We made it to Kentucky

We made it to Kentucky on Thursday. The ride was long and we were ready to get out of the car! I stressed the whole time about my bike flying off my car or breaking in route-I decided that I'm having shipped back and not going to worry about it on the way back!

The Ironman events have taken up most our time over the past few days. The check in process was crazy! You first had to get weight/BMI tested, then you had to go five other booths to get your wrist band, go through all the stuff in your packet, verify name spelling, address, emergency contacts, medical alerts, hotel information, travel information, etc. The whole process took 30 minutes without a line! We then made ourselves into the retail stuff man-you need to bring mega spending money! I bought a couple new outfits, a ironman visor, bag, bottle holder, sunscreen, and of course more CO2 cartridges.

I have ran into some people from Minnesota, but not many (there are countries represented with more people than Minnesotan's)

Yesterday, I attended the open water swim practice in the river. The swim wasn't bad. The water is really warm-83 degrees. Following the swim, I quickly showered and made it back to the Galt House for the mandatory athlete meeting that took about an hour. We then spent the couple hours driving the bike route. I was a little nervous about the bike route as everyone was telling me that the route was nonstop hills-there are some big hill climbs but I think the bike route will be okay (Grandma gears here I come).

After driving the route I brought my bike in for a check up and that should be ready today by 11:00 in time to check it in for the race tomorrow. We ended up waiting line for a long time-as to be expected. We then had the Welcome dinner which was really cool! They had videos, a band, and a great speaker from Ironman.

We finished the night by walking down to the transition area and swim start. I can't believe it-I got a prime spot in the transition area! An end spot near the bike out!

Today, the plan is to relax! I will probably go for a short run just to loosen up. I have to pick up my bike and drop off all my gear.

I am bib #788.

We made it to Bloomington, Illinois

I got up at 3:00am to pack the car and finish up any last minute touches. Okay 3:00 am is when I got my butt out of bed-I didn't sleep a wink last night as thought about my travels to Louisville.

We finally got on the road by 5:00 am. There was little patches of rain and some wind. My eyes were glued to my bike and I kept yelling at my dad to slow down or pass the stupid trucks.

We stopped a few times to fill up and walk the dogs. It took Shadow a little time to settle down in the car-I don't know if it was the two hours of riding on my lap or the benadryl that I gave her.

The car ride down to here was pretty uneventful; lots of construction and a few wrong turns (thanks to mapquest). We pulled in about 2:00 pm. Shortly after arriving I headed out for my run. The weather here is pretty warm and humid. I ended up doing a 4.3 mile run.

We went to Olive Garden for dinner and then walked around taking some pictures.

A trip down memory lane and how I got to this point

St. Croix Triathlon 2001
This was my first triathlon and the first time I rode my Lemond!
Distances were: 1/3 mile swim (9:11), 10 mile bike (40:54), and 4 mile run (50:05); transition times were not separated from swim or bike. I finished 18th-not too shabby for my first tri.

The following couple of years I competed in only a few triathlons but many running races.

Lifetime Fitness Triathlon 2005


The weather was really hot and a lady passed out in front of me on the run, so I stopped and helped her until the ambulance arrived. I had time constraints as I needed to be at the Sedey wedding in Shakopee at 1 pm.

Northwoods Triathlon 2005


We stayed at the Christenson family cabin in Nevis the night before the race. I remember making Matt really mad because I wanted to get to the race early for a good spot in the transition area. The swim was really chilly and the bike wasn't any better. They didn't have enough volunteers at the race so my parents ended up helping out in the transition. Matt and I bet a round of beer in who would come in first-I lost by 28 seconds. Matt placed 3rd in his age group-I didn't place:(

Square Lake Sprint Triathlon 2005



I had competed in this triathlon with co-workers. I don't remember my stats, however I do remember the horrible blisters on my feet and cursing the hills on the bike.


Minneman Triathlon 2006


Amy (my sister in-law) and I did this triathlon together. There was a rain delay for about a hour and they almost made it a duathlon because of the lightning. Amy's dad came out to watch us compete. We didn't stay for the awards but I received a check in the mail for $100.

Minneman Triathlon 2007


This is was when I became a little more serious about triathlon. I had PR at this race.

Chisago Lakes Sprint Triathlon 2007


The race went well up until I fell twice on the run! My elbow was scraped and I had road rash down the side of my leg. I still had a PR from the previous years race.

Gear West Duathlon 2008


This was the second time I had competed in this race-I had a PR. This was first race that had the new bike. The day was cold; 50's at the start. I won a pair of New Balance shoes from Gear West.

Liberty 1/2 Ironman 2008


My first 1/2 Ironman distance race. I finished this race with a time of 5:53. I had horrible blisters-that actually bled through my shoes. The day was extremely windy-windy enough to blow a lady off her bike. The course was hilly.

