World Championships 70.3 – Zell Am See

Zell Am See, Austria!  Amazing, beautiful, challenging, exhausting! Ironman 70.3 World Championships was a wonderful experience!

Arriving in Zell Am See after a few flights and a drive meant 2 days of non-stop triathlon prep! Check in, bike pick up, finding our way around, walking to transition, packing transition bags, and trying to get some sleep!

We were surprised as we found our hotel and realized it was half way up a ski hill! I had to close my eyes as Dave drove up the road the first time! Meals had the best view in town and ended with sitting out on the deck!

NBC contacted me prior to heading to Austria to see if I was willing to share my story and be a highlighted athlete on race coverage. Years of speed skating, transition to running and triathlon, full time work, and our ongoing fight to Finish MS will be shared! This race was for all of those with MS as my mom was diagnosed in 2002. Her positive attitude, fighter attitude, and hope is one I was able to represent through this opportunity. It’s never to late to help Finish MS!

Race morning was here! Coughing, sneezing, and a sore throat – this might be a rough day – but no choice but to do this! We found a hotel to get breakfast in near the race start then started the long walk to transition. Met the NBC crew and filled my tires up with air and was ready to go. I had to say goodbye to Dave 2 hours before the start and found a shaded grassy area to lay down in.  Swim waves went off on time and water temperature was perfect! A non-eventful swim had me feeling positive getting out of the water  Transition area was long and the sun was getting stronger and made the transition tent really hot!

Bike ride – Downhill: Hold on and pedal. Uphill: Steep, unrelenting, shady, high heart rate, wishing I had another gear. Downhill: STEEP, arm cramps from braking, thankful not to get run over. Last few miles: Stay positive, Dave sighting! Can I put my bike on the transition rack yet? Ok I made it!

Run – First few miles easy, get the run legs under you. Shocked at the first water station! Was like a Boston marathon aid station: spectators, music, about 6 inches of cups on the road, and the most amazing feeling! It was then that I realized I could push it harder. Quick turn over, keep dumping water on me, honey stinger (felt awesome on my throat!), Dave!, keep running. Running is my strength and every race when I get to run I always tell myself ‘I got this – now run your ass off.’

Finish area: Loud, confetti, Dave!, crowds, and the finish line! ‘Let the happiness in’ was the race theme and when I crossed that finish line I knew that was the perfect motto for the day!

After a long time I finally found Dave and we collapsed on the sidewalk for an hour before walking back to transition. I ended up laying down half way to transition then again when we were waiting in line to drop my bike off! Thankfully Dave is patient and just sat with me as I tried to determine if I could move again!

Off to Salzburg we went! Sick, exhausted, but still a lot of sightseeing to do!

Thank you to the following people who helped me get to world championships which allowed me to share my passion for Finishing MS!

Dave for your endless support, patience, nutrition, and excitement!

My family for always understanding my passion as we Finish MS together!

My friends who share in the excitement and fun of our adventures!

One Multisport & One Elite for the opportunity to represent you this year and the amazing group of people that make up the best team in Arizone!

Karen Smyers for your training plans, guidance, and support. There is always a silver lining!

Endurance Rehab & Karen for making it possible for me to continue to do triathlons.

Destination Kona & Pei Wei for supporting ONE Elite and providing me on the go nutrition for lunches and racing!

Because I Can

2007 Ironman Lake Placid was when I became an Ironman.  6 ironmans, 7 half ironmans, and heading to my second half ironman world championships this year – It’s time to race for someone else. This years race is for all of those who have Multiple Sclerosis and are strong everyday!  6 hours of swimming, biking, and running is nothing compared to those who live with MS.

My mom was diagnosed with MS in 2002. Everyday is a chance to stay positive and challenge yourself to new things. Her motto has been ‘Because I can’.  This motto is one that I carry with me regardless of where I am: work, swimming, biking, running, living!

