2011 was the year of getting Active.  Not active in the traditional sense. . .I think it’s safe to say that the last 8 years (gulp! already?!) spent racing Ironman triathlons has guaranteed above and beyond the recommended dosage of physical activity. Little is going to change there anytime soon.

However, in the last year, I’ve added a new dimension to my training and racing through a new role in corporate wellness for the 3,000+ employees at Active Network, the parent company to Active.com.  Through ActiveX (our less “corporate-y” version of employee health), I am able to encourage others to be healthier and happier.  What could be better than that?

Changing health behaviors isn’t easy–if it were, we wouldn’t be experiencing a preventable disease health crisis of epidemic proportions.  We wouldn’t be having conversations about major U.S. corporations going broke because they can’t afford employee health care.  And, quite frankly, corporate wellness wouldn’t be experiencing the rapid growth that it is. Unfortunately, in many cases, the additional resources dedicated to employee health hasn’t actually done much to make the workforce any healthier.  Scare tactics and numbers, generated through health risk assessments and biometric screenings can be informative, but rarely do much to actually get people to put down the can of Coke or hit the gym instead of the couch after work.  (Ok, I’m climbing down off of my soap box now. . .)

The overall ActiveX philosophy is simple.  Get people to participate in events and activities they enjoy doing, and they will be more likely to become invested in other areas of their health. Make it a social activity, and suddenly it’s something that they enjoy and are more likely to adopt for life.

So far, it seems to be working. In the short time that I’ve been at Active, I’ve witnessed people become healthier thru take on challenges they never thought they could.  This summer, over 100 Active employees participated in the Solana Beach triathlon–most had never done a triathlon, some had never learned to swim or ride a bike before.  A life long self-proclaimed couch potato became addicted to the lunchtime Walk with a Purpose program, and completed her first 5k.  On a daily basis, I get to hear how ActiveX is the best part of working at an already great company.  While it’s not heart surgery, I get to work every day jazzed by the prospect of helping people help themselves.

It’s been inspiring, and I can’t wait to continue the journey in 2012!

Last Sunday (well, now last, LAST Sunday. . .not sure what happened between writing this on the plane home & now. . .; ), I toed the line for the start of the 10^th IM Wisconsin.  It was also the 10^th anniversary of a much more meaningful, but far sadder event in our nation’s history: the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Towers.  Amongst the 2500 other athletes racing IM Wisconsin yesterday, were over a hundred first responders who were honored by racing with special bib numbers so that everyone would know who the real heroes of the day were.  It was an honor to share the finish line with so many people dedicated to keeping our country safe.  Thank you.

Now on to the less serious part. . .the race.  In case you just want the Cliff notes version, I’ll summarize:  Some days, the majority of an Ironman seems to fly by.  Other times, you have to work for every mile.  Yesterday was one of the latter.  While I didn’t FEEL my best, I did GIVE IT my best, and I am more than pleased with a 5^th place finish amid a great field.  Oh, and by the way, those Cheeseheads are sadistic. . .that bike course is brutal!

If you’re in it for the long haul, read on:

Pre-race: Dark Forces at work. . .

I must admit, I wasn’t feeling my usual chipper self in the week leading up to the race.  Somewhere between the end of real training and taper, my battered immune system decided to let down its guard, and the hint of a sore throat I’d been keeping at bay transitioned into a condition known as “I feel like total crap” by the time I reached Madison.  My pervasive optimism (denial), led me to theorize that it was just some 24 hour bug (It had already been a week.) that would definitely be gone by race day.

When I awoke race morning, I certainly felt better than I had in the week leading up, but still had some lingering symptoms—the most annoying of which was the congestion that caused me to sound remarkably like Darth Vader when I tried to breathe through my nose.  Any attempt to eat magnified the problem, since that effectively closed off my one reliable air passageway.  Not that eating is important in an Ironman.   I solved, errr, mitigated this problem by using my light saber to cut my Clif bars into really, really small pieces and relied more on liquid calories than usual.  Dark forces, beware!

The Walk of Shame (a.k.a, the Swim. . .)

Not that I personally ever experienced the college humiliation of a morning walk home from a frat house in the clothes from the night before.  No, not me.  But, I’m sure I can imagine the embarrassment one might feel walking through campus the next morning.  Mini skirts and sequined halter tops are questionable, at best, in the light of day, but the high heels in hand are the dead giveaway.  Or, so I’ve heard.

About 400 yards into the swim, I lost the last pair of remaining draftable feet, and it dawned on me that Lake Menona, just outside the University of Wisconsin, was going to be the sight of my swimming equivalent walk of shame.  The neon yellow swim cap distinguished me from the age groupers we’d had a 10’ head start on.  A dead giveaway to the crowd and the many age group sharks that swam by me that, just as the girls walking home with smudged eye make up and 4inch platforms, I was not exactly where I wanted to be that morning.

