Silver Linings

Last Tuesday, just days before my first race as a pro, I went for a follow-up x-ray with the podiatrist. I had dutifully followed his orders for the past two weeks, and felt confident the second x-ray would come back negative. Unfortunately, the second x-ray showed what the first hadn't: a small fracture in the fourth metatarsal.

My stylish footwear for the past three weeks

I couldn't run for at least two more weeks, and with that, my first race of the season, Eagleman, was out of the question and Challenge Atlantic City seemed unlikely.

I allowed myself to be sad for one hour at work. The door to my office was closed, and I pounded away on the keyboard with month-end entries.

After that, I reframed my mindset and started plotting my comeback. 



I always think it's important to be a good role model for my adorable nephews

I could use this continued time off from running as an opportunity to focus on my biking and swimming.  I could learn to ride my bike in aero while I'm on the trainer. I can try to find some of that lost speed in the pool.  I can become the queen of pool running, and use the disappointment of not racing as fuel to make me work even harder at the things I can do.

Tim and I decided the risk of racing Atlantic City was not worth the potential reward (deep prize purse for pros), so I signed up for one of my favorite races: Ironman Lake Placid. It's a team event for QT2, so I will see friendly faces all over the course. It's a hillier course, which is good for me.

Finishing Lap One, Ironman Lake Placid 2012

 And most exciting, with my new bike scheduled for delivery on 6/16 (thank you Team Poppy Fest 2014), I'll be racing Ironman Lake Placid on my new Orbea Ordu GLT. I'm so grateful for the support of Tri360 through 2015, and look forward to working with their fitter to getting this bike perfectly dialed in for me.

Winter Update

It's been a winter to remember - so far, I've run in Polar Vortex temps (-20 degree windchill), run in the middle of a snowstorm that produced 18+ inches of snow & spent more hours on my trainer than ever before.

QT2
I've been coached by Tim Snow of QT2 Systems for a little over six months, and after an eight week run focus, we started back to a more balanced approach in early January. Training is very different than years past, but I'm really enjoying it. I'm challenged almost daily, but my body keeps producing workouts that are better than any previous workout, so I feel satisfied that things are going well and stay excited for what's coming next.  Tim Snow is a great coach and I really can't say enough good things about him. He's more than a coach, which is integral for any athlete / coach relationship to work.

This past weekend was my third and final 5K. I consistently ran low 19s this year, which is a two minute improvement over what I ran last year. Very gratifying to finally see some major run improvement. Now if it would only warm up a little bit!

One of my many snow runs!

Snapple / Osmo
For the second straight year, I'll be on the Snapple National Team. We have a great group of sponsors and my favorite hydration product, Osmo, has teamed up with Snapple this year. I used Osmo last year and had a breakthrough year, so I'm excited to continue using the product going forward. I started using the Women's line after Kona and the Mango flavor is light & tasty, and the Acute Recovery leaves me feeling strong and ready to tackle the next set of workouts. Thanks to Jesse and Tim, I now understand the importance of training my gut and follow my fueling plan during all my workouts. You can learn more about that here. 

Wedding Planning
Chris leaves for Mason, Ohio in March for four months, so we've been very busy planning our wedding. I am fortunate to have the guidance of many friends that are already married, so we are slowly but surely tackling the big items. The wedding is set for November 1st, and if everything aligns, are honeymoon will be in Western Australia the second and third week in December. And yes, there may be an ironman planned during that time :)

Our very generous friends threw us a wonderful engagement party at Valerie Hill Winery, which is a night we will always remember. We are so blessed.

Family shot
 

My first race of the season will be Eaglemen 70.3 followed by Challenge Atlantic City. Bring on the heat (thanks to Osmo Pre-Load!)

That's all for now!

What's Next: My Decision to Go Pro!

From the time I was little, I always liked to compete. My sister took the brunt of my competitive nature. It's fair to say if we could compete, we did. Amazingly enough, we've always been best friends.

The first time I went to swim practice I was seven years old. I couldn't quite swim a full lap, but my first coach, Kim Grove, saw a seven year old with way too much energy and offered to my parents to have me join the team. The next day, there was a swim meet. While my skills were lacking, my passion and drive, took over and somehow my swim was transformed and I got second in the 25 yard freestyle.

