Merry Christmas!

Amanda's Top 5

Holiday procrastination?  Haven't finished (or even started!) your Christmas shoppping?  Usually, that is me running around in the holiday madness trying to find gifts at the last minute, so I thought I'd help out...

Amanda's Top 5 Last Minute Gift Ideas!

1.  Looking for quality earphones that don't fall out?  You need Yurbuds.  The best sport earphones ever (trust me I've been through alot of em).  Custom fit earbuds that don't fall out and are actually comfortable.  Plus they are sweatproof and sound great, you can totally blare your workout music! 
-Where to get them: In store at BestBuy or online at Amazon and Yurbuds

2.  Want to show up at the pool with the coolest suit ever? Check out TYR's  suit ever with skulls in disguise.  I also have to mention TYR's awesome new  Convoy Bag Collection. My favorite is the Convoy Rucksak: perfect for a transition bag and stuffs into itself for easy travel. 

3.  Need some yummy and healthy food?  Check out the gift boxes at Ranch Foods Direct.  My favorite is the New York Strip, delicious!  True story: after eating these, Randy and I stopped in a steakhouse on the drive home for the holidays and were so disappointed.  I couldn't even finish my steak and that's a first!

4.  Want to go all out and get a new bike plus time in the wind tunnel?  Then head to Blue's website and they will get you hooked up.   And you'll definitely want to be comfy in the saddle, so go ahead and throw in an ISM saddle too. 

5.  Already looking ahead to your new year's resolutions and goals?  Best thing to get you on the right track is a great coach at Lifesport! 


If you have additional ideas for gifts...let me know!

Happy Shopping,
amanda :)

Corpus Christi Training Camp

Freddy & Dorian

Before I get into all the awesome details about my Corpus Christi Training Camp, HUGE shout outs to...
-Freddy & Dorian: You all were fantastic.  You spoiled me rotten and I can't wait to come back again! 
-Jon: My Lifesport teammate and the best training partner, thanks for suffering with me!
-Jason and his grandparents:  Thanks for taking me in.  I miss y'all already!
-Bay Area Bicycles: Thanks to Tom, Junior and the rest of my crew for keeping my bike running smooth and race ready!
-Giancarlo and Dr. Erik: Thanks for looking out for me and getting me well quickly!
-Randy: my wonderful husband for letting me 'skip town' for 51days to train, love you!

Jon, my lifesport teammate

So the biggest question you probably have is: Why did you go to Corpus to train?  Well, being the nerd that I am, I did a weather and terrain 'study' and Corpus was the most similar place I could find in the US to Cozumel (that I could afford.) When my good friend Jason moved down there in Septemeber, he told me, "It's so hot out that I can't run" I was like, perfect, sign me up!  I headed down to the hot, humid, flat, windy city of Corpus in mid-October.  Wow, what a rude awakening those first few training days were, I though I was going to die!  Corpus definitely lived up to its reputation of being hot and humid.  Jon and I also quickly learned about the WIND.  The wind humbled us on a several rides...but what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, right? 

I will admit, I was a little skeptical before heading down South.  You never know what you are going to get in a new training environment.  After a few days there, I knew I'd made the right choice.  The local triathlon community took me in and took care of me.  After 'house/dog-sitting' for Jason's Grandparents in Padre, we moved to an ocean side condo.  Sweetness!  Everyone that I came in contact with was so welcoming and hospitable, such a refreshing feeling.

As for training...it was perfect.  I was happy a a kid in a candy store because I got to swim outside everyday.  Either open water in the ocean, in the canals, or at Collier pool.  Biking was flat and windy.  Most of the roads have texas sized shoulders so we covered lots of miles in Padre, Port Aransas, Portland, and Corpus.  The bulk of my running was done along Ocean Blvd with its spectacular views.  Recovery meant lots of stretching, to the sound of crashing waves, and ice baths.  Lots of trips to the Ice House to get pounds and pounds of ice.

This was my first time to escape the cold fall weather and I totally loved the hot weather and the sunshine.  I kinda laughed the first time a 'cold front' came through and dropped the temps into the upper 60s and everyone pulled out their winter coats.  Are you serious?  I'll admit though, after being there for a few weeks and 60 did feel cold.  I was so worried about coming back to Colorado, I just knew I was going to freeze to death.  At least I've been lucky and the weather has been pretty mild since I've been back. 

While I was down there KRISTv did a news segment featuring me and the local newspaper did an article too.  THANK YOU!  Check them out:
KRISTV 10 o'clock news (longer segment)
KRISTV 6 o'clock news

Caller Times Article
 
Hope to be back training in Corpus sometime soon!

I am an IRONMAN!!

Said I would never do it...but I DID IT!  Last weekend I crossed the finish line at Ironman Cozumel and got to hear those, oh so special words: "Amanda, YOU are and IRONMAN!"  Way cool!

So many people have been asking for a race report...which has been a bit overwhelming, because it seems like so much went on before, during, and after the race.  Also hard to put all the emotion and excitement into words!  Thank goodness Randy has some great pics that can fill in some of the gaps :)   I'm never one to enjoy a long blog or race report...WARNING, this is LONG!