Lifetime Fitness Triathlon Sprint 2008


A PR and a 6th place finish. I was thrilled to see that I finished 3rd on the bike keeping a pace of 19.8 mph. The day was really windy.


Chisago Lakes 1/2 Ironman Relay


This was my first triathlon relay. We all had awesome split but got 4th place (one place from the metal stand). I ran a 1/2 marathon time of 1:49.55-only about 4 hundredths off my 1/2 marathon PR and I did it without tapering!


I have competed in many more tri's but these were the only pictures that I could find.

Today, I did my last bike ride before heading to Kentucky and I will be going to do my last pool swim tonight. I can't believe we are leaving tomorrow at 5 am. Wish me luck and you can follow me at: ironmanlive.com

Kentucky Here I Come!

Over the past couple of days I have been a mess! ONE LONG PANIC ATTACK! I managed to get through the busy week at work without being mandated-I thought for sure one day but possibly everyday! My last day of work was Thursday night and since then I have had a hard controlling my time. TOO much time on my hands! Friday I was going to meet up with Andrea (another girl that will be competing in her first Ironman in Louisville as well) for a bike and run, but it ended up being way to windy outside. Afraid of crashing my bike a week before the Ironman just to get in another bike ride in the extreme wind conditions I decided wasn't worth it! Instead my workout consisted of a 1400 yard swim and a 4.1 mile run (I tried my new running shoes out).

Last week I had been checking over my run shoes and notice how bad shape they were in, so I made my way down to Run N Fun for a new pair and after a long hard decision I decided to try a different pair of Saucony's-since my last three pairs have only lasted about 100 miles before I was running in the foam. After running in the new shoes and not loving the feel, I decided that I will run in my least worn pair of Hurricanes instead (I'm glad that I tried them before the race, which is not my norm).

Saturday, I skipped my workout!!!! I haven't taken many days off since signing up for the Ironman a year ago, so this was weird for me! I actually had attempted to do my workout and try out my new bike rack that now sits on the top of my car. I got my bike on the car and off I went-first realizing that I forgot my helmet and sunglasses so I turned around and got them. Attempt number 2, I started driving down the road and the wind was super strong again I started to panic that my bike was going to fly off the top of the car, I turned around for the second time, took my bike of my car and hung it back in the garage. After returning home from my second workout attempt, I started to research bike racks and the best, most secure kinds-according to the forums talking about biking/triathlons the rooftop racks were voted to be the most secure and least damaging to the bike.

To contribute to my worries, I started wondering if my bike rides had enough hills and I'm going to die on the swim, etc.... So copied and pasted the elevation map from Louisville next to the Liberty 1/2 Ironman course elevation map to compare and study. I now know that there is a MAJOR HILL at mile around mile 12 and there are four more good climbs similiar in elevation upgrades as the hills on the Liberty course and the last twelve or so miles are down hill.

Sunday, after only getting about 3 hours of sleep because of the constant panicing about my upcoming race and travel I racked my bike up on top of the car and headed out for a ride on the Liberty course. I ended up doing a 12 mile bike ride and a 12 minute run. I felt really strong on the hills and loose on the run, but man I was froze my touche off-when I got back and watched the news I think they had said it was 56 degrees! That just made me think of camp-we used to sing a camp song called La Touche-hee hee.



Today, was another day off-a scheduled one! Guess what, yesterday, my tire light came on in my car again-as I was checking the pressure in my wheels I noticed that my front passanger side wheel had a screw in it-just my luck I thought! Luckily, when I brought my car into the shop the guy brought the screw in and told me that it just got wedged in the groove and that because my tires were new and the screw was short enough it didn't puncture the tire-thank god! Following my run to the Discount Tire, I stopped at my parents house to visit and give Owen some lessons on swimming backstroke and breastroke-watch out he is going to be the next Micheal Phelps! I spent the rest of day on packing and cleaning my house. This evening I met for a send off dinner with Jen R., Cindy, and Jen M. I had a blast as were talking our training, races, flat tires, and of course Ironman Madison 2009. Cindy sent me with a gift of extra tubes, CO2 cartridges, sunscreen, some lavender bath soaps, and nutrition stuff. Jen sent me with a couple of signs she made for me.

I can't wait only one more day before we hit the road!!!!!

Ironman Louisville is only 10 days away! I can't believe how fast this past year has gone by.

I have started to taper over the past week with only a slight decrease in training time-11 hours of training time for the week.

After watching some you tube videos on the Louisville course, my nerves skyrocketed!

Monday, I did a 21.5 mile bike ride on the Liberty 1/2 Ironman course-I want to be as comfortable as possible with large hill climbs and I hope that riding this route will help. Following my ride I met with run club for a 5.5 mile run.

Tuesday, I finally made my way to Run N Fun to get a new pair of much needed running shoes. My workout for Tuesday consisted of a 2200 yard swim focusing on maintaining good form.

