Kortney Haag

New Year, New House, New Goals

2012-02-03T20:24:00.006-06:00

Well it is February 3rd and I finally writing my first blog of the new year! Shame on me but I do have excuses...just like everyone else! We moved about 2 weeks ago to the great city of Maple Grove. We love our new house so far and so do the kids. We have met some of the neighbors and they are super nice and have children Owen's age so he is very excited about this. Good friends of ours live about 4 houses down and we have loved getting together with them for runs, playdates and carpooling. Here is a picture of the outside of the house with the nice UHaul in front of it!

I will show pictures of the inside once we actually have furniture in there. I still haven't figured out what's better in the new place - the turkey that comes everyday getting it's food from the neighbors (Owen has named him Biff) or the fact that we are going to be tan this summer with the pool in our backyard.

This year my race schedule will be a little different. I won't be racing as much and will miss out on some of my favorite race as I decided to race Ironman Wisconsin. My goals this year are to get to the start line of Wisconsin injury free, healthy and happy. I have been battling a glute issue that just won't go away. I pulled it last May and never treated it properly and it is still bugging me. Seems like me and the foam roller have become best friends and I even carry a tennis ball in my purse so when I drive I am rolling and digging into it.

Coaching has been keeping me busy as well. I started coaching an athlete that was chosen as one of the Lucky 7 for CNN Fit Nation with Dr. Gupta. She will be competing in the Malibu Triathlon in September and I am so excited to show her how triathlon can change and inspire her life. I am also excited because with our move I am a lot closer to a lot of my athletes that I will be able to bike, swim and run with them more.

Owen and Keaton are doing great and are starting to play with eachother more. Owen still needs to remember that Keaton is 3 years younger than him and he can't wrestle and tackle like he can. I have a feeling that I will be breaking up a lot of wrestling matches for the next 15 years!

Austin 70.3 - Yeeehaw!

2011-10-26T13:22:00.011-05:00

What a fun way to end my season in warm and sunny Austin!

Derek and I left for our trip on Friday and I had already shipped my bike to the hotel so it was there waiting for us to put together. This is what it looked like before so I was a little nervous about making sure my fit was perfect, but I knew Derek would be more anal about putting it together than I would!
Friday night we walked around 6th street and could hear the music outside of the bars desperately wanting to go in and party but I knew I would have my chance come Sunday night.
Saturday we headed to the race site to drop off my bike, check out the course and do a little pre race warmup. I was very happy to hear that the water was around 72 degrees so that would mean wetsuits would be legal. As I was heading toward the water to swim I saw fellow coach and triathlete Kris Swarthout and his brother in law Kris. It was so nice to see a familiar face in the mass of people there. Kris told me some more about the bike course and how there was an area in which it was gravel and that the bike course elevation was somewhat similar to Ironman Wisconsin. I was excited to hear this since I will be doing Ironman Wisconsin next year. The run course was also very hilly and with portions of trail running. However, the trail had huge rocks and divots in it so you really had to watch where you were running. I slept great Saturday night and woke up Sunday ready to race!

When I got to the swim start our bikes were already there, but it was still dark out and difficult to setup transition and pump up your tires. T1 and T2 were also in different areas so you were given transition bags to put all of your gear into after each transition.
I was in wave 10 - about 25 mins after the pro men started. When I had swam the day before the water was pretty choppy because of the wind so I was expecting the same that morning, but luckily the wind was holding back until later in the day. I wanted to find some feet to draft off of but the waves were 5 mins apart, so that made it difficult to catch faster swimmers in earlier waves. I had a great swim for me - 30 mins! I didn't start out fast at all but built into the swim - this is what Dan wanted me to do so I listened!! I stripped off my wetsuit, threw it into the race supplied transition bag with goggles and cap and off I went on the bike. The bike was definitely challenging because of the number of people on the course. For about the first 20 miles I rode on the right side yelling on your left continuously! There were parts of the course in which you couldn't pass anyone due to construction and road conditions so that really brought my mph down. I was happy with my time on the bike considering the pros didn't have to deal with the traffic and the wind that seemed to pick up the last 20 miles on the course. I did have one mishap on the bike though - as I was running through transition to rack my bike a huge gust of wind blew through and I lost my footing and fell down pretty hard scraping up my knee and side of my leg. I don't think that caused me any issues on the run but it did hurt!