THE RACE!
The plan going into this race was to gain some experience at the Ironman distance, to see if Ironman 'was in my blood', and to challenge myself and abilities.  The results: I learned ALOT out there and it took a few days post-race to realize it, but IM is in my blood! 

THE SWIM



Potts head 2nd from bottom, mine 3rd!

  After a less than stellar swim in Clearwater, I was ready to put down a great swim.  I'd swam on the course the days leading up to the race...it was gorgeous!  The clearest, bluest water I've ever swam in...and so much to look at: fish, stingrays, coral, and more.  Good thing I got to enjoy it before the race, because it was 'game on' once the gun sounded and I don't recall seeing anything during the race!  My plan was to start next to Potts and stay with him as long as possible.  About 4min before the start, there was some confusion about one of the bouys.  We were already semi-lined up to start and when this happened, Potts moved to the complete other side.  Since I was stuck like glue, I went too...along with the entire field.  Some dude tried to wiggle his way between me and Potts, um excuse me?! So I swam underneath him and popped up right next to Andy!  I was a bit worried as they were counting down the time to start, because a lifeguard was paddling in front of us, I didn't want to get stuck in a mess.  No worries though, clear water in front of us and BOOM! We were off!

Since I haven't raced an ITU race in quite sometime, I wasn't fully prepared for the rough start.  I was pretty much in the mix with all the guys.  After a slap to the head, an elbow, and a yank on my foot, I was momentarily shocked.  A split second later I told myself to "Man Up and Put your Big Girl Boots on!".  That's what it was going to take if I wanted to maintain my position.  It started to thin out a bit around 150mtr and then at 300mtr the group seemed much smaller.  We were swimming against the current and the effort felt pretty easy, so I knew Potts was going to make a break soon.  I was ready, but when he went, a small gap opened and with the current, it slowly grew.  With Potts now off the front, I was now with a small group of guys.  We made our way around the far bouys.  Holy Moly!  As we made the turn to go down-current, it was amazing how strong the current really was!  This was gonna be a fun stretch of swimming :)  The swim was pretty uneventful, I just cruised along and felt good.  I was tempted to break away from the group a few times...but reminded myself that I had a long day of 'training' ahead!  There was a bit of confusion coming into the exit.  There was a shorter line to the stairs and I started to veer off that way, but a kayaker stopped me.  We ended up swimming around a bouy and then making a sharp turn to the stairs.  I guess they removed the bouy right after I came out of the water?!  I came out of the water and was only 1:30 down from Potts.  The crowd was going crazy!!!  They couldn't believe that A GIRL had swum that fast!  I ran into the change tent to the chanting and screaming of the crowd, amazing energy!

THE BIKE

I was out on my bike in no time.  The streets were lined with spectators cheering...I did my best to take in all their energy and excitement in anticipation of spending some time alone out on the course.  My legs felt good from the get go.  I immediately found a good rhythm, my watts were totally under control: right where Lance and I wanted them to be.  I got in some early nutrition and then put my head down.  Just like the swim course, the bike course was spectacular.  Totally closed off to traffic, huge aid stations every 10km, stunning views.  I've never had to rely on the aid stations before...so I was a bit scared of being able to grab all the water I'd need.  I missed the first bottle, but then thought of Freddy and Dorian practicing hand-ups with me in Texas...never missed another bottle!  A few of the guys zoomed by me like I was standing still!  Was I going too slow?!  I checked my watts and effort, right were I was supposed to be.  Back into my zone I went.  Since I was off the front, riding solo, I had no idea what was happening behind me with the other girls.  I never heard any splits, zip, zilch, nada.  Towards the end of lap one we started to come back into town and the streets were lined with people cheering, chanting, running all over, it was a mad house!  When I passed the swim start to begin lap 2, I saw age-groupers up the road.  Pick em off one by one!  So for the next lap, I pretended like I was pac-man, gobbling up the dots up the road.  Amazingly, there were no 'packs' of age-groupers...they were all spread out=good spread out targets.  My watts on lap 2 bumped up a bit, yah, feeling good.  Kept it steady and got the calories and water in.  I hit the back side of the island and that was the first time I really felt the heat!  Boy, it was going to be a hot day...let the water dumping begin!  Lap 2 done and I'm still riding solo.  I was right on pace to ride 5:00, I knew last year's fastest split was a 5:03, sweet!  I'd been warned before the race that there would be good patches and bad patches...and a bad spot was quickly approaching.  As I started lap 3 (around 80miles) my watts plumeted, my legs felt crampy, I had no energy.  OH NO!  A brief second of worry...did I go out to fast, was my nutrition off, I've never raced this far, what do I do?  My anxiety only lasted briefly as I quickly reminded myself of all the training and preparation I'd done.  I was prepared for the bad spots, so lets deal with it and get on. I took in extra calories, salt, and focues on keeping my cadence up.  I kept cruising along and that is when I found out there were 2 women within a minute of me.  Alright: just keep it steady, get through the next aid station to top off all your bottles, let you legs come around, and be ready when they get here.  Well, my legs didn't come around and unfortunately when Tyler and Yvonne came whizzing by, me legs felt the worst they'd felt all day!  Those girls are animals on the bike!  Before I knew it they were small specs way up the road.  Alrighty, re-focus, keep on the nutrition, trust that your legs will come around.  Then Dede passed me, whosh, and she was up the road.  Its okay, we still have a marathon to run, get yourself to T2 in good shape.  I made the turn back into town and all of a sudden my legs came around.  About the same time, Luke and Meg came by...great energy there!  I started to reel Dede back in...slowly but surely.  It felt so good to have my legs back under me...I got through my first really bad Ironman patch!  Going into transition the crowds were amazing once again, excitement all around!  Came into T2 a few seconds behind Dede, but got out on the run before her.  Yippee, time to run 26.2! 

