Welcome to Tennessee, the land of the Volunteers. Life is Orange and White!

I graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1995. Going to a SEC school, I feel a lot of pride, especially since I was a varsity athlete. Since REV3 started putting on a race in Knoxville, I have been fortunate enough to go back to my Alma Mater for the past three years. This year was exceptionally special however, because I was able to meet the Long Family, from Nashville (3hours away). I have been deeply inspired by these little boys since seeing their ESPN interview. You can check it out here:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7208128

One rainy, snowy day in Boulder this past winter I was putting off my workouts. I was cruising the internet when I came across their story. Like I have done so many other times, I “tweeted” their video. After I tweeted it, it was re-tweeted..again and again by several of my followers. After a few days, Steven Harad from Kestrel contacted Michael and me asking what we thought we could do for this family. I honestly didn’t think we could do anything…until I looked at my race calendar. The light bulb went off! I knew that I would be racing in Knoxville May 6th. And I knew that the Long’s lived about 3 hours away. My goal became to give them a PRO experience at the REV3 Knoxville Race. I contacted every single one of my sponsors asking if they would be interested in donating product. As many triathletes know, the triathlon industry can be expensive. I wanted to help Conner and Cayden (and their parents) any way that I could. Every single one of my sponsors gave. Steven initiated contact with the Long’s making sure that it would be ok for me to contact them directly. Then the ball was rolling…

As the product started coming into the Lovato household, I also contacted Olympian, Hawaii Ironamn swim record holder, Men’s University of Tennessee Swim coach, and overall awesome guy, Lars Jorgensen. I told him what I wanted to do for the Long’s and he said that he would make it all possible.

The Long’s arrived in Knoxville on Friday night. Thank you to Rev3 for hosting them at the Holiday Inn and making them the REV3 VIP guests. With this honor, Conner was able to start the Men’s and Women’s pro races with the bull horn Sunday morning. I can’t think of many thing that would be more exciting for an 8 year old boy…well maybe firing off a cannon…;)

Saturday morning I met the Long’s for the first time in person.

Here they are with all of the generous shwag from our sponsors including Oakley, ISM, TYR, YURBUDS, Brooks Shoes, Boulder Running Company, and Louis Garneau.

Jeff and Jenny (mom and dad) Cooper(2), Cayden(6), and Conner(8).

After we all met in the hotel lobby, we hung out at the brand new University of Tennessee Aquatic Center.

Here is a picture of Jenny, Cayden, and Conner. Thank you Lars for the University of Tennessee Swimming T-Shirts. Orange looks good on them! :)

Team Long and Team Lovato!

I’m pretty sure that Conner did not take off these Oakleys all weekend long! :) Thank you Greg Welch!

After spending the morning with Jenny, Rev3 did some interviews with Jenny, Conner, Michael, and me.

Words really can not explain how touching and inspiring this entire family is. I knew how special Conner and Cayden were from the ESPN interview. However, I was especially touched by the relationship that Jeff and Jenny have together. After getting to know them, it is no wonder why they have such special little boys. After meeting them my heart felt filled with love, inspiration, and happiness. I just fell in love with these guys. I only wish that I had more time to hang out with them!

Race day started just like any other race. I wasn’t really nervous. I wasn’t really amped. I felt really happy and really good. It was awesome to see some of my favorite pro girls like Jess Meyers, Bree Wee, Courtenay, and Becky Lavelle. I really think that the Long’s put me in a different state of mind for this race. Happy seemed to be the best way to describe myself race morning.
As the siren went off, I thought of Conner! I was so excited to hear the announcer say that he was starting the race. I was worried for a little while that the family could get lost in the crowds and not make it to the start. I made sure the night before that my friend Mary would escort them to the start. I felt relieved that they made it!

The swim was cold and it was ordinary. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever swim “fast”. I was in a small pack of three which included Christie Sym and Jess Meyers. It felt easy. It seemed to fly by. Before I knew it, I was on my 650c Kestrel 4000. I love this little bike. I feel like it was made for me.