Safely back on land, I decided the best thing to do was keep my head down, and hope no one recognized me as I rushed to my bike.  Fortunately/unfortunately, the entire ¼ mile transition was lined with some of the most enthusiastic spectators I’ve ever encountered.  I decided to laugh off my slowest ever IM swim, and just soak up the crowd’s energy.  Thanks for the cheers!

The Bike: Are we there yet???

People often ask: “don’t you get bored in an Ironman?”.  Honestly, no.  In fact, on most days, the first 7+ hours of the race go by in such a blur that it seems like I’m in a time warp.  Last Sunday was a little different.  At mile 30, I distinctly remember feeling like I’d been pedaling for hours.  The whole ride was like that—miles ticked off much more slowly than I’d ever experienced in a race.  Never felt great, never felt terrible, just kept going.  And going.  And going.  At some points, I got impatient, but throughout, I just kept repeating the very grammatically incorrect mantra that: “you don’t have to feel good to go good”, and kept at it.

On the plus side, the weather was fan-freakin’-tastic.  The scenery was beautiful.  And, I was in no real rush for the bike to end, because I needed every single one of those 112 miles to work myself back up into the race!

The Run: Get ‘er done:

I pulled into transition with two other girls, Soledad Omar and Lauren Harrison, who would finish 4^th and 6^th, respectively.  They dropped me like a bad habit at the start of the run, leaving me to wallow in the misery of some serious back cramps for the first few miles.  Pounding every electrolyte I had at my disposal, I could do nothing more than grin (err, grimace) and bear it.  Then, around mile 7, magic happened.  My legs opened up, cramps went away, and to quote Forrest Gump, I was run-nang!

I got in a solid 15 or 16 miles of feeling pretty darn good, really, on the run course, and after 120ish miles of feeling like absolute crap, I was ready for it!  While I did my best to continue working my way up in the field, 1-4 were holding strong.  It was exciting to watch super studettes Jessica Jacobs and Meredith Kessler put on a magnificent show.  Both world class athletes with world class personalities.

In the end, I finished 5^th, in a little over 10 hours.  Certainly didn’t set any records (unless you count my swim PW (personal worst: )!  However, I stuck it out and gave it my best on the day, which is all you can ask for sometimes.  Can’t wait for the next one!

Muchas Gracias:

Training for an Ironman can take a village, so many thanks to the amazing people who have helped me along the way.  Just to name a few: Andy (my ever patient. . .well, almost ever patient—we all need a dose of reality sometimes—husband), Orbea (for replacing my cracked frame in the nick of time), Orca wetsuits, Velo Hangar (best bike service in So Cal. Bar none.), coach Dirk, IM couple Beth & James Walsh (fabulous training partners & frequent training day T1 Breakfast club hosts), and Joann Peck–best ever homestay hostess!

I told myself back in December that if I didn’t resurrect the blog by the start of the New Year, then it was officially going to vamoose. . .I also told myself that I was going to 1) Stop being 10′ tardy for nearly every appointment 2) get more sleep and 3) quit eating almond butter directly from the jar. . .none of which have happened yet: )

However, the start of Spring and the North American triathlon season are both right around the corner–that feels like a “new year”, if not a New Year to me  The race schedule is taking shape, training is getting a bit more specific, and I’m really looking forward to seeing my triathlon friends that are scattered across the globe, as well as making new ones.

I’ll do my best to be diligent with the blogging, though if you really want to know what I’m up to, your best bet is to follow me on Twitter.

Off for a ride. . .just as soon as I finish with the almond butter; )

Happy Training!

My friend Amy & I at the carbo dinner

This year marked my fourth trip over to France for Ironman Nice. When people ask me what it is I love about this race, I always find myself a bit flummoxed. Let’s see. . .the French Riviera, the most stunning bike course I’ve ever ridden, good wine (post race, of course). . . The list could go on & on. What do I not love is the real question!

I speak embarrassingly little French, in spite of this yearly pilgrimage, but I’ve found that as long as you’re up for a little adventure, you can make do quite well with a lot of hand gestures & a few handy phrases. See below.

Bon chance—good luck! The French can be so friendly. No, really. I heard this often before the race.

Allez, Allez!!—Go! Go! They love their endurance sports here, and one of the best parts about this race is the tremendous crowd support from spectators along both the bike & run course. It’s the closest I’ll ever come to knowing what it feels like to ride in the Tour de France.

Showing off the aero helmet…

I think all this tapering is getting to me.