To find out more about how you can help me Finish MS as I head to Ironman 70.3 World Championships please check out my MS page at: Finish MS

A huge thank you goes out to all those who have reached out and supported MS and our family over the last 13 years!  Thank you!

I am thrilled to be able to represent MS and the ONE Multisport Elite Team this year!

*Ironman 2007 Lake Placid with my Mom!

Boise 70.3 – wind, sun, worlds!

Boise 70.3! It was an odd lead up to this race, minimal running, physical therapy, random bike issues, and long work days.  
Definately different than most other years! I had to rely on nutrition (thanks Dave!), muscle memory, built up endurance, positive attitude, awesome coaching (Karen Smyers), and a great PT (Karen at endurance rehab), ONE Elite team rides with the ladies, and a bit of hope. 

Boise was a quick 2 hour flight and an easy in and out. Dave and I made the trip and my brother in law Chris met us in Boise. 

Everything leading up to start time once in Boise was easy. Checkin, bike drop, dinner, sleep. 11 am wave start meant I could catch the late bus to the start. ONE team members were on the bus too! We found a nice spot in the shade and Teri and I anxiously waited. It was time to go…  

    

Swim: start wide. Wow I can’t sight because the waves are a little bit larger than I expected. Getting pulled and tossed around. This is a small body of water. What the heck is the problem. Wow I’ve been in this water to long. Ok just swim you can deal with how awful this is after the fact. 

T1: psyched to be out of the water. Thought I was in last. Saw Dave and tried to explain the swim and I wanted to just chat but I had a race to finish. 

   

Bike: Something still didn’t feel right on my bike. This was going to be a long 56 miles of wind, holding on tight, trying to breathe to stay calm, and a lot of choice words. I really must be in last now. Kept telling myself I could leave my bike in the box for weeks when im done but right now I had to keep pushing. 
   

T2: Took a moment to collect myself and get my head to a decent spot after 2 exhausting legs of a Tri with exhausted arms from holding on!

Run: Do what you do. Negative split this thing. run, run with more turn over, running and pretend someone is pushing you. It was hotand sunny the first 5 miles, I was sunburned, and I had no clue where in my age group I was. I started passing men on age groups that started well before me. I began to think maybe this isn’t going so poorly. Then reminded myself to not think about that. Every aid station: 1 water on me, drink 1 water, ice! I relied heavily on my past running experiences and confidence in my run. About 2 miles left of the run I passed 2 girls in my age group. 

40 minutes slower than planned – Crossing the finish line I sighed and saw Dave. “You were 6th before the run”. What?! No way. Well 4th it was at the end of the day. Podium! Dave and I looked at each other and laughed -we didn’t have to say it but we were both thinking- maybe Austria for worlds? 

Saw Teri at the end!
  
Dave and I got ready for awards and Chris went and got my bike!  

Awards was great! 2 spots in my age group— Maureen Needham– Dave and I looked at each other and I took the offer!  
 

  
   Austria 70.3 world championships. I got this!! A little revenge on the 70.3 worlds after a crash last year at them that had us in a hospital that night and healing for a few months.

Lessons learned:
Believe in yourself and have confidence in the decisions you make in training
Never let doubt play with your head during the race. Focus on the task at hand – you can criticize yourself after

Keep your core cool during hot conditions – ice!

Not every race is going to be fast. Remember everyone out there is performing in the same conditions so never give up. 

Just keep giving it whatever you can while you can 

Thanks to ONEMULTISPORT, oneelite, Dave, Karen Smyers, Karen S, Chris, pei wei, destination Kona, Jon & Cyndi Dean, and the awesome ONE Elite sponsors for getting me to and through Boise!

Now it’s time to get over the 70.3 exhaustion and get ready for our next adventure!

    

Pine Trees and Fresh Air

Dueces Wild triathlon in Show Low was awesome!  ONE big showing, pine trees, fresh air and some altitude!  

Heading up after work on a Friday for and early morning race was not ideal but it worked out. Show Low never disappoints!