Age group swimming taught me many life lessons, most importantly setting goals. At seven, my goal was to win the next race I entered. That was soon replaced with dreams of zones, nationals and the Olympic trials. In the end, I wasted my swimming talent and stopped swimming after my freshman year of college with the intention of never doing a competitive athletic event again. Too many failures, too much frustration, and way too much time spent in chlorine.

I went to China in 2008 with my grad school program. Everyone there commutes by bike, and while I had longingly watched the college road bike club at William and Mary from afar, I had never bought a bike. So when I returned, one of the first things I went and did was a buy a road bike. I had hopes of maybe doing a triathlon someday, but it was a distant goal.

It quickly became reality thanks to some friends on the Winchester Wheelmen, and I did my first sprint tri soon after getting a bike. Like the seven year old that couldn't swim, I didn't have a clue what I was doing, but I somehow placed fourth overall and was hooked. Soon after, I did a century ride, and then was convinced to do Ironman Louisville in 2009.

Over the years, I started having some success and my goals changed. When I first qualified to get my pro card in 2011 at Ironman Louisville, I thought it seemed ridiculous. In 2012, I qualified at Lake Placid, and it seemed somewhat less ridiculous, but still a little out of my reach. Then, Beth Shutt came to visit, and from Beth and a lot of conversations with Chris, I realized it was OK to have a goal of wanting to turn pro, so over the past year, I became a lot more serious.

Tim and I discussed going pro briefly after Ironman Lake Placid, and he set extremely high placement goals for me at Kona if I wanted to turn pro. I felt for certain those were unattainable and regretted not signing up for Ironman Lake Placid 2014. Then, Kona happened, and the decision was back on the table.

After much wavering, I took my Elite Status and will be racing PRO in 2014. While my run may still need work, I still have that same passion and drive as that seven year old lining up on the blocks.

Thank you to all my family and friends that support me daily. This wouldn't be possible without the love and support I receive.

Finishing Ironman Hawaii 2013

Ironman Hawaii: Filled with Gratitude

Ironman Hawaii is always a special race. Whether your day goes to plan, or if something unfortunate happens, the finish line on Ali'i Drive is magical. It's what gets me out of bed at 4:30 in the morning, or through a 6:35 trainer ride. This year, I was blessed with what I would consider nearly a perfect Ironman day.

Race week was by far the best time I've had out on the island. From swimming with Tim and finally becoming confident on the swim course, to breakfast with some lovely Twitter ladies and riding with Kim, to spending time with my QT2 teammates at breakfast & a cocktail party, this week truly had it all. And, of course, the highlight was having my super support team there with me, made even more special since Chris was able to make the trip out.

Love this girl! Kim and I at the QT2 Cocktail Party!

 

My goals for Ironman Hawaii were simple:

1) Run a strong Ironman marathon

2) Finish with sheer joy

3) Break 10 hours & make the podium (the unspoken goals because they aren't exactly controllable)

The Brawl Swim

Entering the water race morning, my nerves suddenly disappeared. I swam out to one of buoys, and to my EXCITEMENT, Hines Ward was soon making his way out to the buoy I was hanging on. He started hanging on, so I got to talk to Hines for a few minutes prior to the race. I wished him good luck and told him meeting him made my day, to which he chuckled. . . in the end, not quite!!

I positioned myself a few minutes prior to the start, and before I knew it, the canon sounded and the chaos started. I had calm water for maybe 30 seconds of my 56 minute swim, and spent the rest of the time being punched, elbowed, etc. I did my best to fight back AND for once, I did not slow down or stop. Transition was a mess, but I knew I had a strong swim when I hit the mount line under an hour and headed out on my bike coated in sunblock.



Whitey!

The Bike

To my surprise, the chaos continued for the first 30 or so miles of the bike. I am very used to getting passed by the age group men, but the drafting was significantly worse than years past and I had a hard time settling into my race plan. So instead, I focused on what I could control, my attitude and my fueling.  I hit a low point near the end of the Queen K, so I was very happy to see Tim and Jesse as I made the left turn to head out to the climb to Hawi. The wind was kind this year, and there were almost no crosswinds whatsoever.

