Nope, not a condiment for the taste – more of a “I’ve been busy with life that I haven’t written, but I’ll try to 'ketchup' everyone on how busy life is”.
The last time I wrote it was a race report and giving some excitement to a new product I was going to be testing/demonstrating for a good friend of mine at Bite Tech (www.bitetech.com) that has partnered with Under Armour (www.underarmour.com) to release a new line of mouth guards. I’m a firm believer in mouth guards since I have 2 fake teeth, I’ve tried eating a couple of softballs in my day and have a chipped tooth to show for it, and have been saved by mouthguards as I dig playing volleyball in the past, not to mention the times I’ve probably been saved of a concussion in hockey and/or bandy. Yes, they are a part of my equipment no matter what sport…at least, until I started doing triathlons. Swim, bike, run – who needs a mouth guard in those sports? Non-contact, pretty much individual sports (unless going as a relay team), I’ve never worn a mouth guard in these sports, until now.
As you’ll read on the Under Armour site, the mouth guards provide many benefits to athletes of all sports; concentration, precision, shortened recovery…all of this in addition to the protection of my teeth – what’s not to love? I’ve found that my jaw is now more relaxed when I run, and when I ride, I’m not trying to pedal with my mouth as much as a clinch my way on each pedal stroke to the end. I have found these mouth guards – both the performance and the athletic to be quite beneficial. I’ve been wearing the athletic guard the most this winter as I’ve been playing lots of hockey and bandy.
Hockey has put me onto a team with the MN Xtreme this year – a group of gals in the “A2” league – the league where competition is high and fun. I’ve enjoyed being a ‘sub’ for the team, yet I’ve played in almost all of the games. I hope next year, I’ll be on their roster as a permanent fixture since I’ve had so much fun with such a great group. The cool thing - - - most of these gals are also on the bandy team. Which leads me to my latest ventures.
I currently write from the plane to Stockholm, Sweden, on our way to Oslo Norway before we take a bus to Drammen, Norway – our final destination for the World Championships in Bandy, 2010. We left Minneapolis on the 21st with high hopes of making it to Oslo by late afternoon on the 22nd so we would be prepared to take the ice on the 23rd a couple of times before our games on the 24th. That plan was good, until United decided to blame their delays on the weather….well…we would believe that if…
1) The crew didn’t get paged 4 times while we were waiting at the gate in Minneapolis
2) The crew wasn’t escorted by the gate agent to the gate
3) The crew didn’t have Burger King crowns under their arms as they passed by us to the walkway to the plane.
Yep – blame it on the “weather in Chicago” all you want – that wasn’t what delayed us, it was the crew. Crap! We only had a little over an hour between flights in Chicago. This 30 minute delay was going to cost us. Truly, if it was weather delaying our landing, it would be weather delaying the next departures. So point #4) You can blame it on the weather if our flight to Europe didn’t leave 10 minutes early! What was ironic is that the gate agent that led the crew to the gate to help us was the same crew member that helped me in my attempts to get back home to see Grandpa Powell in 2006. I recognized her and she recognized me – apparently, my total appreciation and gratitude for her efforts carried over 3.5 years later and she upgraded Thom and me to first class for the ride from MSP to ORD. Little did we know what we were in for, and that was truly a blessing in disguise.
It’s been a rough start to the trip – once we were delayed leaving the MSP airport, we attempted a landing in Chicago…where our pilot almost overshot the landing strip and did a last minute pull up on the flight stick to ensure our safety (uh---whatever!). They claimed that another plane was on the runway when we tried to land – if that was the case, based on the accounts of the fellow team members on the plane near a window, we could have been on top of that plane with as close as we were to the ground – it was a lack of runway space for landing. That would explain why each time we did a circle around as if we were going in for the landing, the flight attendant in front of us in first class would sit in his jumper seat and brace himself – was this a new pilot? Perhaps we will never know. After circling around for another 20 minutes, we finally land….and then taxi….and then wait….and taxi to another gate….and wait….. no crew to let us off of the plane…another 15 minutes in the plane – and now, we are missing our connection flight to Europe. Wait? What’s that? One of our team members gets an email that SAS has delayed the flight 45 minutes? We can make it? Let’s haul butt to get there – all 19 of us! We get to the check point, only to find out….the SAS flight left 10 minutes ahead of schedule, not 45 minutes after schedule. Crap. To the SAS counter and they help us get a hotel at a reduced rate because they have to book us on a 4:30 flight tomorrow (Sunday) – the original flight we would have taken had we not wanted to get to the games a day early to “get our skating legs back under us”. The evening at the hotel was uneventful and relaxing. The morning, nothing much to report. The afternoon we start our trek back to the airport to start the journey from our current starting point – Chicago to Stockholm to Oslo to Drammen. Arrival at the airport and I decided to work with our team lead to approach the United Airlines counter to see what they could do for us since we had now encountered expenses for a night in a hotel and extra food on our own, which we already paid for in Norway too. Nothing much they can do for us ‘after the fact’, but we shall write a letter later, explaining all that we know and how we know it was not “weather related”.
Perhaps their mothers should have told them not to lie – the truth is always found.
If that’s the glitch in our trip, it was tolerable, but I’m not going to jinx us this early in the trip, so we are prepared for whatever is thrown our way, ready to react and respond, willing to battle for our spot –
Team USA is on their way,
Watch out Norway!
We’ve had a long travel
Our seams, we will not unravel.
We’re tighter as a team now
It is the Bandy world we will Wow!
We have new speed and new skills
For sure, the bandy ball we will kill
Our defense will not be beat
Our speed will flow through our feet
A slow down was in the journey
But our speed will show on the ice in a flurry.
We’re strong, we’re smart, we’re playing with our heart!
We’ll have ants in our pants
From sitting aboard aircrafts.
We’re ready to take to the ice to play bandy
Our instincts are guided with strategy and theory
Our muscles are at their peak
None of them could be deemed weak.
Our klubben are striking hot
Hell hath fury in our shots
WC2010 we are here
Hear us loud, hear us clear
Team USA
We’ll beat you in Norway!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Minneapolis Duathlon Race Results
Minneapolis Duathlon Race Results
bib number: 572
age: 30
gender: F
overall place: 150 out of 814 (Top 18%)
division place: 10 out of 89 (top 11%)
gender place: 32 out of 398 (top 8%)
time: 1:48:11
run1: 23:51 (pace = 7:41)
trn1: 1:52
bike: 54:04 (pace = 20.0 mph)
trn2: 3:02
run2: 25:24 (pace = 8:11)
The morning started out just beautifully with my usual support crew waking me up – Reese ready to go for another couple of hours on the leash outside while Thom cheers me onto the finish line! The weather started out a tad on the chilly side, but nothing that wasn’t easily adjusted to by getting started on the run!The course was a 3.1 mile run, a 18.5 mile bike ride, and another 3.1 mile run. The course was mostly along “West Riverside” where I’ve ridden my bike many times before, so I had an idea of what to expect – that was to my advantage I think, however, it could have also been to my disadvantage as I sometimes let the hills intimidate me. Either way, I knew the race would be fun.
Setting out to run what felt comfortable, I was also holding back so I didn’t use all of my energy in the run. In looking back, I think I should have let my legs carry me as fast as they could that first 3.1 miles instead of holding back like I did…oh well – the next race I do, I’ll not hold back so much! The run was a nice course with quite a few uphills, less downhills…or so it seemed. When you do a loop, I guess what goes up must also come down, right? Crossing over the line to transition, I had about a half mile to go to get to my stuff…so all of that practicing and re-strategizing how to change faster, it doesn’t reflect in my times on this race. Oh well…out to ride the bike!
The ride was pretty uneventful – a few pot holes here and there, but that’s to be expected. Lots of climbing of hills and some fast downhills followed immediately by more climbing of hills! I love this kind of riding though, it really gets my blood pumping through my system and takes a lot out of me; it feels like a wonderful work out! As I was on my way back – about mile 13 or so, I approached 2 people who appeared to be using eachother to draft and work with. As I approached, I passed, then noticed I was being drafted from…so I sped up for a bit, not easily shaking them. I slowed down then, knowing that they wouldn’t want to go slower…and they passed me. As they were passing me, the girl (bib 528) yells forward to the guy (bib 467) “Are you tired? I can take over.” And of course he lets her go ahead so he can relax for a bit in her draft. UGH! I was passing another rider at that point and mumbled “only cheating themselves!” I did notice that my average pace was faster than theirs on the bikes…however, they did pass me on the run. I guess that’s because they had more gas in their tanks from the ride than I did. Oh well, I gave it my all and I have a race to be proud of.
The second run was just as uneventful as the first, but I did slow down a little as I was trying to get the “bricks” out of my legs. The course was very nice and a great challenge.
Overall, I’m satisfied with my results, but think I can do better….so I’ve already signed up for next year!
Next up? Irongirl Duathlon September 27th. I have my times listed for what I did last year, so I have a goal of beating those, and this year, I just may have a special trick up my sleeve, thanks to a good friend of mine – Sascha. Sascha and I used to do a lot of riding when I was training for the Ironman and a bit last year, but this year he has been working on the development of a new product for athletes. Just this past week, he emailed me and asked if I’d be interested in learning more about the product, and of course I am…so I went to see him. Well, let me tell you, I’m excited to be a guinea pig!!! I didn’t expect that at all, and I can’t wait to keep you posted on this new item to add to my gear bag that could surprisingly improve my performance. Interested to know what it is? Stay tuned to the blog…more coming soon!
bib number: 572
age: 30
gender: F
overall place: 150 out of 814 (Top 18%)
division place: 10 out of 89 (top 11%)
gender place: 32 out of 398 (top 8%)
time: 1:48:11
run1: 23:51 (pace = 7:41)
trn1: 1:52
bike: 54:04 (pace = 20.0 mph)
trn2: 3:02
run2: 25:24 (pace = 8:11)
The morning started out just beautifully with my usual support crew waking me up – Reese ready to go for another couple of hours on the leash outside while Thom cheers me onto the finish line! The weather started out a tad on the chilly side, but nothing that wasn’t easily adjusted to by getting started on the run!The course was a 3.1 mile run, a 18.5 mile bike ride, and another 3.1 mile run. The course was mostly along “West Riverside” where I’ve ridden my bike many times before, so I had an idea of what to expect – that was to my advantage I think, however, it could have also been to my disadvantage as I sometimes let the hills intimidate me. Either way, I knew the race would be fun.