Wednesday, I did a run at the Dam with Sarah from run club. She is training to run her second marathon. We ended up doing 7 mile run. Some sad news though-I had to bring Shadow into the vet Wednesday morning because she hurt her paw during Tuesday's walk. She had some severe swelling in one of her toes (either a bad sprain or possible fracture:() She got a shot of cortizone/pencillin and was put on pain killers for a week. She seemed to be doing a lot better by evening-but anyone that has met this hyper pooch would know that she has a hard time taking a rest (I guess we have something in common).

Today, I got caught in the rain! I went out to bike the hills again on the Liberty Tri course again. I ended up getting in 11.5 miles and a lot of hill climbs. It was super windy today too-22 mph wind gusts. I fought the cross wind for the enitire ride and it was even a little scary at times as staying upright was difficult. I feel that these rides are good practice as I need to be prepared for all weather conditions because who knows what raceday will bring. I felt great on the hills climbs today. During the ride, I was putting together my strategy for the ride portion of the Ironman-if I stick to the plan I know that I will feel great on the ride.

Tonight is my last night of work until Sept. 8. By the time I return to work I will be an Ironman and signed up for my second one.

I can't believe that I registered for Ironman Louisville almost one year ago! Only a couple more weeks until raceday!

Friday, I did a 14.4 mile run. The run was hard and I did have some stomach issues the first 6 miles of the run. I ended up doing Galloway 5 and 1's for about 3 miles of the run. The last eight miles were fabulous! I finished up my run with a cooldown of 600 yards in the pool.

Saturday, I did a 13.85 bike ride starting from Baker's Park. I felt that I needed to get another ride in that contained some larger hill climbs.

Today, After watching Jen and Cindy kick some butt at the St. Paul Triathlon, I headed to the pool. I did a 2200 yard swim. I felt really strong in the water!

I start to taper next week-I can't believe it!

Wednesday's workout was another confidence booster! I did a 4000 yard swim; a distance slightly longer than what I will be swimming during the Ironman. From reading blogs entries and websites comments, my pool swim should be more difficult than than the swim raceday-I will have the current with me during the ironman for the majority of the swim. Just knowing that I can get through the distance is the confidence booster.

When swimming competitively back in the day a bump week workout consisted of 4000 yards but then I would be done with my workout for the day. For the past couple of weeks I will have done a swim workout of between 3500 and 4000 yards plus another 1+ of running or biking.

I finished up my workout yesterday with a 5.26 mile run at the Dam.

Today, I started my day off with a 50 mile ride starting in White Bear and headed out to the Stillwater/ Marine area. I wanted to get one last good hill ride before the Ironman. I did good climbing today during this ride-I just hope its enough for the hilly Louisville course. I am amazed by the ease of doing 50 miles has become since the beginning of this training.

I finished my workout today with a 3 mile run with Shadow. Shadow was really happy to get out and run-the last time she went running with me Shadow torn one of her pads on the left front paw.

Rest Day NOT.....For those who know me well, know that I can't take a rest day very well. Yesterday was suppose to be a rest day, however I met up with Run Club and went for a easy 5.6 mile run. It was nice to get out an run in 70 degree weather again!

Today, I went for a 14.55 mile bike ride around Blaine. The bike ride consisted of some surges followed by an easy recovery.

Taper starts next week! Will I be able to taper well? You know I can't sit still!

Friday was Olympic day! Go USA!

Friday, I did a 27.2 mile bike ride through Elm Creek Park Reserve-27 miles of continuous hills! I missed my swim workout-I just ran out of time!

