(No) Room for Doubt: Lake Raystown Triathlon Race Report

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Doubt is a stubborn presence. While I’ve worked hard physically, mentally and emotionally to keep my doubting voices quiet, they are persistent. I’ve learned that I need to be more persistent, more stubborn than the doubt. I have the Lake Raystown Triathlon to thank for this important reminder: The mental work of endurance is harder than the physical work.  John and I were looking for an early season half iron race with plenty of hills, which is hard to find in the Northeast U.S. given the cool spring temps. But, the inaugural Lake Raystown Triathlon, held on May 18, 2014, seemed to meet our needs for …

Post-Race Analysis: Next Time I’ll Be Bulletproof

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The final 10k of Ironman Lake Placid 2013 haunts me. After almost a year, I finally did the type of post-race analysis that I recommend for my athletes. Sadly, I confirmed what I had guessed to be true for the past year: if I had I stayed on the pace I ran for the first 18 miles of the marathon, I would have run from 11th place off the bike into 4th place in the final mile or two, and the Kona slot would have been mine. Instead, I finished in 6th place, and a little under 5 minutes from the glory spot. …

Cycling: Holding My Own

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“It’s been a while since we rode together,” John said. “You’re different.” Pause. “I’m impressed.” I beamed. Wow. That is high praise indeed. To say that cycling has not come naturally to me would be an understatement. It’s like saying that Rinny is an okay runner, or Michael Phleps knows a little bit about swimming, or Lance Armstrong only took a few “natural” enhancements. For the first 3 years that I raced triathlon, I never quite “got” the bike. I had (foolishly) thought that my running history would allow me to power the bike and that would be that. Um, …

Shifting into Beast Mode

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The Intimidator half iron was a wake up call. While the race turned out fine, I never found “my gear”. You know the one that gets you to the point where you are in BEAST MODE.  During the bike especially, I found that I had limited mental will to push my edge. And my performance shows it. That is not the way to start the season. But, it did remind me that if I wanted my body to go all-in, then I would need to go head first. I came home from the race, and I knew it was time: X-day is here. I’ve written …

It’s Not Ideal: The Intimidator – Florida Challenge Triathlon Race Report

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“The first race of the season is always something of a sh!t show,” I mentioned to a friend, last week, as we talked about my upcoming race at the Intimidator Florida Challenge Triathlon, held in Clermont, FL on March 22, 2014. In the case of this race, “sh!t show” turned out to be an accurate descriptor, as a series of events joined together to make this day–and the lead up to the day–less than ideal for racing. But, if you wait for the perfect conditions, you’ll never race. All of my racing experiences – from high school until today – …

Florida Double Ironman Support Crew: Living Life in Lap Time

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Swim 4.8 miles. Bike 224 miles. Run 52.4 miles. Brag for two lifetimes. Makes you want to say, “Aw, you did a single Ironman? That’s so cute!” I had the opportunity to indirectly experience a double iron-distance triathlon, when my husband John competed in the Florida Double Ironman (Anvil) on February 27, 2014. It took him a little over 24 hours to earn his 5th place finish, and in that time frame, I learned much about what it takes to toe the line, to make it through the day (or days) and to get to the finish line. It looks like just my …

The 9% Solution: Take the Tough Option

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Last year, my coach Vince scheduled a treadmill-specific hill workout that had a series of different inclines, from 3% to 9%. As if the changing incline wasn’t enough, I did each interval at the same pace (approximately tempo effort) – without any recovery interval throughout the duration of the workout, which was typically 45 minutes. Despite the lack of a recovery interval, it’s amazing how a 3% incline at tempo effort can feel like a recovery after a 9% interval. The first time I did this workout, the 9% interval crushed me. And, when I say crushed, I mean smoke blowing …

Cadence – It’s Not Just for Cycling

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The very first time I got on a road bike, I put it into one of the heaviest gears, and mashed those pedals around the Pine Barrens of South Jersey for two hours. I’m guessing my cadence couldn’t have been much more than 60-65 rpm. This story is a common one – especially for runners who start cycling. Runners just love to mash and grind, don’t we? If it doesn’t hurt, we can’t possibly be doing it correctly, right? Thankfully, those more experienced at the time than I taught me to stop being such a schmuck. So, I lightened up the …

2013 Reflections: What matters most

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Our calendar is a human-made construction that helps us mark the passing of time. While nature has its cycles, it doesn’t care about new year’s resolutions, or season goals, or any of the other symbolic things we project on to THE. NEW. YEAR. But, we do care about those things – and we should. The symbolic meanings we give to time, to experience, and to the calendar allow us to reflect upon the significant moments in our life, the moments that make life worth living, and the moments that act as teachers. 2013 was full of those moments, as I …

2014: The Year of the Plow Horse

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Recently, when reviewing my site analytics, I discovered a blog, from Russia, that was referring visitors to my site. That’s odd, I thought. Sometimes, international sites link to my blog, which I usually determine to be spammers. But, I was curious. So, I navigated to the site, and looked through the page, to find that I was featured at the bottom. But, what does it say? Ever the curious sort, I copied the words into Google Translator, and discovered that this post was about women bloggers that this particular blogger reads. Cool. But, what was she saying about ME?! 7. Maria ( her …