Season started with a BANG!

Two weeks ago, Flash was out on her inaugural ride at the first Wednesday Chaires of the year. Late in the ride, I touch wheels with a rider in front of me and BAM! my body and the asphalt met. Flash now has a few scratches, ie - character but she handled the crash like a seasoned veteran.

I on the other hand took a hard blow to my hip and elbow and cracked my helmet. Thank god for helmets!

The day after wasn't too bad; however, on Friday morning I could barely move my neck and my hip was turning 50 shades of blue. I knew with time and a few days rest I would bounce back, I had the season opener at Red Hills Triathlon in one week, I had too!!

Ice and Ibuprofen were regular items during the next few days. I began to push my workouts a little harder and started to gain movement back in my neck. By Wednesday, 1 week post crash, I felt good enough to compete at Red Hills.

Red Hills Triathlon Post Race Report - RESULTS

Red Hill Triathlon
1/3 Mile Swim - 19.3 Mile Bike - 3.1 Mile Run
March 25, 2017
Maclay Gardens State Park

2017 marked the 9th time I had participated in Red Hills Triathlon. The first time was in 2006, for those who were there, that was the REALLY COLD year!

Going into the race I was excited but also nervous. My fitness felt great but I still had some lingering hip pain. I approached this race with excitement and caution as I am racing two half IRONMAN races within the next two months and I didn't want to risk further injury.

Swim: 9:01 - 2nd female and 12th overall.

I exited the water over a minute down from the female leader, Allison Born (7:46 - Fastest swim of the day among ALL participants, Male and Female!! You rock Ally!) and was ahead of Jillian and Melanie by 50-seconds. During the swim, I felt strong and was pushing a hard tempo but didn't let go of my form. The swim was smooth sailing until turning the last buoy. The last stretch involved a lot of maneuvering around the swimmers from prior waves.



T1: 1:07 - 4th female and 18th overall.

No issues to report. Got my wetsuit off halfway by time I got to my bike. Slipped out of the legs at my spot, put my helmet on, my bike shoes on, and go!

Bike: 55:50 - 2nd female and 26th overall.

My goal was to ride this right at threshold, which for me is 172 bpm. My average HR for this ride was 174 bpm. I don't think I could have squeezed out any extra seconds, anywhere. What I am most impressed about was being caught by Jillian on the second loop turning onto Ox Bottom. I knew she was going to ride the bike hard and come after me hard but I have to say, she really impressed me with her riding on that course! Once Jillian caught me, I knew she would have me on the run, the best thing I could do was try to put in as much ground between us as I could for the remaining 6 miles.

Comparing the following two data sets.

1: Before Jillian caught me - 20.5 mph
2: After Jillian caught me - 21.8 mph

Thanks Jillian for the kick in the butt those last 6 miles!

T2: 0:38 - 1st female and 7th overall.

Go, go, go!!!! I had to be as quick as possible to get as much time as I could on Jillian. I exited T2 with 59-second over Jillian and just over 3 minutes ahead of Melanie (3rd place female).

Run: 24:56 - 9th female and 62nd overall.

This is where my competitive juices ended and my caution kicked in. A few steps into the run my hip started talking to me. I listened to those voices and backed off. This run was one of the slowest 5K runs I have had off of a bike in many years. I am a little disappointing in my mental strength to block out my hip pain but I am also thankful as I am just over one week out from my half IRONMAN and my hip is about 80% better. There will always be another race, for me, pushing to my max at Red Hills just wasn't in the cards that day.

I am extremely happy with my 2nd place finish given my injuries from the crash. The girls behind me nearly ran me down. Way to go ladies! We have so many talented girls in this community! I love how much we inspire and push each other.

Here are the Top 5 female finish times: 33 seconds was all that separated 2nd-5th place.

Jillian Heddaeus - 1:29:11   30    9:51    1:10   24   55:50    0:49   22   21:33
Sandy Johnson - 1:31:35   12    9:01    1:07   26   55:55    0:38   62   24:56
Melanie Leitman - 1:31:50   29    9:51    0:44   42   58:35    0:43   28   21:59
Angie Milford - 1:31:54   35   10:12    1:04   28   56:42    1:03   36   22:54
Jamila Allen - 1:32:08   54   10:51    1:04   34   57:28    0:50   26   21:56





And there you have it, the 2017 triathlon season has begun! To top it off was Fireball and one kick ass after party!