Saturday, I started my day off by spectating the Turtleman Triathlon-Cindy and Jen were competing. At about 2:00, Jen R., Cindy, and I headed out for my last Century in my Louisville Ironman training. The plan was to ride up to the cabin following the MS 150 bike route. About 10 miles, we did make a wrong turn bringing us off course about 2 miles-Who knew that Hwy 23 crosses 35 twice in the Lino Lakes area-Jen did! We came up with a game that every 10 miles we would throw a tip out to keep us going strong-It was time for our first tip from Jen "Keep your knees in while biking" After getting back on course and as we were crossing 35 the right way Jen's water bottles popped off her bike causing her to get off her bike and chase them down. Tip #2 from Jen "stay steady on the bike." Our first official stop was in Forest Lake where we refilled water bottles and I made a call to my mom to let her know where we were and that we started our ride about two hours late (she was waiting for us at the cabin). Tip #3 from Cindy "keeping you feet flat and pretend your scraping mud off the bottom of your shoe with each revolution." In Forest Lake we got on the Hard Rock Trail and headed to North Branch. Our second stop was in Stacy to stretch our legs and eat some food. Along the trail there was a group of wild turkeys cheering us on to keep going (at least that is what I going to believe their squawking was about). Tip #4 from Jen "Stretch your back and neck out by doing exercises." The trail ended in North Branch so we got on Hwy 61 north. Our next stop was in Rush city to refill water bottles, use the restroom, and of course take a couple pictures. The wind had really started to pick up and as were entering into Harris-Guess what, I got a flat tire (a small tack about 1/2 centimeter long got stuck in my tire-thorns from a rose stem are longer then the tack)! Tip # 5 from me "How to change a tire on the side of the road." Jen timed my tire change-it only took me 7 minutes (I'm becoming a pro! I think this is flat number 8 since the beginning of July). We took a quick picture and got back on the road. It was then time for tip #6 from Cindy "Stay positive." Tip #7 from Jen "Don't fall off your bike." We made our next turn onto cty 14-staying on 14 for about two miles and then making our last before Hinkley onto cty 15 in which we took into Hinkley just behind the casino. While biking on 15 I got a little loopy and started mooing at the cows in the field-it was quite funny; they all looked and some baby cows started running. As we rounded the corner behind the casino we took a quick break to eat a little food and give another tip from Cindy "Keep pedaling." We got back bikes and made our last turn prior to the cabin. The turn onto 48 was bitter sweet-great to know that we were on our home stretch but the head wind was really strong and this was the hilliest part of the route. The hills felt like mountains and the wind gusts seemed stronger. As we approached Cloverdale it was starting to get dark. Finally we made our last turn into the cabin and I made a call to my mom to come pick us up-perfect timing it now was dark. As we celebrated finishing our ride, the workers at the resort couldn't believe that we biked from Blaine. I came up with our last tip of the ride "be proud of your accomplishment." Total mileage was 94 miles-ride time 5:57.

Today, I was a little sore from the busy day yesterday. I ended up doing 5.54 mile run and a 2000 yard swim. I worked on balance in the water doing a lot of stroke drills and kicking. My legs felt like tree trunks on the run and lead pipes on the swim. Following the swim, my legs felt 100% better!

Today I had a fantastic workout! I started with a 6.2 mile run at Elm Creek Park Reserve. I did a steady run for almost 6 miles and then followed up with some hill repeats at the end. It was a great hill workout as the steady run was through the park reserve with continuous rolling hills.

Following my run, I did a 3700 yard swim workout. I felt fantastic in the water! My stroke was on along with my balance in the water. I did start having some issues with cramping in my legs during the last 750 yards of the swim workout.

Monday's run was fabulous! I did an easy 4 mile run with run club. We did some work on running cadence and then some chit chatting about volunteering at Madison and Saturday's century ride.

Tuesday, I had a terrible swim! My balance was off in the water making it hard to keep a smooth efficient stroke. I only ended up doing 1500 yards as I didn't want to keep swimming with a crappy stroke! I will re-do this key workout this week!

Today, I finally got on my bike for a ride after the storms came through. I only ended up riding 15 miles. On the way out I really worked on keeping my candence high to really hammer the first part-averaging 19-21 mph. On the way back I worked on some bike handling while down in the aerobars and keeping steady revolutions while staying between 15-16 mph.

After the ride, I met up with run club for a 5.2 mile run. It was a small group-only Paul, Sarah, Kathy, and myself. It was a fun run through the woods by the river at the Dam.

Since my last post, my training has been going pretty well-at least since I got some sleep and a few days off of work.

Thursday, I did a 2000 yard swim-some sprinting and some easy does it pace swimming. I focused a lot of my swom on feeling the water and keeping good form. I tend to spin my wheels and have terrible form when sprinting. The swim went pretty well. I skipped the optional bike ride.

Friday; another big day! I completed my second full century ride! 100.17 miles! I did the ride on the Willard Munger trail riding up past Atkinson (About 5 miles South of Carlton). There was a head wind for about 15 miles on the way out, but because the wind was at an angle I didn't get the advantage of the wind being with me on the way back like I had hoped. The ride went really well except for getting stung by a bee. I felt that I could easily ride another 12 miles following the ride. My friend Erica joined me on this ride and did a fabulous job! Being I had to get back to the cities I didn't end up getting my run in that day.

Saturday, I met with run club for a run. Jen and I did a 9 mile run. I then finished up my long run for a total of 11.66 miles.

Sunday, to finish the week of workouts I did a 3500 yard swim. The focus was distance. Again, I really focused on keeping good form throughout the swim, especially as my muscles started to fatigue. Overall the swim went pretty well.

I had a pretty good week of workouts especially with the lack of sleep from mandated shifts, hot weather, and the increased amount of workouts. I can't believe that its already August! The race is only a few weeks away-man where has the time gone?

Guess what, I signed up to volunteer at Ironman Madison-I could be signing up for a second ironman-but I'll let you know.

Today, I will be doing a run with Run Club.