TRI-Anasaurous Rex Attack! AKA Rev3 Knoxville Race Report

Shakin' in you boots, aren't ya?

That's what I thought......in fact, that is EXACTLY the reaction we were going for with our ferocious team name for our half iron relay!

So this weekend, Sparkles, George and I hopped in the car to head up to Knoxville for the Rev3 Race. George was planning to race the half, and Sparkles, Jill, and I had plans to dominate the relay division.

We drove up to my parents house to hang out with my awesome family, and steal food.

Here is my little sister's cat. Yes, that is a lion cut.

After our overnight relaxing at my parents, we got up, and headed north to Knoxville!

We headed up to the race site for check in, practice swim, and such.

I got my awesome new kit!

Got my bike all checked in! Pepper has her own name tag with our awesome team name on it!

Since we were doing so many things with my team, we had dinner with George's team from All3 Sports at a yummy place called Oodles. Honestly--I was really impressed with what a cool town Knoxville is!

After dinner, we headed back to the Holiday Inn. It was right by the finish, which was SO convenient! Then Sparkles, George, and I laid around feeling really full from dinner and getting tatted up for the race. George showing his guns off.

The next morning, Jill, Sparkles, and I met in the parking garage/transition! Then, we sent off George and Jill to the swim! 

While Jill was swimming, I had time to make sure my nutrition was right, and to get really nervous! Sparkles and I got to play with her awesome kids, and have a picnic breakfast. Right before my leg of the race, I had about half of a cookies and cream powerbar. I am kind of obsessed with these. I mean....I might have a problem. Sometimes, I think that getting to eat one of these is the only thing that gets me on my bike! Just posting this picture makes my mouth water.

Ok ok--I'll move on with the race report!

Jill came out in an excellent 37 minute (with a long run up to transition!). I struggled to pull of the timing chip because I was excited!

Then, I hopped on my bike and was gone. This course is legit. There are a couple of climbs, twisty descents, relentless rollers, and then back to the climbs again. I am SO glad that I have been climbing. And watching my food intake (except cookies and cream powerbars--move ON kacie). And keeping my climbing attitude good.

This was the first race I have ever done entirely on my bike. I was really nervous that I would not give it enough. My big fea in this race was holding back too much. I have always ridden knowing I had to run. 

George gave me some advice going into the race:

1. Push over all of the hills. You don't have to run.

2. Keep power on the pedals all the time. Particularly when it would be easy to coast. A little power in the pedals with speed up those "would be coasting times."

3. Turn yourself inside out in the last 6 miles.

The first half was hard. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to hold on to the pace. Then from about 30-45, I was having a BLAST. I mean, I was grinning like a mad woman. I was just So happy to be on my bike, and I was working hard, moving fast, and enjoying every hill.

For nutrition, I took a powergel at 30 minute, 1 hour, 1.5 hours, 2 hours, and a last one at 2:15. I alternate between raspberry cream and kona punch. Both are YUMMY. I love how thin they are that they just slide down and I don't have to think about it. 

 and 

I started to really push on those last climbs, or as Jill called them "baby gaps" coming back into the city.

The final stretch had lots of turns in it and a couple of serious punchy hills. My dream time was 2:45, and I came in at 2:44:40!!!! SO SO SO happy with that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I actually surprised Sparkles a little bit, since I told her that 2:45 was my reach time. Sparkles has quite literally been a dancing machine lately, and warned us that her half marathon would be slow. She looked great when she took off, but it was hot. She told me to expect her around 2:45. I told her to have FUN!

In the meantime, I went to cheer for George's finish. It was SOOO exciting. George was the first guy across the line. I completely lost my voice screaming for him! 

He crossed the line and told me that there was a guy behind him that was one wave behind. So we watched the clock. And waited. And then the guy came across 2:30 later, so George took second OVERALL (in his second ever half ironman, having learned to swim less than a year ago!). SOOOOO proud of him!

George took home some really amazing winnings! I am still so proud of him! 4:33 with hills and heat!?! We'll take it!

