I have been so lucky to have lots of wonderful active women to train with the last several years. An important sub group have been my close mom friends that I bike with. We dubbed our group “Bike with your Bambino” and there is a pretty substantial group of us that continue to bike with our kids as they get older and older. We went out for a 2 1/2 hour ride yesterday and had a total blast. It’s really fun to ride at the back of the group and listen to all the comments of the people who pass us. I hear “The baby brigade”, “wow they are racing”, “moms unite”, and many other hilarious little comments. Our kids have grown up either in the backpack or in the Chariot and most the time the kids are perfectly happy for 1 or 2 or even sometimes 3 hours riding. We get in great workouts, after all, every ride pulling 60 pounds is like a hill workout.

Laura, Gaye, Hillary, Me, and Lindsay

So thanks to all the moms in my life, and to all the women that I train with, we sure have a lot of fun staying healthy.

So I get an email from USAT today.

“Six weeks. Six weeks? Yep, it’s the final six weeks of training for the biggest race of your life. The top 16 places in each age group (rolling down to 20) will represent Team USA on the Gold Coast of Australia. Will you be flying into Queensland next year? We hope so. Remember, this is the ONLY race that qualifies you for this Aussy extravaganza.”

Okay #1: 6 weeks, holy molly, I feel the sudden urge to be faster, do more, be more. Calm down Sonja, breathe. breathe.

#2: 16 slots, what the heck? For the last 10 months they have said on their website that it is 8 slots rolling down to 13th. Now it’s 16, rolling to 20th. They are seriously going to need to roll down a little farther b/c some people just aren’t going to want to go all the way to Australlia.

#3: Yes I know it’s the only race, why do you think I’m so stinkin nervous, but yea, thanks for rubbing it in.

So, the time has come in my training where I get to go fast…A LOT. Yes ladies and gentleman, start your engines. My workouts have been quick, fast and peppy. I have been looking forward to this part of training for ooohhh, about 11 months, and now that it’s here all I can say is OUCH. I forgot how much going fast hurts. The muscles are actually groaning every night. I have some sort of “build to race pace” in every workout, it seems. I get home from these epic suffer-fests (that I secretly love) and I am hitting the ice bath, the foam roller, the trigger point rollers, the stick, some husband lovin’, and occasionally the jar of Advil. I wake up the next morning, and the legs are like normal again. It’s just uncanny.

Some Awesome News: Susan won the Leadville 100 mile MTB race this last weekend. Lance Armstrong came out to race as well and he got second in the mens race. But Susan, heh heh, she got first in the women’s race. All that, a week after the Wild West Relay. She is truly a stud woman! Here’s an excerpt from the Rocky Mountain News:

Though the main attraction lived up to its billing in the 15th running of this race, the top female finisher came as much more of a surprise … at least, to her.

“I am just shocked,” Susan Williams, of Littleton, said after crossing the finish line in 8:40:55. “I just wanted to get under 10:30. I just can’t believe how this turned out.”

It was Williams’ first time riding in the Leadville 100, and she knew little of what to expect but stayed focused on what she though her strengths were.

My Partner in Crime (PIC) Michelle has now entered blog land. Michelle is a totally awesome mom of two beautiful girls who somehow manages to balance a tremendous career, and a phenominal triathlon hobby, all while being a great mommy and wife. She truely does this all with grace, class, and a spunky attitude. She is totally my peeps, and I just love her to death (Can you tell?). We kinda look alike, except she has 6-pack abs. She’s my twinkie!

Michelle has absolutely knocked it out of the park this year. She is a total bad a$$ swimmer, always has been, and continues to beat Steve out of the water every single race.

Her bike has progressed farther that I even think she realizes. She’s dedicated, and she gets in the work. I rode with her last week and as several of us rode in a paceline I was begging her (in my mind) to not pull through as hard as she was. She was pulling as hard as the boys and looked calm and cool doing so. She is super strong and I can’t wait to see her bike times diminish like her run times.

Speaking of her run. This lady ran a 54:32 10K off the bike at age group nationals last year. She walked twice due to a leg cramp. This winter she put in the miles. She ran up mount Evans and is planning a run up Pikes peak this coming month. She has hit the track workouts hard and several weeks ago at Loveland Lake to Lake she ran a 47:53 10K off the bike. Last night at track I ran the last 300 of her last 1000 with her and could not believe how hard she is throwing it down on the track. I jumped into her last interval at the 300 to go spot and she was running 6:50 mile pace. She started to lay it down with me and ran the last part of her LAST interval at 6:15 pace. She LAYED it down.