Check out my ride here:

Since blowing up in New Orleans a couple weeks ago, I was a little more careful about riding aggressively in Knoxville. I watched my heart rate and made sure that I was in control the entire time. One thing that I know about myself is that I have a lot of high end speed. However, the other thing that I know about myself is that I am not fit enough to hold it or to run fast off of a fast, hard bike right now. The only time I felt out of control was when my aerobars slipped (for the third time) on the final long decent. They were pointing straight at the ground. My hands were in the hoods and I was terrified. I promptly put my hands back in the aerobars and yanked as hard as I possibly could to get them back up. After yanking them up, I looked like a tour rider, riding with my my aerobars up my nose. I attribute my control and acrobatics to riding horses. Thank you mom and dad for making me ride tough horses. I didn’t panic even though I was scared traveling at 30mph. I don’t really think it effected my race however as my watts on the final 12 miles were higher than the first 12 miles. Although it could have been the adrenaline…

I came into transition with 3 or 4 other girls. My only goal was to have a solid run off of a solid bike.

As I started to run, running felt effortless. I was so happy to be running on the roads that I used to do tempo runs on 15-18 years ago. I felt awesome. It felt good to have a solid and complete race after having 3 races in a row that seemed sub-par. I passed 3 women on the run positioning myself in 13th place for the finish. My final time was 2:10.

The first person to greet me at the finish line was my buddy Conner. I love this kid.

This race was stacked with short course athletes. While I was bummed to not get into the money and to not be in the top ten, I was happy that I went a bit faster than last year and I was happy to have a complete race without a blow up or nutritional issue. That is always a plus!

After the race, I was greeted by some of my former Lady Vol teammates. I love these girls!

Here is a picture of me and my friend Nancy. Nancy used to be a swimmer at Tennessee. Now she is a triathlete! Go Nancy!!!

Here is a picture of me and one of my favorite girls, Becky Lavelle. She and her husband are two of my favorites. I don’t get to see them enough…

This is Lars Jorgensen and me post race. I was so excited that he came out to cheer me on. Thanks Lars

I am really pleased with the entire weekend.

I was excited and happy to meet the Long family. Words can not express how this family made me feel….love, joy, happiness, inspiration, grateful, touched…Awesome doesn’t even seem like enough of a word. This family is incredible!

I loved seeing my Lady Vol teammates and friends that I used to run with along a lot of the roads that were part of this great event. We shared a lot of laughs and good memories before and after the event. I am so lucky to have such awesome women in my life!

My friend Laura especially loved my recovery boots.

Thank you REV3 for another 1st class event. This year you brought a first class field!

Now that I am back at home, I am resting and plotting my next race which I believe will be Portland. I have been racing every 6 weeks since January and I need a little refresher and a nice training block so that I can had more consistent races throughout the end of the year.

Thank you to all of my awesome sponsors for helping me achieve my goals and dreams: Kestrel, ISM, Vision, Yurbuds, Boulder Running Company, Brooks Shoes, First Endurance, TYR, Splish, ZIPP, Oakely, Jack and Adams, Louis Garneau, Recovery Pump, Betty Designs, and REV3! Love you guys!!!

Race day weather conditions brought high winds gusting up to 40mph which changed the triathlon into a duathlon. The new format was a 2 mile run, 51 mile bike, 13.1 mile run. We kept getting race updates from the race director prior to race day, so this was no surprise to us. Michael and I talked about a new race plan the night before which we both agreed on. Since we usually get out of the water 90 sec to 3′ down from the lead swimmers, we now had the opportunity to start the bike with more than one or two people. We were both so excited about this.

The 2 mile run went off without a hitch. It felt effortless. I think everyone had the same thoughts as to not go crazy. In fact, most of the girls ran together in a nice little group. We all came into transition together and I was actually first out of T! Now that is a FIRST!!! I jumped on my bike and was off! Instead of watching my heart rate, instead of watching my watts, I decided to go hard from the get-go. I wanted to be able to use the energy from everyone around me, I wanted to get aggressive, I wanted to get competitive. I wanted to bike really hard…and I did for about 90-100 minutes before the bottom fell out. While I have done some good workouts and and some solid long rides, I wasn’t ready for that sort of effort for that long at this point of the year. Looking back now, I definitely shouldn’t have gone balls to the wall. The last ten miles were a mild sufferfest that I couldn’t seem to turn around. During that ten miles, I was pretty hard on myself, trying to manage the  negativite thoughts.

