You may have noticed that that I affectionatey refer to Michelle as PIC. It stands for “partner in crime”, I’m not really even sure when it came about. Maybee when she started her blog? I don’t know. She calls me PIC too. It’s rather fun. Sometimes I call her Fordy-Ford, or Michelley-Elley.

Michelle and I met shortly before our first ever trip to USAT Age-Group Nationals in 2007. That was way back when I had only done two sprints and Michelle was still riding this red bike with like Shimano 105 on it (I don’t mean to offend anyone…well maybe I do a little bit).

Breakfast two days before Nationals in 07

We were roomies in this totally cheep extended stay hotel right next to Nike in Portland. We both had what I would call super solid races, but even bigger than that we began a friendship that both of us never realized would be so much fun.

I think this was probably the last time we got totally sloshed right after a race…we are much more dedicated now (we are the middle two).

We trained together occasionally, mostly on weekend bike rides. Michelle was a working girl with a demanding job, but she was focused and nailed her workouts.

We went through a Twinkie phase (identical, comes in a pack of two). Almost all the group pictures we were standing next to each other, and we had matching helmets, blue bikes (she got rid of the crummy red one…no offense) and ponytails. Check it out.

Twinkies we are

Scary huh?

We came back to nationals in Portland in 2008 ready to kick ass, and qualify for Team USA. We had Australia on our minds. For the first time we allowed another person into our nationals lair, Tyler.

PIC, Me, and Tyler

He proved to be an acceptable addition. It also meant that PIC and I shared a bed for the first time. And we learned that we sleep well together, who would have thought? Probably a fact that our husbands try not to think about too often…or maybe they do. I don’t know and this is going south…

So we both really rocked the house at Nationals, it was the same course as the year before and PIC knocked 16+ minutes off her time, and I took off a little over 6. PIC nabbed that Team USA slot, and I missed it by one, but got it back in the lotto.

Early morning pre race, we are together, there’s a shock!

Several months after Nationals, the best thing EVER happened to my athletic career (and let’s be honest, it’s all about me). PIC got laid off, SWEEET, full time training partner. I think this is when the term “PIC” came about. That year was about becoming super stud kick ass athletes and helping each other get there. We started on the bikes.

Mt.Evans in the back, we two man teamed it all over the place that spring.

We really learned a lot about each other. Usually we knew more about where each other was at than we knew about ourselves. I knew when she was blitzed, she knew when I needed to eat. We shared gels, we took turns on each others wheels, and we had so much fun.

We raced across the county, heck the world, together. We always found a way to get our PIC time even if we weren’t rooming together. We found a camaraderie that year that was sorta “the next level”. I think in the beginning we may have felt a little competitiveness against each other, but any and all of that dissipated throughout last year. When we became PIC’s things changed and we helped each other through the hard times, and the hard races, and we celebrated with each other through the good ones. It helped that we had numerous good performances through the year. At Kansas, we qualified for Clearwater together.

We went to Nationals for a 3rd year together, we added Beth and Tyler to the room, which meant again…PIC and I were sharing a bed. Which apparently meant great races for the both of us. PIC taking 5th in her AG, and me 14th, both earning TEAM USA spots if we so choose to take them. Seeing her on the podium made me feel like I was on the podium, I kid you not.

Red hair extension…it was for CHARITY!

We went to Worlds in Australia with our different families, but we found a way to hook up and train everyday together. Training in unfamiliar adds a whole different crazy factor to things, but when we were together we seemed to have so much more confidence. It didn’t matter that we were riding on the wrong side of the road, we handled it together and we laughed a lot. Meeting up with Michelle was like a having a piece of home with me.

In AUS, training, note that we now have matching TT bikes, and non matching helmets, since I crashed and broke mine.

I think having each other there at World Championships paid off, we went 19th for PIC, and 30th for me, in our age group, in the world. And you know, PIC slept over in my hotel room the night before, I’m thinking that’s why we raced so well.

And at the end of the season we found each other in Clearwater, out there on the race course, and ran together for part of the race. It was almost poetic.

Michelle and I have learned through the years the value of having a training partner. I don’t think either of us could have ever imagined just how tight we would become. Going forward this year we have switched coaching, and we have switched team affiliation. It was a process that we relied heavily on each other to get through. Lots of leaning on each other, and a fair amount of tears.

It wasn’t easy, but you live, you learn, and you try to move forward with an open heart. With Michelle, I’m not afraid to tell her the truth, and she knows I’m in her corner 100%. I’m so extatic that the recent changes in our athletic career have brought us even closer together. I couldn’t imagine racing in a uniform that is different from hers, so I’m pretty stoked that this year we will be Twinkies again.

Having the same coach will enable us to continue to train together and to help each other achieve our goals. We have been very upfront with our new coach (who likes upfrontness) and he has instructed us to tattle on each other to our heart’s content (when it pertains to training). He seems to “get” our relationship and has an idea on how to use it to make each of us stronger.

We feel like we are a little mini-team this year. Our sponsors are the same, we represent them together, and although we are training towards different goals (as we have most years) I have no doubt that this year will yield lots more fun and silly pictures.

Thank you PIC, Michelley-elley, Fordy-Ford for all of your support, for being my “honesty” meter, for not making things harder than they need to be, for traveling with me, planning with me, schooling me in swimbikerun, for not holding it against me when I school you in bikerun, for sharing recipes, and photos, and lessons learned.

Here’s to another year of fun, we’re gonna kick ass!

“Triathletes”, “friends”, yes you.

You are planning your 2010 season aren’t you? I knew it! It’s what December is all about!

Well, if you haven’t looked into the Rev3 races, you just gotta. Next week I am going to have a discount code on registration, but I wanted to give you a heads up so that you make sure to take some time to cruise the Rev3 website. There are three races you need to know about and you can check out the details further with the links below.

The really cool thing about the Rev3 company is that all of their races have options. We like options, Olympic, half, full…we like options. What do we like better than options? We like happy families. That’s why when you race at Rev3 races, your family and friends get access into the race venues….which just happen to be amusement parks.