Setting out to run what felt comfortable, I was also holding back so I didn’t use all of my energy in the run. In looking back, I think I should have let my legs carry me as fast as they could that first 3.1 miles instead of holding back like I did…oh well – the next race I do, I’ll not hold back so much! The run was a nice course with quite a few uphills, less downhills…or so it seemed. When you do a loop, I guess what goes up must also come down, right? Crossing over the line to transition, I had about a half mile to go to get to my stuff…so all of that practicing and re-strategizing how to change faster, it doesn’t reflect in my times on this race. Oh well…out to ride the bike!
The ride was pretty uneventful – a few pot holes here and there, but that’s to be expected. Lots of climbing of hills and some fast downhills followed immediately by more climbing of hills! I love this kind of riding though, it really gets my blood pumping through my system and takes a lot out of me; it feels like a wonderful work out! As I was on my way back – about mile 13 or so, I approached 2 people who appeared to be using eachother to draft and work with. As I approached, I passed, then noticed I was being drafted from…so I sped up for a bit, not easily shaking them. I slowed down then, knowing that they wouldn’t want to go slower…and they passed me. As they were passing me, the girl (bib 528) yells forward to the guy (bib 467) “Are you tired? I can take over.” And of course he lets her go ahead so he can relax for a bit in her draft. UGH! I was passing another rider at that point and mumbled “only cheating themselves!” I did notice that my average pace was faster than theirs on the bikes…however, they did pass me on the run. I guess that’s because they had more gas in their tanks from the ride than I did. Oh well, I gave it my all and I have a race to be proud of.
The second run was just as uneventful as the first, but I did slow down a little as I was trying to get the “bricks” out of my legs. The course was very nice and a great challenge.
Overall, I’m satisfied with my results, but think I can do better….so I’ve already signed up for next year!
Next up? Irongirl Duathlon September 27th. I have my times listed for what I did last year, so I have a goal of beating those, and this year, I just may have a special trick up my sleeve, thanks to a good friend of mine – Sascha. Sascha and I used to do a lot of riding when I was training for the Ironman and a bit last year, but this year he has been working on the development of a new product for athletes. Just this past week, he emailed me and asked if I’d be interested in learning more about the product, and of course I am…so I went to see him. Well, let me tell you, I’m excited to be a guinea pig!!! I didn’t expect that at all, and I can’t wait to keep you posted on this new item to add to my gear bag that could surprisingly improve my performance. Interested to know what it is? Stay tuned to the blog…more coming soon!
Friday, August 28, 2009
The 4 R’s - Ragnar Runningmoms.com Race Report - Run, Rest, Refuel, Repeat
The 4 R’s
Ragnar Runningmoms.com Race Report
Run, Rest, Refuel, Repeat
This is the 3rd year I’ve done this crazy race where “you and 11 of your crazy friends cover 200 miles from Lacrosse WI to Minneapolis, MN” – this year, though, they moved the start line to Winona, MN so our route took us from MN to WI back to MN. The changes they had to make
this year were due to some permits that they couldn’t obtain or something. With those changes came a change to which “leg” of the race I would run. To clarify – there are 2 vans, each van has 6 runners and any designated crew they may want (our van had 2 crew members). In our van was Casper, Dani, Amy, Erin, Karen, and myself – and yes, we ran in that order. Our crew was Thom and Joel. The other van was led by Coley with her husband Jon, Matt, Kendra, Beaner, and Nichole.
In previous years, I had been Runner #2 in Van #1. However as mentioned previously, course changes changed who would run where, and I ended up as runner #6. I would cover a total of 19.7 miles whereas Runner #2 this year had what started out as 16 miles and it crept into 18.9 miles as they had to make course adjustments all of the way up until the day we ran! I do hope to get Runner #2 position back next year by the way. This year, we also went as team “Runningmoms.com” – check it out! My friends Dani, Joel, and Amy started this site to encourage, help, and promote moms, fitness, and running – wonderful concept! I’m totally into supporting them on that!!! Onto the report…
Running as runner #6, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy – there were going to be lots of hills, but that’s also the course for anyone in the van, so that was nothing new. I had an 8.3 mile run, 7.5 mile, and 3.9 mile – all of which I maintained a pace of under 8:00! I have never busted that mark before! Last year my pace ranged from 8:15 – 8:29 for any of the legs I did, so this is a huge improvement for me. I ran the first 8.3 with a 7:57 pace. Sure, not much under an 8:00, but it is still under an 8:00. The rating on this run was “VH” – for very hard due to the course and the distance. I started this run at about 3:30 in the afternoon, so it was also getting warm. As soon as I finished my run, we hopped into the van and drove about 40 minutes to Stockholm, MN. While there the van decided we should grab some grub – and that was a mistake for KP! Oops! I am not used to eating right after running, let alone eating a whole meal and my stomach let me know. I guess I never really thought about the nutrition AFTER the run, but boy will I now! My stomach cramped up on me like I’ve never had a muscle cramp before! It hurt and I wanted nothing more than to go to the bathroom – come to think of it – everyone in our van wanted nothing more than to go to the bathroom before we had to start running again! I have had the history in the van of having the running and activity “get my insides moving” – but not this year, and I wasn’t the only one. Enough about that though – believe me, our van had enough discussions of our discomfort that day….we tried to catch some shut eye on the ground in Stockholm, but that was not easily done. We were to start running again around 10:00 that night, so that was on our mind.
My second run – 7.5 miles – started at 2:00 in the morning, and this was by far the most interesting run I’ve ever done. Not only was it starting at “bar time”, but I was running to Prescott, WI where there are quite a few bars. The course at this point was a lot of downhill, followed by uphill, downhill, uphill – Joel was riding along side of me on a bike to help light the way for me and “protect” me, and at one point I had to say “yep – Murphy’s law – what goes down must come up!” Every time I ran down, I had to run back up! Oh well…this one was rated “VH” once again, so I had to suck it up. As we approached Prescott, WI, the bars were…well, let’s just say patrons were rowdy enough to require a couple of vehicles with flashing lights to be outside – 2 ambulances were blocking my way on the road. What to do, what to do? So, Joel and I decide to take the path of least resistance and cross to the opposite side of the road and continue on. Outside of the bar on that side, however, were a group of ‘drunks’…college aged kids looking to have a good time. From the group came the shouts wondering why we were running and betting us they could go faster. Joel – my “protector” – decided to challenge them to racing me. Just as he does that…I make the right hand turn and “Holy Mother…” is what I think I said next as I stared at the major incline I was about to run up. Remember all of the “what goes down, must go up” business earlier? Yeah, well, apparently I was running down more than I was running up and this was the point where it all caught up to me. Before me was a major climb from the bar district to get to the “high school” district in the town of Prescott. One of the drunks decided at that point that they would use the liquid courage they had built up, and they would challenge me up the hill. I couldn’t let a drunk beat me, so although I’d already run 6.5 miles at this point, I dropped another hammer and went a bit faster than I had been. I felt the burn in the hamstrings as I did that climb, but I outran and outlasted the drunk…whew! (thanks Joel!) I probably wouldn’t have run up that hill that fast had he not made that challenge, so all was good…I’m just glad I wasn’t running that without Joel on the bike next to me! Finishing that hill, we make another turn, and even more steep than the first hill, I face another hill! What the??!? I dig deeper and keep on going. Joel still riding by my side, encouraging me…I crossed the finish line just 56 minutes later and at a pace of 7:28 for 7.5 miles!
From Prescott, we drove to Stillwater where we would wait for our Van #2 to finish their run. Everyone is doing well and kicking butt! Dani and Amy had both set personal records for pace and everyone was feeling pretty good, except for the fact that we only got maybe 2 hours of shut eye for the past 24 hours. My last run was just 3.9 miles long, but was all up hill – gradual, but all uphill! Starting out, I felt a bit tight and my legs felt heavy. I quickly realized I had to adjust my stride a bit to make things go a bit easier. Nothing too eventful happened on this run, and just 30 minutes later I was at the finish line ready to hand the baton off for the last time to Van #2…but wait…why is Joel there at the finish flagging me to slow down?? Huh? What? Van #2 ISN’T HERE?! Argh – I busted butt to get here, but you know what – the fact that they weren’t there was a minor thing. I had a goal to maintain my speed of under 8:00’s for the race, and I did! I accomplished my goal, and however long it took for Van #2 to get there, it wasn’t going to affect our “standings” enough to make us win a prize, so…we waited and waited for them to get there.
I think they taught us all a lesson – make sure to read all directions and exchange #’s posted when you get somewhere – they were at Tartan High when they should have been at Tartan Park. Oh well. J I did what I had to do…now it was up to them!