I entered T2 needing to go to the bathroom and wanting to evaluate if I could even run. As soon as I thought about it, I felt ready …and I felt awesome. I was running really, really  well. Eventually I caught and started running with Annie Gervais. We were passing several girls and we seemed to have a little unspoken agreement to keep pushing each other. Actually we kept encouraging each other knowing that we were helping ourselves at the same time.  I felt confident that I would be able to pull my blown race together…until mile 7…when I had another blow up. I finished up the race in 16th.

On paper, it probably doesn’t look like I had the best race. And I was definitely hard on myself during and right after the race. But, I am optimistic and accepting of my effort. After looking back at my training, after looking back at my previous two races, I know that I got what I deserved. I really went for it without having the back end fitness that it takes to back up hard efforts. I love taking risks. But I probably didn’t weigh the downsides that go with the upsides of taking risks beforehand. I got excited and I got a little too emotional about what sort of tactics that I should try instead of being practical and smart. And it probably didn’t help that my husband was encouraging me to do it. LOL.

After I finished licking my war wounds, I found my friend Leigh Ayn who I have been coaching since 2009. Since staring our coach/athlete relationship I have watched her develop into a faster and stronger triathlete. I could not have been any prouder or happier when I saw her finish with a huge PR and a huge smile on her face.  As her coach, I have taken her struggles and her successes personally. I love this picture…

Check out how awesome she is!!!

GO LEIGH AYN!!!!!!

Before the race I gave Leigh Ayn a specific race plan which included monitoring her heart rate, watts, and pace. Michael and I joked that we both should have listened to MY inner coach a little more. :)

While I focused on the blow ups of the race, I would also like to share the good points.

**I am more sore today than I have been at any race this year. This tells me that I actually did go hard.

**I now know how hard and how far I can go before I blow up. Hopefully it will take a little longer next time and I will have the back end fitness to pick up more of the pieces.

**I am in a far better spot this year than I was this time last year.

**It’s only April and there are a lot of races ahead of me.

I would like to thank my awesome sponsors including First Endurance, Kestrel, Brooks, Boulder Running Company, TYR, Splish, REV3, FSA, ZIPP, Louis Garneau, Jack and Adams, Recovery Pump, ISM, and CycleOps Power.

My next race is REV3 Knoxville. I will be racing the Olympic Distance race and visiting with the inspiring Long Brothers!

Stay tuned!

He loved to entice people to rub his tummy. And he loved to chew on my hand. More than anything, he loved to curl up on my lap and enjoy gentle pets.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Big Frisk:

Frisk in his younger years.

Michael and Frisco

…sunning himself on the deck

Frisco at the Vet.

Caught in the act…

The whole gang.

Stretch!

Check out Mr. Frisc’s big blue bow after his bath

Lovin’

Our friend John with Frisco this past December.

Frisco and Blue

Frisky and Luna’s Pig…Pig Domination.

Sunning himself…

Dealing with losing Frisco this week has been the most difficult thing that I could have imagined. I have spent my days crying, not sleeping, and making myself sick. I have not trained. And I have been emotional and sad. I knew that his day would eventually come, but I did not realize the emotional drain or the intensity of making the final decision of putting a pet down. For this reason, I have decided to not race next weekend in Oceanside. I want to be able to mourn the loss of our sweet Frisco without feeling the stress of getting ready for a race.

Thank you to all of my friends who have sent texts, called, and have visited Frisco this past few days. Words can not express how much I appreciate all of your kind thoughts.

Lastly, I am aligned with the best sponsors in the sport. Thank you for understanding  and standing by my decision to not race next weekend.

I had my normal breakfast of rice cereal and watered down coffee. I felt well rested. I felt nervous. I felt ready to race! I had a plan. And I intended to follow it!

Michael and I took our easy walk to the swim start from the Caribe Hilton. I had a energy bar, topping off my glycogen levels. My nutrition for this race was perfect. I was topped off and ready to go.

