CX is hereeeeeeeee!

Last night kicked off the 2015 cross season for me, with 2 races at the Wed nite Back to Basics CX training race -Women A followed by singlespeed, for a little over an hour of lung-busting, dirt and dust breathing, high intensity fury.

I'm gonna get my butt handed to me this season in the women open category (now that BRAC moved the 35+ category up to 40+ I have no choice) ... so it's game on, and hopefully I'll learn a thing or two chasing the fasties around all season!!  

Here's a pic with pretty much every one of my amazing sponsors represented !

Thanks to Shawn Curry for this photo!

Boulder Sunset Olympic Tri

So yesterday was my fourth triathlon of the summer ... the Boulder "Sunset" triathlon -which I guess used to end around sunset, but now it just starts late morning so you're racing in the midday August heat ;) Should be renamed Heatstroke Tri but what do I know.  Not gonna lie, it was nice not to get up at 430am to race like usual.  

Physically I felt mostly recovered from last weekend but mentally I wasn't quite ready for race suffering just yet... however that quickly changed once the race was underway.

The extra time in the morning gave me a chance to do a warmup swim in the lake and really wrap my head around the swim, in order to overcome the panic sensation I've had in a few races this summer.  And the approach worked!  This was my BEST swim yet.

The bike was actually where I struggled-  likely in part related to last weekend's SS 150 mile escapade -my back was ANGRY at me on the TT bike.  I pretty much had to sit up and soft pedal the final 4-5 miles, it hurt so bad to pedal in the TT position.  Had to let a gal ride away from me that I'd been dueling during the bike leg.  That was hard.

For once because of the bike discomfort, I was actually LOOKING FORWARD to the run -which never happens.  And was happy to learn it was almost all on gravel - YAY!  And then I began to catch the gal who dropped me on the bike... And then I passed her... and never saw her again on the run.  WOW. That's a first.  Normally the race runs away from me on the run segment!

I finished and was shocked to learn I'd finished 2nd in my AG. In a Boulder County venue/field, that is a solid result for me as those crowds are uber competitive!  The race times were over 20-30min faster than the last true olympic distance event I did back in June.  And my transition times are also coming down.  Making progress and getting better each race feels GOOD.

My friend Jen did the sprint tri and waited for me to finish -seeing her after my race was icing on the cake! 

This is one serious medal - the thing is giant and heavy! ;) 

Women 35-39 AG podium

Gravel Worlds

Back in April, a guy I knew from back when I lived and raced in Nebraska, messaged me and said "Hey Megan you should come out for Gravel Worlds in Nebraska in August..."  Yeah?  I said?  "Oh by the way," he mentioned, "The jerseys are hot pink this year."  Boom.  I was in. 

First there was kanza in May ‪#‎dk100‬ = 100 miles of gravel with about 4000 ft elev. Then, there was Tushar Crusher in July ‪#‎tusharcrusher‬ = 70 miles of road/gravel with about 9500 ft elev. So what's the trifecta you ask? @piratecyclingleague ‪#‎gravelworlds15‬ ‪#‎gravelworlds2015‬ =150 miles on gravel and about 10,000 ft elev gain. In the Midwest heat and humidity. In August. On ONE. Single. Gear.

Nothing like firing up the GPS on the morning of the race and finding that the race course DID NOT LOAD!!  SO I relied on these little pieces of paper in a ziploc bag all day to get my way from start to finish... 

Single Speed riding goes like this: Muscle it uphill, coast downhill, muscle, coast, muscle coast. The coasting part is an exercise in patience ... you want to pedal, but you don't have enough tension on the chain to make it worth it... so coast...coast...coast... 

Here's Craig-the guy who talked me into this adventure -shown at the final race checkin point at mile 121: 

Here's Jay, another race promoter, who happened to also have been one of my first sponsors/team directors back when I STARTED racing.  #fullcircle  He couldn't stop laughing at me when I crossed the finish line.  ELEVEN HOURS AFTER STARTING.  

Rebecca Rusch had already showered and eaten by the time I crossed - she killed it in the women's open event:

All the suffering was worth it ... I took home the coveted GRAVEL WORLDS champ jersey in the women's single speed division.  I was also the 3rd woman to finish overall.  

Back at the hotel, I bumped into Rebecca who was headed out for dinner in Lincoln wearing her new jersey.  Pretty much bad ass to pose w/her wearing matching jerseys. 

I spent 11 hours inside my head during Gravel Worlds...  No headphones and rarely someone to ride with. It was an exercise in staying positive, focusing on the good in life, expressing gratitude and pushing forward.