THE RUN:
Right off the bat, I felt good.  The enthusiasm of the crowd, amazing again!  Well, my good feeling only lasted about 800mtr.  Funny story! I have never worn socks in a race.  About 2 weeks before the race, Lance and I were going over logistics and he brought ups socks.  I was like, um, I wasn't planning on using socks, never have.  Then he reminded me that I'd be running 26.2 miles not 13.1 or a 10K.  Okay, I'll wear socks. At that time, the search for race socks began.  All of my training socks were either stretched out, had holes in them or annoyed me, I wasn't going to use any of them for the race.  Randy showed up in Cozumel with brand new running socks for me.  I picked the purple TCU colored ones for race day.  Lance had also told me to put an extra pair of socks in my run special needs bag.  I asked Randy, do I really need to?  I did not want to put a brand new, nice pair of running socks in there, I'd never see them again!

Okay, so back to the race.   About 800mtr down the road it felt like my sock was slipping down into my shoe.  Darn it!  I stopped, pulled up my sock and started to run again.  Dede had caught up to me, so I took off a bit faster.  A few minutes later, it felt like my sock had slipped down again. I knew I shouldn't have worn socks!  It became so annoying that I stopped, again!, pulled my sock up, but also noticed that my sock hadn't really slipped down?! Wierd. Oh well, off I went again, with Dede closing again.  A mile later and the same feeling in my shoe came back.  What in the world?!  I can't keep stopping to fix my socks.  At that point, I decided, the socks are coming off.  Well, as I reached down to fix them, I realized my insole was coming out of my shoe.  No wonder it felt so strange!  I assumed that happened in the hustle of transition, got it fixed and started to run once again, happy to have my 'sock' problem fixed.  But....it didn't take long for it to happen again.  A bit frustrated, I looked down, and my insole had worked its way out of my shoe again.  At that point I decided to put an end to this maddness for good.  Took my shoes off and whipped out the insoles, tossed them in the trash. Problem solved, now it was time to get moving!  I found a good rhythm and started to focus on chasing the leaders down. The run course was 3 out and back loops.  The far turn around was just past the Melia resort.  This is where Randy and I got married this summer.  When I ran past the Melia on the first lap my heart was filled with amazing positive vibes!  I let that carry me back to transition.  1st lap done, steady pace, feeling relatively good.   Then the long bad patch of my run decided to hit: miles ~9-15.  My bladder started spasming, it had never seen so much and such a constant influx of caffiene!  I tried to stop and pee several times, but nothing, no pee just intense pain.  So annoying to keep having to re-pass the same people!  Finally got that under control.  Around mile 11, I realized minus insoles my shoes were a bit roomier.  That plus all the water that I was dumping on me to stay cool, and I had blisters like never before!  Thank goodness Randy had 'forced' me to put my extra socks in my special needs bag!  Swaped my socks out and my feet felt like a million bucks.  I focused on putting one foot in front of the other, getting nutrition in, and getting my energy back.  I rouned the turn at the end of lap 2 and saw that the Soofie was closing in on me, she was less than 1min back!  Okay, this is where you dig deep and make it happen.  She hurts just as much as you...and she hasn't made 5 ga-jillion stops like you have.  No more stops til the finish!  My legs started to come around some-what and I ticked the miles off.  At mile 19, I decided to walk for about 10mtr to get a salt pill in.  Bad choice!  My legs were ready to stop right then and there.  Walking felt so nice...sitting down would be so much better...snapped myself out of those thoughts and forced my legs to run.  Okay, no more stops and no more walking until the finish line!  I got to the Melia for the thrid and final times, good vibes, good vibes, let them carry  you home.  I reached the 23mile marker and knew I was going to make it, I was going to be an Ironman!  That thought fueled me to the finish line.  About 800mtr out from the finish line, the streets were super crowed, there was barely enough space to run, madness!  I rounded the corner and saw the finsh chute, yippee!!!!!  Pure EUPHORIA!  I crossed the finish line and was flooded with so many emotions...joy, relief, exhilaration, pride!  A truly amazing expereince!  Congrats to Andy and Yvonne for phenomenal preformances!  Congrats to all my compeitors!  And Good Job to all the Ironman Cozumel finishers!

