Bad Karma

Almost exactly 1 month ago I was having problems with carbon monoxide in the house. I had the gas company come 2x, the heating company 2x and finally the plumber to find the problem. Why it took so many people to find the problem I do not know. Basically I just had to stay home that week and wait for them to come. When the plumber, John, finally arrived he was kind enough to inform me that my hot water heater was the problem. I was so happy that finally someone had the answer for me. Not only did he have the answer, but within 3 hours there was a new hot water heater installed and the carbon monoxide detector was finally reading 0. John had expressed an interest in my bikes (which I have way too many of). He wanted to know if I would sell him one. Really the only one that I would be willing to part with was very old and not worth much anyway. Since I was so grateful to him for having found and fixed my problem I thought it would be nice to give him the bike.

Fast Forward to Sunday when the new hot water heater blew her top. I called the plumbing company and they sent someone first thing Monday morning. It was not my friend John. Today they were back again with a new hot water heater, but still no John. When the guys were leaving they said to me "hey you know that guy you gave the bike to..." "well he broke his leg riding it in the parking lot". Well, boy do I feel bad now. Poor guy, I was doing something nice and it just turned out all wrong.

Blow Up!

Yes, that is exactly what my hot water heater did last night. No, it was not a full blast through the roof kind of thing but enough to spew water all over the floor, make a mess and halt my laundry process. Now instead of the calm Monday (writing schedules) I had intended I have spent the majority of the morning watching the plumber. I don't know why I felt the need to watch what they were doing. It kind of fascinated me to watch as they pulled on the electric cord and water came out, or maybe the fact that he was standing in a puddle of water with his work boots on that had previously had red mud all over them and then he was actually going to walk on my carpet! Don't worry I made him clean his feet! :o) Anyway - the plumbers love me. They were just here last month for another emergency call. We are all on a first name basis...I will be seeing more of them (hopefully) when they come back to put in yet another new hot water heater tonight (hopefully).

Parris Island Sprint Tri

Yesterday morning I woke up to the sound of birds, no wind howling, no rain, no cold front. It was going to be a beautiful day AND it was time to race. I admit I did not go into this race feeling very confident but every year I have to start somewhere. I kept telling myself that it is March and that I should not be peaking - which is oh so true, but there is always that racer in me that wants to give it everything I have got. I was looking forward to the race because I knew that for 1 hour I would be totally focused and all the other things my brain usually wanders to would disappear because of my intense concentration. The start of the race came quickly. I was not as organized as I usually am, I was out of my routine and had forgotten this or that. I made it to the pool and actually swam a lap or two. I was not really warmed up but for me it was as good as it was going to get. The race started and I was a little more relaxed than I should have been. Jamie Church (fellow coach) passed me in the pool and I hung on to his feet. Thanks Jamie! Once out on the bike Thea, new comer to the area passed me like I was standing still. Holy cow is that girl strong! I tried to pick up the pace a little after that but 24 mph is a little out of my league at this point in the year. Another few miles into it another girl passed me going just as fast! This time I was warmed up and I hung with her for a few miles before my legs screamed for mercy. My cadence was way too low. Yes, I actually saw 76 for my cadence. At this point my mind took over and I shifted down and got my cadence back up where it belonged, or at least closer to it. From a coaching standpoint I know I was bad on the bike. That is what is good about an early race, it allows you to see what you need to work on. Towards the end of the bike I actually caught up to Tracy D. which is rare and then I was overtaken by Gabi close to transition. We ran the first mile back and forth. Neither one of us is in the best shape right now but we are both runners and we were going to fight it out. I surged as many times as I could, ran on her shoulder, held my breath to make it seem like I was not running very hard - yeah, for 1 mile I raced. Finally we had a little gap and she was behind me. Tracy came flying past me but at this point but my legs were done. Cooked from the bike and then my 1 mile race with Gabi. Scott who was going out on his bike yelled to me "if you are not hurting, you are not running hard enough" so I actually did run a little harder for a moment. Thanks Scott! In the end I missed 3rd by 20-30 seconds. Thea's amazing bike split and solid race landed her in front of me, which is ok for now...but I can't wait to train some more and race again!

