She's Going the Distance, She's Going For Speed...

Took me a bit to get the creative juices flowing again and write a post. Here is the summary of the last week. I love San Diego.
So, I left Kona and flew into San Diego last week for the Oceanside 70.3 race and the Team Timex 'Camp'. This was the last week of my month of travelling/training/racing.

My wonderfully fantastic homestay Chris & Cathy Zoc picked me up at the airport and drove me back to their house. I walked into my room and was greeted with a welcome card and goodies....I may never leave here, was my first thought! I was right! The Zoc's took care of me, Cathy drove me everywhere, the pool, the race site, we drove the entire bike course, even took me to a bike shop when all I needed was zip ties! Thanks Cathy & Chris!! They even extended an invite to "come back and stay whenever I wanted"...I warned them about telling a Triathlete that, cause I'm already planning to return!!

My goodies that were waiting for me...I tried not to eat it ALL pre-race.... Me, Cathy and the bronze Donkey. The real one, Miguel, was in the backyard!

Race Day. Now, those who know me well, know that getting up early to exercise is not my favourite activity--I think I used up all my early morning exercise passes swimming at 5am for 10 years! The half Ironman events all start early, so I have to get used to it again! 4am wake up, 5:15am in transition, 6:43am start. FYI, it's cold at 6 in the morning in California, the good thing though, with the air temp being 8-10 degrees, the 15 degree water felt down-right balmy!

The Swim: Pleasant. Compared to the ITU chaos, I had a great time out there. Although, I managed to lose the draft the last 20m before the exit, need to work on that! Oh yeah, if you wear a 2-piece tri suit under your wetsuit, make sure you tie the shorts tight...nearly pants myself in T1!

Seriously, it should be illegal to start anything in the dark!!

The civilized swim start:

The bike: Yeah, this was not my best. Let's just say I had a couple of flats, legs, not tires! I managed to loose a lot of time to the leaders...yikes! My ADD came out in full force and my focus was not great--something that I need to work on! We rode through a military base and I had lots to look at during the 56mile ride...I nearly killed a family of bunnies that ran out in front of me, I saw tanks, some sort of cannon, and a really cool obstacle course that I wanted to try! At one point I may have even stopped in at recruitment to sign up....So anyway, I came off the bike a little farther back then I wanted.

This is me coming into T2....I won't tell you what was going through my head....

Onto the run. Once I finally found my shoes in the cramped transition area, I headed out determined to salvage the day (guess that's the beauty of these long races). I came around the first corner and saw Paul, my coach, standing there yelling out words of encouragement, I knew I was pretty far back, I came off the bike in 10th or 11th, but I was on a mission. I just ran hard and kept going. Unlike on the bike, I found that I had no problems focusing on the run, with the exception of the occasional dog sightings, but I always do that running anyway! At one point I saw some really cute standard poodles on the run course and heard their owner shout "Go Lisa", then I realized it was Carol Montgomery (triathlon legend & friend)! I always notice dogs before people...there could be a model walking shirtless with a golden retriever and I guarantee I wouldn't even notice the guy! Anyway, my pace had slowed a little before I saw Carol and her dogs, so I took the poodle-power and picked it up a bit. I managed to run some sub-6 minute miles in the last 4miles of the run, catching 3 women in front of me in the process. In the end I clawed my way up from a significant time gap and finished 6th with the 2nd fastest run split (1:21.20, the girl who won ran 58 sec faster and got the course run record, next year, it'll be mine! Maybe the bike split too!).

Here I am running the sand section. I was on a mission. Check out the new Team Timex race kit, pretty sweet!

Overall I've got 14.3 miles down pat, just need to work on the 56 on the bike. I had the excellent Team Timex mechanics worked on my setup and I think that will help too. You know what my focus will be on over the next few weeks!!

Me, Coach P, and Chris Thomas (fellow Timex, Lifesport & TrakkersTeam member and superstar athlete!)

After the race, I had to depart the Zoc's house and head to the Timex Camp. Not a training camp but a team get-together camp. It was a fun experience, met the other athletes, chatted with team sponsors, and got a ton of new gear!! Sweet!

Anyone have the time? My new watches, including the new Timex heart rate monitor in the middle--the Race Trainer.

I'm finally back home after a month of travel. After last years travels, I think a month is probably the longest I can be away. Living out of a duffel bag gets old after awhile!

One of my favourite parts of coming home: flying home over the Rocky Mountains! (geologists & dad; notice the anticline/syncline pair?).

Now I have to wash clothes, put my bike together, contact all my training groups, open all my mail (forgot it's tax time...) and get my life organized again--it all gets put on hold when I go away.

Below is someone who got so excited when he saw me he ran in circles and then went to find a present to give me...it happened to be a dirty sock, but I was touched by the effort! We also finally got our new recycling bin. The city of Calgary is finally starting a pick up program...little do they know that we have been stock-piling all our plastics in anticipation!

Up next: Swinging back to the short-course stuff. Speed time baby!! The first of the ITU World Championships Series kicks off May 2 in Tongyeong Korea.

Well, I'm off to ride my bike...

Lisa

*Thanks to all my supporters that make trips and races like this possible for me! You know you're awesome!
**special thanks to Coach Dan Smith for providing all the great race pics!!