We had a ONE house filled with great team members! Race morning something felt odd on my bike but Dave wasn’t there to check so I went on my way. 

Swim was refreshingly chilly with extra tall weeds growing around turn one. Stopped to pull off weeds around my ankle twice. All I kept thinking was focus you’ll be out of the water quicker!

Onto the bike where my legs felt heavy for the first 8 miles. I had my nutrition from Destination Kona and tried to keep pedaling. My bike felt like it was all over the place and not sure why. It was a matter of staying calm and not getting frustrated at this point. I could barely hold and speed in my aero bars. Something didn’t seem right but there wasn’t time to stop and fix it. 

Running- about a half mile in I see Jon and Cyndi!  Ah thankful to see spectators I knew and that gave me an extra boost of confidence in my run. Trails, pavement, some up and downs. Just keep pushing. Out on the run it was great to see so many ONE Multisport people!  

I finished 1st in my age group and 7th overall female. Patience, confidence, and persistence were the theme of Dueces Wild!

Awards were fun as ONE Elite represented well!  

  
When I got home, Dave checked my bike and there were some parts that needed to be tightened on the bike. Well at least we got that cleared up! Lesson learned: Check your bike!

Special thanks to ONE Multisport, Teri for planning the weekend, destination  Kona for my nutrition, Pei Wei for my prerace lunch, Jon and Cyndi for their unending support of the Triathlon community and Dave!!

Tempe International Race Report

6 days after being in the crystal clear waters of Belize and eating seafood every meal I found myself wating for water contamination tests with the rest of the Tempe International Racers!

12 days of being off a bike and not running but a heck of a lot of swimming was amazing! Dave paddle boarded or Kayaked next to me as we saw sand sharks, barracuda, and other large fish every night!  Looking down and seeing the starfish while swimming was awesome!   

We were thrown back into reality real fast when we landed in phoenix and turned our phones back on. Training started again, work was full tilt ahead for both of us, and a race in 6 days. 

Heavy rains Thursday in Phoenix led to ecoli testing per normal procedures for Tempe town lake. 

Saturday ONE Elite held a transition clinic! My teammate Dan and I held the clinic this time. So many new faces to triathlon and it was great to be able to answer their questions!

Race morning came and my alarm went off at 2am. Rise and shine- time to go to work! IT and the world of software often times works outside of normal hours to provide updates to users with minimal impact. This week with so many teams making software changea we had to start at 3 am. 

Dave showed up at 515 to take me to the race! A strong team in the office and in triathlon made it possible for me to do this race!

When we got to race site most bikes were in transition and Dave helped get my stuff ready while I tried to stay awake and positive. Swim was on as water quality came back ok. Time to pull the wetsuit on and get the show on the road. 

 The swim was good- swam my own swim, followed the race course (which seemed to be a problem for so many unfortunately) and was happy with my continuous hard effort!

T1 – nothing special – look up and see Dave, sit down to get my wetsuit off, and just want to lay down. Time to go. 

Bike- Heavy legs, many u- turns, great nutrition on me from Destination Kona! And determination to keep going. I am never a fan of the in city races but what can you do. It’s a good mental test- go fast, turn, turn again, go fast, turn, and so on. 

T2 – realized I need the quick laces in my shoes. I’ve never wanted these until today. Not sure why today was the deciding factor – maybe to tired to tie my shoes!

Run- Lets do 4 sets of stairs on the run. Paced myself and was happy with 7:20 averages! Another mental battle was the stairs and not trying to get annoyed.  I did have enough kick in me to run the last few miles hard and felt strong at the end. Crossing the finish line 2nd in my age group and 5th female overall, I looked for the closest side walk in the sun and sat down. Checked work email and the team had landed in a good place. All in all an ok day. 
 
Lessons learned: sometimes you will not have enough time to follow your normal race plan – and that’s ok! Sometimes you need to rely on others to help you through a race day- and that can make for some fun memories! And sometimes you just aren’t going to feel awesome out there – but you better continue to try the best you can!!