Coming in off the bike feeling good!  Thanks again Mirinda Carfrae for selling me baby bike!

Special needs was a bit of a bust, but I eventually got my bag, put three fresh new bottles of Osmo on my bike and headed back down. Except we had a headwind, so instead of going 45 mph downhill, I was going mid-30s. Boo.  I continued focusing on my fueling, and stayed fairly conservative. I pushed it a little harder coming back on the Queen K, and before I knew it, I was making the turns through town. My hydration was good, I felt cool, and was ready to RUN.

The Run

T2 was slightly better than T1, but the volunteers still couldn't find my bag, so I still wasted some time. I ran out carrying a bottle of Osmo and a flask with diluted Preload that I finished before mile 2. Tim gave me EXPLICIT instructions to hold 8:10s for the entire stretch on Ali'i Drive. I tried, but my pace came in closer to 7:50s-8s. My heart rate and perceived exertion were low, so I finally just went with it and stopped worrying about it.

My parents split up between miles 9 and 10 on the course. I remembered how poorly I was feeling last  year, and was relieved to be feeling GOOD when I saw them. Once out on the Queen K, I had permission to ratchet down the pace, but I was starting to feel warm, so I just kept steady and started walking every aid station instead of every other. Chris and Tim kept telling me I looked better than everyone in front of me, but I just didn't feel right. I knew I had Preload in my special needs bag, so I willed myself to special needs knowing that would make me feel better.

Still smiling! Somewhere around mile 23.

The energy lab always defeats me, so I thought positively instead about the run Chris and I had done in the energy lab. Once I made it to special needs, I drank my Preload within a mile and also grabbed a few pretzels to nibble.  Over the next few miles, I had some highs and lows and realized my respiration was getting a bit shallow, so I made sure to grab some coke at the next few aid stations. The miles ticked by ever so slowly, but at mile 24, I knew I was going to make it. I willed myself up the last hill on the Queen K, then made the magical turn onto Palini. The crowd support was AMAZING, I had someone tell me I was 3rd, and I ran my heart out to the finish with tears in my eyes.  I had done what I set out to do because I believed it was a possibility.

Finish Time:  9:46:22, 8th Amateur, 3rd 30-34 (40 minute improvement from 2012's Kona)



Running down a dream - thank you Mizuno Running for the Ronins!

Thank you:

To my parents, who started driving me to the pool at age seven, and are still as big of supporters now as they were then.

To my sister, who has always inspired me to be a better person.

Greeting my sister after the Patriot's Half Ironman in September

To my coach, Tim, for believing in me and telling me "I could run."

To my Snapple teammates for their support and motivating me all year with awesome results, AND the awesome sponsors of Snapple.

To Stacy Sims and Osmo, for developing a hydration product that works and agrees with my GI system.

To my friends for their amazing support and putting up with my general crazy schedule.

And to Chris, for everything.

And for those wondering what's next, that's for another blog post. The decision has been made and the schedule is somewhat set.
 

Lake Placid Race Report: Having Faith

I had every intention of posting this report a little more timely, but then Chris proposed and I got a bit off track.

Katie & Chris

Change isn't something I embrace, but after Eagleman, I made the difficult choice to switch coaches for reasons I'm not going to share on this blog. After working with The Core Diet in 2011, as well as witnessing some impressive results from friends using QT2, QT2 was my top choice. Lucky for me, Tim Snow had capacity and he loosely worked with me during July to ensure I had a successful race at Ironman Lake Placid.

As I went into Ironman Lake Placid, I had to have faith that the following changes would result in a solid day for me:

1. Different Race Plan - Build into the day
2. Different Fueling Plan - EVERYTHING changed, but my favorite, Clif Bar Shot Bloks
3. Different Race Outlook - think positively about the run

While everything had been tested in workouts leading up to the race, it was still very nerve-wracking. Nonetheless, I was excited to test it out, and thankful that I already had my Kona slot in case something went awry.

