Aloha Reflections...

What a trip!!! I have been home a week and I am still playing catch up. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be in Kona this year for the race. I had two athletes racing Trephina Galloway and Chris Nook. A big thank you to Trephina for making my trip possible.

I arrived on Thursday late afternoon before the race and left Sunday night,it was indeed a quick trip. It was really hard "roughing it" at Trephina's beach house right on the ocean. Located on the Kona coast at about the 2.5 mile marker of the run course. I drifted off to sleep each night to the sound of crashing waves. Trephina thanks again for everything, for the meals, the house, sharing your family and for mostly letting me be a part of your dream.

I will leave the actual race reporting to Trephina and Chris. Hawaii is incomparable to anything I have done. My watching and cheering experience are not representative of how they felt or what they went through.

However,I did gain a valuable perspective of Ironman. For me getting to Kona was the ultimate goal. After accomplishing that I never let myself truly appreciate or enjoy the experience the way I should have. My performance suffered greatly that day. I realized being out on the course and watching Trephina and Chris that I had not really let go of that lack luster performance. As I know look back, it effected several Ironman races after that. I kept focusing on what had happened in Hawaii and it directly effected the outcome of many races.

As I watched Trephina and Chris it became clear to me that you are only "as good as the race you are in". The past and the future are irrelevant, your focus has to be on the NOW. Trehina and Chris fought through 45 mile an hour gusting winds and 90 degree temperatures,they both came out on top by more than finishing an incredibly difficult day with smiles on there faces. It was symbolic of what I believe Ironman should be for most of us mortals...finding a way to better place, where we can truly appreciate our abilities for what they are.

It was a great trip, some additional highlights:

Video of the "Underwear Run". Trephina should have one best costume, check it out on YouTube.

Make sure to watch NBC coverage of the race. Trephina should be highlighted,they were with her through out the day, very cool. I had to wait in line to talk to her!!

Seeing the support of Trephina's and Chris's families. They were all truly amazing. It does take a village to do an Ironman.

Chris Nook's smile throughout the entire day.

Trephina's finish line picture.

I could go on there was much more. Hope to have more pictures and race reports coming soon.

Congrats again to Trephina and Chris!! Well done!

"So what have you been doing?"

"So what have you been doing?" I get this question all the time. Like all of you I am enjoying life although busy with all the normal stuff like cooking, cleaning, getting Wesley to school, hanging out with Wesley, working, training, and obviously not blogging.

Some things that have been going on:

For the past month I have been on a Raw Detox Cleanse and it has been a great experience. I wanted to learn about raw food, become healthier, and make better choices. I have not been hungry, I feel better, I am eating more and I have lost weight. I look forward to sharing more about my experience if you are interested. I plan on having Janee Iliano from Aliveone come to speak to all of us later this year.

I am also working on dates for The 2nd Winterfest Camp - tentative date- January 31st and February 1st, 2009. This will be better than last year!!

I realize and know that I am not a blogger. I do see the value of getting out information to my athletes, so in the future I am going to use my blog for more educational purposes and news.

So stay tuned for more soon.
Hope you are having a great week!

No Net...

What an incredible training camp we had in Lake Placid!! Sorry for delay, I was suppose to have internet at the house we rented - but NO NET!!!.

I will be writing several times this week to get caught up.

We had a great group,lots of miles and lots of laughs. My athletes all did incredible, as well as all of Hodska's. More later, I am toasted, look forward to catching you all soon.

Are you ready for the summer?

"Are you ready for the summer? Are you ready for the good times?" stolen right out of the movie "Meatballs". Meatballs starring Bill Murray is all about summer camp. It is one of my favorite comedy movies. It comes to mind as I get ready for Lake Placid camp next week. So do many other memorable experiences. I love camp. I have since I was a kid. This will be like my tenth Tri-Camp. It has been an incredible experience every time.

My first tri camp however was quite unforgettable. It was 1996 and I finally decided that I was going to do my 1st triathlon. I was living In Louisville,Kentucky and triathlon was pretty small. I did not have coach and only a few people that I could ask for guidance. So I bought Triathlete magazine, and started reading. I remembered Dave Scott's name from watching Ironman on television. So I bought his book. I figured if he could win that race he must know something. Then I found out he was having a camp in Copper Mountain Colorado. It sounded fun,challenging and I knew I had a great deal to learn.

All I can say is at that time, I knew how to swim in a pool. I had been running on a regular basis.I had just bought a really cool "tri" bike with stuff on it that I did not know how to use. I had been trying to ride it and had fallen off more times than I could remember. I remember riding in the grass in my back yard so that when I clipped out I would not get as much road rash. You get the picture.

