Over the past couple of years I have been asked some great questions by other athletes both amateur and professional.  Here are a few:

What is your sporting background?:  I grew up riding horses.  My parents were avid horsemen and I had my first pony waiting for me when I was born.  My first competition was at the age of three.  In high school, I ran.  I competed in cross country and track.  My competition was my younger sister.  We drove each other to be better and faster.  After High School, I ran track at the University of Tennessee.  My events were the 1500 and the 3000m.

When did you become a professional triathlete?:  I turned pro in 2oo3.  My first year as a professional was HARD!  Going from age group to pro is a bigger step than one would think.  It’s very different!

Who braids your hair race morning?:  I braid my own hair.  It takes me less than 2 minutes!  I learned how to braid my own hair when I was 8 years old.  My mother used to french braid my long, thick hair every other day so that she wouldn’t have to spend hours detangling it or getting the dreadlocks out of it.  She would pull my hair so hard that my eyes squinted…(OK, I’m being dramatic…but it hurt!).  I hated getting my hair braided.  Finally after a couple of years of abuse, we made a deal…If I learned how to…

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I arrived race morning with plenty of time to set up, do a warm-up, and get settled in for the 70.3 Timberman.  It was business as usual with absolutely NO snafus.  Everything went along as planned and things seemed easy.

I had a fairly slow swim start but I was able to get a good rhythm after the first turn buoy.  My swim was very average; somewhat below average. I just felt flat…but I was happy that I picked up momentum as I swam along, passing girls as I continued.  I was able to catch a little group and stuck in there until we exited.  I exited with my friend, Jacqui, and two other girls… I wasn’t too disappointed in my swim as I haven’t been swimming well in training lately.  I can’t put my finger on it why…but sometimes that’s just they way it goes. 

As the bike leg started, it was business as usual.  I go out hard and I try to hold that pace for as long as I can.  A couple of girls passed me, I passed a couple of girls.  I was never by myself .  I loved that aspect.  I felt like I was racing during the entire bike portion of the race.  The bike course, while beautiful, is extremely difficult.  There were times that I felt lows like I do  in an Ironman.  Basically, I felt low in energy and couldn’t get it going.  I felt FLAT.  I think I definitley…

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I’m a planner.  I am extremely organized. I don’t like “changing” the schedule.  I like following a plan.

My original plan after driving home from Austin 2 weeks ago was to be at altitude for 4 weeks, get in some good solid training,  race the Boulder Peak Triathlon, and then to race Racine 70.3 the week after that.

However, after being in Colorado for about 10 days, having 3 solid sessions of training, and training faster than I had since March of this year, Michael suggested on Tuesday of last week (after running 8 x 800′s) to race Lubbock.  I told him no way…LOL.

After Wendesday’s 4 hr HARD ride with Simon’s training group of girls, Michael again suggested that I race…Again, I said no way.  Michael told me to please consider racing  as I was training better than I had in months…Previously, I had some of my best “races” in training and he didn’t want to see that happen to me again…LOL.  He wanted me to have a great race in a actual race!

I considered his suggestion and I thought about it…and thought about it some more.  I  made a few calls.  I got a bit of encouragement from Cliff.  And I made my final decision after speaking with my Yoda…the RAPPSTAR.

My YODA gave me a list of suggestions on how to pull myself together for this race.  I wrote every single detail down and I followed them…

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I am not much of a distance driver.  In fact, I make fun of myself, calling myself the “travel diva”.  It is no secret that I would much rather fly somewhere than drive somewhere…lol!  However, I have to admit I really enjoyed my 2 day drive home with my whippet, Blue.  I stopped only to fill the tank or to spend the night in a hotel.  The drive was a small challenge and it was incredibly cathartic.  I never thought that I would enjoy the drive, but I really did.  I enjoyed being alone, thinking, & petting Blue Dog.  Looking back, I really wish I had stopped to take a few pictures. 

I love Austin.  However, I was VERY ready to leave when it was time to go.  I have struggled with my racing and training the past few months.  I have felt like I’m out of sync with my preparation and taper for races.  I’ve been going into races not feeling 100 percent and I have had to cancel two races this year.  Last year was very different.  I was on a roll, having some of the best training and racing of my career.  Last year I didn’t want to leave Austin.

Now that I am back in Boulder, back at home, back with ML and my dogs (and Frisco), I am looking forward to getting back to the basics.  I’m looking forward to training with some of my favorite training partners…

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Earlier this year WTC implemented a new rule for professionals.  The new rule is that no professional athlete would be paid if their finishing time was not within 8% of the winner’s time.

Here are a few of my thoughts:
There has been a lot of  jibber-jabber amongst the professionals about this new rule.  I have kept my opinions to myself, as I think that I am in the minority in thinking the 8% rule may have been a way for us professionals to progress to higher level.

 I like rules.  And I think that if you do your job, if you work hard, then you should get the proper result (within the 8%) and you should get paid.  After all, not everyone is accepted at an Ivy league school.  Not everyone has the opportunity to be a part of a Division 1 athletic program.  And not everyone is qualified for certain jobs.  I thought that this new rule would make the professionals work harder and would help us push each other to be the best that we can be.

