Cari = Super Woman

Today we had another killer brick.  50sih miles followed by an 8ish mile run. It was hot and challenging, but felt great.   Cari was awesome enough to join us fro the ride - and she mentioned that 'I need to stop slacking on my blog posts'.  So, Cari, this post is dedicated to you!  Cari is an amazing athlete - rocked out IM China last year to qualify for Kona in the 18-24 age group.  She did awesome in Kona and then a few weeks later KILLED IMFL placing 3rd in her age group.  Cari is one of the nicest people I know and has a great attitude!  - but she does have a very funny dry sense of humor.  I must admit - we are lucky when she decides to join us for a ride or a run!

Back to the work out today.  Here are the post pictures of the heat:

thank goodness I had my GOTRIbal hat on to get my through the run!

Ahhh..home

Ugh!  Sun burn!

Hope everyone is having a killer weekend!

Babies...

...not for me.  Right now.  But I have so much fun.  Drinking wine.  And hanging out with my friends babies.  Specially ones that are starting to fall in love with cycling at the tender age of 2 years :)

Happy Monday!

My first 'Du'.

I know I have not done a blog post in a week or so.  But hey, a girl has to work!  I was lucky enough to be in Jax beach and enjoy one of the most perfect sun rises that I have ever seen.  Ahh..the east coast is lucky to enjoy these every day!

I have no clue who this guys is, but he was posing for me :)

Now, a sunrise like that gets my ass out of bed.

I also had my first DU ever last week.  The gulf was way to rough to swim in.  So our 800 meter swim turned into a 1.5 mile run.  I can tell you one thing - I am NOT a du girl.  My body had no idea what was going on.  But all in all it was a fun even and everyone had a great time.

Fantasy golf anyone? 

Someone I ended up with 1st in the 30-34 age group.  Hopefully I can keep this roll going!

Pretty sweet kit I'm rocking - right?  Check out Trinity's web site and all of the sweet training gear they have.  They also just made a donation to Childfund International to support a project called Empower Young Women in Sierra.  How awesome is that?  Remember - every time you place an order with Trinity, a % of their profit goes to wonderful organizations!!

Red Hills 2011 Race Report

On Saturday I had my first tri of the season - Red Hills Sprint in Tallahassee, Fl.  Now, I don't know who out there has actually been to Tallahassee, but I can tell you two things about this town:

1.  Florida State is there.  College town = fast runners.  That is just how it is.

2.  LOTS of hills.  Remember - the only 'hill' that I have to train on is a freaking bridge

But I love this race.  They have killer goodie bags and great awards.  So it's a yearly event for this girl.

I actually worked in tally on Friday - so I was up and at it bright and early. 

I met up with Helen (Libby) Phipps and we headed over to packet pickup.  Check out Helen's blog when you get the chance.  Not only is she an awesome person, an amazing triathlete, and in this months triathlete magazine - BUT she also works full time AND working on her PHD!  Now, if she is not a super woman, I don't know who is. 

We headed out to the race site for a quick open water swim and a run and then went to the best place ever for dinner:

One Fresh Stir Fry

Never been there?  Check it out! 

The next morning - we where up and at it early.  Headed over to the state park to set up transition.  Need some tips on setting up your transition?  Check out my post below! 

There where four waves of men and then it was the 39 and under ladies turn to take off.  I told Helen that I wanted to stay on her feet for the whole swim.  It's kind of hard to do that when everyone looks the same in a lake, swimming in wet suits.  But somehow I did.  It was a nice, flat, uneventful swim once we got out of the 'pack' and settled into a good pace.

Swim time:  9:04

(Last year was 10:37)

Ran up to transition, threw on my helmet and shoes and took off.  Helen was off on the bike - so I didn't see her until the end. 

T1:  1:18

(Last year 1:40)

As I mentioned above - the bike was SUPER hilly.  But that is ok - what goes up must come down.  So I just put my head down, got my ass out of the saddle, and pumped up those bad boys and flew down .  There where men that I passed, but I only saw two ladies on the ride that flew by me around mile 13.  After checking out their legs - they where some bad ass 48 year olds.  I hope I'm that fast when I'm that age! 

Bike Time:  49:58

(Last year 50:57)

T2 - no time wasted there!

T1:  0:59

(Last year 1:15)

The run was pretty hilly as well.  But the fun thing about this race - is that you actually get into the woods and run about half of the 5k on trails.  It's shaded by huge oak trees and is on a nice packed down trail.  My legs felt great (Yeah triple bricks do pay off!) Once again - I saw a bunch of men.  I was blown by by two 24 year old ladies that where killing it and caught up with one of the ladies I saw on the bike.  But the run was pretty uneventful, which is a good thing!  