All in all, it was yet another great race. Thanks to my “team runningmoms.com” for getting together and doing this – I’m looking forward to running Ragnar with this team again next year! Next up – Minneapolis Duathlon! Stay tuned…
Ragnar Runningmoms.com Race Report
Run, Rest, Refuel, Repeat
This is the 3rd year I’ve done this crazy race where “you and 11 of your crazy friends cover 200 miles from Lacrosse WI to Minneapolis, MN” – this year, though, they moved the start line to Winona, MN so our route took us from MN to WI back to MN. The changes they had to make
this year were due to some permits that they couldn’t obtain or something. With those changes came a change to which “leg” of the race I would run. To clarify – there are 2 vans, each van has 6 runners and any designated crew they may want (our van had 2 crew members). In our van was Casper, Dani, Amy, Erin, Karen, and myself – and yes, we ran in that order. Our crew was Thom and Joel. The other van was led by Coley with her husband Jon, Matt, Kendra, Beaner, and Nichole.In previous years, I had been Runner #2 in Van #1. However as mentioned previously, course changes changed who would run where, and I ended up as runner #6. I would cover a total of 19.7 miles whereas Runner #2 this year had what started out as 16 miles and it crept into 18.9 miles as they had to make course adjustments all of the way up until the day we ran! I do hope to get Runner #2 position back next year by the way. This year, we also went as team “Runningmoms.com” – check it out! My friends Dani, Joel, and Amy started this site to encourage, help, and promote moms, fitness, and running – wonderful concept! I’m totally into supporting them on that!!! Onto the report…
Running as runner #6, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy – there were going to be lots of hills, but that’s also the course for anyone in the van, so that was nothing new. I had an 8.3 mile run, 7.5 mile, and 3.9 mile – all of which I maintained a pace of under 8:00! I have never busted that mark before! Last year my pace ranged from 8:15 – 8:29 for any of the legs I did, so this is a huge improvement for me. I ran the first 8.3 with a 7:57 pace. Sure, not much under an 8:00, but it is still under an 8:00. The rating on this run was “VH” – for very hard due to the course and the distance. I started this run at about 3:30 in the afternoon, so it was also getting warm. As soon as I finished my run, we hopped into the van and drove about 40 minutes to Stockholm, MN. While there the van decided we should grab some grub – and that was a mistake for KP! Oops! I am not used to eating right after running, let alone eating a whole meal and my stomach let me know. I guess I never really thought about the nutrition AFTER the run, but boy will I now! My stomach cramped up on me like I’ve never had a muscle cramp before! It hurt and I wanted nothing more than to go to the bathroom – come to think of it – everyone in our van wanted nothing more than to go to the bathroom before we had to start running again! I have had the history in the van of having the running and activity “get my insides moving” – but not this year, and I wasn’t the only one. Enough about that though – believe me, our van had enough discussions of our discomfort that day….we tried to catch some shut eye on the ground in Stockholm, but that was not easily done. We were to start running again around 10:00 that night, so that was on our mind.
My second run – 7.5 miles – started at 2:00 in the morning, and this was by far the most interesting run I’ve ever done. Not only was it starting at “bar time”, but I was running to Prescott, WI where there are quite a few bars. The course at this point was a lot of downhill, followed by uphill, downhill, uphill – Joel was riding along side of me on a bike to help light the way for me and “protect” me, and at one point I had to say “yep – Murphy’s law – what goes down must come up!” Every time I ran down, I had to run back up! Oh well…this one was rated “VH” once again, so I had to suck it up. As we approached Prescott, WI, the bars were…well, let’s just say patrons were rowdy enough to require a couple of vehicles with flashing lights to be outside – 2 ambulances were blocking my way on the road. What to do, what to do? So, Joel and I decide to take the path of least resistance and cross to the opposite side of the road and continue on. Outside of the bar on that side, however, were a group of ‘drunks’…college aged kids looking to have a good time. From the group came the shouts wondering why we were running and betting us they could go faster. Joel – my “protector” – decided to challenge them to racing me. Just as he does that…I make the right hand turn and “Holy Mother…” is what I think I said next as I stared at the major incline I was about to run up. Remember all of the “what goes down, must go up” business earlier? Yeah, well, apparently I was running down more than I was running up and this was the point where it all caught up to me. Before me was a major climb from the bar district to get to the “high school” district in the town of Prescott. One of the drunks decided at that point that they would use the liquid courage they had built up, and they would challenge me up the hill. I couldn’t let a drunk beat me, so although I’d already run 6.5 miles at this point, I dropped another hammer and went a bit faster than I had been. I felt the burn in the hamstrings as I did that climb, but I outran and outlasted the drunk…whew! (thanks Joel!) I probably wouldn’t have run up that hill that fast had he not made that challenge, so all was good…I’m just glad I wasn’t running that without Joel on the bike next to me! Finishing that hill, we make another turn, and even more steep than the first hill, I face another hill! What the??!? I dig deeper and keep on going. Joel still riding by my side, encouraging me…I crossed the finish line just 56 minutes later and at a pace of 7:28 for 7.5 miles!
From Prescott, we drove to Stillwater where we would wait for our Van #2 to finish their run. Everyone is doing well and kicking butt! Dani and Amy had both set personal records for pace and everyone was feeling pretty good, except for the fact that we only got maybe 2 hours of shut eye for the past 24 hours. My last run was just 3.9 miles long, but was all up hill – gradual, but all uphill! Starting out, I felt a bit tight and my legs felt heavy. I quickly realized I had to adjust my stride a bit to make things go a bit easier. Nothing too eventful happened on this run, and just 30 minutes later I was at the finish line ready to hand the baton off for the last time to Van #2…but wait…why is Joel there at the finish flagging me to slow down?? Huh? What? Van #2 ISN’T HERE?! Argh – I busted butt to get here, but you know what – the fact that they weren’t there was a minor thing. I had a goal to maintain my speed of under 8:00’s for the race, and I did! I accomplished my goal, and however long it took for Van #2 to get there, it wasn’t going to affect our “standings” enough to make us win a prize, so…we waited and waited for them to get there.
I think they taught us all a lesson – make sure to read all directions and exchange #’s posted when you get somewhere – they were at Tartan High when they should have been at Tartan Park. Oh well. J I did what I had to do…now it was up to them!All in all, it was yet another great race. Thanks to my “team runningmoms.com” for getting together and doing this – I’m looking forward to running Ragnar with this team again next year! Next up – Minneapolis Duathlon! Stay tuned…
Monday, August 10, 2009
What's a "little" water? (Turtleman Race Report)
Race Report Turtleman
What’s a “little” water?Well, if it’s in the lake for a swim during a triathlon, a “little” water means that you are running in muck and crap instead of swimming in a nice lake. It also means that you could end up running the swim portion instead of swimming it because it’s falling from the sky. A “little” water has a big impact!
A “little” water is also a threat when you are riding a bike on roads that have painted lines and the “painted” crosswalks. Those things are slick when a “little” water gets on them.
A “little” water means that you will feel it on your skin as it pelts you while running. Your shoes become 5 pounds heavier per foot and you feel the different muscles in your body working to lift your feet with every step.
A “little” water – it can do so much! The Turtleman Triathlon is in it’s 26th year and is one of my favorite races. It’s located close to home and is the perfect distance – usually! A 1 mile swim, 21 mile bike, 5 mile run. I’ve been able to finish it in about 2 hours, or just over, the past couple of years, so this year I set my sights on beating my times from last year. Well…with the shallow waters, they cut the swim down to ½ mile for this year, therefore beating my time on the swim should be easy!! Race day comes and with it there are a ton of storms in the forecast. Our summer has been really mild so far, and this was unexpected to say the least. The water levels being low are one thing, but the fact that you see lighting and hear thunder in the distance had race officials contemplating what to do. 8:00 was supposed to be start time, but they pushed it back to 8:30. By doing that, they shortened the window for “good” weather to 2 hours. The talent varies among the athletes that do this race, so 2 hours may be a piece of cake for some, but it could be a dream for others, therefore, the officials decided to cut out the swim from the race and we did a “kiddie” swim where we did a 50 meter dash in the water…basically, that was so we could start the timing chips more than anything. So, dashing through the water (not snow), you had to watch out for sink holes and hope that you didn’t get sucked into the muck and you could set your personal record for a ½ mile “swim” in 30 seconds or less – which I did. Into Transition…and you would think that it wouldn’t take me long since I didn’t have a wet suit to change out of before getting onto the bike….but….I had left my sunglasses for the bike ride sitting on top of things on my bike and therefore, those pesky rain drops were making it hard to see anything. I had to clean them off, and therefore have a long (2:23) transition time. Saddle up and ride --- onto the bike. Wouldn’t seem too bad if the roads were just a little wet and the rain was giving way to the sun…but that wasn’t the case! I never train in the rain, why would I? I usually look at the rain and say “good excuse to stay inside today!” but perhaps this race proves that I should train in all conditions. With water spraying up from all different directions from bicycle tires, puddles gathered in strange places, and the paint on the roads, it was going to be an interesting ride. The sunglasses didn’t stay dry for long, so that was a challenge to see the road. However, I couldn’t take them off because if I were to get hit in the eye with the raindrops and debris that was coming from tires in front of me, that could put an eye out. So I chose the lesser of two evils and kept the glasses properly placed on my face. Pedaling along I am keeping a great pace despite the conditions. I see SO many people with flat tires – I’ve never seen this many in one race in fact. I theorize that it had to be due to the water on the road and not being able to see the nuances of the MN pot holes and/or the debris on the road. It’s amazing some of the crap you see on the side of a road. I pedal on and slow down almost completely at each turn we have to make, hoping not to wipe out. Cleanly turning at all turns, I feel great and start to spin the last mile so that my legs are ready for the transition to the run. What I wish I would have known is that they were basing our ranking on our bike, not the whole thing – I would have gone all out that last mile instead of prepping for the transition. Oh well…it is what it is! I finished the ride in under an hour! Off of the bike, into my running shoes. Transition time affected by the fact that I do not have quick laces, rather I have to tie my shoes. Oh well…that’s what I get for not prepping for the race completely and only training for long distance things so far this year – mental note: get speed laces for next multisport event! Feeling pretty good on the run, I take my time and run as I feel comfortable. At about mile 3, the light misting had now picked up to a full on rain down pour and it stung when hitting the exposed skin. Yikes! One guy post race said he saw some hail mixed in with the rain – no wonder it hurt so much!!! Apparently, they turned some of the athletes back to the transition area after 1 mile of running and did not let them finish. I must have made it to the point where “if you’ve run this far, you might as well keep going because it’s just as far back to the shelter from here” when they were turning people around…so I finished all 5 miles at an 8:07 pace and had heavy shoes because of all of the puddles I stomped in when dodging other runners and trying to keep my pace. I did manage to rank 4th – technically the way they did the ranking based on the bike – but one of the gals was supposed to be at “elite” status, but changed to “age group” at the last minute before the race --- coulda had a podium if she hadn’t dropped down. Oh well. After the race had finished, the sun was shining…what a strange day….All because of a “little” water.
