Chrissie, Quassy & a Race Report

I have now upped my World Champ Meet & Greet count to THREE! First there was Rinny…

Speedy Rinsta!

 ...then Macca…

Just like old pals

...and now, the one and only CHRISSIE WELLINGTON!

Not the most flattering photo of Jpow, but I'll take it!

She’s currently on a massive book tour promoting “Life Without Limits.” I signed up for not one, not two, but three book signings, therefore fulfilling my creepy stalker status. But, low and behold, I only went to one. Chrissie spoke at the New York Blood Center and John Korff (the man behind NYC & NYCIM) did a fun little Q&A with her.

Q&A

Afterwards the whole audience lined up to get their brief moment with Chrissie. Of course, we were near the end of the line so Team Fifth Gear chatted about everything triathlon and hung out.

BLT, Jason and Coach Jenn

When it was my turn to speak to the Queen of Kona, I was nervous and my hands were shaking. I’ve always been a huge fan of her work ethic and, of course, that contagious smile. Now, here she was right in front of me. What do I say? I don’t want to sound like a dummy, creeper, stalker… so I asked, “I read somewhere that last year after IM South Africa, you demolished like 3 burgers, fries and whole pizza, is that true??” She laughed saying, “oh yes, why not indulge after an Ironman?” I think she said something like that. I was kind of in shock. Chrissie Wellington (!!) was talking to me… me!!

Creeping it out

After we got up close and personal… team Fifth gear got our photo together with her! I’m in the middle of her book and I’m astounded at what a colorful life she’s led and she’s only 35!

Chrisse and Team Fifth Gear

Now, let’s jump to my first Olympic distance Triathlon at Harriman. I knew going into this that this course is pretty darn tough and I was coming off a big week of training without much rest. But, I was excited to race again and to see where my fitness was leading up to my A race of Rev3 Quassy. Let’s just cut to the chase: it did not go so well. This is the first time ever, since 2005, that I did not have fun at a race. It had nothing to do with the organization, the course, the early season heat, even though I want to use all of them as excuses (except the organization – they were great). It was me, more specifically my head that did not show up to race.

My first open water swim thankfully went off without a hitch. I didn’t panic, didn’t think about lake zombies and just swam. I went a little off course on the way out of the first buoy but other than that I felt strong and was actually happy to be in the water. This was the most enjoyable part. There was a longish run up the beach to transition and my heart rate was sky high. I had a pretty swift transition and booked it out onto the bike.

The bike was two loops of pure evil. It was 28 miles total and you were either going up or down on very bumpy roads filled with pot holes. When you come out of transition you fly down a steep 2 mile hill only to do a hairpin turn and climb back up. My heart rate was 170 climbing at 6 mph. I felt like utter crap. My legs hurt, my lungs were burning and I was being passed by everyone and their mom. Even an older woman who started in the wave behind me thought I was part of the half ironman participants. Ouch – that one bruised my already sensitive ego. An hour and 51 minutes later the torture was over. I was relieved and looking forward to getting my run on.

I had another swift transition and booked it out onto the run course. Like the bike, it was up & down with not too many flats. It was also around 76 degrees, sunny with zero cloud cover. The first mile was slightly uphill and my watch beeped at 8:26. I was breathing harder than I should have been but that should have been a good pace to keep throughout. Well, my body & my mind had other plans for me. The next incline I had to stop and walk. I was basically gasping for air and my heart rate was way higher than it should have been. From that point on it was a training run for me. I gave up any hope of placing in my age group and well… just gave up. I walked up a couple of other hills and tried to get my legs moving on the downhill’s and flats, but it just wasn’t working. I finally crossed the finish line at 3 hours 17 minutes – my second slowest ever Olympic distance triathlon. The bike course did make this a longer course than a traditional Olympic but I did not think I would be that slow.

At least I'm smiling post-race with BLT & Jerome

So what did I take away from that race? Immediately I said there was no way I was ready for Quassy. No stinkin’ way. If I can’t handle 28 miles of hills how can I handle 56 of them?? My run is where I was most pissed off. Ever since my half marathon PR in April, my legs just haven’t felt that great again. It was my slowest 10K in years… YEARS. As you can see, I was extremely negative about the whole thing.


And the kicker was that the very next day, BLT and I were driving up to Quassy to ride the full 56 miles of the course! I felt defeated already, but we committed to the ride and I just tried to tell myself that this will only make me stronger for Quassy.


Sunday morning started with a 430am wake up – yikes. We drove up in a speedy time and got ready to ride. We started off in the back of the “B” group but eventually rode most of it on our own. Surprisingly my legs did not feel like crap. I was just overall tired but my legs weren’t burning too much on those hills. So while the day before I was miserable and a negative nancy, on this day, I felt like the luckiest person alive to be riding in beautiful weather with a good friend. My mental state did a complete 180. I actually enjoyed the beautiful CT scenery and I especially enjoyed the fun downhill’s.

While overall the ride was a success there were two snafu’s. We only took 2 bottles with us with the notion that there would at least be one on course support van or we’d stop and refill ourselves. Well the only place to stop in refill was only about 20 miles in and we didn’t need to stop then. By the time we go to mile 40 we were dying of thirst! There’s an out and back section so we stopped to take a quick break and debated what to do. We figured if we did the out & back, we may not make it back to Quassy!! So we skipped it and headed back to the park. On the way back a NYC pal rode by and told us there had been water at the end of the out and back… DOH!