As I was walking to get my bike, expecting to have about 30 more minutes until Sparkles comes up, what do I see? A streak of fast cuteness fly by me! Sparkles came in in 2:22!!!!! Yeah she did!!!! I am just SO proud of everyone this weekend!

We got our cool finishers medals:

And then, we got our awards! We were announced 3rd, but since they corrected the results, it looks like we might have actually won the relay division :-) Still waiting for final confirmation though.....

One way or another, we are all really proud of our results. We also took home some of the Powerbar Recovery Bars, which look dangerously good. 

As a team, we are totally going for a return performance. The TRI-anasaurous Rexes will be ROARING again in Quassy in 4 weeks! I am trying to convince the team to race both races ;-)

Sadly, after the event, we had to head on home....

On the way back, we stopped at a gas station, because George said that he would get second overall in a 70.3 for a Klondike Bar. ;-)

Road Bike Makeover!

Since joining my RAAM team, I am spending a LOT more time on my road bike.

The tri-bike's name is Pepper. In the Ironman comic, Pepper is Ironman's assistant, and in my 140.6's Pepper is my assistant! She has been great to me! I bought her used about 5 weeks before IM Louisville, and I love her!

But, RAAM isn't just about the tri bike! I need a good quality roadie to climb those mountains! So, Bella is out of her resting period, and she is back in business! I bought Bella about 4 years ago, and she is an excellent bike. She has not had much ride time since I got Pepper though....

So I brought her in to the good people at All3 Sports, and told them that I wanted a Bike Makeover!

Give it a week, and they replaced my handlebars for better climbing, a lighter stem, new white cable housing, new PINK chain, new handlebar tape, a new saddle! She's like a whole new bike!

Ok--so the wheels are loaners, but man, I would love to have them!

Check out this pink chain! My phone camera does not do it justice! It is SO cool!

I am so excited about this makeover! I bought her a few more accessories! I decided that a houndstooth saddlebag would surely pull the look together, and my my my it is CUTE!

                                              

And THEN, I needed a few new socks to really pull the look together....I might actually be developing a sock problem. We have bought a TON of swiftwick socks, which we love. And now, I need anything with this general look too:

 

and these 

(the skulls have little bows on them!)

So, you see, I've got this whole LOOK going on now with Bella.

When I got up to the top of Neel's Gap for the second time this week, there was the usual group of motorcyclists were hanging out at the top. One guys said to me, "we saw you coming up the mountain, and we all think you are one BAD woman." It was said in the most complimentary of ways! 

I think my bike makeover look is working!

RAAM Training is in Full Swing!

After the big training weekend, we got right into the (less than) weeks of good training time I have until I go on a trip with my students.

Here's the general idea of it starting from last week:

Monday:
 I was supposed to go to masters, but after that whole "no sleep" thing, I slept right on through it. In the afternoon I did my strength work.

Tuesday:
5 am 1.5 hour trainer workout with some intervals, some power drill, and some climbing drills.
Evening was a 2 hour ride with hill repeats.

Wednesday:
5 am 1.5 hour trainer workout just like Tuesday
Evening 2 hour ride with 20 minute intervals that were harder efforts

Thursday:
5 am 1.5 hour same workout
Evening was a 2 hour ride, and George and I joined in on a group ride in Roswell to add some efforts into this ride. We both had a blast!

Friday:
AM Masters, and my worst swim in a really long time. Told coach how terrible my swim was, and he told me to skip my evening workout and go to bed early.
Laying in bed by 7:30 pm :-)

Saturday:
5.5 in the Gaps, and managed 75 miles (these are gaps miles people, I understand that that is half an hour slower than my last century), and 8000 ft of climbing.
Dinner with Jill, Colleen, and Kristin! Got in bed after midnight.

Sunday:
Up before 4 AM to go to George's race! He was awesome!

Then, we had a lovely lunch at R.Thomas, shopped for food, and cooked a bunch of Dani's recipes for the week!

