Short version: CapTex started off amazingly, I messed up and went off course, yadda yadda yadda I’m seeking redemption on Saturday at Honu 70.3.

Long version will be here tomorrow, if you want it.

(No, I’ve never done a half-Ironman, nor have a trained for the distance…but sometimes you just have to go for it.)

EDIT: I never got around to writing about CapTex.  It’s in the past, I’m moving on.

I love this city. We got in yesterday afternoon and after a quick bike and run we headed over to a meeting with Rocket Science Sports. These guys are great! We got our new race suits and learned about the technology behind them. Go ahead, ask me anything! I’ve worn a lot of team uniforms, but nothing compares to putting on the Riptide Rocket Science uniform. The only thing missing now is my pro card so I can actually race ITU!

Jordan and I with our new uniforms!!

On our run on Friday...running through a cemetary where Confederate soldiers are buried.

A cool little creek along the walk between the guys' hotel and mine.

This morning Rocket Science (RSS) arranged a photo shoot for our team in our new threads. Lots of fun and hopefully some really good pics, but I’m sure my eyes will be closed for all them since my eyes have the light sensitivity of a vampire. It’s great having the whole team here, even some of the juniors made the trek down, which definitely helps bolster our team’s mission of fostering and developing young talent.

The guys posing.

Gromm (Ryan Stedeford) is here with us this weekend to make sure our bikes are perfectly tuned and all of our 2-wheeled needs are attended to. He gave my Transition a quick little tune-up this afternoon, before I put it into transition under thundering skies. Gromm has a great attitude and it’s so nice to be around someone who clearly has a passion for what he does. If your steed ever needs a tune-up I highly recommend bringing it to him at Bicycle Village in Aurora. So that’s my Gromm sales pitch =)

Bethany and I went out for a swim in the water mocassin infested waters and returned unscathed…though there were a few times I ended up tangled in weeds. Mmmm…my favorite. The water actually isn’t bad at all (aside from the weeds and possible slithery beasts), even for a stagnant-water-phobe like myself. …I think I’m getting used to this landlocked thing.

Now we just need to figure out where to get some mean feed tonight, chill out, and rest up! I’m definitely excited for tomorrow, but not in a bad way, more in a ‘I’m ready’ way.

Oh, and I’ll try to post updates on Twitter of the ITU races tomorrow. twitter.com/zoomamyd

=)

I’ve posted nothing about the last 3 races I’ve done, so in an attempt to catch up I’m dumping it all into this post.  Since pictures are worth a thousand words, I’ll save everyone some time and sum up each race with pictures as best I can.

2012 Talent ID (Lubbock, TX)

By far the funnest race I’ve ever done.  My first, and hopefully not my last draft legal.  Exited the swim in 4th, in off the bike in 4th, and finished in 4th.  USAT did an awesome job with the event and treated us so well.  I highly recommend this event for anyone invited who wants to get into draft legal racing.   

Transition area and the lake from the parking lot.

Heading in for a warm-up. Relaxed after getting all the nervousness out the night before. Chris and I rode the bike loop together before the race...having someone to talk to and joke around w/ always helps =)

Heading out onto loop 2 or 3 of the bike. Rode most of it solo, but got in with 2 other girls 1/2 way through the last loop.

Finishing it up!

Me and Chris post-race. She was 3rd, I was 4th. So glad to have met her at check-in! Big thanks to Chris' Mom, Kathy, for the pics!

St. Anthony’s (St. Petersburg, FL)

Really a duathlon as the swim was cancelled last minute for the amateurs.  While disappointing, the RD had no choice, the bay was choppy and it would have been a disaster if they let age groupers swim.  1500m is a long way…in rough water, it’s even longer and would have been catastrophic for  those already nervous about the swim.  Went out hard on the bike, got passed by pelotons of girls.  Got pissed off.  Spent too much energy yelling at them and trying to get by.  Started out good on the run then shuffled in the last 3 miles.  Crappy race, but a really fun trip that included renting a house one block from the bay, beautiful open water swimming in the gulf, and a trip to Blizzard Beach.

Yikes...so not aero.

About a mile in to the run and going strong...

me and Bethany, happy to be done!

After much debate as to whether or not to wear the speedo to Blizzard Beach, he wore it. ...and sadly, wasn

View of where we swam on the days after the race.

 Littlefoot Triathlon (Morrison, CO)

Last year this race was my 3rd triathlon ever, and this year it was number 13.  Very similar to the 2012 race, I exited the water in 2nd, came in off the bike in second, and finished 2nd.  I’m starting to think that cold water and the sprint distance are perfect for me….not too surprising.  I stayed focused most of the bike, my mind only wandering in the last 3 miles or so.  Still though, I think it was a little breakthrough for me, to focus as long as I did and I am so ready to have tunnel vision in CapTex!  The best part about Littlefoot was knowing so many people racing and spectating.  Sonja, Troy, and Annie were out on the course cheering and giving me my splits to the leader.  Laura was volunteering out on the bike course, also encouraging me that I could catch the leader (definitely did not happen…the time between Karen and I grew and grew and grew…), but the thought was nice =).  Tyler signed-up at the last minute on Saturday and it was great having him cheering for me on the run, and having an awesome race himself!!!  And of course, the entire Riptide crew was there.  Annnd Jordan came in 2nd too =)  A happy day in the Dannwolf/Jones household.  (yea…no pics of this race, so the recap was a bit more verbose)

It took awhile, but I am officially out of my training funk.  Things got rolling last week about 35 miles into a long ride with Michelle and Sonja.  I should say long-for-me, because for them that’s more of a warm-up, but for me it was torture.  Thankfully for every up there was a screaming descent that I was actually able to keep up with them on (thanks for waiting for me at the top of the climbs!).  When my breathing wasn’t too out of control (read: the first 5 miles of the ride) it was great to talk to them and hear their insights, especially after I told them about the St. A’s fiasco.  It sounds obvious, but I hadn’t realized it until talking with them that I race best when I’m having fun…St. A’s was not fun and training had not been fun in the weeks following.  That put things in perspective and I tried to have more fun with it after that, though it also helped that I started to feel good since….