The best thing about having great friends in the triathlon community is that when they excel or jump a new hurdle you feel that success with them. I am so tremendously proud of Michelle and can’t wait to experience future successes with her. Check out my PIC’s blog, and leave her some comment love.

Check Out Her Blog Here

Chilin’ at TJ’s in Portland

Michelle and I getting our swagger on. Attitude.

I just checked out the 2008 Men’s line of Core Concepts Clothing. I am totally in love with the mens shirts (especially the design above). The designs crack me up. Do you have a cyclist /climber/skier dude in your family? I have a few! Don’t worry ladies, women’s T’s are on their way! The Continental Divide Short looks bomber as well, I think I’m going to look into a pair of these for Troy being that I am super satisfied with the clothing that I am product testing for Core Concepts.

Speaking of testing, I have been wearing my Cadence Hoodie nonstop when the temperature gets below 70 degrees. I am lovin’ it. I have probably washed it 50 times and it hasn’t degraded one bit. It seems to have gotten softer with time as well. I have hiked with it and cycled with it extensivly and I’m diggin’ it!

Wow. Yesterday was epic! It was the farthest I’ve ever ridden, the highest I’ve every ridden, and the longest amount of time I’ve spent on the bike. Somewhere around 100 miles, hit a high point of 14,264 ft. (summit of Mount Evans), and around 8 hours in the saddle.

At 7am a large group of Practical Coaching athletes and friends left the Bergan Park parking lot and headed up Squaw Pass towards Mount Evans. I could tell I felt good and that my legs were happy. We worked our way up the pass staying together as a group until Steve rode by and with the nod of his head the faster riders knew it was time to jump on and go. 7 of us picked it up and it was nice to ride hard. I felt smooth and consistent. We hit the top of Squaw Pass, headed down the other side and into the Mount Evans toll booth. The charge for a cyclist is $3 so we lined up and paid our tolls. From the toll booth to the top of Mount Evans is a little over 14 miles, and it’s all up up up. We stayed in our little group and about a mile after the toll booth I clipped a fellow riders wheel and down I went. Luckily we were going slow uphill. After a little help from Barry I was back on my bike and catching up to the group. Before I knew it I was back with them, pedaling hard, and reaping the benefits of the adrenaline rush I got from my brief meeting with the asphalt.

We wound our way up Mount Evans and I continued to use the common practice amongst mountaineers of “pressure breaths”. They sound funny and Steve calls them lamaze breathing (which they are not), but after the many many days I have spent acclimatizing to altitude in my life, I swear by them. A slow breath in and a super quick contraction of the lungs while you blow the air out, every 10 minutes or so does the trick. Up up up, and I was still feeling good, except something was seriously wrong with my elbow from the fall. With about 1 mile to go Steve started putting the smack down and I knew we were going to break up. I started going harder knowing that today I could handle it. At 14,000 feet you can go from fine to blown up in about 5 seconds so I tried to keep things in check. I rolled into the parking lot at the top just behind Steve and Ed and proud that I held my own as a girl amongst the boys.

Barry’s wife Priscilla was our sag support for the day and she was waiting there at the top with the Practical Coaching van. I suited up for the chilly descent and refilled the two bottles on my bike. We waited for Tyler to reach the top, much to our disappointment Tyler was experiencing some altitude sickness. Steve and I realized that he was done for the day. The original plan was for Steve, Michelle, Tyler and I to ride all the way home to Highlands Ranch from the top of Mt. Evans, about 70 miles. Michelle had to bag the ride early this morning due to a sick kiddo, and Tyler needed to take care of his altitude sickness. So Steve and I headed out. A few of the other riders that we rode up with were riding back to their cars so we had a little company for the first part.

Down the backside of Squaw pass Steve started putting the hurt on the descent. I always think the downhills are going to be easy but trying to hang onto his wheel through the curves while he is going all out just kills me. I am still learning how to take the right lines during descents and when he pulls off to let me lead for awhile my brain gets maxed out. Pedal your butt off… biggest chain ring… spinning… down in the drops… take the right line… come out of the turn right… check for cars behind… set up the next turn right. It’s just a lot. Add onto that the fact that I just rode up Mount Evans and my elbow is not in the best shape and I was bound to make an error. I didn’t set up a right turn correctly. I got over left too late, I got thrown out of the turn, very close to the double yellow line, and there was a car in the other lane. I almost got hit, 100% my fault. Steve yelled at me and made me stop. I got a stern talking to and the tears started rolling. No excuses, the best thing to do is get back on and ride. So we did, this time with Steve yelling commands at me on how to get into that turn correctly. I feel dense because he’s explained it a million times, but every turn is a little different and I guess I’m still absorbing his teachings. The faster you go, the harder the turns get, so there is that element too. But again, no excuses, I’ve got to learn, it will only make me stronger. And if I want to go from hanging onto the boys, to keeping my own with the boys, I’ve got to learn.