Run Time: 25:37

(Last Year):  24:12

I was kind of bummed by my run time - and hind sight I know I could have pushed myself a bit harder.  But I guess I say that about every race!

Total Time:  1:26:54

(Last Year: 1:30:39)

So I beat my time last year and rocked out 1st in the 30-34 age group

Have to love an award you can use!

 Helen and I after the race.  Don't let her fool you - she is 6 foot + and I have no clue what happened to my camera phone. 

Post race is always fun and filled with good food and great conversation.  We met some pretty awesome women who are just getting into this crazy sport and also saw a few friends from back home.  Love it! 

So.  Not a bad way to start off the season!

I would like to throw out a special shout out to Josh for this sweet hat.  Man.  I love KSwiss.

So - anyone else have a race this weekend? 

K.I.S.S.

Keep.  It.  Simple.  Stupid.  :)  That is the way I approach setting up my transition.  With the season just starting (well, at least in Florida) I wanted to touch base on this.  For those of you who have not done a triathlon (yet) or new to this sport - this is very important.  Your transition times can make or possibly break your race.  Simplicity is the key.  Your main goal is to get in and out as fast as possible. 

Below you will find my transition for the sprint triathlon I did yesterday:

Helmet on bike with sunglasses in the helmet.  I put my glasses in my helmet so:

1.  I don't forget to put them on

2.  I don't step on them

3.  I put them on before I throw on the helmet

Also - I set my helmet on my aero bars so that I put it on before I take it off of my rack

(you can not leave transition with out your helmet!)

Bike shoes in front (since I put them on 1st)

Garmin turned on so that I don't have to mess with it

hat and bib ready to go

Also, if this was a longer race - I would keep nutrition on my bike and also stick some gu's in my running shoes so I have no choice but to grab it :) 

Another important thing to remember is to put on what you have to while you are stationary (shoes) and everything else while you are running out of T2.  I throw on my shoes, and then grab everything else and I'm outta of there!  There are some pretty random photos out there of me throwing on my hat, watch, and race belt while I'm running! 

Now, your transition my change depending on your race.  The longer the race is, the more water bottles, nutrition, arm warmers, etc you may have. Just make sure it's as simple as possible and works for you!

I can't lie - I look as some peoples transition and it totally stresses me out.  And I just hope that all of their 'stuff' does not take over my little area!

Just remember - the more stuff you have, the more crap you have to deal with!  KISS!  Keep It Simple!

Killer race yesterday!  Race report to come soon!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

You never know who you will meet -

Just recently I was introduced to a great women's program - GOTRIbal.  It is an organization created to empower and connect women through the journey of endurance sport.  I was approached to be an ambassador for them (yeah!) to help 'pay it forward'.  But check out their site - sign up - and see who you can find in your area!  I was lucky enough to connect with another ambassador, Kellie Smirnoff, in Jacksonville Beach last night and enjoy an amazing yoga class.  Kellie is an amazing athlete (hello ULTRAMAN and Tarawera 100K!) who is full of positive energy and was just awesome to talk to.  I feel so blessed to be connected to the amazing women who do this crazy ass sport.  Check out her blog when you get the chance!  And also check out GOTRIbal site and see who you can meet and train with!

Kellie and I last night! 

In training news, I have been traveling all week for work.  And luckily coach scheduled us a recovery week.  So I've been enjoying the time off.  But the next two weeks are going to be KILLER.  I when I mean killer - I mean I will be puking on the side of the road kind of workouts.  Can't wait. 

I also have my first race of the season on Saturday!  I will be bunking up with awesome Pro Triathlete (and soon to be PHD) Helen Libby-Phipps. (She just started a blog - check it out and follow her!)   More on the race later!

Hope every ones week is going well!

The beast has returned

So this morning I had to wake up at 4:15am (boo) to meet up with my training partners (yeah!) and run 11 miles (boo).  But today was the BEST. RUN. EVER.  Well, in a pretty damn long time.  Last year I really focused on my cycling and my running took a back seat for the season.  Then after my so/so marathon in February, I was pretty down on my running.  But today felt amazing.  My running legs have returned.  Could it be the Chia seeds I've starting using every day?  Or possibly the beets I've been mixing into my daily smoothie?  Whatever I've been doing I need to stick with it.  It's a good feeling and I really don't want it to go away! 

You know it's a killer run win my training partner, Ron, looks at me and says "This run felt like the old Chloe is back".  Awesome. 

And just a FYI - every Friday around 5:30ish, everyone is welcome to my happy hour.  It's byob (bring your own wine) but sunset and porch are on the house! 

Good luck to everyone who is racing CA70.3 tomorrow!  Maybe one of these days I'll be able to travel out of the 'redneck reviera' to race! 

PS - I love Fridays because it's nothing but House Hunters International is on HGTV!!!

Happy Friday Everyone!