An experience that wouldn't be possible with everyone's love, support, and encouragement. 

THANK YOU!

MIA

Yep, I know, I've been MIA for awhile! The cool thing about that is that now I have two months of adventures to share, race stories from my first FULL Ironman in Cozumel last weekend and from IM 70.3 World Champs, and lots of time to do catch up on my blog now that it's officially the off season!

First of All: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone for all of your support, encouragement, and love!!!!!!

I have been down in Corpus Christi, TX training for the past six weeks. THANK YOU CORPUS, y'all were AWESOME!!! Been making the drive back home to Colorado over the past few days with plenty of stops along the way. Headed home to good ole Enid tonight to spend the weekend with my parents, yeah! I will admit, I am scared to go back to Colorado...I have become the biggest COLD wimp ever! Seriously! My sister laughed at me last night when I said it was freezing and it was still 50 degrees...and she reminded me that the high temps are no where near that in Colorado. Hmmmm....maybe something will happen with my car and I'll be stuck in warm sunny Texas a bit longer!

Anyways...lots of blogs and pictures coming your way! Have a great weekend!

Cancun Ironman 70.3 Champion!

Hallelujah!  I did it, I won my first Ironman 70.3!!  I can't explain how exciting it was to 'break the tape' and even better to be able to do it with Randy right there with me!

I went down to Cancun with confidence after a really good training block and finally starting to feel fully recovered from surgery.  I knew it was going to be stinkin HOT and HUMID, so I had done some heat acclimazation in the weeks leading up to the race, thank goodness for that!  In the days leading up to the race, more and more names started to appear on the startlist, the race line up was looking tough.  Rather than focusing on who was going to be there, I shifted my focus to what I was capable of doing.  If I went out and did what I was capable of, I could be in the mix.

Race morning started of dark and early.  As we were setting up tranistion it was pretty windy and there was a bit of sprinkling rain.  I hoped I'd made the right decision to use my disc.  (Glad I did!)  Since it was already pretty warm, I did a super light jog and then headed down to the water early.  I wanted to do all of my warming up in the water to stay cooler and still get loose.  Before I knew it, it was time to line up at the start.  Let's get going!

I had a quick start: a mix of running, dolphin diving, and floundering around but quickly took the lead and got to the first bouy and started to find my rhythm.  The water was warm and my swim felt a bit off...I just felt like I was slugging through mud.  Tried to keep my focus and effort high so I could get a good gap on the girls that would be chasing.  Out of the water, run on the beach, then run through Wet 'n Wild, then to transition.  I totally took off in the wrong direction and the crow was yelling for me to turn around, opps! Finally go where I needed to go and on my bike.  I just put my head down and trusted my legs would do their thing.  The course seemed pretty shaddy and not too hot at the start, but it slowly warmed up like an oven.  Then the wind picked up and I was pushing the pace solo.  On the second lap we started to mix in with the age-grouper and it was great to have bikes to chase!  I knew the other ladies were chasing hard so I tried to keep the pressure on the gas.  What an exciting T2: the crowd was going crazy!  I tried to carry all that energy out on the run course with me.  The run was 2 out and back loops and thank goodness there were aid stations every kilometer!  As I was coming out of transition the sky got really dark and I was like, sweet, its gonna rain!  It rained for a little bit and then that was the end of that...it just sparked a wave of humidity and the heat was rising.  I focused on running from aid station to aid station, trying to keep my cadence up and rhythm relaxed.  I wanted ice so badly at the aid stations, I kept yelling, "Hielo, Hielo" and they would say "Agua, Agua"....they didn't have the ice there yet!  Finally I went through one station and the bucket all the water bags were in was full of ice, so I made a quick stop to put a handful of ice in my hat and in my short...ya gotta stay cool out there!...and I think that shocked the kids working there!  I finally got my method down and it was a relief to see the water/cooling oasis every little bit.  I kept the pressure on all the way home because ya never know what will happen...but boy, it sure was fun to turn the corner and see the finishing shoot!  I was so excited and had the hugest SMILE on my face...I had done it!  What an awesome day!!!

Enjoy the slideshow....

Awards Ceremony

Dang, they sure do get excited about triathlon in Mexico!   Not only did we have a podium ceremony at the finish line, but there was also an awards ceremony at the host hotel that evening.  It was pretty exciting to be able to stand on top and say a few words :)   And I got a sweet trophy and triathlon painting, so cool!

Cancun!

