Monday, August 25, 2008

Steamboat Springs, etc.



Hello everyone! It's been about two weeks since my last post and I appologize. It was a rough and eventfull two weeks though. First of all, I got to see my family when they moved my sister out here about a week and a half ago. It was so good to see my parents! Although the weather wasn't great! It never rains in Denver and it rained all weekend, for three days straight! I ended up doing all my training indoors on Saturday. I rode the indoor bike while watching the Olympics for three hours and swam. I was glad the rain let up Sunday morning for a bit, so I was able to get a good two hour run in on the Cherry Creek trail.


Speaking of the Olympics, I am both sad and relieved they are over! I was definately staying up way too late every night watching swimming and gymnastics and honestly it almost killed me! I have to get up several mornings throughout the week at 5 a.m. to teach boot camp and I was staying up past midnight most of the nights before. It was rough, but who can resist watching Michael Phelps. I sure cant. I think the Olympics really got the best of me because I had a dream a couple nights ago that I won my age group at Ironman Arizona in November and got a slot at World Championships so I got to be on the Ellen DeGeneres show. In the dream Ellen asked me what my dream date would be and I told her "eating chocolate chip pancakes with Michael Phelps." haha what the heck? Either I really am craving chocolate chip pancakes or I've been watching too much Olympics and hearing Michael Phelps name too much! Then she brought him on the show and I asked him if he would eat chocolate chip pancakes with me. I have the wierdest dreams. I think it was because all the radio shows have been talking about lately is how much Michael Phelps eats. I swear, people are fascinated by how much the guy eats... and his body structure. I think every magazine I picked up last week had a full page spread of him with arrows pointing to all his abnormal body parts. Thank God he is not a girl because I would hate that haha! Talk about a self esteem crusher. "She has huge feet, short legs, huge hands, double jointed knees etc." Sill, though, it is hard to imagine someone 12 days older than me has accomplished so much! Thats awesome! Good thing MP has a great personality, is cute and is really fun to watch!


Anyway, after my sister got settled in her new apartment I took her to the pool with me. I hardly ever do stroke drills but the training program I'm using for Ironman says to do them. I guess my groin really didn't like the breast stroke because the next morning I couldn't even walk. It was such a bummer because I had a the Steamboat Springs Triathlon coming up on Sunday and it hurt to do all three sports! One of my clients told me I am the only person he knows that has injured themselves swimming, and I thought, yep, I don't know anyone either! haha! Good thing I felt OK by Saturday because the race directors wouldn't let me out of the race. I did a 40 minute run with Jane and George and it hurt, but I decided I could get through the race the next day. It ended up being a lot of fun and I'm really glad I did it. It was a shorter race (3/4 mile swim, 20 mile bike, and 4 mile run) and I am also thankful for that! I ended up getting 2nd in my age group and I beat the girl in 3rd by 20 minutes! Jane told me that I could have pinched a nerve when that guy crashed into me at the 5430 half, so I will have to keep resting it out and see what happens. Steamboat was beautiful and the weather was great. One piece of advice for everyone though... don't ride a motorcycle for 6 hours (what we did to get to Steamboat) because it SUCKS! My butt has never been in so much pain! Great idea Brian! I ended up paying someone to take my bike back to Boulder and hitched a ride with Jane and George back home instead of taking the motorcycle with Brian. Best decision I have ever made in my life!

The Colorado Relay is coming up next on my race list and that will be exciting! 200 miles of running through the Rockies with 10 girls. :)
Have a great day!
XOXO
Cori

Monday, August 11, 2008

5430 :(

So the 5430 race was, in one word, HORRIBLE! The worst part is that I had a bad race not because of my own fitness level and capabilities, but because of my goggles filling up with water and an idiot on the bike.

So here is what happened:

First of all my goggles filled up with water as soon as I started the swim. My swim ended up being 10 minutes slower than I could have swam because I had to stop 10 times to let the water out and re adjust my goggles.

THEN...

As I was completing my first loop of the bike course and approaching the intersection of Jay Rd and 51st a man came up from behind me to pass me on my left. There were volunteers yelling at us to go straight for our second loop, but obviously he did not hear them. Instead, as soon as he passed me he took a sharp right turn about two inches in front of me causing me to crash into him head on at about 22 mph. I went flying over my handlebars, skidding across the road on the left side of my body landing in the middle of the road unable to move. The man swerved and kept going straight to begin the second lap of the bike course and never stopped to see if I was ok. He was obviously confused about the course and thought we were all turning right at that intersection. Luckily, the firemen from the fire department located on that corner were there and they picked my bike and me up off of the road and out of traffic. It was very scary, as cars were driving toward me as I was sprawled out in the middle of the road and I am surprised no athletes behind me crashed into me as well. After the crash I could barely walk and I was unable to continue the race. The firemen bandaged me up and drove me and my bike back to the transition area where I proceeded to the medical tent for further attention.