I had a nice little swim warm up. I was SO NERVOUS! I picked the perfect start spot for the swim. I was not going to be left behind this time. The gun went off…I had the PERFECT start position…and the perfect start! . I didn’t feel great, but I felt ok. I lost a group after a few minutes…but then someone from my right passed me. I thought to myself that this was a GIFT from God. I tried to jump on her feet, but I had nothing. While my arms were working well, I had no kick. That sometimes happens to me in a non wetsuit swim. I seem have “lazy” legs. I tried to kick, but it made me feel numb. I ended up swimming with my Brazilian friend Ariane for the remainder of the swim. Swimming with her felt effortless. I tried to go ahead of her a few times, but the ease and effort of sitting on her feet won me over.  We ran through transition together and I would not see her again until the run.

For the first time in over a year, I wore a hear rate monitor on the bike. I wanted to keep my heart rate in my 70.3 range, never going too hard. My legs tend to lie to me for the first 30′ of riding, but my heart rate does not. My goal was to stay “even” for the entire ride. My goal was to ride at 191 watts, which is what I had done in training over and over again. I hit my interval button every 30 minutes. I achieved my goal…I averaged 192 watts. While my time did not reflect it, I rode 10 watts higher than last year . I was pretty happy with that.

It was 80 degrees on the bike and I tried to stay on top of my hydration. Coming from Colorado where the temps have been moderate to cold, I knew that my body was not acclimated to the anticipated 88 degree weather with high humidity. After all, my body is still in Nordic mode. During the final 20′-30′ of the bike, I could feel my quads working a little more. However, every time that I slugged water and took a sip of EFS liquid shot, my legs would feel great again.  It became evident to me that I needed every bit of  the 70 oz of EFS and water that I had taken in.

I came into transition 2, feeling ok. I dropped off my bike, grabbed my Pure Connects and TYR visor and took off for the run. I felt a little tight and a little stiff the first mile…but this is normal. I tried to not force it as I knew that my body would come around. Besides the initial bridge climb and challenging hill out of the park, the first few miles of the “out” of the out and back course is mostly downhill. I wanted to stay controlled and I wanted to stay even for the run. I wanted to pace myself just like I had done on the bike. More than anything, I wanted to have a run that is typical for me. I had a pace in mind that was very doable and not overly aggressive. Again, it something that I do in training over and over again. I usually do not like to eat or drink anything on the run. I typically take tiny sips of water during a half and maybe a few sips of on course gel. At mile two, I felt all of the power leave my body, just like it had done in Pucon six weeks prior to this race. I felt that I was well fueled for this race, but I grabbed a gel at the next aid station. It didn’t help. I kept on going over my checklist in my head…At this point my pace has slowed to 7:50, my breathing is erratic, and  I am starting to feel dizzy. I slowed even more to try to get control. Everytime that I would try to push, I would have erratic breathing and dizziness. I slowed even more and I started making deals with myself: “Ok, I will do one loop and if I don’t feel better, I will stop.” I asked myself questions like: “Am I hurting myself?” I saw Michael at a few of the out and backs. He tried to yell encouraging words, but my body just would not go. Finally I saw him during his final mile and my 7th mile of the run. He said, “Amanda! You need to drink!” Right then, it clicked. I need to start slugging water, not taking tiny sips…At the next aid station, I took two full cups of water and a coke. All of the sudden my labored breathing started to go away. I felt a little power in my body. I needed another aid station…bad! I wasn’t running fast, but I wasn’t running 9 minute pace any more. I felt encouraged. I had figured out how to get myself out of this hole! At the next aid station, I grabbed two more waters and another coke…and again, I felt a little more power in my body. I thought to myself…YES! After a few more aid stations, I was running 8′ pace. Finally with two miles to go, I was back running 6:40-7:10 pace. The power had returned to my body and I figured out some pieces to a puzzle! I was thrilled!

It’s always nice to win races or to achieve all of my goals. While I did not win, while I did not place top 5, and while I did not run 6:40 pace for the run portion, I fit the pieces of a puzzle together that have alluded me while racing. To me this is “winning”.

Thank you to all of my amazing sponsors that have stuck by me through my years of racing, including Boulder Running Company, Splish, Brooks Running, TYR, Kestrel, First Endurance, FSA, ZIPP, Recovery Pump, REV3, Louis Garneau, Oakley, ISM and CycleOPS. Without my sponsors and my husband Michael I could not do what I love! THANK YOU!

We Lovato’s have been very lucky by picking this year as the year to stay put. Boulder has been blessed with a rather mild winter. December only saw a few coldish days with some snow around Christmas time. If you ask me, snow at Christmas is perfection!