In St. Croix, nine women started the race (10 were supposed to get paid).  3 women dropped out.  6 finished.  It was one of the hottest, hardest, windiest days that I can remember in my ten years of racing in St. Croix.  If it had been last year, with last year’s rules, all 6 of us girls would have…

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One high point from 70.3 St. Croix was my race day nutrition.
Here is my “First Endurance” race day nutrition report:

3:45 am Breakfast (Race start time was 6:32 for the pro women):

2 cups of yogurt with 1 scoop of rice protein
1 banana
a handful of cereal
1 packet of Justin’s Almond Nut Butter
1 small cup of coffee

5′ before swim start: a taste of gu

Bike: 1 32 oz bottle with 2 scoops of EFS lemon lime drink , 1 banana
3 hits of liquid shot. At mile 30/35 I grabbed a bottle of gatorade that was on course. It was really, really hot. I needed a lot more liquid than usual. Please also note that I grabbed water at ever aid stating and gulped as much as possible.

Run: At every aid station I grabbed gatorade and water. I didn’t need any gels, orange slices, or food. The final 3 miles, I mixed coke and water together as felt like I needed a little mental boost to get me home.

Even though it was hot, hot, hot, I had no cramping or GI distress.  I like to keep my race day nutrition as simple as possible. Simple seems to work the best for me. Thank you to First Endurance for the best, cleanest, nutrition products on the planet. First Endurance makes it easy to have a good nutrition day!

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There were a lot of unknowns coming into this race.  My previous block of training was nothing to write home about.  Before the race, I couldn’t remember the last time that I felt awesome on the bike. I couldn’t remember the last time that I had a great swim.  My runs had been going fairly well, but admittedly, most of my last training block was spent lying in bed. While Cliff and I have tried to be smart about incorporating the right amount of rest into my training, neither one of us was in tune enough to catch this last bout of over training before it hit me.

During our pre-race talk, I told Cliff  that I was pretty sure I knew how St. Croix would play out.  While I tried to think positively and consider giving myself a 50/50 chance of either having a great day or a crap day, in my gut I knew it was more like a 80-90% chance that I would have a disappointing race.
Despite my not so impressive day, I am pleased that I was able to blow out the pipes for the first time in over two weeks. Only 5 days ago, I couldn’t even ride my bike for 2 hours without symptoms of overextending myself.  Also, today was a brutally hot day, the hottest day that I can remember from years past.  And despite my last two weeks of feeling…

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I have been thinking about my college years a lot these past few days as I just made my flight reservation for Knoxville for the REV3, May 9th.  I ran track and cross country at the University of Tennessee.  I have a Bachelor of Science and graduated in 1995.  I have a lot of great memories from my time there, and I am feeling a few butterflies with nervous energy as I plan to return to campus this May.

Focusing on the some of my favorite memories today, I thought about what I loved the most about our team…

One of the things I miss about college running  is the strong bond we  had as women and athletes .  We were  ”Lady Vols”.  We trained in a very competitive environment.  We encouraged each other, we competed with each other, we brought out the inner fire in each other, and occasionally we fought with one another.  In a sense, we were  sisters.  My years at the University of Tennessee are where I feel I grew the most as a young woman.  Some of my best friends today are the girls that I ran with 15 years ago. 

I love this picture…can you find me??  This picture is from Spring Track 1993 (I think).

After my college running career ended, I did not miss running. I missed the team.  After years of being an “individual” in triathlon, I am now a part of the TRAKKERS  “team”.  I am returning to Knoxville not…

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Sometimes when you gamble, you win.  Sometimes when you gamble, you lose.

This race started like most other 70.3 races.  The pro women started 3 minutes after the pro men.  We all sat on the start line, jockeying for position.  Pow, the gun goes off …arms start flying.   

Arms are flying, goggles get knocked off, legs get pulled, & arms get tangled.  Luckily but unluckily, none of this happened to me on Saturday.  After about 300 meters, I realized I was leading the rest of the other ”not as fast” swimmers out of the water.  Awesome….

Anyway, I wasn’t about to pull these girls around the swim course, especially if there was someone else that was capable of  leading.  Another pro woman seemed to want to be in front to lead us scrubs around, and I gladly let her do it.  I jumped on her feet, a bit annoyed with myself, but getting myself amped for the bike…

Onward and upward….right?!?  After all, I am very used to getting out of the water 4 minutes back from the fastest swimmers…2 and a half minutes behind the contenders.  This “bad” swim  is not new territory for me.  In fact, this time of year, it is sort of normal for me.  But I couldn’t help but get angry.  And to be more honest, getting angry is actually good for my racing…

I had a pretty good t1, hopped on my gorgeous, sleek Kestrel Airfoil, Pieridae, and I rode fairly hard.  Since it t was chilly, I wasn’t craving my…

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Episodio seis de la cobertura que se realizó en el Ironman 70.3 Pucón 2010. En este videos se vive la competencia y lo agotadora que esta es para los competidores. Tenemos el momento exclusivo cuan…

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