Thanks to ONE multisport, Destination Kona, Pei Wei, my DriveTime team, and Dave for making it possible for me to do what I can while I can! 

Next up: Dueces Wild in Show Low!  

Marquee Sprint Tri!

It has to got be about 4 years since I have done a sprint tri. So here we go!  

Race check in complete! My mom came to check in with me then we headed to Deatination Kona for nutrition! All stocked up it was time to head home and rest up. 

Race morning Dave and I headed to Tempe town lake. We got there with plenty of time to spare so I found some space to myself and got ready.  One Multisport was all over greeting their team members and setting up their support tent!

Swim: always the scary part for me. Far right and just enough to get out of trouble and crazy people if I needed. Always dirty water in tempe town lake and always run into people’s feet because of it!  Nothing special on the swim. Just happy to get out! 

 

Bike: game plan was so go hard and keep pushing. 14 miles – I better be able to keep the pressure on and not give up! Push, pedal, inhale, exhale, your fine in zone 4….relax, push harder, focus, repeat. PR’ed the mph for a tri with just over 23mph. Thanks to the scottsdale hill repeats! Off the bike and onward to the run.  

 Run: Tentative at first due to hip issue. Ok feeling good after 1/4 mile, now push it, why the heck not! Just keep running people down and chipping away at the field. Sub 7’s. Push, quick leg turn over, stay on top of your feet, don’t let your posture get lazy…, it wasn’t until 2.8 miles that I felt my hip. Push it or give in. Well there is no thought of giving up. There are people in this world who have larger issues…keep going. I saw ONE Elite team member Lauren running and Teri cheering! So awesome to see supporting faces out there! 

Crossing the finish I spot Dave immediately!  Coughing and surprised by how awesome a sprint was and how quickly it went! Decisions happend 100x faster than ironman.  Regardless of the triathlon distance there are always 1000 decisions to make on race day and during the race. This is always exhausting but to know you have a great support team out there always pushes the motivation higher! 

ONE Multisport always has a tent on the course! We hung out for awards and cheered on others as they finished! Onto physical therapy and more races! Thanks to ONE Multisport, Pei Wei, Endurance Rehab, Destination Kona, LifeTime Fitness, and One Elite for getting me to the start of the 2015 Tri season!!!

  

  

 

  

Breakfast on the go

Swim, bike, run, work, laundry, cleaning, repeat. Sound familiar?

Training season is in full swing! Between triathlon and dirt biking we have gone through plenty of sun block already!!

I found my new favorite workout drink at Destination Kona in Scottsdale. It’s called Osmo. During and after and haven’t been sore yet! Coach Smyers puts in the brutal workouts and so far Osmo has been able to hold its ground!  With the temperatures in the mid 90s I’m headed back to Deatination Kona to stock up!

4 bike works outs and more swimming this week than I have done in the last 3 months. Karen always knows how to get someone race ready!

Getting race ready typically calls for early morning meet ups for training! You’ll often find most people talking about early morning eating and how we can’t wait to get to breakfast or lunch! Why not start it out with something quick – then you can focus on the workout and not the grumbling stomach?

Early mornings require a quick breakfast. What are the options when your GF and dunkin, Starbucks, or any other early morning place doesn’t fit the GF need by nutritional values? Premake your own! 

-GF oats 1/2 cup 

– Apple juice 3/4 cup

– 1 tablespoon molasses 

– 1 tablespoon ground flax seed 

– plastic container with lid

  

  

Mix all of these in plastic container and put in fridge overnight. Grab and go in the mornings! Just don’t forget the spoon! 

Whatever your day brings find what’s best for you to stay hydrated and start it with food that will get you through your morning. 

Until next time that I am home for Dave to make some awesome omlets – oats its is for this week! 