What’s a “little” water?Well, if it’s in the lake for a swim during a triathlon, a “little” water means that you are running in muck and crap instead of swimming in a nice lake. It also means that you could end up running the swim portion instead of swimming it because it’s falling from the sky. A “little” water has a big impact!
A “little” water is also a threat when you are riding a bike on roads that have painted lines and the “painted” crosswalks. Those things are slick when a “little” water gets on them.
A “little” water means that you will feel it on your skin as it pelts you while running. Your shoes become 5 pounds heavier per foot and you feel the different muscles in your body working to lift your feet with every step.
A “little” water – it can do so much! The Turtleman Triathlon is in it’s 26th year and is one of my favorite races. It’s located close to home and is the perfect distance – usually! A 1 mile swim, 21 mile bike, 5 mile run. I’ve been able to finish it in about 2 hours, or just over, the past couple of years, so this year I set my sights on beating my times from last year. Well…with the shallow waters, they cut the swim down to ½ mile for this year, therefore beating my time on the swim should be easy!! Race day comes and with it there are a ton of storms in the forecast. Our summer has been really mild so far, and this was unexpected to say the least. The water levels being low are one thing, but the fact that you see lighting and hear thunder in the distance had race officials contemplating what to do. 8:00 was supposed to be start time, but they pushed it back to 8:30. By doing that, they shortened the window for “good” weather to 2 hours. The talent varies among the athletes that do this race, so 2 hours may be a piece of cake for some, but it could be a dream for others, therefore, the officials decided to cut out the swim from the race and we did a “kiddie” swim where we did a 50 meter dash in the water…basically, that was so we could start the timing chips more than anything. So, dashing through the water (not snow), you had to watch out for sink holes and hope that you didn’t get sucked into the muck and you could set your personal record for a ½ mile “swim” in 30 seconds or less – which I did. Into Transition…and you would think that it wouldn’t take me long since I didn’t have a wet suit to change out of before getting onto the bike….but….I had left my sunglasses for the bike ride sitting on top of things on my bike and therefore, those pesky rain drops were making it hard to see anything. I had to clean them off, and therefore have a long (2:23) transition time. Saddle up and ride --- onto the bike. Wouldn’t seem too bad if the roads were just a little wet and the rain was giving way to the sun…but that wasn’t the case! I never train in the rain, why would I? I usually look at the rain and say “good excuse to stay inside today!” but perhaps this race proves that I should train in all conditions. With water spraying up from all different directions from bicycle tires, puddles gathered in strange places, and the paint on the roads, it was going to be an interesting ride. The sunglasses didn’t stay dry for long, so that was a challenge to see the road. However, I couldn’t take them off because if I were to get hit in the eye with the raindrops and debris that was coming from tires in front of me, that could put an eye out. So I chose the lesser of two evils and kept the glasses properly placed on my face. Pedaling along I am keeping a great pace despite the conditions. I see SO many people with flat tires – I’ve never seen this many in one race in fact. I theorize that it had to be due to the water on the road and not being able to see the nuances of the MN pot holes and/or the debris on the road. It’s amazing some of the crap you see on the side of a road. I pedal on and slow down almost completely at each turn we have to make, hoping not to wipe out. Cleanly turning at all turns, I feel great and start to spin the last mile so that my legs are ready for the transition to the run. What I wish I would have known is that they were basing our ranking on our bike, not the whole thing – I would have gone all out that last mile instead of prepping for the transition. Oh well…it is what it is! I finished the ride in under an hour! Off of the bike, into my running shoes. Transition time affected by the fact that I do not have quick laces, rather I have to tie my shoes. Oh well…that’s what I get for not prepping for the race completely and only training for long distance things so far this year – mental note: get speed laces for next multisport event! Feeling pretty good on the run, I take my time and run as I feel comfortable. At about mile 3, the light misting had now picked up to a full on rain down pour and it stung when hitting the exposed skin. Yikes! One guy post race said he saw some hail mixed in with the rain – no wonder it hurt so much!!! Apparently, they turned some of the athletes back to the transition area after 1 mile of running and did not let them finish. I must have made it to the point where “if you’ve run this far, you might as well keep going because it’s just as far back to the shelter from here” when they were turning people around…so I finished all 5 miles at an 8:07 pace and had heavy shoes because of all of the puddles I stomped in when dodging other runners and trying to keep my pace. I did manage to rank 4th – technically the way they did the ranking based on the bike – but one of the gals was supposed to be at “elite” status, but changed to “age group” at the last minute before the race --- coulda had a podium if she hadn’t dropped down. Oh well. After the race had finished, the sun was shining…what a strange day….All because of a “little” water.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
MN B2B race report - that was FUN! I will do it again!!!
How in the world did I ever decide to do a race that spans across the state of Minnesota from the south to the north, covering about 550 miles of the great state? I still am not sure how it all began, but Paul claims he sent me an email stating “this would be fun” and I jumped on it agreeing and saying we should sign up. I can’t find that original email, but I do remember looking at the web site he sent to me and thinking it would be “fun”.
What exactly is this “race”? The race is called the Minnesota Border to Border (http://www.mnb2b.org/) and it takes the racers ~230 miles via bike from Luverne, MN to St. Cloud (day 1), ~220 miles via bike from St. Cloud to Virginia/Evelyth (day 2), 50 miles of running from Virginia/Evelyth to Orr (day 3), and 50 miles of canoeing from Orr (Lake Vermillion) on the Vermillion River to Crane Lake at the border of MN and Canada (day 4). The teams racing can consist of 2, 3, or 4 people and they can switch at any distance they want in the events. For example – in the bike ride, they could have rider 1 go 10 miles, and at the 10 mile mark their “support vehicle” would be waiting there with rider #2 who would then go on from that point as many miles as the team agrees with the rider on. Rider 2 hands off to rider 3, so on and so on. Paul and I didn’t really consider doing more than a 2 person team, so we realized that we would each be riding ~225 miles, running 25 miles and canoeing all 50 miles --- it takes 2 to canoe!
Paul heard about the race from a co-worker who did it in 2008 and had a good time on a 4 person team, so we met with him to go over some planning and logistics. We got the hotels all arranged for each of the nights we’d be staying on the course along the way and we set up our checklist of things we needed to pack. We heard about the MN Canoe Association that offered “beginners” courses on Wednesday nights in the chain of lakes in Minneapolis, so we signed up to attend those classes. We learned a TON during that time – how to paddle, how to use your body so you don’t get sore, how to turn, how to communicate to switch sides, etc. It was amazing! I remember the first class (which seems so long ago now) where we went from Cedar Lake to Brownie Lake, back across Cedar to Lake of the Isles and it was super windy and I thought “my arms are going to fall off!” I quickly learned the secret of using abs when paddling!!! A few more classes attended, some persuasion before we left for the race, next thing you know, Paul and I both have purchased carbon fiber paddles to “save us” during the last leg of the race we had before us. *Note – this was a VERY smart decision!!!
Not only did we do the canoe training, but we did many days of training on the bikes and on our feet for the running. A few weekends were spent at Paul’s cabin (near Brainerd) where we rode 50, 75, and 100 mile bike rides on Saturdays followed by a long run on Sunday. In May, we signed up for the Minneapolis Marathon that took us along the beautiful course along West Riverside Drive to Fort Snelling and back to downtown Minneapolis. It was a hilly course, but was definitely a great decision for the training purposes of the B2B race. During the weeks back in the cities, we both did our own training and would encourage the other to push a little further and a little faster. Each week, I would try to get 2 “medium” length bike rides in and a couple of “medium” length runs. I have to say, cycling was more appealing to me than running was – I think that comes from the muscles I use more when I’m skating in the winter time being similar to those muscles used for cycling, versus the muscles used for running. Ultimately, I needed to train enough to get me through the 4 days of complete exertion of the race, and that’s just what I did.
The Monday before the race began, July 27, Thom and I were up early and on the road to Paul’s house so we could load the support vehicle with the gear and goods and then take to the road t
o make it to Luverne, MN for the pre-race meeting and carbo load session they had planned for us. We heard a lot about the construction on the roads, the dogs that might chase you, how to do the “jump” stops, and what the rules of riding were for the race. (Rules being that you cannot draft unless there is a designated drafting area – the first 36 miles were draft legal. The fact that you had to exchange cyclists within 3 bike lengths of eachother. Cyclists could not ride against traffic to get to their support crew, nor could the support crew drive against traffic or the opposite way of the race. Etc.) A Jump stop is pretty cool. It is a stop where you come to an intersection that could otherwise be dangerous for a racing cyclist. Like crossing a highway – you wouldn’t want to race across the highway just for the sake of time…rather, you should stop and look both ways. So the organizers designated the stop that Rider 1 stops on one side of the highway and as soon as Rider 1 puts their foot down, Rider 2 – who was taken across the highway via the support vehicle – can take off. Rider 1 can then safely dismount the bike and walk across the road/railroad track/etc. They also planned out the “Pick Ups” to get us through some detours of roads that were undriveable and unrideable. Nicely planned! After finishing a good meal, time for a good nights rest to start the race in the morning!