January brought a bit of wind, snow, and lots of sun…I find that the sun makes a world of difference, especially at altitude. We spent a little time on our trainer and treadmill, but it wasn’t daunting or mentally tough. We had enough nice days to break those indoor days up a bit. In January, we were lucky enough to be invited back to Pucon for the 70.3 which was a nice break from the cold and a nice opportunity to get a little boost in fitness, despite me having a craptastic race.

So far February has encountered record mile per hour WINDS which knocked out our power, quite a bit of snow, AND it has been pretty darn cold. I really can’t complain, however, as I have only been in Boulder about 6 days of February. :)

My long time good friend, Kim Loeffler, invited me for a 2 week training block in Florida with her coach Lisa Bentley, to soak up some rays while enjoying some awesome outdoor riding, swimming long course meters, and running trails through gorgeous orange groves.

I had mixed feelings about going. My training had been going very well in Boulder. Michael and I have surrounded ourselves with awesome training partners and friends. Despite cold temps, the wind, etc, Michael and I have had solid and consistent training. Best of all (knocking on wood right now), I have not been sick since 2010. For me, this is HUGE!

There was a bit of risk doing a training camp in Florida. There was the risk of getting Kim’s nasty cold. There was the risk of overtraining myself. And there was the risk of becoming incredibly homesick.

However, the promise of sun, warm weather, swimming long course meters, and having an awesome girlfriend like Kim to train with outweighed all of the risk.

However, in order to minimize all of the risk, I entered our Florida training camp with a smart plan and I really did follow it. I didn’t overstretch myself. I didn’t treat training like races. I didn’t overdo coffee. When in doubt, I called ML to discuss some workouts.

Kim and I had an awesome two weeks of training together. Not only do I love Kim as a person and friend, but we are truly great training partners who respect each other,  push each other and try to bring out the best in each other. Kim is one tough, hard working, east coast girl and I love that about her. I really think that we both got a nice fitness boost out of the “camp”.

One integral part of my camp with Kim was having Kim’s coach, Lisa Bentley at workouts. Lisa is one of the most passionate, enthusiastic, and inspiring coaches that I have ever encountered. She demands professionalism, and hard work. She puts so much of herself into Kim’s program. I know that she takes Kim’s success as well and downfalls as her own. She really cares about Kim. While I could tell that Lisa and Kim had a special bond, I never felt left out.  At each and every workout, Lisa coached me as much as she coached Kim. I am so appreciative and grateful for her support and feedback during that two week block. I’m not sure I could have gotten through some of those hard workouts with out her positivity and gentle toughness! Lisa is an incredible coach! I hope she does some pro camps in the future. She has an innate ability to coach, especially professionals. She gets it.

The hardest part of the two week training camp was getting home sick and missing ML and my furries. By Day 13, I felt myself getting a little bitchy, tired, and really missing ML 3hours into a 5 hour ride. Ugh I hate it when I get bitchy. I apologized like crazy to Kim. Lucky for me, I have an awesome friend who just rolls with it. Like I said, Kim is real BFF!

Check out what ML sent for Valentines day:

Kim’s husband was sweet enough to send something to share. Thanks Brian!!!

In my two week training camp, I went through 2 containers of Lemon Lime EFS, 4 gel flasks, and god only knows how many energy bars/candy bars. By the end of two weeks, I am a efficiently burning everything that I am putting into my body. LOL! My GI has never been better…

Sad to leave Kim, but happy to come home, I’m back into my regular routine of training. ML is leaving for his training camp in California on Monday.

Team Lovato has some cool things coming up in the near future. Look for us racing San Juan 70.3 March 18th!

In the meantime, I’ll be training happy…and healthy!!

I just received a small shipment of Brooks apparel and have fallen in LOVE with the Utopia Thermal Hoodie!

This is my favorite piece of running gear yet!

Not only does it look great, but it is extremely functional.  On the way to the REZ for a speed workout this week, Michael and I watched the temperature drop and drop and drop…all the way down to 23 degrees.  It was a bit windy, It was 6:30 in the morning, and we were convinced that we (I) was underdressed.