Randy and I just got back from quick but FUN trip to Cancun!  We flew out on Friday and arrived to the hot and sticky weather of beautiful Cancun.  We got checked into our hotel, the all inclusive Royal Solaris, and then jumped right into race stuff...packet pickup, driving the course, building my bike, getting a few workouts in...   Randy enjoyed the delicious foods, while I would vicariously taste everything he tried while I munched on bland (non stomach irritating!) rice, pasta, and bread.  But don't worry...after the race, I ate like a champ and tried everything!!!  We didn't have alot of time to hang out, since this was a "business trip" afterall!  Post-race we headed down to the beach and wouldn't ya know...the storms rolled in...those darn hurricane rains sure do seem to be following us this year!  It cleared up a bit and we couldn't help but jump in the ocean and play in the waves, such a good time!  Then on Monday before heading to the airport we decided to drive downtown in search of the plaza market.  Well, we never actually found the market but did have a bit of an adventure...Randy was driving and I was navigating and I told him to take a left and before we know it we are in the middle of a riot/demonstration traffic jam!  We look to our left and there are the local police in the back of a truck with thier humongous guns up and ready!  Then some motorcycle cops go whizzing by us on the sidewalk.  Thank goodness we only had to go about a block (at snails pace of course!) before we were able to turn off and get out of there.  Such a relief to make it to the airport in one piece :)  

First Amercican State Bank Fitness Festival

Thanks for coming out and seeing me today at the First American State Bank Fitness Festival, it was awesome to see ya'll!

Congrats on your race!

Check out photos from today by clicking here: IMAGES from First American State Bank Fitness Festival

Have a SUPER DAY!

Fun in San Francisco

ALCATRAZ!

Wow!  I got to swim Alcatraz, how cool is that?  As a swimmer, it's something I've always wanted to do, and now I have, yeah!  Race morning we were loaded up on a boat and taken out to Alcatraz island.  As the pros got their 'swim instructions' to follow the lead boat, the lady told us the water was warm this morning...since when is 59 degree water warm?  Anyways, due to currents and tides, we had to follow the lead boat...or we'd be swept away and most likely not make it to shore anywhere near the transition area.  We jumped off the side of the boat and away we went.  I did not sight for the first 30-40 strokes and then looked up and couldn't even see the lead boat, it was crazy, we'd moved so far with the current while swimming straight!  Needless to say, this made for an adventurous swim that I loved!!!  I came out of the water first and was met by the cool air temps.  I'd worn arm warmers under my wetsuit, so I was good there.  I also had gloves hooked to my bike to put on and then toe warmers inside my toe covers (and my feet were still cold!)  Once on the bike, it was time to tackle the hilly and technical course.  Towards the midway point of the 1st climb, Tenille and I engaged in our battle royale that would last until the finish line.  I would pass her uphill and she would fly by my on the descents (guess I need some work there, especially on the tri bike!)  There was a flat out and back portion and I put my head down and put a gap on Tenille.  Back on the hills, I knew she was chasing hard as were all the other women out there.  I came into T2 with about 20sec lead and took off running on numb feet.  I didn't get a chance to check out the run course prior to the race, so I was running a bit blind.  Around 2miles, Tenille came running up, passing me on a climb but then on the long downhill before reaching the sand ladder I flew past her (just the opposite of the bike :)  )  We started the sand ladder together and man, she took off!  It was my first ever encounter with the sand ladder, and hindsight tells me I might have taken the wrong approach by trying to use the rope?!  Anyways, once I reached the top, Tenillle had a decent gap on me, so I charged on hoping I would close the gap by the finish line.  I was reeling her in and had the gap down to about 10sec and was closing fast...but the finish line was also approaching fast.  I tried to take it up another notch, and BOOM!  I totally tripped over my own feet, instinctively did a somersault and then did a bit of a face plant right in front of millions of people.  In the scramble, I lost ground and more importantly my momentum...but I jumped back up and gave it my all to the finish line.  A close 2nd place finish!  All in all, a great day out there, and a reminder that I am on track coming back from surgery and a crazy summer!  Can't wait to break the tape though!!!  Congrats to all the girls and guys who raced out there!

Huge THANK YOUs to Terry Davis and his Tri-California crew for putting on a phenomenal event and to Bear and his girls for hosting Randy and I...we had a blast with ya'll!! Hope to be back again soon.

PLEASE be CAREFUL!!!

On today's ride, I saw a cyclist slam into a car!  I'm not exactly sure what happened, I think the car just stopped suddenly in the middle of the road and the cyclist had no where to go but into the backend.  The cyclist ended up being okay, his ribs were killing him, so maybe a fracture there.  His bike on the other hand, not so good.  The top tube was completely severed from the headtube and the fork was crumbled!  I've never seen anything like it.  The rest of my ride I was hyper-sensitive to the cars and traffic.  Do you know how many people I saw gabbing on the phone, not even paying attention to traffic, let alone someone on a bike, and a few people texting or messing with gadgets.  People when you drive, drive!  And for those of you out there on your bikes, ride safe and ride on the defensive.

