Own it!

Now that I have taken control of my own blog, I feel more inclined to actually keep it updated.  This is my 3^rd blog in 1 day…  I am sure the novelty will wear off after a while but will try to post at least every couple of weeks. 

In this blog I wanted to talk a little about one of my sponsors – Cerasport. I get a lot of questions about this product (no it’s not a sunscreen) and wanted to shed some light. 

Cerasport are a rice based sports drink and that I have been training and racing on for the past 2 years.  The drink is made up of a blend of short, medium and long chain carbohydrates. The rice-base carbs work fast but continue to give you energy longer than most other sugar based drinks.  I used to get a bit of an upset tummy when I used other sports drinks but since I started using Cerasport I just don’t have that issue anymore.  No more bloated tummy for me, which is a big help when I hop off the bike and start that run.

I hope this has given you at least a little idea as to what the product is and why I love it so much.  Check them out if you get a chance - http://www.ceraproductsinc.com

New Race kit

I like to ride my bicycle

Thanks for the new race kit Zoot - I love it! 

Busy busy busy!!

Warning - the last month has been jam packed so I have quite a lot to ramble on about…

 

Was so nice to kick the season off in Oceanside.  I went into the race looking to have a solid hit out and see how well my body has taken to the offseason of training.  I knew I was in pretty good shape but you just never know how that first race is going to pan out. 

 

The race didn’t really start out as well as I had planned.  I had a pretty ordinary swim and found myself 3 minutes off the pace when I finally made it into T1.  Once out onto the bike I felt ok and just put my head down and worked as best as I could to try and make up some ground.  I closed the gap to a little over 2 mins by half way but was unable to hold it there (damn it) and by T2 it was back to 3 minutes.   Once out on the run I knew I had my work cut out.  I would need a very fast run if I was going to get myself into this race.  I didn’t feel particularly great running out there.  Actually, I felt quite terrible at the start but after a few miles I settled into a rhythm and the miles started ticking over nicely.  After the first lap I hadn’t made up much time at all on the leaders and with 5 km to go was still around 1:50 down on 1^st  (Sarah Groff) but was slowly closing in on 2^nd (Leander Cave).  My main focus became catching up to Leander.  At that point I didn’t even think about catching Sarah.  It was only when I caught Leander that I had my first glimpse of  Sarah - she was only 30secs in front of Leander!  I had to dig pretty deep but was able to catch Sarah around 500m from the finish line.  It was such a great feeling to cross that line first – and so nice to start the year off with a win especially after such a disappointing end to the season last year.  

 

After Oceanside I had planned on racing 3 weeks later at St Anthony’s then St Croix 70.3 the following weekend.  We dove right back into training on the Tuesday after Oceanside.  I planned a good 2 week training block before St Anthony’s.  That is until I crashed my bike the following Monday – I will not go into details cause it is kinda  embarrassing…  hmmm yes far too embarrassing to share - I still can’t believe I fell off! Such a spaz!!!  After the crash I was quite sore and sorry and although I did keep up most of my training volume I had to tone down the intensity and, after a couple of days, Coach Siri and I decided that we should give St Ant’s a miss so that I could let my body heal and focus on having a good race in St Croix. 

 

It is always such a tough decision to pull out of a race – especially one of my favorites - but I know it was the right decision.  St Croix rolled around so fast and before I knew it I was back on the island staying with my St Croix family - the Holt’s,  and gearing up for another exciting race! 

 

I have mixed feelings about my race in St Croix. I always like to come back and race there to test myself out over a really tough course.  I feel like I am in far better shape than I was this time last year and was hoping it would show in my racing.  The race started out well enough - I was 3^rd or 4^th out of the water around 2 mins down on Joanna Zeiger and 1:30 behind Nina Kraft.  I didn’t particularly feel great at the start of the bike but really tried to attack and get away from the girls that were just behind me out of the swim.  I was quite surprised at around mile 10 to look up and see Nina and Joanna. I did not expect to catch them that early.  I took the lead not too long after that but Nina chased me and caught back up on the beast.  There is a $250 prime for the first to the top of the beast and Nina was going after it.  Once over the beast, though,  I was able to pull away.  I really wanted to give my legs a good test out there.  I was feeling pretty good and was really enjoying just being out there riding my super fast Cannondale Slice.  I think I got a little carried away with racing and noticed late in the ride that I was feeling quite thirsty.  Oops….  At the next aid station I grabbed a water bottle but unfortunately it was only half full – drank it in like 2 gulps.  I wasn’t too worried then though - my legs still felt pretty good and I figured I would be fine.  That is until I got onto the run – oh dear!  I just felt terrible from the start. So so thirsty and it was starting to heat up.  I had a 3 min lead off the bike but I was just not running well at all.  I drank what I could at the aid stations but the damage was already done.  I just had to hold on as best I could until that finish line.  Catriona Morrison was closing fast and looking really strong.  She caught and passed me with around 6km to go and  I had no response.  I could only hope that there was no one else behind her.   I finished 2^nd in the end but with one of my slowest run times ever. 

 

After the race I felt quite annoyed with myself for making such a silly mistake.  I am usually quite diligent with my nutrition plan knowing exactly how much I need to drink and at which aid station I will be refilling.  I just didn’t give St Croix the respect that it deserved.  You can get away with it on a cooler day but not in St Croix with it’s hills, wind and heat.   Having said that though, I can sit back and look at the positives and negatives of the race.  I put together a decent swim and had a great ride and feel that my cycling is starting to improve.  I just messed up my nutrition and paid for it big time on the run – I know I can run much faster than that.  I just couldn’t do it on that day. 

 

After St Croix I had a couple of days off which included a road trip with my pal Mary Miller up to Boulder via Las Vegas.  We had such a  fun trip but that is a story for another day.  I am now just trying to adjust to the altitude and get back into training before my next race which is the Revolution 3 triathlon on the 7^th June. 

 

Cheers

Rinny x