a surprise, considering the effort put out in the race, the pressure I put on myself and the long drive back to Oregon. With all this I didn't allow my body enough time to recover. So I guess this was my body's way of saying "settle the hell down and relax!". Of course, this is not an ideal way to recover! I will definitely try to find a way to avoid this in the future. It took me about 2 weeks to get back to consistent training and then the following week I got injured!

I was so excited to be back running and to do an actual workout. I decided to do part of it on a trail that had a slight incline to add some "hill" training to my workout. I was on the second to last interval and right when I was turning around to take off I rolled my ankle on a rock going downhill. Instantly, it started to swell and the tears started to roll down my face. I've rolled my ankles plenty of times while running and most of the time I can just continue to run on them and they're just fine, but that was not the case on this one. The journey back home was awful. I was about a mile and a half from home and had no way to get a hold of anyone to pick me up. So I ended up gimping all the way home. At this point, I was glad I could still walk on it. Once I got home and my family sympathized with me some I then headed off to go take a shower. I wasn't able to put much weight on my ankle during that time and when I went to get out I almost fell. Turns out that during that 10ish minutes my ankle swelled even more and now I was unable to put any weight on it. Then the tears returned. I was so upset. Not only because my ankle hurt and I couldn't walk on it but because this would set me back in my training and I didn't know how long that setback would be.

I usually hate seeing pictures of injuries and such, but I figured I show those of you that like to see those kinds of pictures ;)

The initial sprain

A few days later, now the swelling was in the whole foot and up the leg.

This is several weeks later, swelling gone down,
but bruising in the toes and ankle.

I ended up going to urgent care. My family was worried that I might have broken something. Thankfully, that came out to be a negative. I had just sprained it really bad. I ended up having to be on crutches for about 3-4 days. From there I slowly started to put some weight on it. At this point, I wasn't able to workout at all. After about a week I was finally able to swim but couldn't kick much. My training eventually became a swim intensive block. Most of these swims were at foster lake so I wouldn't have to worry about pushing off the wall. Open water swimming is a bit difficult to get in some good speed workouts, but I did get plenty of open water/endurance work. A week after that I was able to add in some stationary biking. Finally, the week before Pacific Crest I was able to get in some more consistent workouts but was still unable to run much. The week leading into the race I was finally able to run without having to stop and I got in about 3 runs, none being more than 30 minutes.


I usually don't like to race unless I know I'm in good shape and can be a contender for overall female winner, but I needed to get in a race before Colorado to check where my fitness was and to get another race under my belt since it'd been awhile since Wildflower, which was the first weekend in May! Here is how the race unfolded...

Gettin' my race face on!

The morning of the race was perfect weather. Sunny, about 65 degrees, barely any wind and the water was perfectly flat. I was in the second wave and it was an in water start. The swim course was two loops. This is the second time I've done a swim with loops and I actually didn't mind it since I didn't run into any of the later waves. The first loop took me awhile to get my rhythm but once I was starting the second loop I finally got a little more relaxed and consistent in my stroke. I'm not sure how my placing was when I exited the water but my swim didn't feel like it was super fast.

Swim start

First transition went pretty smooth. I was a little nervous on how the transitions were going to play out since they were at two different locations. The first one was at the lake. Here you had to put your wetsuit and anything else you had at that transition in a bag that had your race number on it. The race volunteers/officials would gather all the athletes bags so you could pick it up after the race at the second transition area.

The bike course was a one way from the lake to the second transition, which was at a middle school near the Sunriver Village. There were a few rolling hills but it was mostly flat. Since I felt that I didn't have a very good swim I tried to make up for it on the bike. I passed quite a few people, both female and male. There were other racers on the course since this event also had a duathlon, bike race and I believe a few others. There were so many racers on the course that it gets difficult to tell which ones are in your race or not, but I'm pretty sure I passed some that got ahead of me in the swim. I was so uptight for this race that a few muscles in my back started to cramp up. By the time I got to transition they subsided. Second transition also went pretty smooth. By this time, it was starting to get pretty hot.

Almost to transition 2

Now it was time for the run, which is what I always look forward to since this was my sport for so long and I am a strong runner. However, at this race I did not feel strong. My legs just wouldn't move like I wanted them to and I felt exhausted through the whole 10k. It took a lot of mental toughness to get me to the finish line. All I wanted to do was stop. I would look forward to each aid station and that helped get me through by pushing myself to get to each one also since I was feeling very dehydrated. Finally, I came to the 5 mile mark. I had only one more mile to go! But that last mile felt like it took forever!!! I was so glad to be done.