 

I was excited for the swim this year thinking the new initiative would thin out the congestion. Instead, it did the opposite, and this was another violent swim start for me. I struggled to get into a rhythm until midway back on my first lap, and was content to ride some male feet for the rest of the first loop and most of the second loop of the swim. Just squeaked in under 54 minutes making it a slight PR over last year, thank you Xterra Wetsuits!

Praying I didn't fall while making the run up to transition like last year!

 

Of all parts of the race, I was actually most nervous about what the bike would hold even though the bike is usually my strength. The new plan had me holding back, in hopes I would get off the bike feeling fresh. Leaving town, while many men hammered past me, I rode fairly easy keeping my watts right within my target range. Before I knew it, we hit the descent into Keane and it was pouring down rain. Ideal, no, but I had rode worse descents in rain and had mentally prepared for it, so with the exception of sitting up a little more than I normally would, nothing changed. Once I hit the flats, I assessed how I was feeling and noted my heart rate was running high, and I was behind my pace from last year. Not what I was hoping for, but I upped my fluid intake and stuck to the plan. Coming back into town on lap one was awesome, I received many cheers from spectators and got such a thrill hearing Mike Riley announce I was the top female amateur.

Waving to my parents on Lap One

Starting lap two, Tim said to expect a low at mile 60, which I did, and was very pleasantly surprised to find that's when I started feeling really good (maybe some of that was the caffeine!) I did some passing on the climb, was aggressive on the descent, and then realized once I hit the flats I was going to pass Danielle Kehoe, a pro, who had passed me earlier.  I hung back for a few minutes debating what to do. The last thing I wanted to do was ride too hard, but I felt good and my heart rate was right within range. I eventually passed Danielle, and was soon passed by the eventual race winner, Jennie Hansen. Being up with these ladies for so long was extremely motivating.

I continued passing out towards Wilmington and then disaster struck, I started throwing up (this was not in the new plan). I thought of speedy Beth Walsh and her "puke and rally" statement at Kona 2011 and kept biking. I slowed up ever so slightly, stopped calories for a bit and took in just water. By the end of the bike, I had thrown up five times and was feeling better. And even with the difficult last hour, I had made up a ton of time over last year, and ended with a 5:27 for a seven minute improvement on this course.

I love baby bike!

I took some extra time in T2 to have a volunteer help me get a ginger candy, and to eat some of a banana. As I was running out, it was awesome to hear the cheers of Caitlin Snow and Jesse K.  I reminded myself to start at 820s as Tim had said, and take the mandated 20 second walk breaks at each aid station. In the past, I considered walking a failure, so this was a huge leap of faith for me. But by walking for short increments at each mile, I got to reset and get some fuel in. It was also a GREAT way to break up the marathon!

My stomach started to settle by mile three, I saw Chris out on River Road, which was a huge lift, and I was having a blast looking and cheering for friends. Before I knew it, I was back in town ready to start lap two. I started to feel tired around mile 16 once I hit River Road, but my pace was still strong, and I focused on running strong between all the aid stations.  Seeing all my friends having successful days was huge, and I was thrilled to see my friends Kendra and Marni running strong and looking in good shape to get the Kona slots they were after.

Actually enjoying myself on this run!

I hit the wall around mile 21 with the first of the hills coming back into town, and I kept reminding myself that once I got back into town, the crowds would carry me through.

The last three miles of Lake Placid are amazing. There is so much energy from the spectators and other athletes out on the course. I hurt, but nothing like last year, and I was trying to chase down the Timex pro in front of me. Once I made the final turnaround, I found that extra gear and pushed toward the finish line. I finished the day with a 15 minute Ironman PR, but more importantly for me, I finally succeeded in executing a solid run. First overall amateur and seventh female finisher.

 

Ironman Lake Placid was a huge stepping stone for me. While changing nearly everything was certainly scary, it paid off, and I am very excited to see what the future holds with Tim Snow and QT2.

30-34 Age Group with Kendra and Marni - Honor to share the podum with such supportive ladies!

 

Thanks to the amazing sponsors for Snapple, and my friends and family who help inspire me daily!