The French have a way of reminding me that there is so much in life to be thankful for. If you don’t know what I mean, perhaps you haven’t tried a banana nutella crepe lately?

Merci beaucoup—Thank you very much.Thank you is the first word you should learn in any language when travelling. Well, actually, maybe bathroom is first—le toilette in French—but Thank you is a very close second.

Katya

  I arrived Tuesday night after a, thankfully, uneventful sojourn from San Diego.  This was a special relief, as Sally (my car) decided to choose mile 2 of the trip to debut the emissions hazard light on the dashboard.  The manual seemed to suggest that this was either a) no big deal because maybe the gas cap was a little loose or b) A really, REALLY big deal, and you should stop driving immediately, even if it seems as if your car is driving just fine.

Hmm, with no further clues to go off of–other than that I am, generally speaking, incapable of fully replacing the lids on most things–be it jars of peanut butter, water bottles, or what have you–I decided to go with the assumption that gas caps would be no different.  Choosing option A, I continued on my merry way.  The car hasn’t exploded yet, and anything that happens after the race is, well, after the race, so I’ll worry about it then. . .

 It really only should have been a 6 or 7 hour drive, but I managed to make a full day excursion out of it, stopping for a long swim session, longer Trader Joe’s shopping extravaganzza, and bathroom stops at nearly every available gas station along the way.  Pre race hydrating does not make for efficient road trips. 

Wednesday was the LifeSport Ironman preparation camp.  Super starOlympian, Lisa Mensink, and I were lucky to be able to help out with the camp–it’s always a lot of fun to meet other athletes who will be out there sharing the day.  We did a bit of course previewing, a swim session with drafting and technique work, and received lots of great last mnute guidance from Paul.  I think we all left feeling better prepared and more inspired.

Thursday and Friday were full of short “activation workouts” (short, mostly easy workouts, with the exception of a few tempo efforts to keep your body from going into hibernation mode during taper), checking out the course, and general pre race hoopla.  Other than that, there’s not much other activity to report.  Beth aptly compared prepping the bike/run gear bags to an exercise in quantum physics.   This made me feel slightly better about the seemingly ridiculous amount of time it takes to prepare oneself for an Ironman.

Here are Bessie & friends warming up for their spectator duties on race day.  See you on the other side!  Best of luck to everyone racing this weekend!

This was a nice bonus race, asked for and approved by Coach Paul on Thursday night for a Friday morning departure.  It seemed the perfect way to cap off the Tuscon training camp, especially since it was “on the way home” (if you disregard the fact that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, that is).   With that in mind, I figured it can’t hurt to ask!

Since it was just 2 weeks out from St. George, I wasn’t fully expecting a “yes”, but the best preparation for racing IS racing, so perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised.  I got the go ahead, with the caveat that I had to run EASY for half of the run.  With a hard group ride, followed by a building tempo run, and long swim already on the schedule, I was essentially just turning the day’s normal training into a catered event with training partners and crowd support. . . yes, please!

After a longish car ride, made longer by the 2 hours of traffic encountered going over the Hoover Dam, we made it just in time to grab our race packets from Pete, the super accommodating race director.  After the morning’s track workout and the long drive, a shake out workout was definitely in order.  The only problem was, it was already o’dark thirty, so the planned 1.5 hour ride was clearly not happening.  Instead, the 4 of us settled on a 30′ spin around the lit parking lot of the expo, some of us–ok, just me–in jeans and flip flops, which seemed more fitting for the level of exertion.   Hillary and I had a good laugh because back in the day, this would have been a completely normal experience for the two of us.  We all followed it up with a 9pm makeshift dinner at Trader Joe’s, and headed for the hotel for a few hours of much needed sleep.

There were a few other debacles, but suffice it to say, it all worked out in the end.  The race course itself could not have been more spectacular–crystal clear and glassy reservoir swim, followed by a challenging ride, full of rolling hills and steady climbs, and capped off with one of the best run courses I’ve ever experienced in a triathlon.

I found feet in the swim; even more pleasantly, I found legs right away on the bike.  Just after halfway, I took the lead, and was able to enjoy the run as the course wound upwards from transition to a perfectly groomed trail that wrapped around the rim of the reservoir wound through tunnels before hitting the turn around.  I was lucky to finish in the lead, but much more importantly–since the main goal was St. G prep–I felt strong and finished with more in the tank.

Now, the goal is to take that training and confidence into THIS weekend’s race! Tomorrow, we leave for Utah.  Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!

20 x 400 in hot pink sports bras and knee high argyle socks, that’s what!

For our final morning workout in Tucson, we decided we needed to do it up right.  Target obliged with the hot pink sports bras, which were just begging to be purchased.