I have never been so happy to be done with the downhill. After a little more stern talking we were headed back uphill through Evergreen, onto Little Cub, our next climb. Boy did Little Cub hurt. We took it at a steady crawl and it was pretty uneventful, as in, no crashes, no near collisions with cars. We wound our way down and through the North and South Turkey Creeks, over to Deer Creek Canyon road. At the top of Deer Creek we had a potty stop on the side of the road and forced my bike into it’s big chain ring for the descent. By this time my bike was revolting and didn’t want to shift very well any more, plus shifting from my small ring to my big ring with my bum elbow was out of the question, it just hurt too bad. Despite my bikes bath on Friday, it was still in need of some serious LTC. We took the descent easy, not much left at this point and drug ourselves the last 20 miles home. On the last hill up Santa Fe I tried to challenge Steve, but he just cussed at me. I almost fell off my bike I was laughing so hard. We rolled into his house happy, extremely tired, and barely able to move.

I learned a lot this ride. It was an epic adventure and was great to have Steve there with me, to yell at me when I screwed up and to pat me on the back when I did well. Long days on the bike are one of my favorite things to do right now, I know I have said that one million times on this blog. I am so super thankful for my coach, he really pushes me in a way that he knows I can be successful. I also want to thank Prescilla and Chris for their SAG support, and Andrea for making me dinner after the ride when I was starving, and too tired to drive home.

Waking up this morning the elbow is a mess. I have about a 10 degree range of motion and lots of swelling. I’ve been taking Advil, rubbing anti-inflammatory cream on it, and ice ice ice. Hopefully it was mend quickly (please send “mending thoughts” to it). I’m proud that I rode another 5.5 hours with a bum elbow, I think it’s important to finish what you start, good for the soul.

Troy was home all day yesterday with Annie, continuing with the potty training. He’s such a rock star and I want to thank him a million times over for stepping into the house-maker role when I step into the athlete role. Annie is doing pee-pee’s on the potty and Troy has been so consistent helping her along. Thanks Troy, I love you!

Wow has this been an exciting week of training so far. We attempted our Rollins pass ride on Wednesday and had to turn back due to snow. The pass is still blocked by several steeply sloping snow fields. A fall while crossing would result in an icy dip in an alpine lake. We were in the saddle for about 7 hours and our bikes saw the better part of some pretty gnarly terrain suitable for a mountain bike. On the up side I am now officially in love with riding up Golden Gate Canyon Road. It’s a beautiful climb, just a few steep sections, and right about 18 miles of climbing with a few quick descents.

This morning Tyler and I were out of our minds. We got it in our heads that waking up at 4:15am to make the 5am DU masters swim on the Fourth of July would be a FUN thing to do. Ouch. We did it, and I even got in my 20 min run afterwards, but if we hadn’t been accountable to each other it never would have happened. 4:15 is just too early in the morning… especially on a holiday.

Speaking of holidays…today is Troy and I’s anniversary. Six years married. It’s really gone by quickly. We sure have learned a lot about each other and about staying happy together in the last 6 years. I’m really proud that Troy is my husband, and I feel very blessed that he choose me to be his wife. I’ve learned over the last 6 years that staying happily married takes work, but that every ounce of work you put into your marriage, pays some hefty dividends. It’s the communication and the “work” that helps you to create that special bond. There is something about jumping hurdles together that just makes life more fun. Troy and I have progressed through graduate school, first jobs, building careers, pregnancy, labor, and delivery of Annie, child rearing, fat times, loosing weight, over spending, budgeting, buying cars, selling cars, buying houses, selling houses, rock climbing, hiking, biking, 11 14ers climbed, cabin trips, road trips, backpacking, star gazing, dog walking, apartment gardening, running the bikes into the garage, transmission blowouts in BFE, and more farmers markets that I can count. I wouldn’t have wanted to share all this with anyone else.