May 9: Rev3 Knoxville. The main event is the OlympicRev distance, but they also have a HalfRev. The finish is smack dab in the middle of World’s Fair Park. Don’t believe me, check it out.

June 5/6: Rev3 Quassy. I went to this last year, it ROCKED THE HOUSE. They have added an OlympicRev to the docket this year. Your family gets to ride roller coasters at Quassy Amusement park all day while you race your heart out. Win win.

September 12: Rev3 Cedar Point. This the the debut of the FullRev, oh yes folks it’s the real deal: 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, marathon. There is a HalfRev as well. All the action is in the middle of World Famous and grandiose Cedar Point Amusement Park. My mom said she would totally go, but that she would ride the coasters all day. Thanks Mom, just be sure to drag me home after 11 hours or so.

The race experience at a Rev3 event is like no other. Race staff create a forum where the pros are approachable, the schwag is delicious, and cozy, everyone is treated like a world class athlete, and where your family is extremely well taken care of.

Give the site a looksey, you will likey.

DISCOUNT CODE COMING NEXT WEEK.

Oh, and you might want to sign up for the Rev3 mailing list. That way you will stay in the know.

Double Oh, and for all my TBL fan friends, look who is doing the entire series, including the FullRev? If she can do it, so can you!

Triple Oh, I am on team Trakkers, and team Trakkers has an affiliation with the Rev3 organization. I get entry into the races for free. Just trying to keep to the new full disclosure rules. I do however pay all my travel expenses, lodging, etc, unless one of you out these would like to help me with that. Any takers?

What a freakin’ awesome time I had last weekend. Friday morning, waking up in Clearwater, I could tell I was about to get sick. Troy has been really sick for several weeks, and then Annie caught the illness and had it pretty bad. I was feeling like the immunity rock star…until Friday morning. We had lots to do with packet pickup, course recon, and bike drop off, all the while I could feel the illness heading my direction.

My dad was in FL on business so he booked a room for the weekend, and became our extremely valuable, sole support person. Plus, he had a rental car…something we had forgone. He picked me up and drove me to the store and then let me splurge on all sorts of cold “hold-R-off-ers”. I started hitting those hard, just hoping to push back the onset of the bad symptoms for 12-24 hours.

The four of us athletes in front of transition.

Saturday morning we woke up at 5 and Michelle, Tony and I headed to the transition area to pump up our tires, take the plastic bags off our bikes and double check our stuff. Our hotel was this cute little place, just one block from transition so we were able to walk back there before our race. It was really nice to use our own bathroom and to grab “second breakfast”.

I laid down on the bed, not feeling very snappy and threatened to go back to bed. I definitely didn’t feel like myself, but I also knew that the cold wasn’t in full attack mode just yet. I simply felt a little bogged down. I told Michelle and Anthony that I was thinking about “staying home and watching athlete trakker”.

They got a laugh out of that, but they also dragged me out of bed, and into my wetsuit. It’s go time. I may feel mellow, like I want to go back to bed, but really, I was excited to race. I didn’t know how I would be effected, but you just don’t know until you try!

We walked to the new swim start (they changed the swim from gulf, to intercostal b/c hurricane Ida had kept the water quite choppy). I said goodbye to my peeps and lined up in the corral. The new start was a time trial start and I was looking forward to this. Michelle offered me some last minute coaching, telling me that the TT start would help me to stay focused on my own race, to swim my own swim and to kill it.

My masters coach Paul had set me a text the day before “Have fun & it’s fun 2 go fast”. That is really the essence of me, and I decided to use it as my motto. Deep in my heart, I wanted to have a stellar swim, and I planned to go for it. I loved finding Adrienne in the swim corral, we caught up and laughed together. Adrienne is a phenomenal athlete, she spanked me at Rev3, and went to Kona this year. I loved sharing my pre race excitement with her.

Before I knew it I was sitting on the timing mat and sliding myself into the water. I felt strong from the start and just settled into my pace which we spent a lot of time practicing at masters this past week. I struggled slightly with my sighting since we were looking straight into the sun, but before I knew it I was making the turn. On the way back in we had to navigate down a narrow waterway and I got a little off course here. They did great with the buoys, but I swam a bit wide. This made for much less swim traffic, but also involved a little extra swimming.

The water was very murky and I did not catch a single set of feet. Exiting the water was dicy as the very steep ramp was quite wet. I used the handrails and pulled myself up to the pavement. Whew. I looked down at my watch to see the result of my effort: 00:00:00. Opps, I guess with the TT start I forgot to hit the “go” button. Oh well…didn’t bother me, I felt good about it.

Through transition…Ironman style. Grab your bag, hit the change tent, grab your bike, get outa there. I would suggest to anyone that the less you have in your transition bags the better. I like not having to make any decisions, just get what’s in there and go.

I’m off on my bike and barely into my shoes before we have to climb up this large causeway, which is no big deal because we are on a bike…but knowing that I am going to have to run over it 4 times is a little daunting. I had a great bike ride. My nutrition went well, my pacing went well. I smiled at everyone, stuck my tongue out, laughed, and just generally had a good time. In between the fun I put my nose down and pedaled my butt off. Before this race all I heard about was the drafting. I was secretly a bit nervous about the drafting. At Vineman 70.3 this year I had a lot of trouble with the drafting and I felt that I couldn’t get away from it even though I tried. That was my fear with Clearwater, that I would get stuck in the packs and that I would have trouble getting out of them whether it’s off the front, or the back. Staying away from the cheaters was a huge goal of mine.

I am not in this picture

I am happy to say that Clearwater is a race where (in my opinion) you can stay completely honest, if you so choose to. Now I can’t speak for people that are faster than me, but for me, it was extremely easy to stay out of the packs. In fact, there is a huge out and back section in the race and I had a blast “counting” the packs. I counted 12 of them. And each one had 20-60 riders. The road would actually be empty, or would have 1 rider every couple bike lengths, and then there would be a pack. I was personally overtaken by 6 different packs. It was actually pretty funny. I would be riding my own pace, minding my business and then the group would swarm me, overtake me, and spit me out the back, all in about 20-30 seconds. I just did not engage. I would stay to the way right, and just let them do their thing. I had the officials right next to me one time when it happened too. It was odd to see the penalty tent empty.

