Follow The Yellow Brick Road.....

After 3 races in 2 weeks, plus work, organizing a clinic, meeting other deadlines for articles, performing gait annals and training clients I feel like one of those flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz.... or maybe like Dorothy as she just got blown out of the tornado. There have been moments I wish I could just click my ruby shoes to get the job done, but that might just mean that everything that is going so well right is just a dream. 

At times over the past few weeks, I have felt a little like the scarecrow who needs a brain because with taking on so many projects, during this time of year which is so busy …I have wondered what was I thinking, and did I even have a brain? Other times I have felt like the cowardly lion wanting to run and hide (i.e. my adventure with the K Swiss team on my rented bike), or jumping into the fast lane at masters with Adam, Kelly, and Keith. As for the tin man, I have only felt like him after the Elgin Fox trot and a few other hard workouts; like I needed my joints oiled and I might have been making a few creaking sounds as I walked around. He was in search of a heart, I think mine is there.

I have been looking forward to KS 70.3 since last year. I love this race, and the challenging course. It is so much more fun to have hills! And um, there happen to be just a few in Vegas. At New Orleans my goal was to qualify for Vegas. I wanted to get it early so I could have less pressure the rest of the summer. With that accomplished, my goal in KS was to be aggressive, take more risks, without the pressure to qualify, plus I wanted to win my AG. So we loaded up and drove down to Friday afternoon with our good friend Danny Delgado. Listening to disco, and 90’s hard rock music helped us to make the 8 hr drive go by fast.

The course is out in a state park which makes for a nice race, but it does have its share of logistical challenges making the pre race ordeal quite a process. We got through it as quickly as we could, checked in our bikes and covered them with bags because huge thunderstorms were predicted. The radar looked like a bomb was going to explode over Lawrence right at 7 am. I was thinking great another duathlon, but race morning the storms stayed off in the distance and the bikes stayed dry.

Swim: I had a great start this time; no goggles getting kicked off like at Leon’s, and made it to the first buoy with the leaders. But then it got ugly. The wind was blowing across the lake making a huge chop, making the swim challenging too. It was really hard to get a normal rhythm going. I have been working on my swim trying to get it back to where it used to be, but you sure wouldn’t know it by that performance! I was so glad to finally hit land; I sprinted through transition and was so happy to be on my bike.

Bike: I immediately felt great even going up and down the steep rollers heading out of the park. I didn’t think about time, power etc. I attacked the hills, and passed several girls in my AG pretty quickly. I was having a great ride, but not completely sure where I stood in the AG but tried to just keep riding strong. At about mile 45 Adam passed me going so fast. He started like 34 min behind me, and I had made a bet with him that he wouldn’t catch me. Ha Ha, there was a day that might have been enough time, to hold him off but he has simply just gotten too fast.

Run: I love this run. 2 loops through a campground with 3 / turnarounds to see where you are, and 1 big hill to cover twice. I felt great right away, tried to get it up to pace and keep it there through the hills and turns. At about mile 3.5 I passed the girl who won the AG last year. I was pretty sure at that point I was in 1st, but couldn’t tell who was coming from behind. So I just kept running strong. I felt good until about 4 miles left and then it started to get painful. My quads were feeling those hills from the bike, but my energy was good and I just kept pushing. 1 girl passed from my AG passed me on the run at about mile 7. She was flying, and left me in the dust pretty quickly. My friend Jen Harrison informed me she had the fastest AG women’s marathon in Kona a few years ago. I can see why!

I finished 2nd in AG with 8th fastest swim, 2nd fastest bike and 2nd fastest run in my AG. A solid second. And, what can I say about Adam, other than he totally crushed my bet. I lost big time. If you are looking here for any secrets on his training and why he keeps getting faster, I can only say a massive amount of hard work!  And now he has a new friend to play with. Courtney Ogden is here from AUS staying with us now. Check him out here: www.courtneyogden.com He is super fast, has a really cool accent and already fixed our garage door! I warned the neighbors there will be more boys running in spandex around the neighborhood. Who would have thought Elburn would be a triathlon headquarters!