Day 1 of the race started out at 6:00 AM with us actually riding ~210 miles (we had a pick up that took us past some construction that we normally would have had to ride). It was SUPER windy!!! It felt like the wind mills that were out there to create energy from the wind source were actually blowing on us! I thought for sure someone was playing a mean joke.... I can handle riding in the wind for a little bit, but when you are going from the south to
the north and the winds are coming from the North West, it’s really a struggle. We fortunately did have parts on the course where we were heading east, so we had a little bit of a tail wind/cross wind instead of a head wind, but it was still exhausting to keep pedaling against the 30 mph winds. As I was riding, I kept myself going by trying to figure out the answer to the story problem: “If a cyclist is averaging 20 mph in her speed while heading into a headwind of 30 mph, how fast would she be going if there wasn’t a 30 mph headwind?” I never did figure out the answer…but it kept my mind busy and my feet kept going in full circles! In the start of the race, we were allowed to draft – I think this was because it was a mass start so it helped with the congestion and spreading things out. I did get a really good jump off of the line and was drafting and working with another team to keep a 25 mph average going, despite the head winds. For the non-cyclists reading – what we would do is I would be in front for a while taking the beating from the wind while the other guy would ride in my air stream. When I would start to slow down, he would come ahead of me and I’d get some time to rest in his air stream…we would keep leap frogging like that and it helps save a TON of energy. That went on for 9 miles, at which point I realized that I needed to save myself for 100 miles of riding, whereas he was only going 50 miles that day. At mile 12, I saw my support crew ahead of me, and maintaining 3rd place, I handed off to Paul. We kept leap frogging a couple of 4 person teams, so we saw them constantly. That was fun to see them and get to know them through the camaraderie of cheering for eachother. I was feeling very strong 
despite the head winds and seeing the teams in front of me was like a carrot dangling there, keeping me focused and going strong. There were many semi trucks that were hauling cattle and pigs that stunk!! Ew! Those head winds were the worst!! I figured that I could not stay in the aero position (crouched onto my elbows), rather I had to drop down to my lower handlebars just to stabilize myself against the gusts of wind that those semis created. There were only a few hills, not too many on that first day. Notably the one into Granite City, MN – that one seemed to go on and on and on! At one point during the ride, I did see a few dogs that wanted to race me. A black lab/mix dog was pretty darn fast and was running along side of me for a bit until his property line ended (thankfully!), then there was the dog that was across the street and I was thankful there was an oncoming car coming --- the dog stopped for the car, I’m not sure he was going to stop for me! Then there was the cocker spaniel…uh huh…a little thing…scared the crap out of me! That thing was FAST! I was heading 22 mph and this little brown dog decided to run in front of me. I squeezed my brakes really hard, slowed down, missed him – whew! Then I heard the support vehicle behind me honking the horn – he must have stayed in the road once I passed. The dog and all persons escaped unharmed. However, just after I see the cocker, the course marshall flies past me in his vehicle and I think “must be getting close to a jump stop or turn!”. I approach a bend in the road only to see the course marshall there trying to corral a horse that had gotten loose! I think the cocker spaniel was trying to warn me about the horse!!! I managed to get past that without any problems and the rest of the day was spent in the saddle, riding for the finish. Paul and I pulled across the finish line 10 hours and 49 minutes later. Not bad for covering over 200 miles and 2 people! We were in 7th place!
Day 2 was more cycling and a few more miles than the previous day ~215. The head winds had died down a little bit, but the gradual creeper hills were set before us. Wow – there were a lot of
gradual inclines where you just felt like you couldn’t get going, but we had to, and we did! The night before the ride, we had been warned about this dog that was a chaser – I thought “oh goodie! As if yesterday didn’t have enough chasing of me!” I was fortunate enough that Paul was riding that portion, and he was lucky that the dog was tied up this year! (perhaps complaints from the previous year??). I was really surprised at how strong I felt even after riding over 100 miles the day before. My legs were in great condition and despite the creeper hills, I was able to ride strong the entire time. We started the day based on where we finished the day before, so we started 7th, just behind a team of guys from Canada. Many times I had passed their support van along the way (as they were leap frogging me with their rider behind us), and those guys were funny and supportive. I think they were a bit surprised to see a girl pedaling as fast and as strong as I was. (I did tell them that my pace slows down when it comes to run
ning…I don’t know if they believed me!). My first few legs of the day started out with a couple of dogs chasing me again…ugh! Oh well…I rode past them and kept moving…kept it as my motivation to keep rolling!!! Paul definitely held his own and I think he averaged a speed better than he claims…it had to be close to 20 mph for both of us yet again, and that was our goal. We finished the day in 10 hours and 43 minutes and again, 7th place.
Day 3 is the run day. I am a skater. I am a strong cyclist. I run…but I have to work hard when I run. It does not come easily to me and it’s not my strength, but it’s something I know I can work on and I will work on to get better at it. I enjoy running to a certain point…to the point where my calves/shins start to uncontrollably twitch, then it isn’t so fun anymore. I have noticed this uncontrollable twitch only a couple of other times – once when I was doing the Ironman and was at mile 16…I had to walk/run the rest of the 10 miles. The other time was during my marathon in Minneapolis in May at mile 23, but I was able to run through it until the end. I did some reading online to see if I could help this, and I hadn’t noticed it since then with some of the changes I had made. I also noticed after the marathon that my Soleus on my left side was a bit tweaked…so I was hoping to not face that as an issue. Whew, lots of things I was worried about apparently. As we woke for the run day, I felt exhausted. My body has not done something quite like this before, and I was a nit wit and forgot to take my vitamins the night before! Doh! I was feeling tired, like I could fall asleep while I was standing. I managed to pull myself through that, although I admit I was a crabby morning person that day, and I kept my feet moving and kept focused on the goal of the day – run 50 miles as a team. What I wasn’t ready for was the intervals of running and how my legs would feel. Paul and I had originally
started out thinking we would run 2 mile intervals to get warmed up, then cut back to 1.5, then 1, then go down from there. That lasted all of the first mile, then we realized that all of the other teams (4 person and 3 person) were changing within ¼ mile down to even 100 yard dashes! We had to re-evaluate; were we making a mistake? Were we going to get too far behind? Was our strategy going to hurt us? So, 1 mile and switch. That lasted for a few miles each, then we cut back to 0.7 miles….and we were falling further and further behind the other teams, so we cut back to 0.6. We kept the other teams in our sight for a while, but we were falling back further and further in the field. I guess that’s to be expected considering we have 25 miles to run whereas the other teams have 12 to 17 miles per person and that’s it. Since we were at the back of the pack, the course marshalls were keeping tabs on us and kept checking in to see how we were doing. At one point, the race director (who has done this before) suggested we consider shortening our distances again since we were starting to gain on another team…so…we were down to 0.5 miles until the end of the race. I had run maybe 12 miles at one point where I was approaching highway 169 and I heard a bunch of rustling in the long grass to my left. I looked over and saw 5 white and 
black dogs running after me. I turned on the jets and I sprinted my ½ mile faster than I’ve ever run ½ mile before. I finished that one in 3 minutes to be exact. One of the dogs did get close enough to my shoe that I felt part of “him” on my heel – whether it was his teeth, jaw, paw…I do not know, but I felt him. I looked back and saw 3 more dogs running down the same path that these original 5 came from. What was it with dogs chasing me? I love dogs, so to get that kind of treatment from them, I was not happy! Oh well…it made me run faster at least! I do remember the clouds hovering over us for the first 30 miles of the run, then the Gods parted the clouds and the rain poured down on us! Poor Paul got dumped on the first downpour, but it hadn’t let up by the time it was my turn, so I ran through the rest of the downpour. Wearing rain jackets and water logged shoes, we were wearing down. With 10 miles left to go in each of us, I literally talked to 
my legs to see if they had it in them – they did respond back; maybe that was when Thom realized my mental stability was failing! At that point, water logged, cold, and drawing towards realizing the race is pretty insane, Thom was getting out of the vehicle to give me a muscle rub down in my legs to keep them loose. I am so thankful he did that. Getting in and out of the car every 4 minutes actually is harder than you think. It takes a lot of energy to do that when you’ve done it over 50 times, and your muscles start to cramp up when cold and seated. Thom was a life saver for my body at that point. The run itself was beautiful. I was privileged to see the sign of “Entering Superior National Forest” and “Now Leaving Superior 
National Forest”. While I was running through there, there was 2 deer that decided to graze on some grass in front of me and were very close to me. The terrain was pretty good, nothing too hilly, but it wasn’t extremely flat either – it was just right! My muscle spasms did set in around mile 23, but that was short lived when I changed my shoes for dry shoes (I had luckily just thrown those into my bag “just in case” – boy was I glad I had those!). The end was in sight and it was a good thing to see and feel. 7 hours later, Paul crossed our team over the finish line and we held onto 7th place for yet another day!