I knew I was in a good spot coming out of T2 and Derek yelled that I was the number one or two amateur out there. The run course was changed this year from 2 laps to 3 due to the drought in Austin. It was tough to run around the same path 3 times mentally and physically! The wind had definitely picked up and so had the heat. I just tried to maintain my pace and not go out too hard the first lap. I wanted to run harder the last 4 miles but didn't have much left in the tank to negative split. I was so happy to see the finish line and also see Derek and my friend Jacquie waiting there for me. I finished 6th overall and second amateur for the day.

Picture of the 30-34 Age Group Winners

In all, I was so happy with my performance and a big thanks to Gear West for all their support, Dan at OptumHealth Performance for being an amazing coach and friend, and to my family for their support as well. Derek's parents took care of Owen and Keaton while we were gone and the kids had a blast with their grandparents. I asked Owen if he missed us and he plainly said no I didn't miss you. I also gave Owen my trophy from the race and he asked Derek why I got second place! I guess I better step it up for him next year!

Below are pictures of the boys and their Grandparents

Ready for a Vacation...wait race!

2011-10-15T19:08:00.007-05:00

This Friday, Derek and I are heading to Austin, TX. I am going to race Austin 70.3 and so looking forward to getting out of my house! Owen was sick last week and now Keaton is sick and I am hoping I stay healthy one more week! We also put our house on the market and I have a full time job keeping the house clean. Our house was never "dirty" before but it's a different story when you have to make sure the beds are nice and neat, the toys are all put away or hidden, the sink is empty and all the stainless is cleaned. The weather looks to be in the 80's - perfect racing weather and I am so excited to go to the corporate headquarters of Whole Foods. The bike course is supposed to be challenging so looking foward to climbing some hills since I will be doing lots of that in preparation for Ironman Wisconsin next year. I have never traveled to a race before or done a Ironman series race. I am very nervous about making sure my bike gets put together correctly as well as making sure I don't forget to pack anything I need. I will be in good company though because Coach Kris from Optum Health Performance will be there racing as well so it will be fun having him there to party with afterwards! I will miss my boys though!

Peregrine Charities Race Report - brrrr...it was a cold one!

2011-09-26T10:38:00.002-05:00

I wasn't sure if I was going to make the trip down to Iowa since my sister's due date was the day of the race. However, I decided that since I had raced this race every year since it's start I wanted to go and support the race and the charity. The race director does an amazing job with volunteers, organization, and post race.
I like racing in the heat and it seems like it takes me forever to warm up. I knew that it was going to be a cold morning and to bring my warm weather gear. We had dinner with Hannah and David and David gave me some good advice that if I had any chance to get ahead of people I needed to bike my booty off so be warm on the bike. I decided I was going to wear my gloves and jacket no matter what!
Race morning it was about 45 degrees at the start and the water temp was about 63 degrees. I was trying out a new wetsuit to see if I liked it and if it helped my swim at all...turns out it didn't!!! I had been having some pain in my left shoulder and tried working it out with some massage but it was still bothering me. I tried hanging onto to some of the other women but I just didn't have any speed or pull - worst swim of the year! I was out there swimming all bymyself and need to just punish myself in the water - and not be comfortable....enough said. I got to my bike and knew I was about 2 minutes behind all the other women and opted not to put my gloves on since I thought it would take too much time - dumb move! Bike went great and had the fastest bike split and caught Janet right at the 35k mark. She had a great swim and was first women out of the water so I was glad I caught up to her. I came into T2 with about a minute ahead of her but she left before me because I couldn't get my helmet off or my feet into my shoes - my hands were so frozen. I finally ripped my helmet off my head breaking the strap and a women said to me "Kortney...just relax and breath and get those shoes on..." thank you to whomever that was. After the longest T2 in history - 1:49 to be exact I made my way onto the run. I wanted to conserve myself since I always go out hard and then feel like I die at the end so that is what I did but every race is different and what I should have done was ran harder to pass Janet and see if she could hang with me because I couldn't catch her at the end - I had a better run split than her but spent too much time in T2 and she beat me by 28 seconds. I ended up third overall and congrats to Claire Boostma who won. She had a great race - she is now a part of the Gear West Devlopment Team and it is great to have her as a part of the team!

St. Croix Valley Olympic Race Report - New Course Record!!

