Rogue Triathlete!

It has been a while since my last post!  Lets just say life had too many projects for me and I decided to take a rather long hiatus from triathlon.  We all know it is a demanding sport.  Demanding on time, demanding on a relationship, demanding on the body, demanding on the mind.  I was ready for a break.  I watch so many triathletes suffer through training, enjoying the hard part of training is the most important part of triathlon.  When the hard training became a chore, I got out.  Luckily triathlon is my hobby and not my full-time job!

This summer I have been really enjoying having more time for work, we are doing some home remodeling and I spent some quality time with my family as well.  It was so nice to do this and not worry about getting my training in every day.  It was really good for me to focus on other important things in my life and I loved the break!  And I watched the entire season of Orange is the New Black in a one week period and had no guilt, haha!

I've had a ton of fun doing some totally recreational running and cycling endeavors!  We did a bike tour ride to Hermann, MO, which actually ended up being a mini-training camp with some serious pain train action but it was completely innocent and unplanned!

I'm also dabbling in the local trail running and cyclocross racing scene!  I did my first trail race two weeks ago, it was a riot and I didn't wipe out!  Trail running is kind of like swimming with a t-shirt on....you get resistance from the terrain - it's a lot harder than running on the road or track!  The race is part of a Thursday night trail race series in Columbia, MO organized by Tom Straka of Tryathletics.

Also, there is Cyclocross!!!  I mainly do cyclocross for the Four Loko hand-ups and the heckling opportunities, lets be honest.  I don't have the skillz but it is such a fun scene :)  We have a Tuesday night training race series in CoMo for the second year now, it's awesome, go CoMO CX!

I'm loving not stressing too much about eating healthy these days as well, if I want it I eat it.  I'm a pretty healthy person and most of the time I eat good stuff.  However, I enjoy a nasty gas-station pizza and donut from time to time, and now I don't feel guilty about it.  I also loooove dessert!  Life it too short to not eat awesome stuff!!

In September I started to get the training bug back again!  Triathlon is becoming a really corporate endeavor and I wanted to find a race that really embraced the community aspect of the sport and one that wasn't a "big brand" type race.  Our friends Ted, Shanelle, Tiago and Paula have always raved about the Beach 2 Battleship triathlon in October!  I actually bet Ted $100 back in January 2013 that I could beat him in this race because I didn't think he would ever do a full 140.6 distance race.....and he signed up for it!  I'm not going to beat him but it will be FUN to try :)  Paula is also doing the race!

The Beach 2 Battleship triathlon is in an awesome location on the beach in Wilmington, NC, a mini-beach getaway if you will!  I called the organizers and was able to get entered as a professional in the field, but this race is truly "everyman's" ironman where pros and amateurs race side by side.  The women's amateur field has been top-notch over the past few years and I look forward to racing all the talented women who will be in the race, it will not be an easy win or an easy podium!  The race is on October 26, and I've had about 4 weeks of good training.  I'm loving the feeling of being fit again, but I also am enjoying life a bit more compared to my first pro season.  I've established a good balance, and that's hard to find when you're a trigeek!

Mele Kalikimaka and Bike Mania in Maui!

XMAS!!  I love spending time with my family and instead of presents my parents take the whole family somewhere for a vacation (BEST PARENTS EVER!).  Everyone has his or her own fantasy holiday.  Most are happy with relaxing on the beach.....My fantasy consists of at least 4 hours of exercise per day (swim, bike, run!!), good eats and lots of fun with my family!!  Enter Maui, stage left!

After a lovely hiatus from training I was ready to get down to business in paradise!  Steve was keen to hit the bike hard and our friends Tiago, Paula, Shanelle and Ted were also in Maui with bikes so it was the perfect low-key training camp.  Shanelle aptly named the week “Hawaii Bike Mania”.  We rode almost every day and had some amazing experiences!

The East Maui loop consisted of 95 miles and 9000+ feet of climbing.  The ride represented a journey of “Lord of the Rings” proportion according to Ted! We started at 5:30 am in Pukalani, with a cat 3 climb right off the bat followed by a long winding descent (IN THE DARK, waaaaaa).  The sunrise was beautiful as we rode around the shores of Haleakala, and then the 50mph wind started, blowing us to track-stand stops on numerous occasions!

Almost 10 miles of rough roads (reminiscent of soul-shaking cobbles) peppered with cattle guards and categorized climbs followed.  At one point, almost 100 cattle littered the road and we wove a careful path around the terrified creatures and their doodoo all over the road!

Rough roads turned to dirt and many flat tires resulted but we finally reached Hana!  Foodie highlights included free apple-bannanas from the hippie farmers J

We rode the road back from Hana to Paia – serpent like descents, huge hills, waterfalls, jungle…..heaven!!  The ride time was 6:45 (longest ride ever for me)!!  I was cooked, and never happier to eat one of the famous fish tacos from the Paia Fish Market!  Steve, my crazy husband continued on and finished the ENTIRE 170 mile Maui loop, BEAST!

No cyclist should leave Maui without riding the 10,000 foot Haleakala climb.  Like the silly tourists we were our first attempt was random and the day following the East Maui Loop (can you say blasted quads).

We stupidly did not check the weather and at 6000 feet were lashed with 30mph wind, freezing rain and poor visibility so we called it a day.  Sad face.

Much scrutiny of associated Haleakala STRAVA segments revealed a Canadian “KOM imposter” of sorts, by the name of Dean Murdoch.  The Canadian movie FUBAR famously depicts the crazy antics of this hockey haired legend, who loves to “giver”.  See the movie, you will not be disappointed!  We are pretty sure Ryder Hesjedal is a fan, so awesome!!

We chose a better day for the second Haleakala attempt and were successful.  Thanks to my parents for providing SAG support and photographic hero shots all the way up the mountain!

Our friends Paula and Tiago also made it to the summit where it was COLD, as evidenced by Steve wearing his arm warmers on his legs (praying mantis in human form at work here).

The West Maui loop was the final chapter!  Steve and I ran into 4x world champ and fellow Canuck Melanie McQuaid on a training ride the day before and she decided to join us.  It’s not every day you get to ride with triathlon royalty or get dropped going up a hill by a world champ, stoked about the street cred!  Melanie is an incredible cyclist, a great person, a credit to her sponsors and a superb bike-handler, it was great getting to know her!

There was rain and hence some good silt in the corners of the roads and Steve got a nice souvenir!   Of course he was wearing his most expensive shorts….sigh.

Filthy dirty bikes, YES!  We were sad to leave Maui that evening.

We had a lovely holiday and quality family time with Mum, Dad, Trevor (my brother) and Elise (Trevor’s wife).

It was sad to go back to work but it was high time for rest and recovery!