Anyway on to camp. I arrived at camp, not knowing how to put my bike together - Dave Scott did that for me. I remember the first day they did bike fit.They were talking about position and angles, all I knew was to sit and pedal. I was so green. I could not ride in my aero bars.I had pedal cages on my bike, not regular clip in pedals. Dave Scott had a so much fun with me. I was the joke of camp but in a good way. By the time I left, I could ride in my aero bars and stay upright. I put on my real pedals when I got home. I learned more in those 5 days then I could ever read about. I came home did my 1st race, it went great and I was hooked.

For more camp updates this week from LP, stayed tuned...

Why?

Last June when I signed up for Ironman CDA my life and my head were in a different place. I had taken off the 2007 race season in hopes of getting pregnant. When that did not happen for some reason signing up for ANOTHER Ironman seemed liked a good idea.

I had stayed in decent shape but realized it was time to get to work. So I slowly started my Ironman training in November. I was extremely excited. I have always enjoyed the training and the journey of Ironman. However, starting my training with a son who was 2.5 now was very different and difficult for me. I struggled with my longer workouts,not wanting to give up time with my son to prepare properly.

"Why" is one of my son's new favorite words. It has given me a new awareness. The questions come and they come continuously ...why do work? why are you tired? why do you have to swim, bike or run?. I realized the answers to those questions were now different. Training and competing in an Ironman for me creates imbalance. I have decided not to race Ironman CDA. I love the sport and want it to enhance my life not hinder it. For now spending time with my son and husband are what keeps me balanced.

Being Mom....

Being mom for me is my greatest accomplishment and my greatest challenge. Being mom has taken the focus off myself and put it somewhere more important. It is nice to have a day where Mothers are recognized, however for me the only recognition I need is from my child not Hallmark. The kind of person he is and continues to become will be my reward. Being mom is about the journey, not the destination. It is one of the few things in life that I will never want to be over. I see the future and how that relationship continues to grow and I will not be needed or wanted in the same way. I am practicing everyday to be present with my child and with the time we have now. That is a wonderful gift in and of itself that I am giving to myself. Being mom has made me have a greater appreciation for my husband, for all that he does, for the man he is and mostly for the father he is. Being mom has made me grateful for more things that I could ever list.Here are a few that top my the list ..our health, the time we spend together, and the peace I feel inside. I am truly thankful everyday that I get to be a my son's mom, it is truly a privilege.
Happy Mother's Day!

The Rage in Las Vegas

Wow! Wow! Wow! Is all I can say about my race. It was incredible. It was incredibly hilly, hot, breathtaking,beautiful and challenging. Who would of thought you could find all that in Las Vegas. I had wanted to race St Croix this year but could not make it work with our schedules.I found this race in Las Vegas. It was the 1st year for the 1/2 IM distance. The race itself has been around for 5 years. Check out www.bbsctri.com for more on there races.

The swim took place is Lake Mead. It was beautiful but so cold. The water had to be below 60 degrees. After the initial freeze I was pretty good to go. They sent all of IM athletes together.I was hopping to find some bubbles to hook on to. No such luck. There was a guy around me the whole time but he kept swimming off course. I kept looking around thinking of how beautiful it was,every time I took a breath I saw mountains. The water seemed to get colder to me, which at times made it hard to breath. With my lack of swim training,(yes I know I have pool just not enough hours in the day). I was hoping for a decent swim, between 30-35 minutes. I got out of the water in around 32 minutes, so I was happy. I kept telling myself all through transition that I was warm. I had difficulty getting my helmet strap snapped. My hands were shaking which made it extra fun. Scott was right beside my bike in transition cheering me on. The transition was very long and all up hill.I carried my shoes,running was interesting with frozen feet. It was turning in to beautiful sunny day. I was ready to ride for the 1st this year outside! Off I went, and the hills started right away. It was up and down the whole way. It was absolutely beautiful there were many time you got different views of the Las Vegas Strip, Lake Las Vegas and Lake Mead. It is one of the most challenging bike courses I have ever done. I loved every minute of it. The wind was around 20-30 miles per hour.It seemed to always be in our faces. I had no computer on my bike, I had not viewed the course prior to riding in, even on the website. This forced me to ride steady and to be in the moment. My HR was elevated at times, I told myself many times to back it off. Save it for the run. I finally got feeling back in my feet around mile 25. My nutrition, hydration and salt intake were all good. I took water every time I could and poured a bunch on me, the temperature climbed quickly throughout the bike and I knew it was going to be a warm run. From mile 50-53 it was uphill to a turnaround back to transition. This is where my hurting started, and I had a few moments where I wondered I had I given up too much. I literally coasted back to transition I was flying it was all down hill.

I began to get my head together and prepared myself for the run. I was excited to run. I had not previewed the course, so I was interested to see what kind of trail running there would be. Scott had been all over the bike course cheering and encouraging me. Always reminding me to stay with in myself.