Happy Anniversary Troy, I love you!

Now…I’m gonna head to the store so I can make him some homemade pancakes when he wakes up. Happy 4th, and happy Birthday to the USA.

After an evening of nonstop laughter I was so ready for race morning to come at 4am. Michelle, Steve, Christopher and I traveled to the race site and got a primo parking spot. After racking our bikes and getting THE CLOSEST transition spots we hopped in the car and people-watched for an hour. What a total hoot. Triathletes are just funny. They are so different than runners who usually stretch and act calm. Triathletes like to walk around all nervous like, spend unimaginable amounts of time in the port-a-pottie, and strut around wearing too little clothing for 4:30am. They also like to ride their bikes around with no helmets to warm up, which can get them DQed. Doh!

Swim Start

Pook on the beach

Most of the PC crew did a warm up run together, and I probably shouldn’t have gone with them. I was in the second wave and as I got to the swim beach and pulled on my wetsuit I heard the gun for the first wave. I had 4 minutes to get my two caps and goggles on, get in the water, find the right spot to start, and get ready. Boom, I was off and feeling rushed. It was a typical swim for me with a moderate amount of body bumping, and some settling. I sighed pretty well and seemed to hit each buoy with consistency. As we turned the last buoy the next wave started to pass me. I had fun jumping on 4 different guys feet from this group, catching a 30 second draft and giving myself a reason to push push push.

As we exited the water I looked down and my watch said 26 something. My first thought…the swim is short. Ha! Give yourself some credit Sonja! The two minute run to transition was tough in the wetsuit, but a little fun too. Turns out the swim was a bit short, but the swim plus run to transition seemed to be closer to a normal mile swim time. 28:15 was my official swim time…so my first time seeing the 28’s in a race. There was still lots of room for improvement in my swim execution, but it’s getting stronger.

T1 was great. I enjoyed having the primo spot, and it was oddly reassuring to see Steve and Michelles bikes on either side of mine. I was sandwiched by two of my favorite triathletes. 43 seconds later I was on the bike.

So the bike was a total sight unseen course for me. I had heard rumors about the hills and that it was pretty but had never ridden the course. It took awhile to get going. Steve and I just had a pow-wow last week about my TT form and so I was still “messing around” with where to sit, how to sit, how to pedal, how to feel comfortable, and what gear to be in. It took some time. Troy and Chris were ALL OVER the course and they are seriously the loudest cheerers I have even encountered. They really do it up good. Anthony caught me several miles in, and the Tyler caught me a few miles after that. I know I can bike with Tyler so I put some “giddy” in the “up” and started to go hard. I kept Tyler in sight and used him to keep me focused and accountable. The hills were great and Troy said it was fun to be on the course and to watch me eat up all the ladies ahead of me. I just tried to consistently pass people and put in a hard effort. On the last stretch down Wilson Steve passed me and I really wanted to keep him in sight. It was great to ride behind my coach and to watch him in action.

As we came into T2 Steve was first, then Tyler, then me, but we were all within 30 seconds of each other. When I entered transition and racked my bike Steve was departing (and we were racked next to each other). That was cool. I had trouble getting on my second shoe, but even with that, a 38 second T2.

Taking in Water outside T2

I rolled out of T2 and saw Tyler ahead. I worked my way up to him and told him to jump on my shoulder. He hopped on and we ran to mile 1 together. I looked at my watch and in my running stupor I couldn’t get the correct words out and threw down an F-bomb. Poor Tyler thought that I was upset with the first mile split (which was 6:57) and claims that I “took off”. But…this is not true. The f-bomb came b/c I was trying to get the right words out. I was perfectly happy with 7 minute pace. I did however see SEVERAL ladies in front of me, and the truth is when ya gotta go, ya gotta go. I had to go get those girls. So I took them one at a time and tried not to over think things. Whenever I would come up on a girl I would straighten up my form and put a little surge in. This way I would give of the impression that I was running much harder, and then they would feel like they couldn’t go with me. It worked over and over again. Troy and Chris were near the turn around and again…wild and crazy cheering ensued!

Troy and Pook

At the turn around I saw five ladies very close ahead and vowed to get them all. A mile later I had them, but I knew my good friend Amy was on my heels. By mile 5 she had eaten me up, much like I tried to eat up all the other ladies I passed. Ha! What goes around comes around! She had a terrific pace going so I just tried to lock into her effort and drive harder with her.