Day 4 – Canoe 50 miles. Have you ever canoed 50 miles? I hadn’t. I had done 11 – that was the most I had canoed in one day to that point and that took Paul and me 3 hours to do at his cabin one Sunday morning. I had no idea what this was going to be like! The first 8 miles felt like forever and made me want to throw the towel in – or the paddle – whichever was closer to me. I wanted out. I felt like I had met my limit and I was done for. I actually thought “if we don’t make the 6 hour cut off, I’ll be OK with that”. Paul admitted to me later on in the day that he too was feeling that way at the ½ way mark. However, both of us didn’t want to tell the other person, and both of us didn’t want to be the quitter, so we shut up and paddled on! We get to the first portage – about 5 miles into the paddle – after we had crossed a windy and bumpy lake Vermillion. That paddle was hard, but the portage felt even harder. Getting in and out of the canoe was a task with the tired legs we had shaking beneath us. Not to mention the fact that now we have to carry this canoe?? Ugh! The mud, the muck, the obstacles on the path…it felt like forever and yet it was a “short” portage???!!! We trek on and finally put the boat back in the water. I was happy to be paddling again…for a few miles….then another portage. Ugh! Back out, lift the canoe up…hike along, up, over, through…back up a slippery bridge…over….ssslllliiiippppp, thud!....”ow”…. Yes, that was me slipping down the other side of the board that was supposed to be a bridge. “You’re ok” I tell myself. Paul asks how I am as he sees the canoe that has landed perfectly between my legs, my head just peeking over the back side of the canoe. I mumble a few words to myself and pick myself up, tell him “let’s go” and we do. Ugh! That hurt! Thank goodness for seeing the water again – put the canoe in…paddle paddle…portage!? Again? Ok, out we go…pick up the canoe…wait…Paul – can you put this on your shoulders? Whew! Paul carries the canoe on his shoulders, I take the stuff we had in the canoe – the water, the Gatorade, the food, the paddles, etc. We trek on for over a mile…the long portage that never seemed to end. Bugs everywhere (I hate bugs!) mud and muck to slop through and finally back to the water. The last portage before the ½ way mark….thank goodness we got to see Jodie and Thom at that ½ way mark! Thom had a turkey bagel sandwich for me and the encouraging words I needed to hear to keep me going. I was ready to be done, and I had realized that when I fell, I lost my sunglasses….of course, the sun was starting to shine now! After a few minutes of rest at that ½ check point, a few bites of food, the paddles went back into the water and the paddling actually became enjoyable. Was it the food? The soft words of encouragement Thom said? Or was it the fact that we were now at ½ of the canoe and we survived it and the second half was less “open” water and more closed? Whatever it was, perhaps the combination of all of it, I dug deep within myself and found the motivation to paddle as fast and as hard as I could until the last stroke was
made. Luckily we didn’t have to portage as much in the second half, and we did maintain a good speed in the water. Granted, we weren’t as fast as some of the teams that had been switching at the different portage spots, but we were holding our own. We could see that there was another team behind us, and our goal was not to let them pass us. We held that goal until the final portage where they did pass us --- not in water, but on land! Ugh! Oh well. During that second ½ of the canoe, it was sunny, it was rainy, and it was amazing! The bugs were awful (and I have a TON of bites on my legs to show for it), but the birds and wildlife was peaceful and beautiful. A couple of times, Paul and I had to remind ourselves that although we were racing, we had to take it all in and enjoy it. Who else really gets to see all of MN like we did this past week? The thunder was rolling and our paddles started going faster. We had to finish! We couldn’t stop now. Last portage and we were going to make it. The course marshall was there full of encouragement! We were going to finish before 7:00 PM! We had planned on it taking us 14 hours based on a best guess of how fast we could paddle before settling into the course, and we actually finished in 13:30. That put us in 10th place overall, and 1:11 behind the other 2 person team. Could we have done better? I bet we could have. I think the only place we could have really improved was paddling and in the portages. However, I think we enjoyed it a lot – I know I did, and within 24 hours I was telling Paul I’d do it all again! When we finished the canoe, it was a very awesome feeling. Being a 2 person team, riding 215 miles (due to construction), running 25, and canoeing 50 miles – that’s a lot to do and we beat 2 other 4 person teams! Wow! Putting it all in perspective, we did a helluva
job! What gave me tears in my eyes and goose bumps was the reception we received when we got to the finish line in the canoe. Those teams we had been playing leap frog with the previous 3 days --- they were all there, cheering us on until we passed the last buoy (which Paul and I decided to practice one last buoy turn as a funny joke :)). Everyone wanted us to tip the canoe and go into the water - apparently that is tradition. Well, we decided to get all of our stuff out of the canoe, then we jumped into the cold water - that was refreshing! When we were accepting our medals for completing the race, the cheering from the rest of the group was amazing. I can’t say enoug
h for the sportsmanship and amazing character of our “competition”. They gave us a standing ovation at the end for completing the course as a 2 person team. Only 1 other 2 person team completed it – a team of 2 men who definitely had more upper body strength than me!!! I can’t thank the race crew enough or the “competition” who I’ve actually struck up some new friendships with them.
Paul and I apparently can’t get enough. We’ll be back to a canoe class on Monday night to thank the MN Canoe association for all they taught us and share our experience with them. I’m keeping the paddle I said I’d sell right after the race – why? Because I want to do this race again – and yes, as a 2 person team. While Paul is vowing to take a year off…I am working on another crazy guy to partner up with me and do it as a 2 person team with me. We’ll see…Thom needs to weigh in on it a bit too and see if he wants to crew again for us and if he minds the time I take to do the training….it’s quite a bit of a commitment.
Thanks to all who were supportive during the race. The encouraging posts on my facebook page, the emails and the messages sent were all very much appreciated. The “competition” – I hope to see them out there again.
A little nutty? Yep – that’s me, but I like it that way!
XO,KP
What exactly is this “race”? The race is called the Minnesota Border to Border (http://www.mnb2b.org/) and it takes the racers ~230 miles via bike from Luverne, MN to St. Cloud (day 1), ~220 miles via bike from St. Cloud to Virginia/Evelyth (day 2), 50 miles of running from Virginia/Evelyth to Orr (day 3), and 50 miles of canoeing from Orr (Lake Vermillion) on the Vermillion River to Crane Lake at the border of MN and Canada (day 4). The teams racing can consist of 2, 3, or 4 people and they can switch at any distance they want in the events. For example – in the bike ride, they could have rider 1 go 10 miles, and at the 10 mile mark their “support vehicle” would be waiting there with rider #2 who would then go on from that point as many miles as the team agrees with the rider on. Rider 2 hands off to rider 3, so on and so on. Paul and I didn’t really consider doing more than a 2 person team, so we realized that we would each be riding ~225 miles, running 25 miles and canoeing all 50 miles --- it takes 2 to canoe!
Paul heard about the race from a co-worker who did it in 2008 and had a good time on a 4 person team, so we met with him to go over some planning and logistics. We got the hotels all arranged for each of the nights we’d be staying on the course along the way and we set up our checklist of things we needed to pack. We heard about the MN Canoe Association that offered “beginners” courses on Wednesday nights in the chain of lakes in Minneapolis, so we signed up to attend those classes. We learned a TON during that time – how to paddle, how to use your body so you don’t get sore, how to turn, how to communicate to switch sides, etc. It was amazing! I remember the first class (which seems so long ago now) where we went from Cedar Lake to Brownie Lake, back across Cedar to Lake of the Isles and it was super windy and I thought “my arms are going to fall off!” I quickly learned the secret of using abs when paddling!!! A few more classes attended, some persuasion before we left for the race, next thing you know, Paul and I both have purchased carbon fiber paddles to “save us” during the last leg of the race we had before us. *Note – this was a VERY smart decision!!!
Not only did we do the canoe training, but we did many days of training on the bikes and on our feet for the running. A few weekends were spent at Paul’s cabin (near Brainerd) where we rode 50, 75, and 100 mile bike rides on Saturdays followed by a long run on Sunday. In May, we signed up for the Minneapolis Marathon that took us along the beautiful course along West Riverside Drive to Fort Snelling and back to downtown Minneapolis. It was a hilly course, but was definitely a great decision for the training purposes of the B2B race. During the weeks back in the cities, we both did our own training and would encourage the other to push a little further and a little faster. Each week, I would try to get 2 “medium” length bike rides in and a couple of “medium” length runs. I have to say, cycling was more appealing to me than running was – I think that comes from the muscles I use more when I’m skating in the winter time being similar to those muscles used for cycling, versus the muscles used for running. Ultimately, I needed to train enough to get me through the 4 days of complete exertion of the race, and that’s just what I did.
The Monday before the race began, July 27, Thom and I were up early and on the road to Paul’s house so we could load the support vehicle with the gear and goods and then take to the road t
o make it to Luverne, MN for the pre-race meeting and carbo load session they had planned for us. We heard a lot about the construction on the roads, the dogs that might chase you, how to do the “jump” stops, and what the rules of riding were for the race. (Rules being that you cannot draft unless there is a designated drafting area – the first 36 miles were draft legal. The fact that you had to exchange cyclists within 3 bike lengths of eachother. Cyclists could not ride against traffic to get to their support crew, nor could the support crew drive against traffic or the opposite way of the race. Etc.) A Jump stop is pretty cool. It is a stop where you come to an intersection that could otherwise be dangerous for a racing cyclist. Like crossing a highway – you wouldn’t want to race across the highway just for the sake of time…rather, you should stop and look both ways. So the organizers designated the stop that Rider 1 stops on one side of the highway and as soon as Rider 1 puts their foot down, Rider 2 – who was taken across the highway via the support vehicle – can take off. Rider 1 can then safely dismount the bike and walk across the road/railroad track/etc. They also planned out the “Pick Ups” to get us through some detours of roads that were undriveable and unrideable. Nicely planned! After finishing a good meal, time for a good nights rest to start the race in the morning!Day 1 of the race started out at 6:00 AM with us actually riding ~210 miles (we had a pick up that took us past some construction that we normally would have had to ride). It was SUPER windy!!! It felt like the wind mills that were out there to create energy from the wind source were actually blowing on us! I thought for sure someone was playing a mean joke.... I can handle riding in the wind for a little bit, but when you are going from the south to
the north and the winds are coming from the North West, it’s really a struggle. We fortunately did have parts on the course where we were heading east, so we had a little bit of a tail wind/cross wind instead of a head wind, but it was still exhausting to keep pedaling against the 30 mph winds. As I was riding, I kept myself going by trying to figure out the answer to the story problem: “If a cyclist is averaging 20 mph in her speed while heading into a headwind of 30 mph, how fast would she be going if there wasn’t a 30 mph headwind?” I never did figure out the answer…but it kept my mind busy and my feet kept going in full circles! In the start of the race, we were allowed to draft – I think this was because it was a mass start so it helped with the congestion and spreading things out. I did get a really good jump off of the line and was drafting and working with another team to keep a 25 mph average going, despite the head winds. For the non-cyclists reading – what we would do is I would be in front for a while taking the beating from the wind while the other guy would ride in my air stream. When I would start to slow down, he would come ahead of me and I’d get some time to rest in his air stream…we would keep leap frogging like that and it helps save a TON of energy. That went on for 9 miles, at which point I realized that I needed to save myself for 100 miles of riding, whereas he was only going 50 miles that day. At mile 12, I saw my support crew ahead of me, and maintaining 3rd place, I handed off to Paul. We kept leap frogging a couple of 4 person teams, so we saw them constantly. That was fun to see them and get to know them through the camaraderie of cheering for eachother. I was feeling very strong 
