Kewpee Triathlon/Duathlon

All in all a good racing weekend for me and my friends. CT finishing the Lake Placid IM in under 12 hours was just icing on the cake! While he was in Lake Placid working on the IM, I traveled up to Lima, Ohio to do a Sprint Distance Tri with the rest of his family and some friends. The list of participants included: myself, Liz Brinkman (Lizzie on the Counter), Scott Brinkman, Jason Miller (Nemo), Kristen Huener Henny, and GS's wife Laura. I am happy to say that despite the 10-20 mph winds on the bike course, we all finished first in our age group categories!! Below is just a sampling of pictures that were taken at this wonderful little tri!

Pre-race photo

The ladies swim start - men were 3 minutes ahead

Kristen and I showing off our 1st place trophies

I got into a picture with Jason and Laura, as well

Last, I had to get one with Liz and Scott

Unofficial Results for the Day:

Total time: 1:40:30 min

500 meter swim: 8:15 min

18.5 mile bike: 1:04 min

5k run: 27 min

Transition time: few minutes

Iron Man Lake Placid 2009

No pictures, but CT finished Lake Placid in 11:51:25!!! This is a 48 minute PR for him. I wasn't able to be there in person, but I managed to see him live on the Ironman website. CT's bib # 569 if you would like the breakdown: www.ironmanusa.com

I think this is awesome! CT trained very hard for this race and it has paid off. He has had an incredible year. Qualified for Boston at the Columbus Marathon last year. Not only did he show up for it, but he PR'd, at the Boston Marathon - which gets him an invite for 2010!! He then goes on to finish a sub 12 hour IM in Lake Placid this weekend. It is only July, now what else is he going to do??

Iron Man Lake Placid

This is a shout out to my boyfriend who is participating in IM Lake Placid tomorrow. Go to this website http://www.ironmanusa.com/ if you would like to see more about the race. CT's bib number is 569! He is hoping for a sub 12 hour finish which would be a PR for him. I wish him all the best and will be watching online with a hope at seeing him actually cross the finish line. Maybe without me getting in the way he will be able to focus even more and get that PR! Here is just a sampling of the course from 2 years ago:




Pre-race day, checking out the swim course. . .

Transition area early morning, the day of the race!

The calm before the storm.

The swim start!

Finally caught CT on the run course, too bad he didn't see me!

Mario and CT - IM Lake Placid Finishers!

Quick workout summary of my workout week:

Sunday: 56 mile bike

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: 2500 swim, 60 minute hill run

Wed: rain forced me inside - 60 minutes on the trainer

Thursday: 2700 swim, 60 minute tempo run

Friday: 30 mile bike

Saturday: MIT run got canceled b/c of storms, I may try to get 60 minutes of running later.

My Family

These are the most recent pictures I have of my parents (Jean and Gary) and my sister (Lora). Sadly, the pictures of the 4 of us were taken last summer. Lora lives in LA so we don't get to see her that often. She is coming to visit us in September, so hopefully I will get to spend some quality time with her and get some more up-to-date pictures for my blog. I will have to watch my camera closely though, as she is normally good for at least a few self portraits!

I am very proud of Lora as she completed her first 1/2 marathon last year and is still working hard at improving her fitness level in many different ways. I was supposed to do her first 1/2 with her, but it got canceled due to the stupid wildfires last year. Fortunately, she was able to do another race that was just 2 weeks away, but I wasn't able to be there in person to help cheer her on to her finish. One of my goals next year is to be able to participate in a race with her - right now I am trying to push the Big Sur weekend! We'll see how that goes . . .

This weekend my mom is headed to South Dakota for the Blankartz family reunion. My father decided that spending a weekend with 50+ people in a hunting lodge in the middle of nowhere, wasn't in his best interest and opted to stay home. Lucky for him, I decided to stay here too so I could spend some quality time together. I am hoping to convert him into becoming a cycling fan, but my guess is he will nap through much of the Tour instead! Much quiter environment than the reunion, I am sure. Hopefully my mother will have a wonderful time visiting with her family! I will try to make it to the next one in 2011!

Goals for 2009

I set this blog up awhile ago to help myself document this year as I train, race, and try to get healthier. Sadly, this is the first actual entry that I am writing. I spend alot of time reading these two blogs (which I will use as inspiration):

http://www.roomonthecounter.blogspot.com/ (my boyfriend's sister-n-law)

http://myrunningclubandmore.blogspot.com/ (my boyfriend's blog)

Unfortunately I haven't spent alot of time blogging myself. So please bear with me as I figure all of this out! The rest of this entry I would like to use to summarize what goals I came up with for the year and what review what I have already accomplished!

I do not normally make New Year's Resolustions but I did decide to make some personal goals for myself this year. Here is a list of things I came up with:

1) Go to Italy (done)

2) See Lance Armstrong race (done, incidentally this was accomplished in Italy)

3) Complete my first 1/2 IM distance - I signed up for Steelhead, MI on Aug 1, 2009 (I will let you know how this goes)

4) Complete my first full IM distance - I am signed up for IM Arizona in Nov 2009 (again, I will let you know how this goes)

5) Stay healthy (so far so good)

6) Spend more time with my family and loved ones (this is an ongoing goal for the full year) .

Italy was an awesome experience. My boyfriend (CT) and I ventured over there for the last 2 weeks of the Giro d'Italia. It was part of a tour called Bikestyle Tours. We met and rode with around 30 other wonderful people. The food was wonderful, the people and guides were great, we got to see some awesome professional riders racing, and view some spectacular scenery. All the above pictures are from our trip to Italy. Since I cannot quite figure out this blogging thing, all the pictures that I try to add seem to appear at the top of the entry!

Watching Lance Ride: He is an inspiration to me. Mostly because he is a cancer survivor and has accomplished great things. It was wonderful to be able to see him come back into the sport of cycling and bring new life to it, as well as his Livestrong campaign. Being able to see him race in Italy and stalk the Astana bus was a once in a lifetime experience -one I will never forget! I will post pictures of the Giro in another entry.

Getting PR's: for those of you who may not do alot of running/cycling, a "PR" is a personal record. It is something most athletes that compete in events will strive for when training and use it as a marker of improvement in training. While it wasn't a goal of mine at the beginning of the year, I am happy to report that I have PR'd in every distance that I have done this year. So far this includes: 5k (1st on the 1st), 4 mile (Cinco 4 miler in Dublin), 1/2 marathon (Flying Pig 1/2), and Olympic Tri (Alum Creek). Hopefully I will finish both the 1/2 and full IM distances so that I can add these to my list as well!

That's all for today, I need to get back to watching the TT for the Tour de France!