TT & Icebreaker Sprint

Rapid Cycling in St George hosted a Crit Series this year.  One of the stages being a Time Trail which I had to get in on!  What would be more fun than 10 uncomfortable miles at balls-to-the-wall effort??

I was a little nervous jumping into an event full of hard-core cyclists.  Clyde arrange to have his good friends help me get ready at the start which was aaaaaamazing! They helped me get the trainer set up to get my warm up in, gave me the perfect get ready to suffer motivation speech, and to top it off were out there during the ride! SO dang nice!!!

Success # 1 of the day was not tipping over while I was being held at the start line before I was sent off! I was probably most worried about this :)

From the first pedal stroke I went into suffer mode and was able to stay focused throughout the 10 miles.  We had drove the course prior, but those hills were felt in the legs a little more than I had anticipated.  The last two miles really hurt - which they should! I just put my head down and hammered.

***Note to all you newbies... when you hear 'put your head down and hammer,' you do NOT literally put your head down! First of all, you can not see where you are going.  Second, putting your head down literally creates a wall out of your aero helmet  #lessonlearned Keep your head up :) :)

When you can find an emotion that sets something off within yourself, it can be super useful in a race setting.  Find what triggers you and use it to your advantage!  Came across the finish line and headed out to finish off the rest of my workout.  Thanks Coach T!

Finished 1st in my Cat and 7th including the boys ---► Rocky was most excited about that part :)




ICEBREAKER SPRINT TRI
1:00.58
1st AG
2nd Overall

I also raced in the IceBreaker Sprint Tri on March 21st.  I've done this race the past two years and it is hands down my favorite Sprint!  RaceTri knows how to put on a solid race.

Going into this race I had written down my goal of breaking my course time (0:59.57) and take the overall win.  Guess what?! In life, things don't always go the way you plan.

We drove up north early enough to pick my packet up, set up transition, and get in my warm up.  This year we brought the trainer.  I probably looked like an idiot with it.  Seriously loved having it though.  It was pretty dang cold first thing in the morning so it was nice to warm up on the trainer without that wind chill. 

I don't have too many details to share.  I felt really good throughout the race, my body just did not respond like I had thought it was going to.  Other than the bike split, I don't think that the times are indicative of what I am capable of.  

So with that being said ONWARD!

trusting in MY plan.
#BUILDINGMYMACHINE

 

XOXO!

 

Snow Canyon Half Marathon Race Report

Snow Canyon Half Marathon 1:26.46

5/176 AG, 14/717 F, 69/1912 OA... PR :D

Spent the weekend in St George for work and raced the Snow Canyon Half.  Rachelle's boyfriend was nice enough to drive us up to the start and it was freezing... perfect race weather! We had just enough time for a quick warm-up with Josse were off.

Miles 1-3: Plan was to take the first 2 miles at a set hr zone then progress from there.  Josse and I didn't make it up to the front in time so we had to do a bit of weaving in and out of people during mile 1.  Noticed a head wind through this section but everything felt comfortable.

Miles 4-8: Beautiful section of the course through Snow Canyon.  There was a younger kid named Spencer who was running the tangents very well so I stuck with him and we ended up running together until the end. Took a gel at mile 7.  After 7 is when the rollers start and I was still feeling very good all the way up to the end of mile 9.  

Miles 9-13.1:  Running through the Entrada neighborhood was harder than I expected it to be.  I would pull us up the inclines and Spencer would pull us fast down the descends.  Working with him helped a lot.  Saw my awesome dad at mile 9 and I remember mile 11 being the toughest for me so when I noticed the pace start to drop here I took gel #2.  

I love that this race finishes on a track.  The track always gets me fired up and I was able to out kick 2 girls in the last 50 meters.  Huge shout out to Rachelle with a 1:17 finish ->she is on fire!!

Spectrum 10K and Training

I have not blogged in awhile! 

Lots of fun training has been going down...

Here is a quick little recap.

Spectrum 10K Race 39.43    1/73 AG, 9/467 Female, 30/791 Overall
This past weekend I was in St. George training and this race conveniently fit right into the training :D   

Smaller, super friendly race.  Organized well with the buses getting us up to the start.  (There is no real place to warmup at the start of the race so I would suggest doing your warm up at the park and then getting on the last bus up to the start.)

Miles 1-3 felt great.(downhill) First sub 6 mile!  Mile 4 the inclines in town start and got me in the zone... just told myself to hold onto the uncomfortable effort. When I turned the corner and saw the finish line clock under 40 I kicked hard and finished strong! PR
  
Splits (5:50, 6:27, 6:18, 6:38, 6:35, 6:34, 1:21)

Teresa has been upping the duration and intensity of my swim.bike.run. 

and I am loving Every.Second.Of.It

Swimming

Putting in some yardage!

Biking

Spending some quality time with Rocky! Trainer sweat fests... hill repeats... tempo efforts...time on the St George 70.3 course... Loving it!!  

 

Running

The sun is finally coming out in Utah!  I am going to do a post soon on some Brooks products I have been Running Happy in lately!

........................................................................7 weeks!!!!!!!!

Recovery Week, St George, Crazy Hike

Last week = RECOVERY week.

Started like this ---

Couple runs in the windy cold

Snow decided to finally arrive in UTAH

I was close to 500 miles in my old shoes so I picked me up another pair of these >>> 

Found out I got to go to sunny St. George for a work weekend!! Yippyyyy

Got a fabulous morning run in... in shorts!!!!

 

 Found this new drink. absolute FAV!

Went on what was supposed to be a 'easy' hike.  Turned into 16 miles of  

canyoneering fear!

(For those that know the St. George Area) 

We started at Tuacahn, climbed up to the 3 ponds, went in and out of Snow Canyon, then climbed up on the ridge, then descended down that main gorge in Ivans. 

The arrows signify death wish territory :):)

My dad and I have experienced some scary stuff... both nothing compared to this. 

At some points I was shaking so bad and could not make it stop. 

 Making it to the top (ALIVE) then back down gave us such a sense of  

accomplishment and confidence.  

We both wore the biggest smiles the rest of the weekend - 

along with our war wounds of cuts, bumps and bruises :D !!!  

We don't have many photos of the scary stuff... but here are a few from the day:

Recovery week meant 

a cut back in intensity... 

a lot of compression gear wearing...

a couple ice baths...

foam rolling...

Feeling super refreshed and READY to hit it hard again! :D