As we came around the last turns my FIL was there taking pics and Annie and my MIL were playing at the palyground.

Here I am running my guts out and it was crazy to see Annie playing away! As we come around the last turns I see this lady ahead and she looks my age. She is clearly running slower, but I am running out of real estate. I watch Amy kick and eat her up, and even though I am kicking, the finish line is coming too quickly. We cross 6 seconds apart and I see she is in my age group. Doh. That was a tough one.

Can yo see me?

Coming down the home stretch

The point where I knew I wasn’t going to catch her

After a 5 minute section of feeling very near puking (I’ve never had that at the end of a race, but I think it was from the sprinting) Steve and I headed out for a cool down and to chear on others.

Post race Pow-Wow

Post race pook Hug

Practical Coaching had a GREAT day. Steve won his age group, Michelle was 2nd in hers, Beth 3rd, Barry 3rd, Anthony 4th, and I was also 3rd in mine. A great day, and a testament to what a great coach Steve is!

Pook and I on the podium

Michelle and Beth on podium

Results are here
Swim: 28:15
T1: 0:43
Bike: 1:27:17
T2: 0:38
Run: 43:10
Overall: 2:40:04
14th woman
3rd in F25-29

So I know I have a race tomorrow, and believe me I’m excited beyond belief. But, man, next week is shaping up to be some exciting training.

Tomorrow is exciting for several reasons. I haven’t raced this race before, so there is the newness and the unknown that’s exciting. I am recovered from Alcatraz, finally, so I am happy to be going into the race in the right physical frame of mind. Being in the right place in the body helps me have the confidence to get my brain on track. I have an exciting race game plan that I am looking forward to having fun with. All my teammates, and tons of friends will be there, so lots of good vibes on the course. Lastly, lots of us are staying up there tonight and I am REALLY looking forward to hanging out with my team and engaging in some extreme pillow fighting madness.

So, don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about tomorrow.

BUT…next week. Oooh, next week.

On Wednesday we have an all day ride planned from Golden to Winter Park, via Rollins Pass. The road was closed to auto traffic some time ago and the rumor is that much of it is dirt. We are doing it on our road bikes, and have HEARD that it’s passable by road bike. All the photos I can find of people doing it are on mountain bikes, so it should be an adventure!

We are in for a real treat up and over Rollins Pass.

Then Saturday we are heading up Mount Evants on our bikes with the ENTIRE PC crew.

It’s 14 miles to the top and then most of us plan to ride all the way back to Denver, including a few more climbs along the way. Should be a super fun week with lots of mileage, lots of vertical feet, lots of laughter, and probably a good 10 almond butter sandwiches consumed!

So I have to give Tyler a little shout out. He’s caught the blogging bug and I’m lovin’ it. My friend Tyler is one of the most fun guys I know to hang around. He’s got a great head on his shoulders and knows how to work hard when he needs to. He’s the one coming up with the Alphabet Game to play on long bike rides (you’ll have to join us to know about that one), but when it comes time to climb, the boy drops the hammer.

His triathlon blog is great and I strongly urge you all to meander on over and check it out. Leave a little comment love and let him know what he’s doing is inspiring. He’s a dad of three and with the support of his wife Anne he fits it ALL in.

He’s always willing to throw in a little Booo-Yaa to the mix. Enthusiasm, exuberance, yet kindness and inclusiveness are constants with Tyler. He’s just a class act dude.

He ends every post with “I love you Anne” which just makes my heart melt. Check out his blog here.

Let me be the first of many to extend a HUGE congratulations to Core Concepts! Every year Polartec awards several high tech garments their prestigious Apex Award. This year Core Concepts Carve Full Zip jacket is sharing the podium with other stellar companies including Patagonia, Marmot, and Merrell.

As an avid wearer of the Carve Full Zip jacket let me just say this coat is top notch and extremely deserving of the Apex award. I have been product testing it for the last few months and have yet to uncover a flaw. It fabric is divine for us women, and the stylish details will leave your friends drooling…like my friends are! Right friends? Don’t worry, the Carve Full Zip goes on sale in September.

Congratulations to the Core Concepts crew and especially to owners Noah and Erin! You have been such a joy to work with and I know that as the years go by Core Concepts will become a household name in outdoor apparel. Keep up the great work and I can’t wait to see the Carve Full Zip walking around the streets of Boulder, or on the slopes in Vail. Because, when it comes to ‘Active. Life. Style’ you guys nailed it!