Fresh Juice

During my years of speed skating we made fresh juice all the time!  To this day we have a juicer in our house.  We ranged from carrots, apples, celery, garlic, beets, radish, strawberries… If it’s a fruit or veggie I’ve probably tries to juice it!

I don’t always use it but it’s back to triathlon training so I will make juice a few times a week. The ingredients will vary as I aim to get different fruits and veggies into my day. 

Tonight:

• 3 carrots
• 1 beet
• 2 stems of kale 
• 1 Apple
• 1/4 lemon



Don’t judge the taste by looking at it!

They key to juicing is the apple. Always juice part of an apple at the end. Adds a little sweetness and helps make the cleanup of the juicer easier!

A nice little addition to your fuel!

15k?!? Stir fry sounds perfect for that!

A 15k race?! How do you pace this? Fast, some pacing, some pushing where you are uncomfortable and a great team!  The ONE Multisport/ONE Elite team came in 2nd for the mixed teams!

Prepping for the pre race meal was different this time. Dave had a dirt bike race and was not going to get home until late. It was my turn to cook a pre-race meal….it’s been awhile. So stir fry sounded easy yet delicious!  

Rice: cook per directions

Veggies:

• Summer squash sliced
• A bunch of asparagus peeled and sliced into thirds
• 2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes 





Protein:

• Ground turkey

Cook:

• On stovetop heat pan with 3 tablespoons butter
• Put in ground turkey and cook until browned
• Add all veggies
• Add 1 cup chicken broth
• Add the following dried herbs to taste: oregano, crushed red pepper, garlic, onion
• Let cook about 10 minutes and stir often
• Add 1/2 cup white wine and let simmer
• Add 3 tablespoons honey and stir
• Add 1/2 cup broth
• Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes





• Place rice on plate and top with ground turkey stir fry



Quick and easy!  Fueled up for the 15k run and Dave had an easy meal to reheat!! Plenty of left overs for lunch during the week too!

This meal was perfect for the 15k run from McDowell mountains to fountain hills!  

Fuel is the essential piece of being an active person. Whether you run, walk, swim, lift – there is always an easy option to cook without having to worry if a restaurant will have what you need to fuel your day!

Enjoy!

Simple Snacks

We wrapped up last week with The IMS Marathon here in Arizona! The race took us through Luke Airforce base and ended right near where the super bowl was held this year.

The race was a tough one with a few lessons learned as we move on and continue to live an active lifestyle. I will be stopping by Destination Kona for some nutrition products to use in the upcoming months!

At the end of the race my parents, grandma, aunt, and husband were there cheering! It was great to represent One Multisport and One Elite.

After such a long effort I like to make sure the snacks I eat are not just chips, salsa, or trail mix. Yes there is a way to prep snacks that do not come out of air tight packaging. Snacks for us include items that you can mix, bake, or cook then portion them out for the week. I am lucky enough to be able to heat food throughout the day at work and be able to eat fresher food.

After the marathon I wanted a protein shake for a snack. In this was vanilla protein, 1 cup of frozen fruit, 1/2 cup milk, 1 1/2 cups water. Mixed in a blender then strained the seeds out. A quick easy recovery snack.

Another snack this week is a potato bake.
– Preheat oven to 400 degrees
– 3 sausage links (sear in a fry pan on the stove top about 3 minutes on each side), slice into thin pieces once seared
– Yukon potatoes sliced (enough to fill a square baking pan)
– 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
– Mix 1 egg and 1 cup milk in a bowl
– 4 table spoons butter
– In square baking pan that has been sprayed with olive oil or butter place one layer of potatoes, place 2 tablespoons of butter on top, spread 1/2 the sausage and 1/2 the cheese. Repeat with one more layer of all ingredients except the cheese. Prior to spreading go the cheese pour in the milk & egg mixture. Then spread the cheese on top.
– Place in oven uncovered and bake for about 45 minutes.
– We then portion these out into snack size containers and reheat when ready to eat!