During one of these incidences I watched my Garmin. I was pedaling along at 23.4 mph. That seemed to be my go-to pace. The road is flat so I was just trying to hold that pace. Then I was “swarmed”. The drafters came past me, I did not engage, just stayed to the right and maintained my effort. After the pack passed me, my garmin said I was going 25.2. Wow, the pack had engulfed me, and then spit me out the backside going 2 mph faster. I got a good chuckle out of that…and then watched my mph slowly drift back down to 23.4.

Towards the end a pack came by and engulfed me and boy did I want to entangle myself, but I didn’t. I had been talking to myself all day about the fact that I wanted a clean race because I wanted to know how good I, Sonja Wieck, was. I didn’t want any little * in my head as to my time for the day. Whatever time I went, I wanted to know it was a solo effort. This allowed me to not even be bothered by the drafters. I know that in their heads, they have an * next to this event, and I don’t. It’s a choice. I was glad I made the right one. There was a little headwind the last 6 miles, so by the time I pulled into transition, I was ready to be off my bike.

Coming into transition for the second time it was nice to see a lot of the racks for my age group empty, that’s always a good feeling. It was awesome to have a volunteer take my bike and rack it for me, I’ll never get over how cool that part is.

On with the new Brooks running shoes and I was out of there. I saw my dad and smiled. Apparently Michelle smiled at him, as did Tony. I guess everyone was having a pretty good time.

That’s because we hadn’t gone up any hills yet! Man, that stinkin’ causeway is STEEP. Mother! Up and over the causeway I went. I didn’t feel lousy, I didn’t feel awful. I just felt like I was going to put down a strong effort. I went from aid station to aid station, running between 7:00 and 7:30 pace and it felt pretty fast. There were lots of people passing me, and I was passing people too.

It was great to see my dad twice on each lap. He cheered up a storm for me. I only heard my name called one other time and that was from TriBoomer. Thanks Dad, and thanks Boomer!

Finishing up the first lap, my dad yelled at me that “PIC is right up ahead”. Those were great words to hear. As I ran through the turn around I looked and looked for her but she was nowhere to be found. I picked up my pace and tried to look through the crowds for Michelle, but she was being extremely elusive.

Back up that monster hill for the third installment. This time I decided to really push it. I suddenly saw Adrienne. That was a major boost. She had passed me early on the bike. I slowly worked my way up to her and when I passed her she said “Good job Sonja” with this super enthusiastic voice. I was so focused I couldn’t say anything. I wanted to tell her to come with me, run with me, but all I could muster was a thumbs up. We ran through my favorite aid station with the pirate theme and then onto the out and back section. That was when I saw PIC Michelle. I was close to her, but she was moving fast. I spent the next mile working really hard to catch her.

Finally on the last hill of the day I pulled up beside her and said nothing. She said nothing as well. We were at like mile 11 or so. I could tell she knew it was me but we just ran in silence up and over that crazy causeway. After a little while she said “You are going to need to go ahead”. I told her “Run your pace, I’m here because I want to be”. And I was. Michelle has been such a huge training partner and friend to me this year (and for many years). She’s a rock and we have leaned on each other numerous times throughout the seasons. It was such a special opportunity to be able to run with her in a race. Again she told me to go, and I told her I wanted a picture and just to run her pace. It was so fun running through the aid stations. I would grab a water and a energy drink and take a sip and then hand it to her. I felt like we were in the tour, sharing water bottles.

We ran together for 1.5 miles. We saw my dad with about 0.5 mile to go. He took these AWESOME pictures.

After that Michelle said “You’ve got your pictures, now go! I’ll see you in a few minutes”. Fine, off I went, into my finishing kick. I ran across the line just as the clock turned 5 hours. I wondered how long after the clock started did I begin my swim? Just knowing that I would be under 5 hours was exciting.

Since I didn’t start my watch on time I had no clue. Michelle was in a few seconds after me, we took a picture together and there was Tony, standing there waiting for us. It turns out that Michelle was 9th in her age group, with a 27 minute swim, second in her age group out of the water, total time of 4:42.

I had the swim of my life with a 32:30. I biked a very solid (and solo effort) of 2:25:32 and ran a 1:37 to finish in a 5 minute PR of 4:40:25. That was good for 16th out of the 69 women 30-34, and I was the 76th amateur woman (out of 395). Great day for me as well!

Tony flatted but finished very strong with a 1:27 run. Steve had a solid effort from start to finish and was pleased with his race.

The rest of the day was spent celebrating, eating, and drinking. We attended the awards which was a pretty awesome experience, complete with fireworks, and a great speech by Raelert. The next day was spent like this.

And there it is, the end of yet another absolutely fantastic season. Two World Championships, an Ironman, a 50 mile run race, the Grand Canyon. Lots of fun. This season has been brought to you by the letter “T”, as in my main sponsor….TROY. Thank you Troy, thank you Trakkers, Brooks, Core Concepts, and Nuun. Next year will be even better, different, but better.

Thanks to all of you out there that support me with emails, tweets and calls. I love you.

This weekend is the 2009 Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, FL. I qualified for this championship at the Kansas 70.3 where I scored a 2nd age group finish. I’m pretty excited to attend this race, but am also trying to keep my expectations low. I have been to some AMAZING races this year: Rev3 Quassy, Ironman Canada, ITU Oly Worlds. It’s hard to believe that Clearwater will be on this level. Many of the pros that were at Rev3 stated over and over again that they wished Rev3 was the World Championships, and that it should be. With that endorsement, I’m keeping my expectations in check.

This will be the last time in 2009 that I take apart and pack up my trusty steed. Scarlet is boxed and ready for her flight. She needs a tune up when I get there, she has a few little shifting issues. Other than that, she is ready to ride fast and hard.