Well.. at least I got to ride in a fire truck! Gosh, I was so disappointed. My bike is a little scratched up and I feel like I got run over by a truck today. After the race many athletes suggested I write the race directer an e-mail and tell him what happened and ask for a refund. Last night I did that, and I also gave him suggestions as to how he could make the race safer and better in the future.

In my opinion, the part of the race where I crashed was very dangerous. I think it would be better if they lined cones up in the middle of the lane, one side for people turning right that are done with their second lap, and one side on the left for people continuing straight and onto their second lap. I think this would solve some confusion that happened out there. I also think there were a lot of issues with how the waves were designed. I don't believe it is safe to start the slowest, oldest age groups first, and the fastest age groups last, as they seemed to be scheduled at the race. It would be a lot safer if the faster athletes, beginning with the men, started first and the slower athletes and women behind them. This would allow for a lot less passing and less potential accidents and injuries. I think safety is much more important than setting up the waves so that everyone is finished before a desired time. The whole time I was on the bike the men behind me would blow by me at very fast speeds, on the left AND on the RIGHT without warning. No matter what the USAT rules, we all know that rules were made to be broken and realistically many, many athletes do not follow them out there on the course and USAT officials cant be everywhere on the course at one time.

I am happy though that I decided to buy a charity spot for the Steamboat Springs triathlon in two weeks. It is a shorter race, which is fine, and it will give me a chance to redeem myself since I feel like crap for not finishing the last race. I have never DNF'd before and it wasn't even my fault.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Upcoming race, BCOR, grad school, lots of random stuff :)

Hi everyone! Well today I am using my computer again for the first time in FOREVER! Brian ordered a new hard drive, we stuck it in, and now I have a fresh computer (meaning I still lost everything I had, but don't have to spend $ I don't have on a new computer.) YAY!

So for the past couple weeks I have been keeping the training up so I can race the 5430 half Ironman in Boulder this Sunday. I hope I am recovered enough to race a good time and finish feeling fresh, as if I could continue on. Feeling this way at the finish line is great Ironman training both mentally and physically. Tomorrow I will drop Hannah off at Julie's house so she can babysit for the weekend and I can concentrate on the race. Then we'll head up to Boulder to stay with Jane and George for the night and then it's race time on Sunday! Wish me luck!

Last Sunday I participated in BCOR Fitness for Life training. I am going to start teaching a boot camp-type outdoor exercise class soon, and continue training to become a coach next week. I am SO excited!

I also submitted my online application to ASU's graduate program yesterday. Just in case we end up moving back to Arizona in November I want to be prepared. I loved being involved in the educational system in Phoenix, especially the Ahwatukee Foothills area, and am thrilled about the fact that I could someday be a part of it again. I still have to wait for the fingerprint clearance process, mail in my letters of recommendation and some other things for my application to be complete, but I should know if I am accepted around November as the deadline is October 15!

Hannah has been sick this week. She started sneezing on Monday when lightening struck the mountain by our apartment and our town filled with smoke. At first I thought it was because of the smoke but on Tuesday she threw up and started getting worse, so I took her to the vet on Wednesday. Now she is on antibiotics and special diet for an upper respiratory infection... my poor baby!

My parents and sister are leaving on Monday to drive my sister out to move here! I am excited for her to be here and can't wait to see my family!!!!!!!!! :) They should be here Tuesday or Wednesday.

I also took the Felt in for a makeover this week. Now she has pink grip tape, a pink seat and a pink bottle holder! They also fixed the derailers (hopefully) so my chain stops falling off. I am going to take it for a spin today just to make sure, but it gives me a lot more confidence when my bike is functioning properly, not to mention looking HOT! haha. The shops name is TREADS and I am a big fan! I recommend going there if you havent and you live in Colorado!

OK well it's time to finish watching the Today show, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lockte are supposed to be on which is exciting. The opening ceremony of the Olympics is today at 7:30 so guess what I'll be doing tonight... yep, watching it. After a little Olive Garden of course!

XOXO
Cori