There’s nothing better than a trackfest to ensure that you got what you came for.  I was pretty sure that it had already been a very solid week of training chasing these gals around the roads and pools of Southern Arizona, but this final workout left no doubt.  You know it’s never a great sign when you loose count on #8 (luckily Hillary and Amy were there to correct my “halfway done!” proclamation).

All done!  Umm. . .can you tell who has been wearing the one piece?  the whiteness of my stomach is nearly blinding!

We got lots of attention from the fellow morning runners, one of whom asked if we were “warming up for a track meet?”  We decided to ignore the fact that our all out 400s looked like warm up pace to him, and instead focus on the fact that he seriously thought a coach might let his team run in this sort of team outfit.

In some ways, he wasn’t too far off, as the 400s were a warm up for the ALL day car ride to Lake Mead, just outside of Vegas for the BBSCTRi Half Ironman Race!

Hillary & I K-Swissed out Near the top of Mt. Lemmon

I’ve survived nearly a full week of training camp in Tucson–this was my closer to home substitute for the March camp in Australia which I reluctantly decided to give a miss when I switched my plan from IM Australia to IM St George.  My partner in crime for this adventure is Amy, a good friend who just did her first Ironman race this winter, but is already well on her way to full time IM racing gig.

I knew there must be something to the desert training, as T-town has quietly been amassing an impressive collection of world class triathletes–Hillary Biscay, Chris & Marilyn McDonald, TJ Tollakson, Samantha McGlone, and Leanda Cave, just to name a few.  Hillary and I have been great friends since long before our days as pros–before we followed training plans, knew how to change a tire, or had any clue what we were doing, quite frankly.  I credit Hills with inspiring me to sign up for my first Ironman, Ironman Coeur d’ Alene in 2003, where we earned the matching nickname “BH” or “Better Half”, as we were quite inseperable–pre race, at least.

It’s been slightly more difficult to keep up with her (in more than one sense!) since she began her world tour of Ironman domination, but it’s always fun to try!  So far, the pre St. G camp highlights have been:

$4 yoga with Hillary, Amy, and Samantha the first night upon arrival.  Perfect way to stretch out from a looong car ride, and about the same cost as mat rental for a class in SD.

Saturday Shoot out Group Ride.  Besides the ridiculously bumpy roads (seriously, did someone forget to tell them about Obama’s stimulus for road repair? for one or two sections I actually wished I’d brought my mountain bike) was a really fun, really tough group ride.  I’ll admit, even the cracked and pothole filled roads added to the rugged charm, though it’s much easier to admit now that I’m on the safer side of the day!

Sunday loooong ride with Chris MacDonald, aka “Big Sexy” and Jake Rubelt, a former cycling pro and now coach (who is still darn fast, btw).  I’m sure it was a beautiful route, but for 120 something miles, I saw little else but their back tires.

3 hour run on the rock and cactus studded trails. . .which left me with a little souvenir to take home after taking a little tumble late in the game.

Mt. Lemmon–the 25 mile climb that’s a fixture of Tuscon cycling.  Most importantly, there is a stop at the top known (for good reason) as The Cookie Cabin, which features dinner plate size cookies.  We topped that off with a treadmill smashfest, then

We capped off this last day of T-town training with a track session this AM– 20 x 400 on 1′ rest.  Company for this was a treat in and of itself, but we decided to jazz it up a bit with some eye catching matching outfits. I’ll post some pics from that soon–camera is in the other car and we are rushing out the door–on to the next stop. . .

The road adventure continues! We (Hillary, Amy, Chris McDonald & I) are off to Vegas for a very last minute (yes, sort of a trend with me) race–the BBSCTri Rage Half Ironman.  for me, it’s just a training day–no race wheels, aero helmet, taper, or expectations–other than to have a blast!

Now, more about ME; )  The little more than 48 hours I spent in NYC were pretty awesome.  In between filming the Tone Up Challenge, watching Venus beat out Kim Clijsters at the Billie Jean King tennis show down in Madison Square Garden, I also squeezed in dinner with college friends, a beautiful 14 miler in Central Park, an artsy fartsy exhibit/party hosted by Gilt (if you don’t know what Gilt is yet, your bank account is very, very thankful!). . .oh, yes, and a spot on ABC News Health Segment.

It’s largely about my experience with Chronic Fatigue, and how I gradually was able to resume exercising, plus a few exercises from the Tone Up Challenge–which is a program that incorporates some first steps that are good for anyone who is ready to begin or resume exercising!

Warning. . .it’s a little cheesy–TV is hard!!

*The FCC requires me to state that I am a payed spokesperson of Dickinson’s Witch Hazel!. . .doesn’t mean it’s not good; )