My feet are excited to race too! They will be sporting a brand spanky new pair of Brooks Launch in neon greeeeen, which is odd, because with the Bio MoGo sole, they are green. Wait, are they green? They look kinda yellow? Maybe they are yellow? [Official color is: Mantis Green]

Green [or yellow] with envy? My feet were so excited to get these on, they just couldn’t stand still.

Happy feet for me!

Then I head on over to the fridge, trying to think about what I’m going to pack for my trip, and wow, look who’s all ready to go?

Apparently somebody thinks that we are going to Hawaii, no no, Mix1, it’s the “other” World Championships. But that’s okay, I think they allow hula skirt clad Mix1 bottles on the plane, no really, no need to repack.

I scored a major deal on some Nuun last weekend so I am planning on bringing a few tubes to clearwater to hide in various spots and then tweet where they are hidden. A sort of Nuun scavenger hunt. What do you think? Is this a good idea, could be pretty fun for me too!

So, that’s about it. I’m ready to go, even more ready to have fun, and most of all ready to kick some butt out there on the course. The race is Saturday, athlete trakker will be up and going on the Ironman website.

So Trakkers is doing a beta test at the Denver Marathon this year. Have you been itching to test a unit and do you just happen do be racing the Denver 1/2 Marathon, or the Full?? Well, read below:

Denver Marathon Maniacs!,

Ok, you’re NOT maniacs – well, maybe you are – but in my book this is GOOD maniac. Some of you may be familiar with one of Super-Sonja’s sponsors: Trakkers. Basically, Trakkers is a GPS device for athletes. The athlete wears the device and friends/family can go online to follow them along, in training or racing, in real time. A google map pops up and a dot moves along the map in real time. VERY cool stuff, and the next step in technology for sports, really.

Trakkers is looking for some folks who would like to be involved in a beta-test at the Denver Marathon. We are in the final stages of product development and are looking for another test to iron out the final glitches before the device is available to the mainstream public.

What is in it for you? Aside from my eternal thanks, your friends and family will be able to follow you online (so they can be in another state and get to follow you!) during your race, and you get to use the device for free.

If you are interested, please send me an email: carole.sharpless@trakkersgps.com

Happy marathon!

Kindest Regards,
Carole Sharpless
VP of Operations

Also, I know some of you were pretty jealous when I attended the Rev3 race this year. You saw my Green Iguana Trakkers uniform and you WANTED ONE! I can’t blame you, the Trakers uniform is super comfy, plus Trakkers sponsorship grants you lots of goodies, training camp, and being a part of cool tri team. Do you think you’ve got what it takes to be on Team Trakkers 2010? Here’s the official application. It will download to your computer as a word doc.

As my miles taper down, and my training hours dwindle I’ve started to look back on what was accomplished this year. I think you have to remind yourself what you have done to reach your goals, it’s easy to forget. Steve, Andrea, Anthony and I started off this training block by heading to Canada together to volunteer in August 2008. Being total triathlon geeks were immediately bitten by the Ironman bug. We had way to much fun volunteering for IM Canada and we came home so jazzed and excited to train for the next years race. Steve got to thinking about how he was going to train us and thus was born the 17 hour training day plans. A website followed, and we had introspective meetings once a month. We started to build or base and along the way came lots and lots of fun.

We ran 41 miles on the Colorado trail and dragged way way way too many people with us.

We ran up Red rocks stairs a ka-billion times.

We swam and swam and swam all winter long

We signed up for our first 50K and ran all over Moab.

We ran long long runs in tights…with friends.

We ran even longer runs, through the snow.

We swam more…and more…and more.

We ran 46 miles to Boulder in 19 degree weather.

I tried to run 15 miles two days after running 46 miles and not yet recovered. I hurt myself. My knee kept me out of the running game for about 4 weeks, just had to take it’s time to properly heal. I learned the difference between bad pain, and healing pain. I will try much harder not to make that mistake again. Here is the “I’m happy but I hurt look”.

We ran up Mt Evans in the snow and I turned back early b/c the knee wasn’t quite back completely. I can’t believe I left these two together.

We went to Catalina Island and I watched Steve, Andrea, and Anthony run 50 miles. It was a hoot, and I gained perspective on being on the sideline. I had a ton of fun, and drank a few too many pomegranate margaritas.

We ran up Highgrade…a tough climb for most local cyclists

I progressed through another great snowshoe season, this time with more depth to my running and made my second National Snowshoe team.

I got two new bikes which made me way faster

Michelle and I raced the boys over our entire Shadow loop, and we won (because we’re better).

We rode everywhere. Shadow, Epic, Shadow, Epic. Climb climb climb

We went to Las Vegas and slaughtered a half Ironman

Then turned around 40 hours later and ran across the Grand Canyon….twice

I ran a mountain marathon in Gateway Colorado

I raced my first road race

I went to Connecticut and raced the Rev3 Half Ironman

And then the next weekend raced the Kansas 70.3 half Ironman

and then the next weekend raced the Loveland Lake to Lake Oly

And then we rode our bikes home

It all involved a lot of this

and this

Then we cranked up the mileage and rode out east week after week after week, hundreds of miles. 156 mile rides, 100 mile rides, and lots of 85 mile rides.

We trained for 17 hours in one day. The “official” 17 hour training day. 7K swimming, 100+ riding, and 30+ running.

I went to California and competed in Vineman 70.3 Half Ironman

Then came home, rode a couple hundred miles, and entered my first crit

Then we rode 225 miles in one day

And finally we endured a hail storm after 100 miles on the bike and 18 on the run, incurring substantial “hail damage” to our bodies.

So, all these experiences. What if I completely choke at Ironman? Doesn’t matter. No really, won’t I be so disappointed if it just doesn’t go my way on the actual day? Nope. Because, for one, I know what it feels like when it’s not going my way. I’ve been to that ugly place on runs, on swims and on rides, and you know what, I’ve persevered through it, I’ve figured out how to keep going. So does adversity scare me? Nope. Number two, I’ve enjoyed this training, I’ve enjoyed the Ironman lifestyle. If you haven’t seen much of me lately it’s not because I’m out there painfully toiling away on my bike, it’s because I’m out there living it up doing what makes my soul happy. I have found out that there is something in me that loves to go long. I love the outdoors, and I love the way this training makes me feel in both heart and mind. If all this was for nothing…I would sign up again tomorrow. The adventures and experiences have been priceless.