The run: We headed out toward the swim start on sand and rock. Then took a hard right uphill for about 1/2 mile to hit the trails. I kept thinking the 1st aid station should be coming. I could really feel the heat. It was at least 80+ degrees at start of the run. I had my fuel belt and realized I need to start drinking right away. I could not wait for water. So I started sipping my carbo pro/ cliff shot.I downed one 6 oz bottle by the time I got to the 1st aid station at 1.5 miles. I drank water and and poured water over my head and all over me at every aid station. Mile 2ish, was a nice big downhill to another aid station and from there on I filled my fuel belt bottle at every aid station. I drained each time. I also drank additional water while I was at station. So every 10 minutes I was taking in 10-12 oz water. It saved me big time. When I started the run there were people still on the course for Olympic race all walking because of the heat. By mile 3 I had a caught a woman that passed in transition. From 3.5 to 5 it was up hill in sand rock. At times I laughed out loud at the terrain. It was very difficult but I was enjoying myself. I saw Scott at 3.5ish which was a big surprise. I did not think he was going to be on the run course. So that was a big lift. I was determined to stay steady, stick to my plan, and just run. For some reason my HR monitor went on the fritz at mile 1 of the run. I was going totally on feel and RPE. The climbs up on the trail was amazing you could see all of Lake Mead. It reminded me a great deal of how Kona looks as you ride up to Hawi. They ran us through 4 enormous tunnels that were so dark inside you had to take glasses off to keep your footing. I kept telling my self to get to turn around. The wind picked up even more on the run, there looked to be small sand storms at times on the trails. I had a nice coat of dirt/dust all over me. As I made turnaround I was excited at how good I felt. I kept drinking,eating and running. Back through the cool tunnels and then somewhere around mile 9 I got see Scott again. He ran me back down one to mile 10 and said he would see me at the finish. I could not believe I had 3 miles to run. I kept drinking right up till the last aid station.I sucked that dry too.

I felt strong all day. I never looked at my watch again after the swim till I could see the finish line.When I saw my time I was amazed I had been out there that long. I though I could be at least 45 min faster on a decent day. As I crossed the line and realized what a great day I had for myself, I was estatic and I had a blast. It was great to be back out there. It was truly refreshing and motivating in many ways. I would go back and do this in heartbeat. It made me realize there are many great races out there to try.

It was such a great surprise of a day. I continue to learn as I race and the biggest obstacle I have had has always been my head. My thoughts have many times gotten the best of me. That is something that I have been diligently working on this season. My hope is to pass on to you what I have been studying, applying and successfully doing not only in my training, and racing but in everyday life as well. Big thanks to Lisa for that!

Big thanks to the following:

Thanks to my husband Scott for his unbelievable support. You bring out the best in me.
Thanks to my son for inspiring me and for keeping it real.
Thanks to my coach and friend Eric Hodska for once again having me very prepared. I have really enjoyed the changes we have made to my training, and can feel the differences.

Viva Las Vegas

What an incredible week I had last week. We went to Las Vegas for a little bit of a vacation and a race for me. Things went really well on an incredibly hard course. Race report to follow. We had wanted to do St Croix but could not make the trip work. This was a great alternative, and a great early season race.

This picture is from helicopter on a tour of the Grand Canyon.
More to come

Vacation running...

I was on a running vacation yesterday morning!
Big thanks to Jennifer Collister, who set up organized the run, to Sam Joseph and Tina Hoban for going with us. We run from North Chagrin Reservation, it was wonderful. All trails,lots of mud, lots of laughing and I have no idea where we actually ran. It was a great vacation. The terrain was challenging and I found that not knowing where I was going, or how far I had been a very good thing. It is one of the most enjoyable runs that I have had in a long time. Can't wait to go back! Thanks again to Jen, Sam and Tina!

Early Riser

I have always appreciated the fact that I am a morning person. After years of getting up early to go swim practice it is interesting that in my adult life that has continued. As I began my training this season I have opted for more early morning workouts. I have come to truly enjoy the solitude of my basement at 4:00 AM. It gives me time to think, to plan my day, the best thing that it gives me back is TIME!
Getting up early is like buying time for me. I have been able to get many workouts in with out anyone even knowing I was up. This schedule has kept me from missing out on the things that I want to be a part of like being there when Wesley wakes up, or seeing Scott before he leaves for work. My biggest struggle this year with my training has been finding a balance that I feel good about and that is good for my family. The balance of marriage, family, work, sport and life for is a constant work in progress.
I did my long run a couple weeks ago at 4:30 AM, thank you Tina! It was awesome to be done by 6:30 AM.

So the next time you get up early just know that your not alone!