Tough Course + Tough Competion =

What a way to cap off my 3 week training camp (aka Introduction to Fitness 101)...a fifth place finish at Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens.  I took the ferry across from Sidney to Anacortes, gorgeousness!  Then I got to pick up Randy at the airport, Yippee!  I hadn't seen him in forever!!!  Then it was time to settle in and get focused on the task at hand.  I rode the bike course a few times and knew it was gonna be killer...then got to the race and taking it up a notch made it seem ALOT tougher!  And speaking of tough: there was some stiff competion!  Let's see, there was Melanie McQuaid (congrats girl!) 3 time Xterra World Champion; Tyler Stewart, Ironman Champion; Sam Warriner 2 time Aquathon World Champion, 7 time World Cup Champion; Sam McGlone Ironman 70.3 World Champion; Linsey Corbin, Ironman Champion; Joanna Zieger, Ironman 70.3 World Champion, and a slew of other great racers.  So even though I got my butt kicked a bit...at least it was in good company. 

The day started off with a stellar swim.  I exited the water with over 1min on Joanna and it was over 3min until the other ladies started to chase me down.  I tackled the hills right off the bat, hoping to stay 'out of sight, out of mind!'  Melanie came flying by me around mile 25 and I did my best to keep her in sight.  As we started lap 2, the bike course got a bit crazy and crowed with the age-groupers and traffic.  I got caught behind a car twice and had no where to go...a bit frustrating, but what can ya do?  Towards the end of lap 2, Tyler and Sam went by me too...so I entered T2 in fourth place.  I had high expectations for my run and was hoping to run some of the girls in front of me down (now looking back on it, I've only done one speed workout since my last 70.3 race in Florida in May...so not sure what I was thinking?!)  The run was tough and hilly, I did my best to hold off Sam and Linsey.  Sam passed me at the final turn-around and at that point my hamstrings started cramping.  I went into survival mode (thank goodness it was mostly downhill) and crossed the finish line in 5th.  Happy and a good post-surgery starting point.  The only way is UP from here!!!

Super job to everyone who raced!!!

Lake Stevens 70.3

Peach City

Penticton Training Camp

Hmmm, it's Randy and I's one-month anniversary....what shall I do?  I think I'll head up to Canada for a few weeks!  Okay, not exactly the best scenario but that is what happened.  I needed to go to training camp for my first round of hard-core training since surgery.  Lance promised me some 'ugly-fun' in Penticton before I left, and well, he sure did deliver!  I absolutely loved every minute of it though, I was back in training heaven.  Not to mention, Penticton is a great little Ironman town and a fun place to train.  I was there with three other Lifesport Athletes and our schedule was basically eat, train, nap, eat, train, train, eat, eat, eat, sleep.  I did my largest bike and run volume weeks ever, who-hooo.  Got to check out the IM Canada bike course, twice, and also run along some really spectacular trails.  All of our swims were open water in a clear (and on one occasion extremely COLD lake)  Made me totally wish I was doing IM Canada....but I'm still coming back from surgery and need to listen to my body and be smart, there is always 2011 though!

Sooke International Triathlon Press Conference

1st post-surgery race TODAY!  More details to come, but here is the press conference, enjoy!

I'm MARRIED!!!

Wow!  What a time we've had the last few weeks!!! Randy and I got married in Cozumel on June 26th!  We had about 30 family and friends down there with us to celebrate all week long.  Then, we were in Colorado Springs for less than 36hrs before heading to Oklahoma for a reception over July 4th weekend.  It was so awesome to see so many people in Bricktown and to be able to share our special day with family and friends.  Its been a bit of a whirlwind since being home...hopefully I'll get my blog updated with all of our adventures!  But most importantly, I wanted to post some wedding pictures.  Yep, they've been a long time coming...but with over 3,000 digital photos to sort through, its been a bit overwhelming to say the least.  We had an awesome photographer in Cozumel, and we just got our 'official' wedding photos from her: yeah, the pics are great!

Our wedding ceremony ended up being perfect...mainly because I had my perfect guy standing at the end of the aisle...and because we got to say 'I do' to each other...ya got me for a LIFETIME baby!!  About an hour before our ceremony, the rain became a torrential downpour!  Hurricane Alex was named a tropical storm...and it looked like we were going to be doing option 'B' for the wedding.  Option 'A' was down on the beach right at the ocean's edge...but there was no way that was happening.  Especially with the dark sky and sheets of rain.  However, option 'B' turned out to be perfect for us.  We were under a thatched hut that sat up above the ocean...you could look out and see the ocean through the storm and could hear the waves crashing up on the beach.  Tati, our photographer, has been photographing weddings in Cozumel and never had it rain during a wedding ceremony, let alone POUR down rain.  We figured it would wor for us, after all I basically grew up in a pool and love being wet, so why not on our wedding day too???  And most importantly, we were more than happy to be getting married!!!!  After the ceremony we took some pics in the lobby and then had our reception dinner.  It was on a covered patio out on the beach and the food was delicious...followed that up with some dancing and fun!  What a GREAT night!!!!

Enjoy the pics!  First up, Randy and Amanda pics...but don't worry, more to come!!!