I don’t know how I can encourage you all out there, but I want to let you know that I don’t consider myself to have any special powers. I don’t see myself as an unusually hard worker. What I do have is a passion to live life to it’s fullest, and the ability to smile. If any of what I have done in the past year sounds fun to you, please find a way to talk to me about it. Do you see all the pictures of all the different people that did just some of the fun stuff I did last year. Well, that could be you. So please don’t sit by and think “Man, I wish I could join them”. I would love to find a way to make that possible for you.

This is totally the week of product endorsements! When you train the distances that I commonly do, you become very fond of certain products that gracefully allow you to do your work. The good products, the helpful products, have a special place in your heart, because when your gear goes wrong, your training tends to follow suit.

One of the most important places that you want your gear to work is your feet. When you love to run A LOT, as in you love it A LOT, and the amount you run is A LOT, you have to have more than a good shoe, you need a great shoe.

This last year I gave up having three different shoes: a lightweight trainer for short fast runs, a heavy weight trainer for long road runs, and a trail shoe. I found a shoe I love and I wear it for everything except races. And crazy as it sounds, it’s a trail shoe.

Oh my, what shoe is this Sonja?

It’s the Brooks Cascadia.

I love it so much I rotate through three pairs. I have 3 pairs of the Cascadia 3…maybe next up I will buy 4 pairs of the Cascadia 4…which I hear is MORE comfortable, and boasts an environmentally friendlier BioMoGo midsole, the world’s first-ever biodegradable midsole for running shoes. The laces are made out of recycled materials as well!

Brooks has a great site that helps you figure out what shoe would work for you. Check them out at www.brooksrunning.com

They are also on Twitter…they are so cool! Follow them: @brooksrunning

Have you received any of these crazy Sport Science shirts in your race packet lately? You can tell because they have the little bright yellow tag on the sleeve. Last year our Phidipides shirts were Sport Science and I found myslelf working out in it a lot. At first glance it looked like your run of the mill cotton t-shirt. The first time I put it on I couldn’t believe how well it fit. They make women’s and mens shirts separately. The other track club members were pretty jazzed about it too.

A little about their philosophy:

In 2003, we launched sport science™ smarter performance™ for the fun-having, sport-playing, running, walking, hiking, commuting, climbing, training, traveling, going, doing active people of the world.

Our mission is to create products that do more so you can do more – clothing that can go anywhere and do anything, not just in regards to function, but to comfort and style as well. When true technical performance fuses with incredible comfort and versatility, smarter performance™ is the result.

Then I worked out in it and I knew something was different about it. The fabric that Sport Science uses feels soft and nice like cotton, but it wicks. Normal race shirts are either cotton, or tech. I never feel like I can wear my race t-shirts that are tech shirts around town because they are a little thin and breezy, and somewhat see through. I definitely can’t wear the cotton race tshirts to workout in. Not for any considerable workout at least. But these sport science shirts really bridge the gap. Practical Coaching used this company for their shirts this year…I bought three!

Cruising through their website it looks like they make all different cuts of shirts. I would love to try out a sleeveless and a long sleeve, I definitely see a tied dyed shirt in my future, and the wool line looks really enticing.

Oh, and this isn’t just a chick thing. Troy has a habit of wearing things he likes over and over again until they die (usually beyond when they die). Despite the fact that our 17 hour training day shirts are pink, he wears it every other day (when he’s not wearing the grey Practical Coaching shirt). I haven’t told him it’s pink (he’s color blind). He hasn’t worn them out yet, and he said that if it was his choice he would wear only this brand of t-shirts. Pretty strong feelings from my mellow-smellow hubby!

If you haven’t raced a race that has Sport Science shirts you’ve got to find one! You wont be disappointed. If you know of a race that is putting Sport Science in their packets, leave the name and link in a comment below. And if you are Sport Science and you are reading this, I really love your product!

All photos taken by my dad, Eric Willis. I love him!

The hype for this race was pretty wild. Vineyards, wine, a beautiful location in California. This race was meant to be a treat. Troy flew in Friday night and mom and I had the van packed and ready to go camping. Saturday morning we hopped in the car and drove two hours up to Windsor for packet pickup. It was a scorcher of a day and the projections were that it was going to be even hotter for race day. I grabbed my packet and we spent the day checking out the swim, bike and run courses. The evening was filled with a great salmon dinner by dad, some marshmallow roasting, and a luxurious night of sleep in the van.

4am wake up call and we were off. We had scoped a good spot to park the van where my parents could skedaddle after the swim without getting into a traffic jam. The race area is extremely congested and difficult for friends and family to maneuver through. The two transitions are 15 miles apart and it’s all a little tricky.

I headed down to the water, racked my bike and got ready for the swim. The swim is in a river, you swim up river first, and then back down river to finish. It’s so shallow that you can stand up at almost any spot in the race.

Lining up I really didn’t feel nervous. I got a spot on the line off to the left. I liked my spot and it made for some good pictures for my dad.

That’s totally me sighting in this shot.

When we went around the turn buoys I stood up and dolphin dived and the water was at my knee/thigh level. I got a good start out of the gate and spent about half the race on some nice feet and then the second half by myself. I didn’t feel the nice rhythm that I was quite used to in the water, but I felt ok, and emerged ready to get going on the bike.

Transition was crazy. I was allowed to hand my wetsuit over the fence to my mom, so I did that, but it was a little weird. The transition was in a dirt lot and by the time I got off with my bike I was a muddy mess, and my bike was a dusty wreck.

I obeyed my 5 mile rule to chill and get my legs under me. We had a nice flat section, but then they took us into a curvy crazy section where all the volunteers were telling us to slow down and one volunteer yelled that there was a bad accident at mile 7.