2011-09-08T19:45:00.006-05:00

I went into St Croix with my sites set on a great swim time. With my injuries in the start of the summer I never felt like I could "race" the swim and wasn't in swimming shape until the last couple of weeks. I wanted to go out hard and not hold back and see what would happen to the rest of my race. Tim Walton (swim coach extraordinaire from Optum Health Performance) has been helping me a lot with my stroke and was in my heat so I really wanted to beat him out of the water! I came out of the water at 22:00 and change and was super excited to see that it was under 23:00. The bike course is challenging with some hills and since it was raining a little I had to be a little conservative on the corners. I was shocked to see though after the race that I averaged 23 mph on the bike - last year I could only muster 22.1mph. Coming into transition I checked my watch and knew if I could run around a 40 min 10k, I might havea shot at the course record. I didn't want to bonk at the end of the race and be mad at myself for going out too strong so I just concentrated on my form and cadence for the first couple of miles knowing that these were the hardest of the run with a few hills. At mile 4 I checked my split and saw it was about a 6:15 ...only 2 more miles...about 13 more minutes of pushing. At the last mile I checked my watch again and knew I was close. I couldn't remember exactly what the record was, but knew it was 2:09: and change. I was hoping it was closer to 2:10 because as I was making my way to the finish line I was past the 2:09 mark. As I crossed the finish line Jerry said to me "I think you did it Kort". I gave Tim a high five, chatted with him and thanked him for cheering me on. My excitement was short lived as I saw one of my athletes in the transition area. I was wondering why he was walking and was ready to start yelling at him to run until I saw a big gash on his head. He told me got got into a bike accident and wasn't able to finish. I was so bummed to see him like that because he has worked so hard and really wanted to leave it all out there to see what he was capable of. I understand the frustration of having your body and mind ready to race, but certain circumstances prevent you from completing. However, things happen for a reason and that only makes you stronger and more determined. Next up is Peregrine Charities triathlon, Twin Cities 10 mile and Austin 70.3!

Pigman Race Report

2011-08-23T12:30:00.007-05:00

Great weather yesterday resulted in some course records and lots of PR's. David Thompson lowered his course record by 4 minutes and Derek and I also PR'd. I was looking forward to this race the whole year - it was definitely my A race.
We headed down to Des Moines Iowa to spend the week with Derek's family on Sunday afternoon after I raced the YWCA Women's Triathlon. This was a great race and so well organized. I wasn't sure I was going to race this until about a week before. I have only done two sprints before the YWCA race and I go about the same speed for an Olympic as I do a Sprint!!! Sprint races are not for me but it was tons of fun though and I had a blast just racing with women. I hope I am able to do this race next year and it fits into my schedule because I would love to support it.
It was great being in Des Moines because the kids love their grandparents and we get time to see friends from college and I got to go shopping by myself. Wow, the damage you can do when you shop without kids is amazing! I went to Adventureland with Owen one day too and remembered what it felt like to have your stomach do somersaults! The only bad thing about being there was that Keaton had to go to Urgent Care on Friday. We were at the park and he touched a metal slide. It wasn't even that hot that day but his poor little hands got burnt very badly. He has second degree burns on both of the palms of his hands. He is a trooper though and adjusting really well to having his hands all bandaged up. I felt so horrible for him and didn't want to leave him when we left for Cedar Rapids for the race on Saturday.

It was really nice not having the kids to worry about while I was racing on Sunday. I decided to race age group because there were not any girls signed up for the elite wave when I looked on Friday night. Then Sunday morning I noticed two girls racking their bikes in the elite area.... darn it! My wave started about 16 minutes after the elite wave so I was trying to figure out what position I was out on the course. I had a great swim for me and I actually liked doing the time trial start. I didn't get pushed and shoved around as much as I do starting with the men! The bike went great too - I pushed it hard the whole time but had some issues with my gels and water that I need to get figured out before the next 70.3. My run is still not where I want it to be. I was hoping to go just under 7 min miles but took the first 5k out too hard. I was checking my splits at every mile and kept telling myself to slow down and I did slow down - almost to a 8:30 min mile from mile 10-11....the killer hill! I will come back to this race next year to defeat that thing! I thought about walking at one moment but told myself NO - you are racing against the clock!

After finishing I chatted with Ruth Brennan Morrey - she passed me on the run around mile 7, and she was flying. She ran like a 6:30 per minute mile - wow! I thought she had finished before me but since I started behind her I had actually beat her a little under a minute. She is a rookie this year but you wouldn't know it - she is good! I finished second female overall and happy with my time of 4:36:54 but wish I would have kept a better eye on where the elites were on the run because I was beaten by 37 seconds. In a race this long there are things you can do to make up 37 seconds. I feel like I am still learning this distance as I hadn't raced a half for two years and this is my third one. I think I am going to sign up for Austin 70.3 in October so if any of you have done Austin let me know what you think.