Training with Mr. Bailey

Well, I'm one week post surgery, yeah!  I'm slowly coming around and its amazing how much better I feel already....which made me realize how bad I was actually feeling the past few weeks.  I was able to start walking last Friday and that means I acquired a new training partner: Mr. Bailey!  Competitiveness must run in the family because yesterday he was pushing the pace like crazy.  Then my competitiveness kicked in and we were walking faster and faster and faster...enough that my shins were sore today :)  Who'd thought that I'd ever get sore from walking?!  Then Mr. Bailey proceeded to show off for me in the pool.  I think he knows I can't get in the water quite yet and enjoyed making me jealous!  But since I am the treat giver, he knows not to get me too upset. 

Mr. Bailey must have had the time of his life yesterday, because I woke up to a hyper lab puppy licking my face and not letting me get anything done until we went on our walk.  And today we set a PR on our 'course'...yah, not an athlete at all?! 

All in all, recovery is going smoothly.  Had to get some internal stitches, so my recovery period will be a bit longer than originally expected.  Hoping to be on the trainer tomorrow and maybe try out the pool too.  Can't tell ya how excited I am to be swimming...I think this is the longest I've gone without swimming since I had a cast on my leg when I was 8 years old!  Starting to feel like a beached whale :)

Well, I gotta get going, Mr. Bailey wants another treat!!! Better go spoil him some more so he'll be set to go in the morning.

Attack of the Gallbladder

This weekend is a HUGE weekend of racing! With REV3, Kansas 70.3, Mooseman 70.3, Hawaii 70.3 and I’m sure a few other races too, it seems like everyone will be racing, and that is what I WANT to do too. But unfortunately, I won’t be able to. Instead I’ll be getting ready for surgery on Monday. Yep, you read that right: SURGERY! 

I’ve been having trouble for the past 2 weeks with my gallbladder, kept hoping it would just resolve itself and I would wake up and the pain would be gone…no such luck! (found out that doctors make the absolute worst patients in the process :) )  Training has been hit or miss during this time which has been driving me nuts. Since it’s a huge part of my job as a professional athlete to deal with and manage pain…its been quite frustrating to not be able to do anything about this pain. And I am pretty sure I have a high pain tolerance, so when I am having 9 out of 10 pain, something is definitely wrong!! Another part of my job is listening to my body, and since its yelling at me now…I need to get this taken care of ASAP! I’ll get it out of the way so I can bounce back even stronger than before and back up my National Championship Title with an even better title…World Champion sounds good to me :) And since my SUPER-A Priority race of 2010 is coming up in just three weeks…my wedding!!! I don’t want any trouble down in Mexico.

Good LUCK to everyone racing this weekend!

A2 Wind Tunnel Video

Here I am warming up for my Wind Tunnel Session!  Pretty Darn COOL

Free Speed

On Monday, I headed to the A2 wind tunnel in Charlotte, NC with Chance from Blue Bikes and my Lifesport teammate Magali.  It was so awesome!  Chance picked us up from the airport in the BlueMobile and we headed straight to the wind tunnel.  We worked with Mike Giraud, who was amazing!  Never knew there was so much to consider when it comes to aerodynamics.  Magali got in the wind tunnel first and she ended up saving 15-25watts, wow!  Next it was my turn, so we got set my Triad up on the platform and I did a bit of a spin to warm-up.  Before each run we had to "hold still for a zero" which meant no moving...amazing how long 15sec can seem when you are alone in a wind tunnel and told not to move.  Then after the zeroing the wind would start coming and I would start pedaling and Mike would get all sorts of measurements.  Most of the runs we did at a zero degree yaw angle...but a few were at 10 and 20 degrees...dude the wind was crazy!  I knew I was locked in on my bike but still felt like I was gonna get blown off.  After each run Mike would analyze the data and then work some magic and make some changes.  At the end of the day we found me almost 3min of time over a half IM bike...talk about some FREE SPEED, I love it!

Thanks to Blue for giving me this opportunity and thanks to Chance and Mike for making me faster!

Rhoto IM Florida 70.3

Sweet!  Another great race under my belt.  2010 is off to a great start!

The race this weekend was at DisneyWorld, that place is HUGE!  There are some many different parks and resorts and things to do.  I am amazed at how much of the roads they were able to have closed for the race!  Funny thing about the roads is that you can end up driving and driving and the place you want to go is RIGHT THERE, but you just can't seem to get to the place.  For example, my hotel was about 8min from the race start but it took me over 30min to get there race morning :)  Anyways, on to the race...

The night before the race, I layed down around 8:00pm and felt pretty tired and was hopeful I'd fall right asleep, and I did.  However at 10pm, I jolted awake and was up for the rest of the night!  I think my body thought it was supposed to be nap time and wasn't ready for a full nights rest.  With a 6:20 race start, I wanted to be up a little before 4:00am (yep, 2:00am in Colorado!)...so when I finally fell back asleep at 2:30, it wasn't too long before I heard my alarm.  Despite the non-sleepage night, I woke up excited, energized and ready to race: Bring it ON!

I showed up at transition to find my Zipp Disc with a flat (we'd checked our bikes into transition the night before)...fun, fun. I was pretty calm and collected about the whole situation, found the race mechanic, and handed my wheel off to him...he got me all set up and race ready, THANK YOU!  Did a bit of a run to loosed up the legs and then headed down to the swim start.  We weren't able to do a swim warm-up, so I did a good dry-land warm-up for the swim and was ready to go!