We head up this big hill and just on the other side I see about 30 racers stopped in front of me. There are ambulances, and police. A lady is yelling that a tree fell onto the road and pinned two cyclists. They were halting the race because they had to see if the wire that was down was live or not, and they had to get the racers safely into the ambulance, and they had to remove the tree. I just unclipped, stayed calm and messed with my new Garmin that didn’t seem to be behaving how I envisioned. People in the crowd were going crazy, one lady was yelling “Can you release the names of the cyclist”? I slowly moved away from her. Sheesh, calm down. Cyclists piled up behind me and I couldn’t help but think about how this would effect my race. I’m a slower swimmer and I spend so much of my race trying to catch the fast swimmers. Anyone in my wave who was a faster swimmer would not have been stopped in the accident, so they were long gone.

Note: There were actually 3 racers involved. The tree was about 4 feet in diameter and came down between two cyclists. For the one in front it hit him in the back, entangled him and his bike in the tree and I believe he either broke, or nearly broke his back. He is still in the ICU. For the one behind the tree it ensnared him and his bike and he broke his collar bone. The next rider crashed as a result of the tree falling and ended up in the bushes and broke his collar bone.

After about 10 minutes they opened the road again and everyone took off, like a road race. People were riding 6 across, on a very narrow twisty road, they weren’t obeying the center line rule, and the road was still open to traffic. And…they are triathletes, with triathlete handling skills…need I say more. I have never felt more unsafe in my life in a race. It was total Danger Will Robinson! I waited for the congestion to dissipate but a mean little pack was forming.

I’m not going to do the whole tattle tale thing on this blog, but I will just say that the rest of the bike was a tad frustrating, and I had trouble enjoying the scenery. I will say that I will think twice about ever doing another race where the course is left open to drivers. If you can close down the roads in San Francisco for Escape from Alcatraz, then you should be able to close down the back roads in Sonoma county. I felt very unsafe and at one point watched a police officer wave a car out in front of me. It was just odd and not what I was at all expecting for a 70.3 with such a great reputation.

Into transition and off to the run. It was hot hot hot. I have heard reports from 95 to 106, and to me it felt like about 102-103ish. Ice down the sports bra, ice down the pants. Water with ice, Gatoraid with ice…just lots of ice. From mile 1 on I could tell that it wasn’t going to be a repeat Kansas performance. I was hitting around 8 min miles, and didn’t feel motivated to go much faster. I did enjoy myself through. The course was quite hilly, lots of little ups and downs. I liked the run, but was begging for cooler temps.

I love this one of Keith with the “No Dogs Allowed” sign

I came through the finish glad to be done, ready to sit in a tub of ice! It was great to see my dad’s coworkers Jonathan, and Jeff out there. They both knocked it outa the park! Also Keith was on course, but I didn’t see him. He was out there though. It was a bummer not to have all my practical coaching hommies racing with me, but I thought it was a good effort on a day that was riddled with challenges! I made a few friends, and had the wonderful support of my parents and Troy. Many thanks for all the well wishes and congratulatory notes.

Jonathan and Jeff, my tour guides and training partners for the week

Pook post race. She was such a trooper in the heat!

So..at one point during the race a guy rode by and said “nice bike”. I was like “thanks” cause, you know, I get that a lot. Then I looked at his bike and WE HAD THE SAME BIKE. Now if you ride a Cervelo I know this is nothing new for you, but it’s RARE RARE RARE to see another Isaac. So, after the race we took some pics together. Notice how I just cozied up to this guy, apparently if you own an Isaac I’m more apt to snuggle my sweaty body up to yours. Oh, sonja…

Swim + T1: 36:45
Bike: 2:49:07
T2: 2:24
Run: 1:45:31
Overall: 5:13:49
11th F30-34 (1st,2nd,and 3rd overall were in my AG, and all three of them were under 4:35, pretty tough competition)
46th female

While I have completed two half-iron distance races this year last weekend was my first foray into the official 70.3 arena. I heard from others that these races are super intense, hard core, lots of talent grottos. I was so ready for the competition and also a bit excited to see what I had against a stacked field.

Originally I was afraid to ask Steve if I could race two 1/2 iron distance races on back to back weekends. It’s just seemed like an obviously stupid endeavor. But as the winter training progressed and wacky-nuts seemed to be the name of the game I approached the subject. Steve said yes and we toyed around with which race would really be the focus. We never really decided and the truth is it’s nearly impossible for me to give anything but everything when I step on a starting line.

Still, I wanted this race to be fun. When the race director sent a message stating that we could reserve a camp spot near transition for two nights for just $40, I got a little giddy. I asked Troy “Should we camp”? He said “Heck Yea!”. I’m 99.9% sure that every one of my teammates thought I was nuts. But ohhh-nooo they had it wrong. Camping was the best thing we could have done. I feel at home camping, I sleep better in my tent than in my bed, and I love cooking outdoors. I am more relaxed, and more settled when I’m camping, so this was a good choice for me.

We arrived in Lawrence KS at about 2pm on Friday and the camp spots were awesome. Lots of room. Unfortunately our site didn’t have any shade so we erected the Practical Coaching 10X10 tent over our tent and made a trip to the store for three 16lb bags of ice. I knew I needed to stay cool. I picked up my packet, witnessed the hugest M-dat tattoo (had to take a picture), and we had a very chill evening with some yummy fajitas. I also met Taryn who was camping across the way. She told me she reads my blog which made me a little bashful and then she told me that Sunday would be her first triathlon! You go girl! And if you are reading, make sure you make a comment, I’m so proud of you for finishing!!

Our camping spot

Can we say M-Dot?

Saturday morning Troy, Annie and I drove out of the park and attended the Lawrence farmers market. It’s the oldest farmers market in Kansas and it’s a producers only market so the person you buy from is the person who made/grew/raised what you are buying. Troy and I both agreed that is was one of the best markets we have ever been to, and being a farmers market junkie, I feel qualified to say that.