St. Marks Duathlon Post Race Report 2017

Sunday, March 12, 2017 marked the beginning of a revitalized race now organized by Gulf Winds Triathletes. The St. Marks Du takes place in St. Marks, FL about 20 miles South of Tallahassee. The race consisted of a 5K Run, 20K Bike and 2.5K Run.

Very thankful of the reminders I was! Time sprung forward the night before the race, this meant less sleep and setting up for the race in the dark. Who sleeps the night before a race anyways?!?! I rolled into St. Marks greeted by a volunteer telling me where to park. From that point forward I was so impressed with the level of detail, thought and attention put into this race. The volunteers were FANTASTIC and organization was Top Notch! Watch out IRONMAN, GWTC is coming for you!

Duathlon to me = replace my favorite sport (the swim) with my least favorite sport (the run). I said I needed to work on my weakness, well this race allowed me to do just that.

Run #1 - 5K: 23:19

My strategy going into this first 5K was to hold back enough to allow myself to bike strong. Looking at the data, I may have held back a little too much. I had 3% of my time in Z1, 7% in Z2 and 55% in Z3 with only 35% in Z4. I should have been around 40% Z3 and 60% Z4. Oops. However, I got to the bike ready to charge.

Stats: 27th Overall, 5th Female
I exited T1 (transition one) 22 seconds down on the 4th place female and 2:23 down on Jillian (Female Lead).

Bike - 20K: 34:31

Zoom, zoom, zoom! I am happy to report I had the fastest female bike split of the day and the 7th overall fasted bike in the field. I was on a mission to catch the lead. It proved to be too hard of a challenge. I worked my tail off but so did Jillian! Jillian is a good friend of mine and I enjoy the friendly competition we have together. I pushed the pace going out hard, averaging 22.1 mph. On the return I was able to increase the pace slightly to 22.4 mph, thanks to a very brief tail wind. I nailed my HR goals, riding for 41% of the time in Z4 and 59% above threshold (Z5). On the final turn I saw Jillian ahead of me and at that point I knew it was her race to win. Jillian is a power house of a runner and I needed at least a minute lead on her off of the bike. I am very impressed with her fight and drive on the bike leg! 

Stats: 7th Overall bike, 1st Female bike

I entered T2 about 10 feet behind Jillian and we ran out onto the final leg of the 2.5K run together. That was fun! 

Run #2 - 2.5K: 11:59

Within a tenth of a mile Jillian had already started to pull away. I knew I had put in some time on the girls behind but it wasn't enough to lay off the pace, I had super star runner Jamila on my tail. And sure enough on the only stretch that had an out and back, there she was looking like a gazelle getting ready to pounce. Motivation can sure make you move. My pace going out on the run for the first .66 miles was 7:42/mi, then I saw Jamila and thought.....oh shit. My pace after I saw Jamila to the finish was 7:08/mi. Thanks Jamila for pushing me to my limit! I still didn't hit Z5 though, so I definitely have room for improvement. I just need to push through the pain.

Stats: 21st Overall (improvement of 6 places from Run #1), 5th Female

Two weeks until Red Hills Triathlon. I get to replace the first run with swimming and the bike is longer and in the hills! Two more interval track workouts before the race as well. Time to push the pain tolerance up on the run. 

A huge congrats to everyone who raced!! We have such an amazing community of athletes, volunteers, supporters! It is all of them that makes events like this so much fun!

CLICK HERE for complete Results. 

Flash

I am pleased to introduce you to Flash. I am mixing up my training this year and in that bowl is now a road bike. Triathlon is still my passion and my #1; however, I am looking to road riding to help strengthen my bike leg. And I just love to ride!

I started off the year with trail running and there I found a new love! This spring I will add road biking. The cycling community in Tallahassee has been great and allowed me to ride on Moonpie (my tribike) but I know with this beast of a machine, I will be able to do more riding and hopefully transfer some of the gains I will find on the bike to triathlon. If nothing else it will be pure fun on this beauty! 

I cannot thank Roger at Higher Ground enough for this sweet deal! I have bought three of my bikes from Higher Ground and never have I been disappointed. A superb shop full of experts and the friendliest guys and gals around! 2017 has been a year of change and growth, I look forward to what Flash will do for me later in the season.