 

Eagleman 70.3 RR - Keeping my cool

Highlights: Punching my ticket to Kona and sharing the 30-34 women's podium with these lovely ladies.



Rockstar Podium - Kendra, Shandra, Lisa and Leah

Lowlights: The four minute drafting penalty on the bike. I was in WAVE 20 and spent the entire ride passing people. I make an effort to always ride fair and was NOT drafting. 

The lead up to this race was fairly uneventful. I was my overly anal retentive self and had a checklist of things that needed done, and had them all done early. I knew I was ready for a huge PR and I didn't want anything to go wrong.

Saturday morning I went out on my pre-race ride and my Quarq wasn't working. It had stopped working two weeks ago, and was fine after I put in a new battery, so I tried that again and it still wouldn't work. My dad suggested we stopped at Bonzai on the way out to Eagleman, so we did and they were able to get it working again no problem. We still made it to Cambridge in plenty of time to do packet pickup, drop off the bike and get back to the hotel in Salisbury to relax. 

Note to anyone doing this race: if you can't get in a hotel in Easton or Cambridge, Salisbury is the place to go.

My dad was a trooper and was up at 3:30 with me on race morning. We left for the race by 4:20, parked at the school and took the shuttle to race site (my other tip, use the shuttle!).  My teammate, Matias, helped me with my disc wheel, which was a huge relief! and I saw an old teammate from my age group swim team, Shannon Sullivan, leading up to the race.

With my wave going off at 8:25, I hopped in the water a little before 8 to get in a warm up and calm down. Swimming always relaxes me.  Unfortunately you have to battle some rocks to get in the river, and while I missed the rocks, I hit some plastic and got a nice gash on the bottom of my foot. Not how I wanted to start the day, but I always count on three things going wrong so hey, I figured by this point I had two done.  Wrong!

Thank you Xterra Wetsuits

Swim (1.2 mile, 29:41 - apparently a long swim)

I have really grown to love OWS. The water was a little warm at 73, but within the first few strokes, I felt strong and relaxed. I knew the only way I was getting my Kona slot today was if I put some time into the others on the swim, so I went for it. I struggled a bit with navigation and had to stop quite a few times to figure out where the next buoy was, but felt the strongest I've ever felt in an OWS. I got out of the water feeling confident I had a great swim and was ready for the mud pit of transition! Thank you Xterra for a fast and comfortable wetsuit.

Bike (56 mile, 2:26.46 (PR) + 4 minute penalty = 2:30:46)

I saw no other 30-34 females in transition and was running out in the nice long mud path before I knew it. Once I mounted, my fear was confirmed that my Quarq was not going to work. I heard my Dad cheering and before I made the first turn, my bottle ejected out of my top cage. Awesome, ride is starting out great!

I'm aero - love baby bike!

I immediately hunkered down into my aero bars and started pushing. I tried to take in some of the course views since I wasn't staring at my powermeter, and really did my best to ride clean and stay in control. Around 1:30 in, I was flipping through my Garmin and realized I was having the ride of my life. As I'm getting excited, I come up to a huge pack of probably 20 people that I would have to pass. I sit back for a minute and actually chat with the moto that rides up next to me asking what I should do. They just smile at me. As I'm doing my best to pass and ride clean, I have a male come out in front of me, which is when I hear, "rider 2325, you have a red card."  Say what?

There is no way to sugar coat how devastated I was. I figured right there, my Kona slot was gone. Then I calmed down and remembered that there is a LOT of things that can happen in a race. I had no clue where any of my competitors were and I needed to just do the best I could. The rest of the bike ride went fairly smoothly - nice strong effort, being extremely careful when passing people and getting stuck taking turns way too conservatively.  I made sure to tell my Dad I got a penalty when I went by on the bike so he didn't worry something was wrong, and headed to the yellow box.

Run (13.1 mile = 1:38:38)

After sitting in the yellow box for four minutes, I ran through the mud again (poor baby bike) quickly threw on my shoes and was out of transition. I knew I would have to put on my fuel belt, visor and Garmin on the run to save time. I felt strong, in control and with my first two splits under 7:15, I thought maybe Lindsay's estimation of a 1:32-1:34 wasn't ridiculous after all. Things were good. Then I made the nutritional error of not taking in enough water with a salt pill and spent the next 11 miles with stomach cramps, chills from not enough calories and willing myself not to walk.