Lawrence Farmers Market

Some veggies, honey, and breakfast later we headed back to the race site to meet up with the Practical Coaching crew for a race recon mission. Everyone was so super giddy. We rode one loop of the run course and talked about the transitions and the swim and bike along the way. Very informative, and nice to spend some time together as a team.

Annie attempting the Navy Seal net in her pajamas.

Keith and Steve

We found some uh interesting things during race recon…who goes to a 70.3 for their Bachelor Party?

Race Recon with the crew

All lined up looking goofy

I then headed back to the tent for some lunch while everyone else waited in line to grab their packets. Heh Heh heh. I eventually headed over to drop my bike in T1. There were two transitions for this course and our camp site was smack dab in-between the two. I covered my seat and drive train with bags in case the rain that was called for overnight came to fruition. Then it was chilaxin time. Troy and I had a great dinner of pasta with veggies from the market and italian sausage. I even got the backpacking oven going and produced a beautiful batch of brownies for an evening snack. We read, and talked. It was so nice to have some quite time in the outdoors with Troy to reconnect and to laugh together.

Kids love tents

Troy loves outdoor cookin’

Everyone loves Brownies, Annie is OUT!

That evening when we stepped into the woods there were thousands of fireflies. I’ve only seen them once in my life, but this was so much better. It was like the stars were twinkling in the forrest, such a highlight of the entire trip. I also received a very inspirational email just before I went to sleep that made my sleep very peaceful that evening.

The next morning I slept in until 5:15! Transition opened at 4:45 and my wave went off at 6:58. Sleeping at the race site compares to NOTHING!! I got dressed, waved to my triathlete tent neighbors and headed over to T2 to set up. That took several minutes and I found Steve and Sara. We headed to T1 to set that up and I just loved the atmosphere. Steve and Sara were giddy and we had a nice time walking over to T1. Once at T1 I set up there, hemmed and hawed about whether I should leave my arm warmers on my bike, looked into the sky, told the sky gods to keep the temps manageable and put the arm warmers away. I quickly found Troy amongst the 2000 triathletes, he’s so tall and was wearing his red coat. Most of the Practical Coaching athletes found him and were handing off last minute items to him. We are so lucky to have Troy! He’s such a pillar for our team (and for me). I threw on my DeSoto and my yellow cap, kissed Troy and Annie goodbye, and lined up in the stall.

Steve, Sara and Doreen pre race.

Annie in front of a HUGE Gatorade bottle

THE SWIM
My wave was big. I lined myself up and I had on of the best starts ever. No jostling, I swam straight, I stayed calm…it was good. I tried to find feet to swim on but for some reason I had a lot of trouble staying on the feet. The water was very murky and it was a big challenge to see the feet even when I was tapping them on every stroke. So I didn’t have a lot of luck with that. I did however really try to push this swim. No regrets, give it a good go. My time may not reflect as much, but I was proud of my effort throughout this swim.

Swimming back to shore it looked like there were 50,000 spectators. All I could see was people, and as I ran into T1, all I could hear was Troy. He’s such a phenomenal cheerer, loud booming voice and he really puts some heart into it! I had a very quick, olympic style transition: put your helmet on, grab your bike, and go. The lanes were really tight and I did a lot of yelling “On your left” to get through other people in transition.

THE BIKE
I was really excited about this bike. I had no idea what to expect but I just knew in my heart that there was no way Kansas could deal out what Las Vegas and Middlebury dished on me. Kansas = flat, and honestly, after my last two 1/2’s, Kansas delivered. People afterwards complained about the hills on course but I wasn’t one of them. I loved this bike course. You could fly, and fly I tried. As always the first 5 miles is the warm up zone. I got passed twice by ladies in my age group. Rah Roh. When the second lady passed I said “enough” and went with her. This got me back past the first lady that passed me but this second lady was screaming fast. She ended up being the top amateur for the day, and her bike split was the same as Chrissie Wellington (But Chrissie got a “puncture” as she calls them and lost about 4 minutes). Still this chick was flying (Marisa Asplund)!

I had such a fun time on the course. There were a lot more cyclists on the course than I am used to. I got to battle with a lot of dudes and one in particular couldn’t take being chicked and tried to drive me over the double yellow into oncoming cyclists. I’m happy to say the bike racing paid off, I held my line (in aero) and used a nice amount of attitude in response. There were other guys out there that were just treating me great. One (who had wings tattooed on his legs) told me I was flying and asked me if I ran 7 min pace so that I could pace him on the run. Was he hitting on me? If he was, I’m flattered. I couldn’t believe how the miles were ticking by, the course was marked in 5 mile increments and they were flying by.

Now, I don’t wear a heart rate monitor, I don’t have a power tap, or a fancy GPS thingee. I don’t know how fast I’m going, but I do wear a watch. You know just a pain old “keeps time” watch and I like to have a little fun with it. Since in my last two 1/2s I have gone 1:41-1:43 range for my run time I was hoping to break 1:40 on a flat course. I also was secretly hoping to break 5 hours, since I did a 5:07 and a 5:11 previously. Now, I can talk times all day, but when the rubber meets the road I just want to throw my effort on the wall, and whatever sticks, I’m happy with. So I was playing a little game with my watch, trying to guess what time I would get into transition, all the while creaming myslef on the bike. Harder, faster, smile. I just kept surprising myself as the miles went by. I was estimating that I would get into T1 at 3hrs 20 min.

I roll into T2 and I look for a teal towel with shoes covered in a plastic bag. I find it, rack my bike, throw my helmet on the ground, pull off the plastic bag…uh…not my shoes. I look at the number on the rack. Not my number. So I grab my bike find my number, rack my bike, put on my shoes, go back to the old spot, retrieve my helmet, put it back in the proper spot, grab my hat and number and run off. I drop the hat and number, pick it up and say to myself “CALM DOWN”. I run out of T2, look at my watch and it says that to break 5 hours I need to run a 1:47. Holy cow, that I can do!

