Living The Tri Life!: Moving

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

What a year! 2018

It’s been over a year since my triathlon retirement as well as my last blog post. I thought I would catch you up on what has been happening.

We moved from Tuscaloosa to Covington, Louisiana about this time last year. The actual move was quite a fiasco with our household belongings not getting delivered for weeks after we moved into the house we bought. We lived with a couple stadium chairs and a blow-up air mattress. Colonial Movers and Alvarez Moving subcontractors were a nightmare. Buyer beware.

I started working at Varsity Sports in Mandeville just after the first of the year. Varsity Sports is a running specialty store, so I am right at home selling and fitting running shoes. Fitting in to the staff took a little bit of adjustment but now it feels like family.

In February we said goodbye to our Golden Retriever, Phoenix. We miss that sweet soul every day. This will be the first Christmas without our boy, and his presence is truly missed. His stocking is hung, and the red birds visit us daily to say hi. We had a cardinal build a nest and hatch an egg in a hanging fern on our front porch in the spring, another sign that Phoenix is still here. Bogey is 10 now and lively as ever! Someday soon we want to get another puppy, hopefully also from Halo Goldens (where Phoenix and Bogey were born.)

In the spring I started coaching Master’s swim at the Pelican Athletic Club. The group was very receptive to my practices, which I run more like age group workouts. Lots of intervals and new lingo for many of the swimmers/triathletes to learn. I’ve had a couple Challenge swims, one was a 5,000 yard Saturday workout. And we did a two-day 10,000 yard challenge with 4,000 on Friday and followed up the next day with a 6,000 yard workout! I love how they have embraced the challenges. In December we are having another one – it will be another 5k swim based on the 12 Days of Christmas! I have really enjoyed working with some of the swimmers in the program. They work hard and appreciate the technique corrections and pointers and are good people too. Bonus!

I’ve done a few races, even though I haven’t been running this year very much. I was pleased with the results!

Crescent City Classic 10K

Crescent City Classic 10K is one of the oldest races in the country. Originating in 1979, it has been going on for 40 years! It draws over 20,000 people every year. I placed 5th in my age group and averaged 8:08 miles – nothing to complain about there! Top 500 men and women get a commemorative CCC poster, I was running for a poster for sure!

Varsity Sports Mandeville group at The Power Mile!

Power Mile Trophy!!

Then came The Power Mile. This race was entered also at the last minute. I had a bad cold which may have been walking pneumonia for a month and had a total of 22 miles of running in the month prior to the race. “The Power Mile Road Race is the 2018 RRCA Louisiana One Mile State Championship, a chip-timed road race on a USATF certified course in Lakeview, New Orleans.” The award for the Power Mile is one of the most coveted awards in NOLA, this cool metal gorilla that you literally could use to kill someone, that thing is solid. I ran a 7:07, won Grand Masters Female and took one of them home!

After that was the Pelican Athletic Club Masters Swim Meet. I swam 6 events in this quick running morning meet. I remember getting up on the blocks for the 100 free after just have swum the 50 fly. My arms were still shaking, and I knew it wasn’t going to be a great swim. But I had a good time at the meet. I did add time to everything except the 100 back. I’ve changed my stroke after reading some good tips and it resulted in almost a 2 second cut in time.

Turkey Trot!

Fun Pom Pom hat instead of a tshirt!

I did one more race in 2018, another last-minute decision. The Tammany Turkey Trot here on the North Shore (vs. The South Shore, a.k.a. New Orleans) held its inaugural race this year. There was a 5 mile and a 5k. I chose the 5 mile and again without very many miles under my belt ran a pretty decent race. The course was a little short, but I managed 8:09 miles and placed 2nd in the Masters Female category. Not to shabby for almost 58 years old! The race benefited the Northshore Food Bank and runners were encouraged to bring donations – over 1300 pounds of food was donated! Nice success and a great turnout for a first-time race.

I've missed this girl! #menteementor

My Mentee Margaret and Averi came to New Orleans a couple months ago. The three of us did IM Florida together last year. Averi was racing the NOLA 70.3 and they came to see me at Varsity and I went over, and Margaret and I cheered her on in her race! I miss those girls and my Tuscaloosa friends. I’ve met a couple of quality women here and hope to do some more cycling with them next year. I’ve missed being on the bike and hope to get out and ride more next year.

I’ve been thinking about my race calendar for 2019, and I think I might just have to dust off the tribike and race the Crawfishman triathlon! I’ve done a lot of swimming this year, now just need to amp up the run and get on the bike!

Cheers to 2019!

Cheers to a decent 2018, and hope for an even better 2019! I am planning on racing on January 1st at the Iceman Dip & Dash at Franco's! It's a 2 mile run, a 110 yard swim across the Tchefuncte River, and a 2 mile run back to Francos... yes I must be crazy! I've wanted to get involved in the Swim/Run Otillo endurance events, I guess this will be a way to try it out in a very small scale!

I got accepted as an ambassador for Headsweats (my favorite hats and visors), and I think I will get to represent SBRSports, Inc again also!!

Girls Ride!

Swimmer Girls at the Turkey Trot!

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Tri Race Recap 2015

What a year...

