I guess Collegiate Nationals wasn't enough Lubbock for me for one year because here it is a month later, and I'm back! Myself, Ben, Michael, and Philip are all doing the BSLT 70.3 this June, and, seeing as those three guys are all in much better shape than myself, I decided I needed an edge so here I am. (Also, my coach told me I had to go). I came into town yesterday afternoon with Aaron from Playtri - that drive never seems to get shorter. Nothing like seemingly endless brown plains to pysch you out mentally - and of course the wind farms all around the outskirts of town don't exactly put you in the best frame of mind for cycling! But the hotel we're staying at is pretty nice, and my room only costs $36 a night! And we have wireless, so I can do important things, like post on the team blog.
Last night we just had lectures with Ahmed, but we got some fun camp shirts and water bottles and such, and had a chance to get a good meal before the ride this morning. Today we rode the BSLT course, doing the section of the course with the toughest hills twice just for good measure. We ended the ride with a rabbit chase drill to practice legal drafting. All in all, it took about 5 hours. My muscles feel surprisingly good, though I kind of messed up my hydration - I lost abooout 3 pounds during the ride. No bueno. And my arms and legs are definitely a bit sunburned! But I had a great time riding with Jeanne and got so much good information from her - and also an opportunity for the UNT team at the next Playtri camp in Austin. I think our performance would increase dramatically if we all had the information I'm getting this weekend, so anything that gets our members to one of these camps is reason to be excited.
The rest of today is all lectures - on heart rate, power training, mental toughness, etc. Aaron and I hit up Pei Wei between the ride and the lectures, and managed to get back to the hotel for about 15 minutes, so I got to take a cold bath and let my leg muscles recover a little bit better, and I got honey-seared chicken. Talk about a happy end to a long training ride. Today definitely has me excited for the race at the end of June. I'm a little nervous for the Buffman and Squeaky Oly on Sunday, but that's mainly just because it's coming after a loooong weekend of training! Anyways, it can't possibly be as bad (i.e. COLD) as it was at Nationals, so at least there's that to look forward to. Tomorrow we have 2 hours of open water swimming, 2 hours of hill repeats, and we're running the run course for BSLT. Basically, another 5-6 hour day of training. I'm not sure what the lectures are tomorrow.
Anyways, all and all a great first full day of sweating and going hard. I know I'm going to feel much better prepared for BSLT after this weekend.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
spandex convention
my face hurt in the water. my legs hurt on the bike. my gut (the margarita belly) hurt on the run...along with my knees and ankles. but man was i excited to finish!
crazy as it sounds--i really wanna go train out there this summer a few weekends to get a head start on conquering those hills! (the cold water i dont know what to do about.....except ear plugs and two caps)
so someone please hold me to it!
crazy as it sounds--i really wanna go train out there this summer a few weekends to get a head start on conquering those hills! (the cold water i dont know what to do about.....except ear plugs and two caps)
so someone please hold me to it!
NATIONALS!!!
So the USAT Collegiate National Champsionship this past weekend was AMAZING! For the first time ever, UNT Triathlon is a nationally ranked team. We had a full team in the Olympic, and even some extras spilling over into the sprint - including Coach Sean!
We crammed the whole team into 4 hotel rooms, and there were five of us girls (and four Specialized bikes) in one room. We spent about an hour running around with our swim caps on and taking pictures with our bikes. Then Kira talked about floss for about half an hour. Andrew shaved himself a mohawk for the race, and Coach Sean gave our bikes the once over Friday night before the big day.