Final stretch of the run! Yay!

Even though this race did not go how I wanted it to I still did well after coming off an injury. Also, I was very grateful that my ankle didn't hurt at all during the race. It still has some swelling but after putting it through the race it is definitely getting stronger and I shouldn't have to worry about it too much longer.

Done!

I ended up finishing 5th overall and was 1st in my age group according to how they did the awards. But in actuality, the first place female was in my age group. So I would have been 2nd. Now that I finished this race I knew what I needed to work on to finish out the season strong.

Wildflower Triathlon

This is the second year I have participated in the one and only Wildflower Triathlon. Last year's experience at Wildflower was probably my worst race ever. That includes my whole running career, which started in middle school.To quickly sum up my race last year, my swim and bike went decently well. But since this was my first Olympic distance triathlon I did not know how to fuel properly for this distance. Since sprint triathlons are short enough that you can make it through on just water. It was also very hot and I failed to take that into account. So while on the bike I probably only took in about 8 oz of watered down gatorade. By the time I got to the run I was getting seriously dehydrated. I had to walk and at every aid station I tried to take in some water and more gatorade but it just didn't seem to help. I constantly felt like fainting. Once I finished I was very upset on how the race turned out and started to hyperventilate. (For the record, I have never done this before in my life! I didn't even know that that was what I was doing until a volunteer medic came over to help me) To cut this part short, from going into hysterics, being over heated, and seriously dehydrated, I was taken to the medic tent and ended up having a couple IVs.

What I have just shared with you is embarrassing to me because I always figured that something like this would never happen to me. I felt I was stronger than that, and smarter. However, even the strongest and well prepared people will experience things such as this. The good news, I made sure to figure out how to fuel myself for an Olympic triathlon and have never had this issue again! And I hope I never do! Oh, I almost forgot to mention, that after all that happened I still managed to place 4th in my age group (20-24).

Now for the part I'm sure you all are waiting to read about. My race experience this year. How did it compare to last year? There is no comparison! I had a score to settle at this race and I definitely settled it!

This year I decided it would be best to camp at the event. The previous year I stayed at a different area that was about 15 minutes away. My sisters (all three of them) came down with me and we arrived at Wildflower on Friday. Found ourselves a nice camp site near a tree and pitched our tents. This first day was insanely hot. I felt like I was in a sauna! I think the temperature that day got up to about 91 degrees, or at least it felt that hot. Back in Oregon the warmest it had gotten was about 75 degrees. So I was definitely not accustomed to this kind of heat. With the heat being what is was, it was crucial to stay hydrated. I made sure to drink as much water as I could but sometimes water doesn't seem to get absorbed very well. Therefore, it was on to the fruits and vegetables full of water! In particular, cucumbers, seemed to do wonders. I felt so much more refreshed after eating one. I might also add that I ate it plain. Just peeled it and then ate it. No need for dressing or anything else slopped on it.

For the rest of Friday I tried to stay out of the sun as much as I could but still made sure to walk around as not to tighten up. I ventured down to the expo area, which was about a mile or so from our campsite, so I could pick up my packet and then take a dip in the lake to get a feel for it. And let me tell ya, that water felt so lovely! Plus, this would be my first race wearing the blueseventy helix wetsuit, and it was quite comfortable. A lot more flexible than the last wetsuit I had. However, getting the thing on in that kind of heat was not that much fun, but once in the water I was fabulous. That pretty much sums up day 1.

Saturday turned out to also be a very hot day. This was the day for the Long course and Mountain bike races. I wanted to watch the Long course racers not only because that is the pro race but also because my coach, Erich, was racing. They started at 8:00am and the temperature in the morning was very nice, almost chilly, but for racers it was perfect. Sadly though, that temperature rose rather quickly as the race went on, which is about 4+ hours of racing. I was able to watch the start of the race but wanted to get back to our campsite so I could get my easy run and bike done while the temperature was still tolerable. Also, so I could see the finish and not have to worry about getting my workouts in later. To my surprise, the long course run went right by our campsite. I got to see the pros and Erich run. Plus, when they went by I knew if I wanted to see the finish I would have to hustle on down soon after they went by, and I made it just in time. Erich's race results didn't meet his expectations but the absurd heat may have been a factor, not to mention he hasn't been training for long course. Nice Job Erich!
This pretty much sums up day 2. Even though I got in a lot of walking that day I think it was best. Much better than laying around the campsite.