despite the head winds and seeing the teams in front of me was like a carrot dangling there, keeping me focused and going strong. There were many semi trucks that were hauling cattle and pigs that stunk!! Ew! Those head winds were the worst!! I figured that I could not stay in the aero position (crouched onto my elbows), rather I had to drop down to my lower handlebars just to stabilize myself against the gusts of wind that those semis created. There were only a few hills, not too many on that first day. Notably the one into Granite City, MN – that one seemed to go on and on and on! At one point during the ride, I did see a few dogs that wanted to race me. A black lab/mix dog was pretty darn fast and was running along side of me for a bit until his property line ended (thankfully!), then there was the dog that was across the street and I was thankful there was an oncoming car coming --- the dog stopped for the car, I’m not sure he was going to stop for me! Then there was the cocker spaniel…uh huh…a little thing…scared the crap out of me! That thing was FAST! I was heading 22 mph and this little brown dog decided to run in front of me. I squeezed my brakes really hard, slowed down, missed him – whew! Then I heard the support vehicle behind me honking the horn – he must have stayed in the road once I passed. The dog and all persons escaped unharmed. However, just after I see the cocker, the course marshall flies past me in his vehicle and I think “must be getting close to a jump stop or turn!”. I approach a bend in the road only to see the course marshall there trying to corral a horse that had gotten loose! I think the cocker spaniel was trying to warn me about the horse!!! I managed to get past that without any problems and the rest of the day was spent in the saddle, riding for the finish. Paul and I pulled across the finish line 10 hours and 49 minutes later. Not bad for covering over 200 miles and 2 people! We were in 7th place!Day 2 was more cycling and a few more miles than the previous day ~215. The head winds had died down a little bit, but the gradual creeper hills were set before us. Wow – there were a lot of
gradual inclines where you just felt like you couldn’t get going, but we had to, and we did! The night before the ride, we had been warned about this dog that was a chaser – I thought “oh goodie! As if yesterday didn’t have enough chasing of me!” I was fortunate enough that Paul was riding that portion, and he was lucky that the dog was tied up this year! (perhaps complaints from the previous year??). I was really surprised at how strong I felt even after riding over 100 miles the day before. My legs were in great condition and despite the creeper hills, I was able to ride strong the entire time. We started the day based on where we finished the day before, so we started 7th, just behind a team of guys from Canada. Many times I had passed their support van along the way (as they were leap frogging me with their rider behind us), and those guys were funny and supportive. I think they were a bit surprised to see a girl pedaling as fast and as strong as I was. (I did tell them that my pace slows down when it comes to run
ning…I don’t know if they believed me!). My first few legs of the day started out with a couple of dogs chasing me again…ugh! Oh well…I rode past them and kept moving…kept it as my motivation to keep rolling!!! Paul definitely held his own and I think he averaged a speed better than he claims…it had to be close to 20 mph for both of us yet again, and that was our goal. We finished the day in 10 hours and 43 minutes and again, 7th place.Day 3 is the run day. I am a skater. I am a strong cyclist. I run…but I have to work hard when I run. It does not come easily to me and it’s not my strength, but it’s something I know I can work on and I will work on to get better at it. I enjoy running to a certain point…to the point where my calves/shins start to uncontrollably twitch, then it isn’t so fun anymore. I have noticed this uncontrollable twitch only a couple of other times – once when I was doing the Ironman and was at mile 16…I had to walk/run the rest of the 10 miles. The other time was during my marathon in Minneapolis in May at mile 23, but I was able to run through it until the end. I did some reading online to see if I could help this, and I hadn’t noticed it since then with some of the changes I had made. I also noticed after the marathon that my Soleus on my left side was a bit tweaked…so I was hoping to not face that as an issue. Whew, lots of things I was worried about apparently. As we woke for the run day, I felt exhausted. My body has not done something quite like this before, and I was a nit wit and forgot to take my vitamins the night before! Doh! I was feeling tired, like I could fall asleep while I was standing. I managed to pull myself through that, although I admit I was a crabby morning person that day, and I kept my feet moving and kept focused on the goal of the day – run 50 miles as a team. What I wasn’t ready for was the intervals of running and how my legs would feel. Paul and I had originally
started out thinking we would run 2 mile intervals to get warmed up, then cut back to 1.5, then 1, then go down from there. That lasted all of the first mile, then we realized that all of the other teams (4 person and 3 person) were changing within ¼ mile down to even 100 yard dashes! We had to re-evaluate; were we making a mistake? Were we going to get too far behind? Was our strategy going to hurt us? So, 1 mile and switch. That lasted for a few miles each, then we cut back to 0.7 miles….and we were falling further and further behind the other teams, so we cut back to 0.6. We kept the other teams in our sight for a while, but we were falling back further and further in the field. I guess that’s to be expected considering we have 25 miles to run whereas the other teams have 12 to 17 miles per person and that’s it. Since we were at the back of the pack, the course marshalls were keeping tabs on us and kept checking in to see how we were doing. At one point, the race director (who has done this before) suggested we consider shortening our distances again since we were starting to gain on another team…so…we were down to 0.5 miles until the end of the race. I had run maybe 12 miles at one point where I was approaching highway 169 and I heard a bunch of rustling in the long grass to my left. I looked over and saw 5 white and 
black dogs running after me. I turned on the jets and I sprinted my ½ mile faster than I’ve ever run ½ mile before. I finished that one in 3 minutes to be exact. One of the dogs did get close enough to my shoe that I felt part of “him” on my heel – whether it was his teeth, jaw, paw…I do not know, but I felt him. I looked back and saw 3 more dogs running down the same path that these original 5 came from. What was it with dogs chasing me? I love dogs, so to get that kind of treatment from them, I was not happy! Oh well…it made me run faster at least! I do remember the clouds hovering over us for the first 30 miles of the run, then the Gods parted the clouds and the rain poured down on us! Poor Paul got dumped on the first downpour, but it hadn’t let up by the time it was my turn, so I ran through the rest of the downpour. Wearing rain jackets and water logged shoes, we were wearing down. With 10 miles left to go in each of us, I literally talked to 
my legs to see if they had it in them – they did respond back; maybe that was when Thom realized my mental stability was failing! At that point, water logged, cold, and drawing towards realizing the race is pretty insane, Thom was getting out of the vehicle to give me a muscle rub down in my legs to keep them loose. I am so thankful he did that. Getting in and out of the car every 4 minutes actually is harder than you think. It takes a lot of energy to do that when you’ve done it over 50 times, and your muscles start to cramp up when cold and seated. Thom was a life saver for my body at that point. The run itself was beautiful. I was privileged to see the sign of “Entering Superior National Forest” and “Now Leaving Superior 
National Forest”. While I was running through there, there was 2 deer that decided to graze on some grass in front of me and were very close to me. The terrain was pretty good, nothing too hilly, but it wasn’t extremely flat either – it was just right! My muscle spasms did set in around mile 23, but that was short lived when I changed my shoes for dry shoes (I had luckily just thrown those into my bag “just in case” – boy was I glad I had those!). The end was in sight and it was a good thing to see and feel. 7 hours later, Paul crossed our team over the finish line and we held onto 7th place for yet another day!Day 4 – Canoe 50 miles. Have you ever canoed 50 miles? I hadn’t. I had done 11 – that was the most I had canoed in one day to that point and that took Paul and me 3 hours to do at his cabin one Sunday morning. I had no idea what this was going to be like! The first 8 miles felt like forever and made me want to throw the towel in – or the paddle – whichever was closer to me. I wanted out. I felt like I had met my limit and I was done for. I actually thought “if we don’t make the 6 hour cut off, I’ll be OK with that”. Paul admitted to me later on in the day that he too was feeling that way at the ½ way mark. However, both of us didn’t want to tell the other person, and both of us didn’t want to be the quitter, so we shut up and paddled on! We get to the first portage – about 5 miles into the paddle – after we had crossed a windy and bumpy lake Vermillion. That paddle was hard, but the portage felt even harder. Getting in and out of the canoe was a task with the tired legs we had shaking beneath us. Not to mention the fact that now we have to carry this canoe?? Ugh! The mud, the muck, the obstacles on the path…it felt like forever and yet it was a “short” portage???!!! We trek on and finally put the boat back in the water. I was happy to be paddling again…for a few miles….then another portage. Ugh! Back out, lift the canoe up…hike along, up, over, through…back up a slippery bridge…over….ssslllliiiippppp, thud!....”ow”…. Yes, that was me slipping down the other side of the board that was supposed to be a bridge. “You’re ok” I tell myself. Paul asks how I am as he sees the canoe that has landed perfectly between my legs, my head just peeking over the back side of the canoe. I mumble a few words to myself and pick myself up, tell him “let’s go” and we do. Ugh! That hurt! Thank goodness for seeing the water again – put the canoe in…paddle paddle…portage!? Again? Ok, out we go…pick up the canoe…wait…Paul – can you put this on your shoulders? Whew! Paul carries the canoe on his shoulders, I take the stuff we had in the canoe – the water, the Gatorade, the food, the paddles, etc. We trek on for over a mile…the long portage that never seemed to end. Bugs everywhere (I hate bugs!) mud and muck to slop through and finally back to the water. The last portage before the ½ way mark….thank goodness we got to see Jodie and Thom at that ½ way mark! Thom had a turkey bagel sandwich for me and the encouraging words I needed to hear to keep me going. I was ready to be done, and I had realized that when I fell, I lost my sunglasses….of course, the sun was starting to shine now! After a few minutes of rest at that ½ check point, a few bites of food, the paddles went back into the water and the paddling actually became enjoyable. Was it the food? The soft words of encouragement Thom said? Or was it the fact that we were now at ½ of the canoe and we survived it and the second half was less “open” water and more closed? Whatever it was, perhaps the combination of all of it, I dug deep within myself and found the motivation to paddle as fast and as hard as I could until the last stroke was
made. Luckily we didn’t have to portage as much in the second half, and we did maintain a good speed in the water. Granted, we weren’t as fast as some of the teams that had been switching at the different portage spots, but we were holding our own. We could see that there was another team behind us, and our goal was not to let them pass us. We held that goal until the final portage where they did pass us --- not in water, but on land! Ugh! Oh well. During that second ½ of the canoe, it was sunny, it was rainy, and it was amazing! The bugs were awful (and I have a TON of bites on my legs to show for it), but the birds and wildlife was peaceful and beautiful. A couple of times, Paul and I had to remind ourselves that although we were racing, we had to take it all in and enjoy it. Who else really gets to see all of MN like we did this past week? The thunder was rolling and our paddles started going faster. We had to finish! We couldn’t stop now. Last portage and we were going to make it. The course marshall was there full of encouragement! We were going to finish before 7:00 PM! We had planned on it taking us 14 hours based on a best guess of how fast we could paddle before settling into the course, and we actually finished in 13:30. That put us in 10th place overall, and 1:11 behind the other 2 person team. Could we have done better? I bet we could have. I think the only place we could have really improved was paddling and in the portages. However, I think we enjoyed it a lot – I know I did, and within 24 hours I was telling Paul I’d do it all again! When we finished the canoe, it was a very awesome feeling. Being a 2 person team, riding 215 miles (due to construction), running 25, and canoeing 50 miles – that’s a lot to do and we beat 2 other 4 person teams! Wow! Putting it all in perspective, we did a helluva
job! What gave me tears in my eyes and goose bumps was the reception we received when we got to the finish line in the canoe. Those teams we had been playing leap frog with the previous 3 days --- they were all there, cheering us on until we passed the last buoy (which Paul and I decided to practice one last buoy turn as a funny joke :)). Everyone wanted us to tip the canoe and go into the water - apparently that is tradition. Well, we decided to get all of our stuff out of the canoe, then we jumped into the cold water - that was refreshing! When we were accepting our medals for completing the race, the cheering from the rest of the group was amazing. I can’t say enoug
h for the sportsmanship and amazing character of our “competition”. They gave us a standing ovation at the end for completing the course as a 2 person team. Only 1 other 2 person team completed it – a team of 2 men who definitely had more upper body strength than me!!! I can’t thank the race crew enough or the “competition” who I’ve actually struck up some new friendships with them.Paul and I apparently can’t get enough. We’ll be back to a canoe class on Monday night to thank the MN Canoe association for all they taught us and share our experience with them. I’m keeping the paddle I said I’d sell right after the race – why? Because I want to do this race again – and yes, as a 2 person team. While Paul is vowing to take a year off…I am working on another crazy guy to partner up with me and do it as a 2 person team with me. We’ll see…Thom needs to weigh in on it a bit too and see if he wants to crew again for us and if he minds the time I take to do the training….it’s quite a bit of a commitment.