It's coming up really soon! We are just trying to cram in as much quality training as possible in the next few weeks, knowing I am going to have to miss some time for work. I will be as ready as I can  be!

RAAM Simulation Ride

This weekend, my team got together for a RAAM simulation ride.

5 of us rode for quite a while :-)



We split into two cars. My van had two crew, Don and Linda, and two riders, Rob and me! The other car had two crew and three riders.

This was a chance to really experience what RAAM will feel like.

Rob and I took riding for 30 minutes at a time. So I would ride for 30, and then hop in the car for 30 minutes while Rob rode.

Here are a couple of exhanges:




 Since we had less people we fell behind the other van, so every few hours, we would drive to catch up with them and get a longer break.

Our ride was a TOUGH course! We went over Burnt Mountain in the rain. Here's Rob descending in the rain. Scary!



Then we headed over to Fort Mountain!

After Fort Mountain, we had a period of time that was flat, rural, and just plain beautiful. The sun was sinking, the roads were smooth, and I was SO happy every time it was my turn to ride. I mean, how lucky am I to be invited to do something this incredible?

THEN, we headed towards Mt. Cheaha! We went up and down Cheaha in the dark, which was a surreal experience. You can't really see much, so you are just riding without knowing how the road is going to change. You can't really tell how big the hills are or how long you will be climbing or going downhill or how fast you are going, because you can't see your garmin OR have any perception of speed without light. There is a total trust in the headlights of your crew car, which is quite the experience when you are descending down curvy roads and the lights are catching up an instant behind you!

Around 2 or 3 in the morning we decided to call it a "day" and head on home from Alabama. I got back to my house around 7am!

Speaking of Cheaha, George was the first finisher at the Gran Fondo there yesterday!!! Here's the article in the newspaper! I am SO proud of him!

I had a fantastic weekend. My bike was great, the crew was incredibly kind and supportive, and the other riders were so talented, fun, and hard working.  I feel honored to be a part of this team supporting a truly amazing cause. I can't wait to put in the work to be even better for the next ride! It is going to come So fast!

To see all of our pictures, or give us any support (financial or emotional :-) ) Check us out and like us on facebook or donate and check out out here!

Up next, is the incredible bike makeover that the awesome people at All3 sports gave to my bike!!!

Operation Mountain Goat!

As I get ready to train for RAAM, I find myself looking at this profile of the country:



Holy Stromboli there are a lot of uphills in this country of ours!

Training for the very very flat double IRON, I did not have much of a focus on hills, let alone mountains.

I need to focus on that stuff now!

Thus was the beginning of Operation Mountain Goat!




When you google image mountain goat, it is REALLY hard to choose the picture you want to use! The one above seems so triumphant!

This one seems a little nuts, but serious respect to this little dude!



And then there is this little guy who has a long way to go, but this is a nice start. Maybe this is where I am starting :-)



Ok--back to business!

Operation Mountain Goat is threefold:

1. I have to change my attitude. I am not allowed to apologize for being slow. I am not allowed to say I am a bad climber. These actions are totally unacceptable now. I have a bad habit of doing that, and it only works against my goals!

2. Work on hills on the bike. Coach has me doing hill repeats in workouts during the week, and trips to the gaps as often as possible!

3. New nutrition plan. I am working with the fabulous, knowledgeable, fast, and lean Dani. We have a new plan (since the double my only plan was to eat what I felt like eating). She is awesome. I am learning a ton about my nutrition and she is putting in a lot of time sending me plans, recipes, answering texts, taking pictures of sweet potatoes (it was awesome!), and responding to a bagillion questions that I have! I am psyched to have her on my team of support.

I am hoping that operation mountain goat will leave me a mentally confidenent, physically powerful, and lean machine of a climber for RAAM!

Train-Cation

You have probably heard of the "Stay-Cation." The idea that you stay at home during your vacation, but do great things around home:

Well, because we had an amazing Thanksgiving in Cozumel, 

 and 

Ahhhh...that was SO great!