With only a light undershirt, this Thermal Utopia Hoodie kept me quite comfy during my run session. This hoodie is awesome! This piece is absolutely perfect for speed workouts, casual running, and even hanging out at the coffee shop afterwards! It feels great, looks great, and fits perfectly! In fact I am ordering another one!

You can check it out here:

http://www.brooksrunning.com/Utopia-Thermal-Hoodie/220304617%2e030,default,pd.html

Thanks Brooks for helping stay warm during this Boulder winter!

ML and I scampered down to transition, which was only 2 minutes away. I met up with my Perro. It was good to see my fuzzy black friend. The lines into transition were long. Officials were checking bracelets and helmets. No big deal though…

Check out my hot new Betty designed Splish Suit! Thanks Kristin and Ira for putting all of my ideas into place. I love it! xx

Michael’s sweet ride and his Brooks Pure Connect shoes!

More body Marking. And yes, ML is taking the pictures. He loves this sort of stuff… :)

Here is my sweet ride. I love my Kestrel 4000!!!

ML and I went our separate ways. As I left Transition, a security guard stopped me and said something in Spanish. My response: No Hablo Español. Instead of trying to communicate in English or find someone who could communicate, she spoke louder and louder. Ok, I’m not a deaf, I just don’t speak Spanish. Lucky for me, someone who was watching this whole thing go down, translated for us both. Basically the security guard was trying to tell me that once I left, I could not come back in. Ok…fine. As long as I’m not getting arrested. After I finally left, I did my pre race jog, went back to the hotel room, put on my new TYR Freak wetsuit, and ML and I made our way to the swim start. Still a bit worried about not eating, I asks ML if he had some Liquid Shot. He had forgotten it.

Because there were only 5 women racing, we started with the men. Ugh, I hate this. I am a bit timid in the water and my biggest fear is getting pummeled or getting my teeth knocked out. Yes, I imagine this. As the year goes on and as races go by, I become more and more aggressive. But I really do dislike starting with the boys. I feel like the women’s race should be given more respect. We should be given our own race start. Starting with them men gives a different dynamic to the women’s race tactics. For example, fast women swimmers can sit on a fast man’s feet and get a nice advantage. Plus they can hang on for a limited amount of time in the men’s pack. It is a bit frustrating. But the bottom line is that triathlon is racing and I need to learn how to deal with it and become more aggressive.

Despite being faster and more fit in the pool, my swim on race day was average. Because I wasn’t aggressive, I completely missed my group and swam with a dude, who ended up blowing up which meant that I pulled him around the race course…Awesome…

As I ran into transition, I was struggling to pull my zipper down. I was frantic. I kept thinking…Oh god, what if I have to pull a “DEDE” (from REV3 Knoxville) and rip this $1200 f&*%ki&% thing off. Ryan from TYR would not be impressed and I would feel horrible. I was screaming, please help me in T1…and of course no one understood me. Finally, I figured it out, pulled the zipper down, and peeled out as fast as I could on my Kestrel.

Right away, I felt amazing. I was trying to drink and eat as much as possible as I knew that my dinner and breakfast were not substantial. Riding felt easy. I passed one of the pro women who was 2′ ahead of me out of the swim seemingly right away. She tried to stay with me. However, once we hit the slight uphills, she dissapeared…

I noticed Valentina and Carla just ahead. They were probably 1-2′ ahead. They looked strong and I loved that they were riding fair. I kept on thinking of how strong I felt and of how the Cycle Ops trainer rides had really helped. I wasn’t worried and I kept doing my thing. I was getting stronger and stronger…until about mile 38. I was getting light headed and dizzy; I contemplated stopping. I felt weird. I went down my mental checklist of issues that I have had in previous races along with my lists of how to fix issues. Finally, I figured out that it was a food thing. At that point, I ate the rest of my 800 calories of food, which included EFS liquid shot, one on course gel, and 400 calories of EFS. After about 10-15′, I felt amazing again. The same woman that I had dropped on the hills reappeared. She tried to pass, but she wasn’t strong enough. I ended up pulling her back to T2.

As I entered T2, I knew that I may get into food/hydration trouble. I grabbed my liquid shot, but it was too little too late. I had ridden the last 18 miles without any food, only water. I was in damage control mode. I did run really well for about 4 miles. However, at this point, I had a complete and total glycogen bonk. I started running backwards; I was in survival mode. CRAP.