The cannon went off and into the water the women went!  I had a super fast start and was able to jump on Sara McLarty's feet for a little bit.  I hung on for as long as I could and then settled into my own pace and rhythm.  About half-way through the swim, I realized how warm the water was...man, if the water was this warm, it could turn into a hot day!  I exited the water about 1min down from Sara and had a good lead on the rest of the girls thanks to my TYR Sayanora SpeedSuit!

I jumped on my Blue Triad and my legs were feeling strong, yeah.  Coach Lance and I had a good race plan in place and I knew if I went out and executed then I was going to have a good day.  I was patient and consistent on the ride and focused on nutrition and hydration since it was hot and humid.  I loved the ride...the best part was the few times we'd pass by huge Welcome signs that said: 'Where Dreams Come True'...those were my reminders to make my dreams come true on the race course :)   Leanda caught me around 30miles and then I stayed with her into T2.  I had fast transition and was out on the run first!

The run was 3 loops and almost half of it was on a grassy field.  I took it out conservative but fast and my legs felt good.  Leanda came by me right at the start and I just wanted to keep her in sight and hopefully reel her back in.  She extended her lead to about 1:20 on lap one...and then I had it down to about 45sec towards the end of lap 2...and then the heat got to me!  My legs felt good and wanted to keep running fast...but my body had a different idea!  The last few miles I switched from race mode to survival mode...and boy was I happy to see the finish line!  Another 2nd place finish (to another World Champion: Leanda Cave)....I think now its time for me to be on TOP of the podium!

Thanks to Rhoto, Ironman, Race Director Tom Zeibart, all of the wonderful volunteers out there on the course keeping us safe and cool, and everyone else who helped make the weekend a success!   Also a huge THANK YOU to my sponsors: TYR, Blue Bikes, Lifesport, Powerbar, Oklahoma Spine Hospital, and Ranch Foods Direct.  Congrats to everyone who raced this weekend!  See ya at the next one!

Magail and I at the awards...not sure what I'm doing :)

My new BLUE Machine!

I'm sitting here chillin' out at the SEA-TAC airport (yeah free wi-fi), headed down to Galveston to kick off my 2010 season.  Once again have my wheel bag (loaded up with a speedy set of Zipps) and have been getting all sorts of weird looks as people try to figure out what I'm carrying...have been asked if they were large cymbals and even if it was a super-sized Frisbee!

My super wheels belong to my NEW racing machine ...a BLUE Triad!!!

I got the bike just before heading up to Canada for my training camp, so it's only been ridden in Canada...time for some riding in the USA! Many thanks to the crews at CS Bikes in Colorado Springs and the Trek Bike Shop in Victoria for getting me set up and dialed in...I am feeling FAST!!!  And of course, thanks to Blue and Chance for making me part of the Blue Family.  Can't wait to represent ya!

Check out this weekends race at Ironman.com and look for me and my BLUE!

BabaGanouj & Gardening

Yes, I'm horrible for not updating by blog since, gasp, early February! So much has been going on I just don't know where to start :) So I'll just start with where I am right now...which is up in beautiful Victoria, BC. I've been up here for the past few weeks with my LifeSport teammates and Coach Lance. Training has been going so so so good...and with my first race coming up this weekend, Galveston 70.3, I am rip-roaring ready to go!

Today was a bit of a recovery day, so I ate some BabaGanouj (delicious!) and did some gardening with my homestay. John and Madeleine are the most wonderful couple ever, they have totally been spoiling me, THANK YOU! And their garden is amazing! Check out more pics here 

And here are tons of  PICTURES from Beacon Hill Park. Enjoy!

I'm a bit embarrassed....

USADA (US Anti-doping) knocked on my door bright and early this morning. I'll admit I wasn't the happiest camper in the world, especially since I couldn't sleep last night and was up past 3am! So most of you probably know about my shy bladder...however today's embarrassment did not come in the form of a shy bladder (although my test still took over 2hrs, 2:09 to be exact!)...it was in the form a a disastrous apartment!

The whirlwind of my life recently has left me without much free time, so what gets shifted to the very bottom of the list? Yep, cleaning. Actually not even talking about cleaning here, more just picking up and straitening. I think Alex (her first time to visit) was in totally shock! I would be too if I walked into someone's place to be welcomed by this view:

I don't know how many times I apologized for the mess...
Anyways, thought I'd share with the world the current status of my apartment. As you can see, it does not resemble that of the typical obsessive-compulsive, Type A triathlete. If anyone knows of a cleaning lady that would love to sponsor me, send her my way!

The lovely kitchen....

I think I need another bike to drape some clothes on...

The washer has been broken for over 1mth...will they ever get us the part delivered in one piece, I hope so!

How do I get any work done?

Okay, now that I've embarrassed myself and my parents! to cyberspace and not just USADA...I better go start cleaning, oh wait, I've got to ride first :)