Erich over half way done on the run!

It was finally race day! The weather was not at all like the previous two days. Instead, it was just like Oregon! Overcast, cold, windy and spitting rain. The rain stopped relatively quick, but the cold and wind stayed with us throughout the day. So maybe this was to my advantage since I'm used to training in this type of weather.

The first wave of the day, which was the collegiate waves, went off at 9:00am. My wave was not to start until 10:10am, after all the male waves had gone. The waiting part felt like it took forever! Especially since the wind was so cold and fierce that it chilled you rather quickly. I actually wasn't too nervous by the time it was my wave's turn to go. Maybe I got all my nerves out the previous two days.

The swim was not a very fun one. I had a great start into the water and had good position, but due to the crazy wind the water was very choppy. The way out felt like it took forever. Thankfully, I got a good feel for the water and didn't get a ton of mouthfuls like I did at Nationals last year. Not to mention, blueseventy's helix wetsuit helped tremendously but keeping me more buoyant and flexible in the water. Once I got around the turn buoy to head back to T1 it was much faster cause now I was flowing with the water instead of fighting it. I came out in about 14th position. Through T1 I passed most of them and when I headed out for the bike I was now in about 3rd or 4th position. Swim was 27:57.

Swim start - I'm on the far right

The bike went really well. This course is famous for its hills. I've been told that this is one of the hardest triathlon courses and so far it has been the hardest one I have competed in. Besides having the hills to deal with there was now another factor, wind. This is an out and back course so I only had to fight with the wind for half of it. From the very start I was passing people left and right, well actually just on my right, otherwise it's against the rules and if caught I could get a penalty. Anyways, there were so many people (mostly men, since they went before all the women and I was wave 2 of the women's waves) on the road that I constantly had to stay towards the center line of the road and had to yell "on your left" A LOT! I always disliked having to do that, o'well. I took advantage of all the downhills and straightaways and hills now that I'm thinking about it. The hills actually aren't that bad. People just seem to have a natural fear of them though. There were a few sections on the course where there were big gusts of wind. That made nervous a couple times, and I had to get out of the aero position. Coming into T2 I was now in 2nd position off the bike. Bike was 1:17:19.

Getting back into aero position

Starting the run

I had yet to have any visual contact of the girl that was in 1st position. But I felt strong coming off the bike and I knew that I would be able to catch her if she didn't have a very strong run. At this point I still wasn't sure how far ahead she was, but thanks to some of the male athletes they let me know about how far ahead she was and encouraged me to catch her. One gentlemen told me that she was only about 30 seconds ahead of me, and this really excited me. I was now about 1k into the 10k course and I finally saw her. From there I started to real her in and ended up passing her around the 2k mark. From there I didn't look back and just focused on how many other people I could catch as well as not having to stop at all on the run, as I had the previous year! I had quite a few guys encourage me a long the way by saying "Nice", "Yeah" or something along those lines. My favorite one though, is I was coming up on a group of older gentlemen (I think they were in there 50s) and I could over hear them talking about how awesome it was to pass a lot of these young guys and at that point I passed them and then one of them said "we have just been chicked!" in a half serious yet playful tone. I finished strong and felt good the whole way, relatively. I finished the run in a time of 40:09 and had an overall time of 2:28:36. Times were a bit slower this year due to the choppy swim.

Home stretch

Just finished and am all sweaty and smiles :)

I ended up winning my age group which was 25-29, even though I am technically still 24, and I also was the overall Olympic female winner (1st out of 714 female finishers). This is my biggest win so far and I am so thankful to my family, Erich, friends, and sponsors for helping me achieve this goal! I couldn't have done it without you guys! :)

25-29 Age group awards - Yeah, bottle of wine!

Male and Female Olympic overall winners - Got an awesome transition bag!

Overall, I am very pleased with the way the race unfolded. It didn't have a lot of control over the swim but wish I would've been able to swim it a bit faster. Same goes for the run, which I did have control over. But I can not beat myself up about it considering that I have not been able to consistently run or do a workout for about 2.5 months due to my ankle issue. I am happy to report that I did not feel it at all during the race and should be able to now get back into more running! Yay!