Running: I must be on the first loop (of 3). I look pretty strong. I’ve already deleted the bad pics. :)

To be honest, I’ve had a lot worse shit happen to me in races. I decided to suck it up, try to eat as much as possible, and salvage what I could of the final 9 miles. Every time I ate, I would run great for a few minutes, then die again. My run split was 1:43, which was about 14/15 minutes slower than what I had run in 2010. Yes, I was a little bummed, but triathlon is racing and I needed to be a lot more prepared than what I was.

I have never eaten more than 800 calories on the bike…ever. However, I have never been unable to eat a good dinner or breakfast before my race. This is something that I need to be prepared for the next time.

Here I am finishing:

I threw my Team Lovato visor out to the fans in the bleachers. And man, was I ever happy to be finished!

I think this pic says it all: I was happy to be finished as I was SORE, SORE, SORE from lack of food/liquid. But I was really pissed at myself for being unprepared and having a crap run.

I was greeted at the finish by my absolutely adoring, but PISSED off  husband. He was extremely angry at the lack of integrity by one of my peers. I guess he watched her blatant drafting during the race and even signaled her to stop. I shook it off and told him to do the same. I can not control what others do. Some people are just desperate and at the end of the day, her terrible morals didn’t matter to me. My crap run is what mattered. And more than anything, this is why I was disappointed.

Even though I have been racing as a pro since 2003, I never cease to learn more about myself. Especially since starting to coach myself, I have become smarter. I am constantly learning more and more by not putting my career in someones else’s hands. However, because I have gone through some terrible times in races, I find that I have become a bit more apprehensive. I need to get over that. I am healthier, happier, and fitter than ever and I am really excited to put this race behind me, get into another block of training, and rip some tail!

After the race, I waited for ML and the awards. I was so extremely pleased for my honey ML who was 3rd and for my new friend, Valentina, who was 2nd. Michael and I had the opportunity to get know her race week. And she is a delightful, young talent. I am excited to see how fast she goes in the future!

One of the aspects that is pretty cool at Pucón is that there are two awards ceremonies. One ceremony at the race sight for the top 3 and one at 5pm for the top 5 pros and age group awards.

Men’s top 5

Women’s top 5

And look who came to the awards to cheer me on!

It’s my new friend, Priscilla: the same young girl from the grocery store.

After the awards, ML and I invited Priscilla and her family to our room to give them some Team Lovato Schwag. I told Priscilla that if I gave her a kit, that she could never forget me when she is a famous professional triathlete. She mad me a promise!

Check out her cute cousin, Maximo! Adorable!

After all was said and done, and after my  nausea subsided, I was ready to eat. (BTW: I’m NOT pregnant!) Funny enough, the soreness went away after some big eating.

Here is a picture of Valentina, me, and Marie Jose (Valentina’s sister) at the post race party for the pros. I fell in love with these girls.

Here is ML, Guillermo (our pro liaison), and Valentina’s husband…arg. I can’t remember his name…)

Ben Hoffman was hanging around too, but I can’t seem to find any pictures of him. (Love that guy…He’s good peeps!)

We stayed up late, drinking, eating, having fun. It was a great night with new and old friends!

The next morning, at 6am, ML and I decided to climb the Volcano (at 9,000ft). This was something that we missed in 2010, and I was NOT going to miss it again! The 5:30 wake up call was ok for me, but ML struggled a bit…hehe.

We joined Ken Glah’s group with about 15 others for the Trek.

Here I am getting fitted for our expedition.

It took us 4hours to climb 2 miles. And I think that we were a “fast” group. Here is a picture of ML and me. I’m not sure if you can see the massive amounts of Zinc on my face, but it was much needed! The sun was intense!

Here is a picture of the volcano. The weather conditions were perfect!

Dork 1 and Dork 2.

Here is a picture of the entire group. Thanks Ken!

I’m not sure if you notice the “go-Pro” that ML is wearing on his helmet. He wore this thing the entire day. Of course he never read any of the instructions. I would like to point out that none of the very cool video of us sliding down the volcano was ever captured…I hope that ML decides to read directions in the future… :)

Here is a picture of me and one of our guides. The guides were great! Total professionals!!!