Thanks to all who were supportive during the race. The encouraging posts on my facebook page, the emails and the messages sent were all very much appreciated. The “competition” – I hope to see them out there again.
A little nutty? Yep – that’s me, but I like it that way!
XO,KP
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wedding details, training, and the like...
Still here, yep I am!
I finally bought THE dress for the wedding. No details can be posted - Thom can't know about it, so you'll have to wait until post wedding to see those pics! For those that don't know - the wedding is a destination wedding in Miami, FL. We are boarding a cruise ship with our immediate families and that's about it. We are keeping it small and simple and we are focussing on the marriage - sounds cheesy, right? Well, it's true though that we want to be stress free and just enjoy the beginning of our lives together. Don't worry - we'll still have a party to celebrate! We'll do that in Minneapolis next summer some time. Invites will come out eventually.
Besides wedding stuff, I've been working on the kitchen and with mom and dad's help this past week while they visited, we made some awesome changes in the Living Room and Dining areas! We have yet to get the table top (backordered at Ikea), but when we do, it's going to be amazing in there. Counter tops will be installed July 22nd, and the windows are....well, where are the windows??? I don't know - they haven't called me, and when I called them, I got the "we told you 5-9 weeks!" I was apparently at week 5 upon asking. I guess I'll call again this week *sigh*. The joys of being the customer.
Training for the Border to Border race is going well. I'm getting a few rides in each week and managing some runs as well. This past week I did a 30 mile ride on Monday and happened to pass one of my good cycling buddies, Josh. As I turned around to catch him, we started to do sprints. LOVED it! I was dead afterwards because he is an awesome cyclist, but it was great to get that kind of a work out in. Tuesday I ran 9 miles, then skated in 2 bandy games. Wednesday was a meeting with the Ragnar Relay team and a 4.5 mile run! Tonight - well, just getting my hairs cut and enjoying a dinner with a great bud, Julie. This weekend, Thom and I are off to Brainerd area again to go to Paul's cabin so Paul and I can get 2 hours of paddling, 100 miles of cycling, and 15 miles of running in. This is our last big push before the race, so we have to make the most of it. The next 2 weeks will be short and fast runs and rides. Should be good times!
Hope all of you are doing well - I'll keep a general post coming and probably get some pictures of the changes to the house up soon - want to wait for the new counters so you get the full effect of the change ;)
Take care,
KP
I finally bought THE dress for the wedding. No details can be posted - Thom can't know about it, so you'll have to wait until post wedding to see those pics! For those that don't know - the wedding is a destination wedding in Miami, FL. We are boarding a cruise ship with our immediate families and that's about it. We are keeping it small and simple and we are focussing on the marriage - sounds cheesy, right? Well, it's true though that we want to be stress free and just enjoy the beginning of our lives together. Don't worry - we'll still have a party to celebrate! We'll do that in Minneapolis next summer some time. Invites will come out eventually.
Besides wedding stuff, I've been working on the kitchen and with mom and dad's help this past week while they visited, we made some awesome changes in the Living Room and Dining areas! We have yet to get the table top (backordered at Ikea), but when we do, it's going to be amazing in there. Counter tops will be installed July 22nd, and the windows are....well, where are the windows??? I don't know - they haven't called me, and when I called them, I got the "we told you 5-9 weeks!" I was apparently at week 5 upon asking. I guess I'll call again this week *sigh*. The joys of being the customer.
Training for the Border to Border race is going well. I'm getting a few rides in each week and managing some runs as well. This past week I did a 30 mile ride on Monday and happened to pass one of my good cycling buddies, Josh. As I turned around to catch him, we started to do sprints. LOVED it! I was dead afterwards because he is an awesome cyclist, but it was great to get that kind of a work out in. Tuesday I ran 9 miles, then skated in 2 bandy games. Wednesday was a meeting with the Ragnar Relay team and a 4.5 mile run! Tonight - well, just getting my hairs cut and enjoying a dinner with a great bud, Julie. This weekend, Thom and I are off to Brainerd area again to go to Paul's cabin so Paul and I can get 2 hours of paddling, 100 miles of cycling, and 15 miles of running in. This is our last big push before the race, so we have to make the most of it. The next 2 weeks will be short and fast runs and rides. Should be good times!
Hope all of you are doing well - I'll keep a general post coming and probably get some pictures of the changes to the house up soon - want to wait for the new counters so you get the full effect of the change ;)
Take care,
KP
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Still plugging along....
Nearly 4 weeks post marathon and I haven't written...wow am I slacking?!
I've been incredibly busy lately trying to get some things finalized for the wedding, train for the Border to Border race, and do some home improvements. It has been great that rink bandy has started up for the summer too on both the Women's team and the Men's team that I play for, so I'm getting on the ice two times a week on average now...and of course, I am truly enjoying every moment of that!
Just a quick recap of what we have been up to - the weekend after the marathon, I did some dress shopping and we went to Thom's nephew's graduation party which was a cool experience - it was at a park which was a mile from our house and I never knew it was there. I have since been back to run the trails in the park! After that it was a weekend with the Wynns at the quarterly family party, which was a nice relaxing weekend in Wisconsin at Thom's mom and dad's house. We always have a good time there. Then it was to Paul's cabin for a weekend of training! We rode 75 miles on Saturday (which we were both exhausted from), then we ran for 2 hours on Sunday and we were going to paddle in the canoe for 90 minutes, but we decided we would attend the 2 hour class on Wednesday evening that following week instead.
This past week was quite a busy week...and Wednesday was the peak of the action with a 4 mile run, 2 hours of canoe class, and a bandy game! What a great night! I think I played one of my better bandy games and I have to credit the "long warm up" to it :).
This weekend, we will be busy stripping wall paper from the dining room, removing the cabinet doors and hardware, and then repainting all of them. It will be a busy weekend, but it will be nice to have it all done very soon. We will be getting new windows this summer, so that too will be a nice change/update to the townhome. We definitely are keeping busy!
That's all I have for now - just a short update. Nothing too exciting, just more of the same!
Cheers!
KP
I've been incredibly busy lately trying to get some things finalized for the wedding, train for the Border to Border race, and do some home improvements. It has been great that rink bandy has started up for the summer too on both the Women's team and the Men's team that I play for, so I'm getting on the ice two times a week on average now...and of course, I am truly enjoying every moment of that!
Just a quick recap of what we have been up to - the weekend after the marathon, I did some dress shopping and we went to Thom's nephew's graduation party which was a cool experience - it was at a park which was a mile from our house and I never knew it was there. I have since been back to run the trails in the park! After that it was a weekend with the Wynns at the quarterly family party, which was a nice relaxing weekend in Wisconsin at Thom's mom and dad's house. We always have a good time there. Then it was to Paul's cabin for a weekend of training! We rode 75 miles on Saturday (which we were both exhausted from), then we ran for 2 hours on Sunday and we were going to paddle in the canoe for 90 minutes, but we decided we would attend the 2 hour class on Wednesday evening that following week instead.
This past week was quite a busy week...and Wednesday was the peak of the action with a 4 mile run, 2 hours of canoe class, and a bandy game! What a great night! I think I played one of my better bandy games and I have to credit the "long warm up" to it :).
This weekend, we will be busy stripping wall paper from the dining room, removing the cabinet doors and hardware, and then repainting all of them. It will be a busy weekend, but it will be nice to have it all done very soon. We will be getting new windows this summer, so that too will be a nice change/update to the townhome. We definitely are keeping busy!
That's all I have for now - just a short update. Nothing too exciting, just more of the same!
Cheers!
KP
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