AND, we have INCREDIBLE summer Plans!

A road trip and a race here:

and....a little bike race here:

and...George's second Ironman here:

and....We are hopping across the pond for 10 days to see George's sister, brother-in-law, and our nieces here:

and....our usual week at the beach at Pawley's Island:

In other words, we didn't travel over spring break. Sorry, It's mid-April, and I am getting REALLY excited about our summer!!!

Back to the topic at hand--Spring Break!

We decided that instead of a lame-sounding "stay-cation," we would have a....

TRAIN-CATION!

Here's the plan--train as much as you want anywhere you want to go that you don't normally get to go!

Saturday: 44 mile ride at Silk Sheets with George and Dani! They both push me, which is going to make me stronger on my bike!

Sunday: 50 Mile Ride with Andree and Steve! Steve had 281.2 stickers made, and he gave one to Dani, Jason, and me! Here is is on my car:

Monday: Master's swim at Dynamo! That deserves another whole post! I have been going to Dynamo, and I love it!

Tuesday: I did strength work, then I rode 50 miles with Laura and Scott, then I went straight to Dynamo for masters again! I was tired at the end of this day!

Wednesday: A good follow up to an exhausting day is to go to the gaps! George, Laura, and I loaded up our bikes and rode a 62 mile loop that included Unicoi, Jacks, and Neil's gaps. It was a huge climbing day for us! I am not allowed to stand and limb in the boot, so I am becoming a very efficient climber going up mountains sitting down all the time! I'll tell you, there were a few pitches where I really wanted to stand up!

Then it gets interesting. On the drive home, we hit a bump. We looked back and the bikes looked lower. Yikes. We were on a road with a guardrail and no shoulder, so we had to drive on some. We kept driving until we could pull over. Hit another bump while we were stopping and the bikes gently (THANK GOODNESS!)hit the ground as we stopped. The straps of the bike rack broke! We are SO SO SO lucky that's all that happened!

Here's George with the broken rack:

Then, the real trick was that we had to fit three bike in my little car with three people, and all of our stuff!

So, we got everything in, and then, we had to drive the rest of the way home!  La di da di da....boom......

A blowout on the CAR tire!?! What? Now, to change the tire, we hand to unload and reload all of those bikes and wheels!

What a day!  We dropped Laura off, who was by that point HOURS late for a big meeting at work.

Then George and I had dinner....maybe it was a lot of dinner:

Thursday: After that kind of day, I took Thursday as a rest day!

Friday: Back to the Gaps! We rode the regular three gap and did Neils, Wolfpen, and Woody. It was a great ride!

Saturday: We did the Tony Serrano Century. It is one of my favorites! It is for a great cause, it is an awesome course, and they really do have the best rest stops ever!

Sunday: We went up to Mary Alice Park and swam in open water in our wetsuits for the first time this year! It actually went well!

As you can see, a train-cation can be AWESOME! We had a wonderful week, and now I am incredibly excited for summer!

Restoration Ride 4/14!

On Saturday April 14, my Team Shepherd Atlanta RAAM team will be hosting three rides leaving from Alpharetta! I would love to see you out there! 57 mile ride starts at 8:30, the 20 miler at 10:00, and the 10 mile family ride at 10:30.

We will be leaving from the Five Seasons Brewery in Alpharetta (3655 Old Milton Pkwy, Alpharetta, Ga. 30005)

There are three choices of rides: 10 (bring the kiddos, this is on a closed course), a casual 20, and a fun 57!




Saul Raisin, Rob Leggerio, and Linda Manires all who have suffered with TBI (traumatic brain injury) and Saul and Rob were patients of Shepherd Clinic. Please come and support our cause and hear their story's, Blaze, Linda's service dog will be there too, helping with registration




Even if you don't ride come and have lunch with us at 12:00pm. Auction for a Trek Travel trip to CA Wine Country worth millions maybe a little less!!


Here is a small version of the flier, but you can register there!