The course was intensely difficult - there's a reason the Half they have there is a Kona qualifier!!! The water was freezing cold, and a number of people were pulled out of the swim for hypothermia. I know my race strategy was gone as soon as my face hit the water - I was really wishing I had a wetsuit with SLEEVES! The temp when we were checking into transition was 38, and I think the water was around 55 - as opposed to the predicted 65 degrees. Ugh. Transition was tough after the swim because I couldn't feel my limbs! The giant hill out of transition was difficult with my calves wanting to cramp up from the cold, but at least I knew to put my shoes on IN transition, and have my bike set in the easiest gear. The bike course was challenging, to put it mildly, and that was with only a mild Lubbock wind. Riding it for the 70.3 this summer will be an adventure! The run was tough for me - after being sick the past couple of months, I've been having some stomach problems, and they came back to haunt me for the entire run course. Had to stop and walk a number of times which NEVER happens for me. I think my pace was 9:30... as opposed to the 7:30 pace at my last race! Ouch! But considering how sick I had been two weeks before, I was just so happy to be there and racing.
Getting to watch the 2012 Talent ID race was way cool - as was the bowling, arcade games, and pizza at Main Event with the team later that night! I'm so proud of our team for competing, and I'm ready for us to dominate next year!!!
We crammed the whole team into 4 hotel rooms, and there were five of us girls (and four Specialized bikes) in one room. We spent about an hour running around with our swim caps on and taking pictures with our bikes. Then Kira talked about floss for about half an hour. Andrew shaved himself a mohawk for the race, and Coach Sean gave our bikes the once over Friday night before the big day.
The course was intensely difficult - there's a reason the Half they have there is a Kona qualifier!!! The water was freezing cold, and a number of people were pulled out of the swim for hypothermia. I know my race strategy was gone as soon as my face hit the water - I was really wishing I had a wetsuit with SLEEVES! The temp when we were checking into transition was 38, and I think the water was around 55 - as opposed to the predicted 65 degrees. Ugh. Transition was tough after the swim because I couldn't feel my limbs! The giant hill out of transition was difficult with my calves wanting to cramp up from the cold, but at least I knew to put my shoes on IN transition, and have my bike set in the easiest gear. The bike course was challenging, to put it mildly, and that was with only a mild Lubbock wind. Riding it for the 70.3 this summer will be an adventure! The run was tough for me - after being sick the past couple of months, I've been having some stomach problems, and they came back to haunt me for the entire run course. Had to stop and walk a number of times which NEVER happens for me. I think my pace was 9:30... as opposed to the 7:30 pace at my last race! Ouch! But considering how sick I had been two weeks before, I was just so happy to be there and racing.
Getting to watch the 2012 Talent ID race was way cool - as was the bowling, arcade games, and pizza at Main Event with the team later that night! I'm so proud of our team for competing, and I'm ready for us to dominate next year!!!
Monday, April 13, 2009
i ran today with miss kira, and then swam. i forgot my suit an the only one i had in my car was one that did not want to keep my "girls" covered when i was pulling. made for a short swim. it was lime green though, and that made me happy, BUT note to self- preplant suit at pool so boobs dont show.
amanda
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
the lonestar festival was amazing! there were zillons and zillons of people there! i did the sprint on saturday which was more windy but not as hot as sunday's races. chris was the only other sprinter from UNT to race-- all our other athletes took on the oly. i realized i should probably be more organized and what not, i forgot my cap...and wetsuit....and gels at morgan's place on race morning. my T1 was a fieasco, with one rubber band not breaking, and the other shoe becoming unclipped...still attached to the rubberband and my bike being literally stuck on someone elses. and i totally practiced all that good stuff the day before with miss morgan. the bike was wonky, i was suppose to go today to get it fixed, but the shop is too busy :( so hopefully sometime before nationals-or i cry. the run wasnt too bad physically, but mentally i was drained. i dont like courses that you can see all the runners ahead of you still going out, it makes it seem longer. but thats okay cause all in all i think i did okay. debating a wetsuit for nationals....i dont know weither the T1 time will be outweighed by the leg flotation and what not. k, hope all that made sense im going to get ready for the TT.
amanda
amanda
ride
Went riding today around 1:15ish and went out jim christal expecting a short ride but after the turn around I decided to head down TN skiles and go down that way. The wind was kinda a pain in the gluteus maximus. I am beginning to take the look of Michael H. the shirt without a shirt and skivies with out skivies tan lines. dont know how far i went, i was riding without my trusty dusty computer for an hour and a half i thinks.
andrew
andrew
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