We aren't saving the world when we race these endurance events, but I do believe they force us into a deep place within ourselves --where we truly discover what we're made of. And whether or how much we let negativity creep in. You discover that you are in charge of the mental movies you play for yourself all day every day. That no matter the circumstances, you control your outlook.

I believe that it's good to stretch our limits now and then. Many thanks to my Nebraska friends for providing this 'growth opportunity!' 

😄

HERE IS A GREAT ARTICLE AND OVERALL WRITEUP BY NEIL SHIRLEY -THE MEN'S OPEN WINNER!  

Sweet Success at "The highest triathlon on planet earth!"

Last Sunday I raced in the Rocky Mountain Silverthorne Triathlon, also known as the highest triathlon on planet earth because of the altitude.  It should be named the "coldest swim in the world," because that's what the lake swim was.  Outside temps were around 40 and lake temp around 65 when we started the race.  BURRRRRRR.  Seriously.  Feels so wrong to be that cold in August.  But -yes -it was gorgeous.

The race was listed as olympic, but wasn't really olympic distance -well, except for the run - (lucky me).  It was an 800m swim, 20mile bike and 10k run.

I struggled in the water, mostly due to the cold, and didn't really get my race face on me until the second of the 2 laps (video of swim start by neighbor here).  When it was time to get ready to bike, my T1 was a total debacle.  Check out the vid my neighbor Andy took of me - 2:20 in T1 is not what you want, folks...

So - sufficiently upset with myself by the time I got on the bike, I made up for lost time crushing the 20 miles (55:40) and then thankfully with a smooth and fast T2, I was on the run and resolved to make it my best yet (52:01 for my fastest 10k so far). Once I realized there were only a few women ahead of me I maintained a solid pace (for me) and went for it.

Total time: 2:10:10 --> Enough for my age group WIN and I was the 4th woman overall!

35-39 Age Group podium

After the race I entered a straight-arm wine bottle holding contest and lasted for 5:10 (based on the German Masskrugstemmen, the traditional Bavarian Bier Stein holding contest) ... 'twas almost harder than the race itself.  (And believe me, my arms paid for this in today's swim workout -shoulders were FRIED!)

Thrilled to have notched my first multisport win and now I'm hungry for more!! 

First triathlon podium!

The last triathlon I did was in 2007.  Then I focused purely on cycling, from 07-present.

Until this spring, when a friend nudged me to enter my first ever IRONMAN event.  IM AZ Nov 15, 2015.  It's been on my bucket list for awhile and this year seemed the perfect one to tackle it.

So I've been training swim-bike-run since late April and decided I'd better go and do a few triathlons to get myself back into the mode.

The first was Lake to Lake, an olympic distance tri -a few weeks ago in Loveland.  It did not go well.  Upon entering the lake for the swim, my wetsuit seemed to constrict around me and I hyperventilated.  I struggled to keep myself in the water and not just bail out on a kayak.  I had a panic attack the entire 1500m, mostly doing head-up breaststroke or backstroke.  Not a good way to resume my multisport racing career.  I was nearly last out of the lake.  I took my frustrations out on the 30mile bike, earning the Strava QOM on that portion.  Then I suffered through the 10k run -my longest to that point - and finished a humbling 9th place in my AG.

Last weekend I competed in the Rocky Mountain State Games sprint triathlon.  This one went MUCH better ...

This time I resolved no matter what to actually swim the swim, versus just survive the swim.  My focus paid off, as I actually began catching swimmers from the group that had started before us.  I exited the water with a not-totally-awful time (granted it was only a 750m swim so...) , and then proceeded to crush the 10mile bike, which was fairly technical with lots of turns and consisted of 3 laps of roughly 3.3 miles each.  There was also a nice little punchy climb on each lap that I tackled with vigor, passing many riders each time.

I exited the bike leg into T2 with the woman who would go on to beat me in my age group.  The run has notoriously been my weakest leg, and tho I tried to keep her in sight she ended up putting :30sec into me over the course of the 5k run.  However I was pleased with my time both on the run and overall, and couldn't complain about my performance.  I was the 7th woman overall.

I was pleased to podium in this race- the first triathlon or event that involves running, that I've ever podiumed in.  It changes my mindset, from being a finisher, to being a competitor.  There is a fine line between pushing oneself too hard into injury, and pushing oneself hard enough to leave it all on the race course.  This is a line I'm still learning to navigate back in these "unfamiliar waters" of triathlon.

Sadly, my fellow AG racers didn't stay for awards so I was solo in 2nd place on the podium--