Tri-Dogmom

I've talked about it before. The endless IT band struggles . The never knowing if I can run from one day to the next. But somehow (with the help of my ART miracle worker, any maybe some common sense) I've been able to dig myself out of some pretty big holes when it comes to injury prevention lately. You would think I would get over my fears some day, but maybe there are just some things we'll never be fully confident in? My IT band is definitely one of them. Well, after an amazing IM training year (5 weeks to go!) I found myself back in the familiar scared out of my whits, the world is gonna end, my stupid IT BAND I'M going to cut you off scenario. I noticed some tightness 2 weeks ago at track. It wasn't bad, but it didn't feel right. The scary part was the pain was actually on the side I had my IT band surgery (this side hasn't bugged me for years). The pain subsided after the track workout/swim on Wed, but I woke up Saturday morning with my entire

I meant to blog last week, but I was too tired and busy drinking airborne like it was going out of style and stuffing my face with every healthy fruit and veggie I could get my hands on… All in an effort to build up my immune system to enter THE TEMPE TOWN LAKE. Barf. This race was full of hypocrite-isms like: 1. I'm done racing at Tempe Town lake. I can't believe people still swim in that nasty thing. 2. Tucson racing events are awful, I'm so over them. 3. I am so NEVER wearing a stupid aero helmet. They are SO lame. But, sure enough last week I checked each one of those things off my lists of things I'm not going to do. Again, never say never or you'll just end up eating your words. It seems like I've been on an endless Ironman build including a few century rides including 2 back to back at the Answer, and my first 20mile run of the season (last Sunday). Come to think of it, I don't know that I have EVER run 20miles during Ironman training (at onc

So I got back on my bike today for the first time since the Answer. Saddles sores healed, feeling (mostly) recovered I looked at my training peaks plan for the day and followed the instructions…. GROUP RIDE! There is a Tues/Thursday group ride that I've never participated in. Sure, I do the same routes at slightly different times and see the group out there a lot, but, I've never actually met up with the group & ridden with them. I know some of my training peeps do and I talked my ATC buddy Karen to meet me for the ride today. She frequently rides with the group, but she is also one of the strongest female cyclists I know and can hang on for the most part. The Thursday ride is also the "hill ride" with 3 pretty good climbs in the middle of the 30 or so mile ride. I do the hills on my own quite often as they are just a couple minutes from my house. Up at 4:30 this am so I could be on my bike shortly after 5 to meet the group I felt pretty good. Hip flexors an

All I can say is what a difference training makes. Seriously. I know it's kinda common sense, but oh my god was I a completely different person this time around. I was bound and determined not to fall apart, break down, cry (although I did come VERY close) or have a bad attitude. I think I hit all goals, and even surpassed what I thought I was capable of doing. All while having an absolutely amazingly fun time. This smile below taken around mile 50 or 60 of day 1 pretty much sums up the look on my face the entire weekend (minus a frozen bit on day2). Day 1: Scottsdale to Strawberry. 94 miles, ~10,000 ft of climbing. Friday took me just over 6hrs to complete (ride time). We had a lot of stops due to flats, regrouping etc, but I stayed 100% on top of my nutrition and hydration so never once felt fatigue. In fact, I actually felt my strongest with the toughest part of the day - the last 17miles of CLIMBING from Payson to Strawberry. Some of our group had a very extended pi