….I started eating red meat again.  I’ve struggled with iron deficiency anemia since 2004 when I was but a wee freshman at BU.  Every once in a while I’ll get lazy about taking my vitamins or eating certain things (OJ and red meat) and everything falls into a downward spiral.  I get tired and cranky and my training completely falls apart.  I think after a few weeks of no vitamins and very little meat, it all caught up with me the week after St. A’s.  I tried to correct it, but it takes about 3 weeks to get your iron count up, so I just started to feel the effects of it last week…right around the day after the Shadow Mountain pep talk.  Grill master Jordan Jones and his trademark cowboy burgers are largely to thank for the iron-boost (as well as enforcing my adult-vitamin consumption that I always want to switch out for the  Flintstones variety that taste infinitely better).

Lessons learned:

When you can’t seem to get your training going:

- meet up with friends for a good training ride/run and let them point out things that should be obvious, but aren’t.

- look at your diet and see what’s missing or if you’ve changed anything recently.

If you think you might be iron deficient I highly recommend going to Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and talking with Matt Schneider.  He’ll order the tests you need (serum ferritin) that often times general practitioners won’t order.

Summer is coming!  …and though it’s not here quite yet, we pretended it was and made the pilgrimage to Chatfield this morning.  The air was chilly, but it didn’t matter…I was excited to swim!  

Reason being?

Our Rocket Science Sports wetsuits came in yesterday!

Every sports apparel manufacturer claims they will make you faster.  RSS is no different.  The suit even boasts its technological superiority right on it:

“Vortex generators- add kinetic energy to your swim - 6% less drag”

“Buoyancy Laminated Technology 40% more buoyancy”

Since our own rocket scientist, Dan Mackenzie, is in Houston working Mission Control for the next week or so, no one was on hand to analyze the eddies swirling off my backside to see if in fact, the vortex generators added some kinetic energy to my swim.  However, I can say I swam over 3 minutes faster across the gravel pond than I did last year.  I’m pretty sure I was hardpressed to break 17 minutes last year, but this year I cruised in 13:10!  Was it the vortex generators?  Or was it all the yards I logged over the winter?  I’ll never know for sure.  But I do know that I put that suit on and swam faster than I’ve have ever swum before!

Jordan has continued with the trash talk — extending his bet with the guys to a bet with me about our swim times.  He thinks he’ll beat me out by over a minute.  The worst part?  He insists on a “gentleman’s bet” — he won’t even make a wager!  Lame.  

(I might just hide his Rocket Science Sports wetsuit tomorrow morning…then I’ll come out ahead for sure.)

PS - If you aren’t reading the Riptide Elite Team Blog, you should check it out!

Since St. Anthony’s I’ve been in a pretty big funk.  I’ve been feeling crappy training and motivation has been non-existent.  That changed today though.

My friend and teammate from BU (and 4:44 miler to boot), Abbey is out visiting for the week from Boston.  Sunday we did a solid 12-miler up Waterton to the dam as a nice intro to altitude.  Today we did a 2 hour ride down to dinosaur ridge, up through Red Rocks, up Bear Creek Canyon, and back home up 26.  I always knew Abbey could roll out of bed and run a sub-5 mile, but turns out she can hold her own on the bike too!  …which is a little scary b/c Jordan and I talked her into signing up for the Barkin’ Dog Duathlon this weekend in Cherry Creek.  Watch out!

Abbey heading up Waterton

Not bad for a first day at altitude!

@ Dinosaur Ridge

Up Bear Creek

So aside from the great company here’s why it’s awesome to ride w/ Abbey and how I got out of my mega-funk:

We were moseying through Morrison and had just started up 26 and we were engaged in a very serious conversation about furry animals and if Abbey had just seen a deer or some mystery creature.  As we’re discussing the creature’s furriness as a determining factor, a cyclist passed us with a smug little smile and dropped the hammer.  He got about 50ft ahead and when I looked over at Abbey all she said was, “Yea Yea YEA!!”  I can’t stand smug cyclists, especially ones who would never expect girls talking about furry animals to give them a run, and apparently neither can Abbey (most girls I know aren’t into the whole Battle Royale thing, but when you run along the Charles for a few years I think it gets ingrained in you).  So I stared at his shoulder blades and gradually brought it down…and down a little more and realized he was going faster than I had originally signed up for, but I kept at it…when I got about 10 feet behind him I let out a little cough and he started to take pretend glances to check out the scenery (aka look back out the corner of his eye).  I passed him shortly thereafter then dropped the hammer.  It was the first time since St. Anthony’s that my legs were cooperating and I’m glad I pushed it so I can realize that maybe my season isn’t doomed!  The smug cyclist turned off up Alameda before Abbey could reel him in, but I know she would’ve got him if he kept going to 70.  Good fun, and good proof that great minds think alike!

We made a quick stop at Safeway when we got back to Golden.  Nothing like riding a TT bike and only have jersey pockets to chop down the grocery bill.  We came home w/ a jar of sauce and cooked up some quality pizza.  

A quick stop at Safeway for some necessities.

I’m pretty sure Abbey is hooked on Colorado.