BLT and I kept trucking, up and down all those hills and slowly started to bonk. We were literally less than 3 miles from the park when snafu number 2 happened. Or should I say snake snafu? Brie was ahead of me and all of a sudden I saw her swerve right and scream. I then saw my worst nightmare… a SNAKE!! I started screaming and swerved to the left while, and I kid you not, the freakin’ snake propelled its slimy body into the air!! All I could think was that I was gonna have to ride back with a snake attached to my right ankle. Luckily it did not bite me and we screamed for about 2 more minutes. I mean, seriously?? A freakin snake at the end of our dehydrated ride?? Only us.

We made it back to Quassy a little loopy but unharmed. I pounded a Pepsi and a bottle of water and felt instantly better. Brie and I decided to cap off our big training weekend with hot dogs and milkshakes!! Yum, yum!
Up next…. Dun dun dunnnnn… Rev3 Quassy!

You can't see, but I'm grinning ear to ear last year.  Hey body & mind, let's remember to smile this time ok? THX!

Harriman Sprint Race Report

I'm a little late on the race report but my first triathlon of the season (5/5) got turned into a Duathlon! There was a crazy, thick fog that covered the entirety of Lake Welch up in Harriman Park.  You literally could not even see the lake from transition. 

See the lake behind us? Me neither!

The race was supposed to go off at 8am, but they wanted to wait it out to see if the fog would lift.  By 830, there wasn't a chance in that happening so TriRock wisely cancelled the swim and turned into a du. I have to give TriRock some props.  They communicated very effectively, had courteous people working and relaying information, despite being bombarded with questions.  Since there would obviously be a safety issue swimming with such dense fog, they 100% made the right call.  Was I disappointed about the non-swim?  Yes and no.  Yes because I wanted to get that precious 500 meters of open water swimming down.  No because I was coming off one of the longest, most stress-filled work weeks ever.  I was so stressed that the thought of racing literally almost brought tears to my eyes the night before.  So I kinda was relieved I didn't have to worry about swimming with all those lake zombies/monsters/fish/sharks/snakes. (Am I irrational? Completely!)

Fifth Gear Teammates!

The first run was just shy of 1 loop of the run course.  It measured out to be about 1.33 miles.  Fifth Gear buddy Brie and I took off, sprinting our way around the loop. The run course was pretty nice with just a few rollers.  There was one hill but it seriously doesn't show up on my Garmin elevation.  Was I imagining it??  I honestly couldn't didn't have any goals for this race.  Like I said, work was insane and I just needed to be happy with getting some fresh mountain air and some exercise.

T1 was uneventful and I flew through there, pulling off my speed laced sneaks and sliding on my pink Sidi's. Surprised I have pink bike shoes? Me neither. The run out of transition was a tad long and muddy!  So I did the best I could without slipping and made my way to the mount line.  I kinda wish I knew how to mount/dismount with my shoes on my bike.  But on the other hand, that may be a disaster waiting to happen!

Once I got on my trusty Roo I let her rip!!  I absolutely love riding and I figured since it was a short race, just to hammer the bike and survive the run.  Biking is now my favorite sport out of the 3 and I just wanted to hammer out some of the work stress. Hammer it I did!  I passed a ton of people and only got passed by one or two dudes and, I think, 2 chicks.  Where did I get passed?? Only on the uphills.  This course was kinda hilly, hillier than Central Park so it was challenging.  I felt like I had zero in the leg tank on the uphills but the flats & downhills I was cruising.  Note to self - ride more! and ride more hills!

Riding my ROO

I got to transition at the same time as a girl in my age group.  I dismounted, ran through the muddy transition area, plopped my shoes off and slid my sneaks back on.  I had the second fastest T2 time and I dropped the girl in my age group. 

For the run, the key word was survival.  I went out hard and I knew that on a "normal" day, my 5K pace should be around 7:50ish. Race day that translated to 8:00-8:05.  Not terrible, but I'm sure if I was more rested I would have gone a bit faster.  Mile one clocked in at 8:01.  I was hurting but this pace felt doable to hold onto.  The imaginary hill took it's toll on me the second loop around but I still clocked in at 8:05 for mile 2. 

The last mile is what cost me 3rd place.  I was breathing heavy, my legs felt like lead and a water station was calling my name, telling me I would feel sooooo much better if I got a drink of water.  So I stopped.  I freakin' stopped to grab water in a 5K.  I walked while drinking and as I did the girl who I beat out of transition ran right past me and never looked back.  Me?  I had nothing.  I couldn't respond.  I threw my cup down and charged ahead knowing I had a nice downhill to the finish.  Mile 3 was 8:15 (yikes) and the .11 came in at a 6:34 pace.  I had nothing more in me to fight for 3rd place.  I wound up coming in about 25 seconds after the 3rd place girl.  Doh.

At the time I really didn't care what place I came in.  I was tired, happy to finish and happy I was able to push myself after a crappy week. but -- when I saw the age group winners won a beer mug... I mean really?? Did you have to give out beer mugs the one race I don't place??  Oh well. 

I obviously have a little too much energy here... but the race announcer was pretty good!
And she liked my skull arm warmers!

Overall, it was a superbly run race and I was impressed with the high quality of "just a sprint" distance event.  I had fun racing with Brie and Jerome and the location was great for a tri course!

swim RUN1 1.33 miles = 9:56 (7:38 pace - 12th in AG)
T1 = 1:31 (3rd in age group)
BIKE almost 12 miles = 36:49 (4th in AG)
T2 = 1:26 (2nd fastest in AG)
RUN 2  3.1 miles = 25:07 (8:22 pace - 13th in AG)

TOTAL = 1:14:50

Up next... we're heading back up to Harriman for the Olympic Distance Race on 5/19! Then on Sunday I'm driving up to Quassy to ride the monster of a bike course!  #ALLIN