THE RUN
Not two seconds after thinking that a lady in my age group goes flying by me. She is the same lady that flew by me on the bike and that I passed back. She is flying and I don’t want to let her go. The lady in first I know is long gone (I timed the first lady in my age group on one of the turn around sections on the bike and she had 4.5 minutes on me). I was gunning for a second place age group but didn’t exactly know where I was in the race. this lady was running super strong and her first mile was under 6:35. I just didn’t go with it. I sat back. The dude with the wings on his legs was with me and I told him she was in my age group. He said we were running super fast. I never know how fast I am running until mile two because I always forget to hit the lap button at the start of the run, so I usually never get the first mile split. Mile two was a 6:33 and I wasn’t making any ground on the lady in front of me. I thought to myself, well if she can run the entire half marathon at 6:30 pace, then she probably has me. But I didn’t think that was likely either. There were lots of cheering fans around and I figured it was more likely that she was excited.

How can you not be excited when you get to run by Chrissy Wellington!

At mile three we had one of the two hills on the course. It’s a short and kinda steep little bugger and for some reason I just said enough is enough. I ran hard up that hill, passed the lady in my age group and then I ran for my life the next mile and a half. I ran by Troy and I gave him the “I’m scared and I’m running fast look”. He cheered so loud! Mile three up the hill was 7:12 and mile 4 was 6:55. I felt like she was breathing down my neck, but I convinced myself that I had opened up a gap. I settled into the race, there were so many people on the course it kept things very lively. Mile 5 and 6 were a combined 14:07 and 7/8 were 14:11. I had hit my stride and it was just over 7 min pace. I was a little shocked, but it felt smooth, so I just kept running.

At mile 9 I ran by Troy and he said that “one was 2.5 up”. I knew the super fast lady was 7+ minutes up on me, but I had apparently missed another lady in my age group. I put a little fire in my engine and miles 9/10 were a combined 13:07. I was stoked that it felt oh so good to be running that fast. I caught the lady in my age group and at that point I felt confident that I was second age group and that first was outta sight. I took a gel that the course had provided and it had 2X caffeine. I suffered several miles of stomach cramping and learned a hard lesson that 2X caffeine is too much for my tummy. Don’t just grab and eat without looking. Mile 11 was 7:13 and mile 12 was 7:30. The last mile plus extra was 9:06. For the last few miles I hung onto a guy that everyone called “muffin”. That cracked me up and somebody had drawn chalk muffins all over the asphalt. I felt like I was running with a celebrity, that was fun!

Coming into the line and looking at my watch and seeing 4:45:32 left me in utter shock. I walked through the shoot and I started crying. It was really emotional for me. I had hoped to break 5 and to do so in this way was exciting and unexpected. I was instantly happy with the manner that I executed my race. I just stopped crying when I turned around to see my PIC Michelle finish, and low and behold she was crying just like me. She had scored second in her age group as well. Very emotional.

Swim: 35:39
T1: 1:39
Bike: 2:34:10 (21.79mph)
T2:1:23
Run: 1:32:41 (7:04 pace)
Total: 4:45:32
12th overall
6th amateur
2nd F30-34

The best part of the day for me was watching the other Practical Coaching athletes complete their races. Seeing Andrea break 6 hours and have a huge smile on her face. I can’t describe the joy I had in watching my friends succeed at this distance. Beth took a 4th age group slot, and I was so hoping a Clearwater slot would come her direction, but it got snatched up. Sandy took two and a half hours off her time at Rage, she went 5:27 versus a tough 8 hour day at Rage. Taryn, my camping neighbor finished her first triathlon, and it was a half!

Everyone is happy with a race well done!

We have such a great crew!

Chrissy Wellington is a total class act. She hung out and took pics with just about every single participant. What a class act world Champion!

So, before the race I talked a little with Anthony, my 17hourtrainingday.com teammate about whether he would take a Clearwater slot if one came his direction. After some chatting I was convinced that I wouldn’t take the slot, and he said he wasn’t going to either. But when all was said and done and I saw that I got a slot (there were two in my age group) I was asking Troy “did we bring a checkbook”? It was so exciting. Michelle was taking her slot and I figured GIRL TRIP. Then while attending awards I watch a slot make it down to Anthony, they call his name…and he says “I’ll take it”. I had such a huge grin on my face.

Anthony and I, he is such a great guy and talented athlete!

BUT then, We had Steve, our fantastic coach. Would he get a slot? There was one of four slots left. They start calling names, and sure enough, they call his, and I hear “I’ll take it”. I was so happy for him!

Okay, here is the last bit, and it’s a little funny. They take your $$ on the spot and they give you a piece of paper that has directions on how to sign up for the race. It has a password and it has dates that you can sign up within. The lady tells you “Don’t loose this paper or your money is gone and you can’t sign up”. So I turn and give the paper straight to Troy.

Last night when we got home Troy takes the paper and sets in on my desk in front of the computer. We go to bed. Annie wakes up at 6am and Troy pops her in a DVD and goes back to bed. When I get up we clean up from the trip, take out the trash, vacuum, etc. Then we realize the paper isn’t there. We searched the house for TWO hours. Troy even went and got out the trash from the dumpster. Then the trash truck came. The paper is GONE. We have a call and an email into the race director. But my precious Clearwater slot is hanging in limbo. I figure if they won’t let me in I will inundate them with this photo. I have also sent this photo (taken on my iPhone) to every tech-savy person I know to try to deduce the password off of the sheet.

All in all this race…and this month, and this season has been just an awesome experience. I can’t thank my coach enough…Steve Pye is his name and I can’t believe how much he has changed my life. My husband Troy is a total saint, always there for me with a hug and relentless support of my passion. Annie, my darling little girl that keeps me laughing at life and helps me to maintain balance in my life. Also, my mom and dad who have really gone above and beyond to help out their GROWN CHILD with getting to all these races, and for tweeting and texting their love and support. I love you guys!

Lastly I can’t forget Core Concepts, who treats me so kind with yummy clothes, and Trakkers, who you all will love when they get their awesome little triathlon trakking devise on the market!