Bunch of adventures this year. I had a pretty decent triathlon season. Seemed like a lot of 5th overall finishes. Here is a brief recap:

April - WikiWiki Man. 12th Overall Female, 1st AG. Totally sub-par performance in my first race of the season. I had a really bad upper respiratory infection and my training had been pretty pathetic. Even though the doc didn't test for it, I'm pretty sure it was walking pneumonia (Bill had it.) Oh well, brush it off and move on.

Wiki Wiki!

June - Indian Creek Tri. 5th Overall Female, 1st Grandmasters. Felt better at this race, it was supposed to be a trail run, but there had been so much rain in the days leading up to the race that it was changed back to the same run as prior years. Had a really good swim, 4th fastest female swim!

August - River Cities Tri. 11th Overall Female, 1st Grandmasters. My all time favorite race. Exactly the same overall place as the year before... This was the 35th anniversary for RC, and Dave Scott was in town for the race. I went to his clinic on Friday morning - all kinds of great information. One of the best parts for me was the swim portion of the clinic where I found out that what I teach/preach was pretty spot on with what he told us. Great little core session where I knew/discovered how out of shape I am in that respect. All of us that participated were sore for the race in our glutes, hamstrings, and abs, probably didn't hurt my race, but it may have.

River Cities.

August - Lake DeGray Tri. 5th Overall Female, 1st Masters. Talk about hilly! Bill and I went up for this race, brought the kayak. Bill cruised in the water during the swim and even helped out a couple swimmers that needed a little break. I had the 3rd fastest women's swim split, only being beat by a couple teenagers who were swimmers! Only two men beat my swim time, too. During the summer months I swam with the COSST Varsity kids - it made a nice difference in my swim. The bike course was super hilly, and the run started up a hill. Definitely the most challenging course that I've done in a long time, maybe ever.

Uphill start, downhill finish at DeGray Lake.

September - Rose City Tri. 5th Overall Female, 1st Masters. My second time to do this race, it was good to know the bike course a little better than last year. Lots of quick up and downhills, and turns out of the hills. Decent race, nothing spectacular. My run wasn't anywhere near what I did last year. I could tell that this entire season just didn't have the snap as last year when I was prepping for Worlds. That's okay, I think this next year will be better. The best part of this race was that it is in Tyler, TX. Home of Cobb Cycling, and the Cobb Mobb. Lots of teammates out for this one, it makes a race so much better when you get to see people you know all over the course. We were out in force!

*So one funny thing that happened at this race... I was goofing around in the water before my wave started. Leaped up like a dolphin and lost my goggles... my wave started in just a couple minutes. Debated for a moment about just swimming without them, and then thought better of that. Raced out of the water, sprinted to my transition bag where I keep a spare pair of goggles (I always have one smoke pair, and one clear pair in my bag to use depending on the weather. Cloudy - clear. Sunny - smoke). People got out of the way quickly as I blew by them to my bag. So... tip of the post - keep spare goggles, just in case, in your transition bag. And put it at the edge of the transition area so you can access it even after the race has started!)

Bill captured this picture - the move that lost my goggles!

Cobb Mobb out in force at Rose City!

I had one more race scheduled for September, the Meat Pie Tri. Last year was the fiasco of not making a turn on the bike course, getting a flat, and having to hitch back to transition. I was hoping for a redemption race but something major came up.

Big time major. We moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama at the end of September. It's been quite a new transition. So far things are going okay. I joined the Druid City Bike Club and have been on a few of their rides. For the most part there are some nice people in the group, and I've been lucky enough to meet the "core" group, who are welcoming and friendly. I would like to get a new road bike, it is so hilly here!

First ride with the DRBC.

I've been swimming at the University, they have an amazing pool. I met one of the Masters Swim Coaches, Ed Reed. He's been really nice, and I've even done a few workouts with him when he happened to be at the pool at the same time. I'm going to join the Crimson Tide Masters, as a matter of fact, I'm going to my first practice with them tomorrow morning.

Started working at the local run specialty store, Wagner's RunWalk a couple weeks ago. It's a lot smaller than Sportspectrum, but the other employees have been really great, and it's good to continue working in this field. I really love helping the runners that come in for shoes. I do have to say, the training that I got working at Sportspectrum has made this transition really easy.

Ran a local Turkey Trot earlier in the month. Wagner's puts on 2 mile race in the same shopping center where the store is located. I won the women's division. Went out a too hard with the first mile at a 7:20, but managed to hold on for the win. That was definitely a fun way to start off the racing scene here. Your entry also paid for your annual Tuscaloosa Track Club membership - bonus!

1st Overall Female!

I've already signed up for 5 triathlons for next year! Need that carrot of motivation to keep me honest over the winter. Here is my 2016 Schedule so far:

May 7 - Lake Guntersville, Guntersville, AL.

May 21 - Mountain Lakes Tri, Guntersville, AL.

June 11 - Buster Britton Tri, Pelham, AL.

July 9 - Sunfish Tri, Meridian, MS.

July 16 - Capital of Dreams Tri, Montgomery AL.

July 24 - Music City Tri, Nashville TN.

August 7 - River Cities Tri, Shreveport, AL.

Maybe I will see some of you at these new (for me) races!