Here is a classic view from the top!

See that big orange thing tied around my front side?? It’s “Plastico”. Here I am getting ready to slide down the mountain on…plastico.

I think it only took us about an hour to slide down the volcano. What an amazing experience.

After the day was finished, Michael and I found a really nice Peruvian restaurant in town. What a day…what a race, what a vacation….I love Pucón!

One of the things that I love about Pucón is that all of the homeless dogs are well cared for by the locals. From what I saw, there were not any starving dogs hanging around. I really liked that.

Friday brought a little more swimming and biking. ML and I could tell that we were feeling better and better with each passing day from the jet lag.

We did some press/media stuff which was pretty cool. ML spoke Spanish. I spoke English.

I met a young, Argentinian fan in the grocery Store, named Priscilla. Isn’t she gorgeous?

Priscilla was getting ready for the kids race on Saturday. She is 11 years old. We became great friends by Sunday evening. :)

On Friday, ML and I had the PRO press conference and the Pasta Party which was loads of fun. It was really awesome to meet some of the other athletes that I would otherwise never know because we don’t race in the same region. I found myself extremely nervous, however, during the press conference. I was more nervous than usual, and I am unsure why. I thought that it may be because  the primary language was spanish and I did not know what was being said around me, and I could not play off of what was being said. Again, ML was translating everything for me…my hero!

The food was absolutely fabulous. So fresh!

ML and I look like giants amongst the other pros.

I saw Chrissie hanging out, so I decided to giver her a kiss:

Michael and I finished out workouts early so that we could support the kids race on Saturday. The enthusiasm was awesome. Michael and I LOVED being a part of it.

The kids were awesome!

ML and I with the HOT Sponsor girls. :)

Stay tuned for Part 3: Race day!

Our travel started early  Tuesday morning at 4am, January 10th. Our first stop was Miami. Since it was early in our adventure, our excitement was high, and we had a 6-hour layover, we decided to find some good Cuban food in South Beach. ML and I love Latin foods. I especially love green plantains.

It felt great to eat a healthy meal before our flight to Santiago.

Our flight to Santiago was uneventful. We tried to sleep as much as possible, but it really didn’t happen. One of the lessons that I learned is always try to sleep on a flight/trip lasting this long. I really wish I had brought some ear plugs and a Tylenol PM…or 2! Waking up and trying to function as a normal human being was absolutely BRUTAL.

We arrived in Santiago 9 hours later and 1hr 30 before our flight departed for Temuco. It wasn’t enough time…With customs and immigration, we narrowly missed our flight which resulted in us standing in line for another hour to switch flights. One thing that I am extremely grateful for is that ML speaks Spanish beautifully. He always manages to get out of a pickle. Some day I will learn Spanish! ARGH!

We managed to get on the next flight to Temuco, which was uneventful…except for again narrowly missing this flight because security found a CO2 in my bike box…whoops! In Temuco, we were greeted by a driver/van. While ML was reporting a missing bike box to the airline, I allowed a man to help me put our bags in the van. I was so tired, I didn’t even think of a tip, however, he didn’t let me forget. :) And because I only know a few words in Spanish, I asked him to wait for Michael. Again, ML to the rescue!

We arrived to beautiful (and warm) Pucón in one piece. We were a bit tired, but we were so happy to finally be at our destination, 30 hours later. It is one heck of a trip!

This is our view from our bedroom

Totally exhausted…

After a nice 2hour nap, ML and I had a wonderful dinner at the Hotel and settled right into Chilean life. The last time hat we were in Pucón, we missed a lot of what the town had to offer. We didn’t want to miss out this year. We took advantage of the late sunlight and checked out the town.

On Thursday ML and I did a short bike ride…

…with Ben Hoffman! Not the best picture of Ben, but it will have to do…

One of the coolest things that I didn’t know about Ben is that not only is he a bad ass athlete, but he is fluent in Spanish. He lived in Argentina for 7 months. I was so impressed!

ML and I had a great time hanging with him and his Padre!

They look alike, huh!

Swimming in Pucón’s crystal clear water was an absolute treat!

We got our freak on!

Muchas Smoochas!

I told you that the water was crystal clear. :)

Finished with the swim!

Stay tuned for Part 2!