 

In the end, I finished the run with a 1:38. Not far off my best half marathon time, so I know my run is progressing and more importantly, I stayed calm and didn't give up when things weren't going my way.

Hurting

Results were slow, but I eventually found out I won my AG with an overall PR and was going back to Kona. Happy day!

 

 

Thank you to the AMAZING sponsors of the Snapple Triathlon team and my Snapple Teammates for providing inspiration daily. To my family and friends that help keep me sane and gave me things to think about in the race, Thank You! 

 

Next up is a bit of a recovery, then a final push to Ironman Lake Placid. I have some fun training days planned, so hopefully I'll have time to share at least a few of them.

 



Monticelloman Race Report

Instead of enjoying the Apple Blossom festival this year, I headed down on Saturday to race Monticelloman with some of my Snapple teammates. After having the stomach flu the last time I headed down to Charlottesville to race, I was READY to have a solid day and start my season!

Snapple post race!

Swim

I carefully listened to the race director before the race explain the course. It looked simple enough, but with only two main sighting buoys, I was concerned it would be difficult to navigate and knew it would call for extra sighting!

I had high hopes that with the collegiate contingent at the race, I would have someone to swim with, but once my breathing steadied and I got used to the 64 degrees, I passed all the females in front of me and put the pressure on. I wasn't as cold as I expected, but it took me until the final buoy to really get into my stroke.

26 minutes later and slightly frozen, I excited first female and completely disoriented, as per the usual. I came close to falling down in transition, but didn't, so that's an improvement over my last two triathlons.

Bike

Once on the bike, I headed out debating if I should pull my arm coolers on at some point to keep me a warmer. I was in the company of a few males, so I decided to wait until things thinned out and hoped I had a few people to ride with.

After a few cat and mouse games up the early rollers, I put in a hard effort and passed ALL of them.  I would rather have a hard effort early on, then get a draft penalty. Unfortunately, after that, I saw very few people the entire ride so I stared at my bike computer and focused on nailing my nutrition.

The course was two loops, not closed to traffic, and also had an Olympic race going on riding some of the same roads. It was one of the more difficult courses I've done to maintain a steady effort (even with staring at my power meter), so I was thrilled to arrive back at transition right at my target watts.  While my time wasn't what I had hoped, my watts were 20 watts higher than I've done in a half ironman.

I chatted with Chris in T2 while I was putting on my running shoes, then headed out for the final leg.

Run

I took off on the run course at what felt a steady, manageable pace, but my calves were cramping almost immediately. I assumed it was nutrition, so I took a salt pill and had some of the diluted ironman perform I had in my fuel belt.  I wanted to walk, but I thought about the transition run I had done this winter in 12 degree temps, and kept going.

Around mile 4, my stride started opening up and since all my splits had been 7:30 or below, I thought I had a shot at my goal of beating my open half marathon PR (1:34 high). I saw Mindy, Ellen and Bart soon after, so that was an awesome pick-me-up before the turnaround.

Soon after the turnaround, I latched onto a male. I'd catch him on the uphills, he'd dropped me on the downhills and I'd do my best to stay a few yards behind him on the flats to block the wind. I'm sure I drove him crazy with my wheezing, so finally around mile 10 I pulled up with him.  He picked up the pace and surprisingly, I was able to stay with him!

When we hit mile 12, I picked it up and put everything I had into getting to the finish line. I was ready to be done. I crossed the line first female, and eighth overall with a new half ironman PR after 4 hours and 44 minutes.  Hopefully next time I'll break into the 4:30s, but it was a pretty darn good day!

Prizes were pretty awesome - I was very excited about my new watch and another Jefferson cup. HUGE THANKS to my family, Chris and my coach Lindsay for supporting me on my good training days and bad. Thanks to the sponsors of the Snapple Triathlon Team for providing me with the gear to compete and my teammates for providing inspiration daily.

Next up is round four at Eagleman.