Where Have I Been? Cleaning up at the local Du's!

Wowza's, I have REALLY been slacking off on my little bloggy blog here. Sorry folks!  But here's a little catch-up on what's been happening and I may even reveal my uber-awesome 2012 race plans!!

So... after I won my age group at the Central Park Du and got 2nd in my Age Group at the MightyMan Olympic...

30-34 Age Group Champ

2nd place in Age Group

I decided that the next two (local) races I did, I would just have to live up to my new high standards and win my age group again!

A couple of weeks ago, my Coach and a bunch of Fifth Gear Tri athletes and I trekked it out to Long Island for the Carl Hart Duathlon.  It was a 1.8 mile trail run, 10 mile bike and the same 1.8 mile trail run.  My first run was solid and came in at 13:44 for a 7:33 average.  Not too shabby.  I didn't feel as strong as I did back when I did the Central Park Du, but I'll take it! The 10 mile bike was flat and windy!  I thought I would smash this course since I can now average over 20mph in hilly Central park, but I actually went a bit slower.  My 10 mile bike clocked in at 32:16 for a 19.8 average.  Run 2 I lost any sort of good running form I had.  I was redlining, and redlining hard with my chin up and shoulders tense.  I was a perfect example of what not to do while running!  Anyway, run #2 was about the same with a 13:41.  My 1:01:29 overall time put me in 1st place in the 30-34 age group.

Fifth Gear Domination

So what's an even better way to get on the podium?  Getting on there with one of your besties who took 2nd in our age group!!  Go BLT!  And what's even better than that?? Coach Jenn came in 2nd overall, and two other Fifth gear Athletes also placed in their age groups!  Coach Jenn was very proud!

Then, this past Sunday I raced in another sprint duathlon in Prospect Park.  I found a deal on groupon for 50% off the race entry, so I thought, "hey, why not??" I gathered a few multisport friends, including my pal BLT and we all met up early Sunday morning in BK.  I have to say, I was not impressed by the race organization.  We showed up exactly the time the website said and nothing was set up.  They were literally just unpacking the transition from boxed.  They were being ambitious and were putting on 5 events at the same time!  A 5k, 10k, sprint du, classic du and international du... with all the courses having different runs and loop count on the bike! 

Anyway, back to my race, what I could control.... this course was a 2 mile run, 10 mile bike & the same 2 mile run.  As I started the run I felt good.  Well, to back up this story a bit.  When I woke up at 530 that morning, my throat was swollen and on fire!  I was sick! ugh... but I toughed it out and dragged myself to the race start with a smile.  So... while I was running I sprinted off and got ahead of most of the women besides one chick.  This run was no joke!  It was hilly!!  There was one mean hill about 3/4s the way in and I knew that sucker was not going to feel good the second time around. I clocked my first run in 13:48.  I knew with that time the run course must be short and after checking my garmin, it was about 1.8.  So compared to the flat 1.8 in Long Island, I actually did pretty well here.

Then, it was time to bike.  I really loved the Prospect Park bike course! It's a little hilly and I like it!  The only bad thing was, that since there was such a delay on our race start (about 30 minutes) the park was filled with casual runners and riders so you had to be extra careful and extra vocal when passing people.  My bike split turned out to be 30:50 for about an almost 20 mph average and it was the fastest bike split among women.  I didn't know it at the time, and even if I did I wouldn't believe it, but I was leading my very first race!!

Yeah, I'm chicking you with a PINK bike, sucka.

Run #2 seemed SO. Much. Harder.  I ran and and ran until I got to that super steep hill.  The woman who beat me in the first run came up behind me and said , "come on, relax your shoulders, let's go!" and then she took off.  I tried to respond but I had nothing.  I power walked for about 30 seconds to get my heart rate down then I gunned it.  I never did catch up with her but I finished about a minute later.  Run 2 = 15:05... yikes much slower than the first one!  I blame it on the cold, stuffy head and sore throat! :) 

My total time came in at 1:01:22 and I finished as the 2nd Overall woman and 16th in the entire field!  My racing buddy, BLT came in a couple of minutes after me to round out the overall podium.  We were psyched!

Buddies & Winners

 I was so happy we got to stand on a podium that I jumped off... and it was caught on camera!

We also had super supporter, blogger buddy Jon there to cheer us on!  It was a nice ironman reunion and we had a great time catching up over some brunch!

The creepy guy in black taking my photo is Jon.  Just kidding Jon.  You're not creepy. At all.

I think I may stick to local races, 'cause my results make me look really super, duper fast! heh - but I've actually learned a lot about myself racing this short distances.  I learned that it's ok to redline and feel like crap. It's supposed to hurt, but it's a different kind of hurt than Ironman.  I like it.  And my 2012 schedule reflects that!

The night before the Prospect Duathlon, I had a dream.  I had a dream that I came in as first woman overall in the du.  When I woke up, I thought, "Why not? Why can't I come in first place?"  I may not have the super speedy resume but if I don't believe it, I won't achieve it.  So I started off my race day morning believing I could do something great.  Second place isn't too shabby!

I know the suspense is KILLING you about what I'm doing in 2012... but it'll have to wait for another post.  I can't put all my eggs into one blog since it's taken me 2 races and 5 weeks to write!  So stay tuned!!