Once my race was over I was back out on the course until the last person had finished. I proudly watched many that I coach have awesome races. Pam out biked me, but more impressive than that was that she looked like a runner starting AND finishing the run. Suzanne really did run well for the M&M's with a PR for her 5K. Jim looked amazing out on the run course and Chris Dillard PRd by 7 min! Some hardware was collected by the unassuming Malone Coaching group and everyone was more motivated than ever to train hard! Thank you all for making my job so much fun!

Race Season is here!

In the last 2 weeks I have attempted to spend more time training and less time at the computer but honestly when I add it all up the computer still wins. Either way tomorrow is the first race of the season and ready or not I will be racing. It will be good motivation for the training in the weeks ahead. The beauty of coaching is that many of the athletes I work with are ready for this race and they are going to set some PR's (personal records for those of you who are non-racers). They are going accomplish a lot more than I ever could have by myself and in many ways I enjoy watching them achieve their goals and have great races more than I do racing myself. My motivation to finish fast is so that I can go back out on the course and cheer, encourage, coach when needed. I am going to get M&M's today at the store to dangle in front of one of my favorite athletes who will do anything for M&M's. Hopefully this will tactic will make her smile and relax enough to have the race that she deserves for all the training she has done. Some, ok most, of the people I coach, have become friends as well. I respect their drive and enthusiasm for the sport so at a race like this where our starting times are all staggered I can truly enjoy watching everyone. Those who have been with me for years who are just getting to the level where they want to be, racing to their full capacity. Those who are new to the sport and excited about everything they learn and every finish line they cross.

For me this year marks my 21st year of racing and 5th year of coaching. This sport has come along way since my first pair of fluorescent aero bars that I owned!

I Graduated from Barnett Bicycle Institute!

We all passed the bike mechanic class and officially graduated last Friday. Now with that said I now only know just how much I don't know about bikes. I am going to have to practice on my old bike before I even attempt to touch my good bike. As a side note this class had the largest number of women ever! Cat, the girl in the red and black was the instructor, which means there were still only 3 women in this class. John Barnett, the guy with the beard on the left is the founder and genius behind the school. He has given an amazing amount of thought to each and every procedure AND written it all down. If they can make a bike mechanic out of me then anyone can do it!

Considering that I was in class for 2 weeks it went really fast. I learned a lot, explored a new city and made some new friends from all over the country.

My trail run in the snow...

Pike's Peak - my view during my morning runs

Last Wednesday morning I was lucky enough to wake up to a few inches of powdery snow. I honestly could not get ready fast enough. I was going to get to go on a snowy mountain run first thing in the morning. I can’t think of a better way to start the day! I was out the door by 6:15 and on the trails a few minutes later. There were no other humans at the park but according to all the foot prints in the snow there were a lot of animal tracks. I inspected a few that looked like a mid size dog, maybe large cat? Then there were others that were interesting because the front two feet spread out but the hind feet stayed together. I am pretty sure those were from a bunny. After a mile or so I was getting more comfortable but still thinking about what kinds of animals they probably have there in the mountains. Just at that moment I see a big bushy tail disappear behind a tree. I scream and stop dead in my tracks. Oh my god – what was that?!? I take a step towards it to inspect….Ah yes, it was a terribly scary squirrel. So now I have that out of my system I can concentrate on my run again. I run all the way to the back of the park to the end of the “official” trails and decide that the single track up the side of the mountain looks like some fun. I take off and start winding up the mountain. If I had realized that the single track was all uphill I might not have been so excited about it. At some point I start to think about the fact that I am now pretty far out in the woods, very alone, in an area that I don’t know. This is not a good combination. I actually turn around to back track, plus I don’t want to be late for class. Up until this point on the single track I have not seen any animal tracks. When I turn to go back I notice HUGE paw prints have followed me! I don’t see who they belong to but I am terrified. I bet it is a Cougar, I know they have them here. I try to keep myself calm but the paw prints are most certainly in my shoe tracks. I stop to inspect them (or allow the beast to catch me). Upon careful inspection I see that the paw prints look strange. They look exactly like the heel of my shoe with some snow stuck in it and indeed that is what they were – North Face trail shoes with the heel filled with some snow! At this point I smiled to myself ran back to the trail head and laughed about it for at least another 20 min of beautiful run.