The picture below is of the Gear West Triathlon Team - we won the team award and poor Suzie got bombarded from David right after finishing the race to take this picture. No idea why him and Thad still had on their race belts because they seriously had been done for about an hour when we took this picture!

Twin Cities Triathlon - History in the Making

2011-07-26T20:19:00.007-05:00

Since I was injured at the beginning of the season I wasn't able to race in two of Optum Health's stellar races - Manitou and Minneman.
I was very excited about Twin Cities Triathlon because not only was the race venue gorgeous, the course challenging, but because a number of my athletes were also competing.
The swim was in the Mississippi and even with having my fastest swim due to the current, it was the fastest swim ever for others too! I came out of the water more than 2 minutes behind the other elite women. I knew the bike was going to be challenging and hilly so I was looking forward to it. Since I have had bad luck on the bike this season (chain dropping on the past two races) I wanted to see how hard I could bike. I pushed myself and had a great bike split, finally working my way into second place. I knew I had to put some time on Becky on the bike because she is a stellar runner but I didn't catch her until about mile 20. I figured I had about 1 minute on her going into the run.
I had no idea how hard the run course was going to be. My legs just were not feeling it. I saw the lead men on their way back from the turnaround point and I was saying good job to all of them. If I am able to speak - that means I'm not running hard enough! Becky caught me close to mile 3 and she was movin! I ended up 3rd female overall and happy with my bike splits but not my run at all. I also learned that I got a penalty for placement of equipment. I was so confused about this but lots of other people received the same penalty. Not sure what I did - I am wondering if I racked my bike in the wrong spot. I wish they would tell you so you know what you need to correct.

There was a first place finisher in our family though. My father in law came from Iowa to race the sprint course and he got first in his age group - so proud of him! Here is a picture of him and Owen finishing the race together!

I can't wait to see how many people sign up next year - it is definintely a must do race. I am taking the next couple of weeks to prepare for Pigman Long Course. Derek is gone this weekend so I am a single mom - we will see how much training I can get done :)

HOLT Race Report: Bad Voodoo continues

2011-07-17T20:01:00.007-05:00

I love this race and was looking forward to it all week long. I knew the weather was going to be warm but I thrive in the warm weather. I would much rather it be 90 degrees than 75. I also knew this was going to be good training for Pigman Long Course in August which is known to be steamy.
My swim is still not where it needs to be - especially since I didn't swim for six weeks and then I fell down the stairs a couple of weeks ago and I might have a slight crack in my rib or a rib out of place. Swimming hurts as well as taking in deep breaths. I was hoping that with the rain the lake would cool down....it did but not enough, so no wetsuits. So again I struggled in the open water and had to do some catching up on the bike. The bike was going great until I got my chain caught again earth rear derailer. This happened last week at Lifetime and again I had to get off my bike to put the chain back on. It was pretty scary going 24 mph when your wheel is jammed and also sucky when you loose time because of it. I am really frustrated because this has happened the last two races so I have no idea of where my biking fitness is at. I came off the bike in 5th and knew I had some work to do on the run. It was really hot at this time and some people were walking on the course. It was hard to run by them because you kind of say to yourself "if their walking....I can walk too!" I wasn't sure how fast I was running because my watch wasn't working and I like to know my splits. At every water stop I considered taking my gel but the thought of warm gel in my mouth did not sound appealing.
At that point you play mind games with yourself...if only I didn't drop my chain...if only I took my gel....should I take my gel?

I finally caught Suzie with about a mile left and just wanted the race to be over with. So much that I thought the end of the race was about 20 yards short of the finish line!

I ended up third female overall so it's a long road to recovery but it's coming :)

Lifetime Fitness Race Report - Can't a girl catch a break!

2011-07-10T08:34:00.010-05:00

5 days ago running with a cast on

Photo courtesy of Paul Phillips (Competitive Image)

Yesterday crossing the finish line at Lifetime Fitness

(much better!)

Photo courtsey of Kerry Yndestad (Yndecam)

When I went to get my cast off on July 5th. There were two questions I asked my doctor:

1. Can I swim today?

2. Can I swim in the open water and race a triathlon in 4 days?

The answer was a resounding, Yes! I was super excited to race Lifetime because I love the atmosphere and it's so fun to see the professional triathletes on the course at the same time! With no swimming for six weeks I knew the swim was going to be brutal, but I talked with Coach Dan beforehand and went into the race just to have fun and push myself.

I knew the water was going to warm at Lake Nokomis, but I was crossing my fingers it would be wetsuit legal, unfortunately that wasn't the case. The temp was somewhere around 81 degrees! I forgot how brutal the swim start is - I tried hanging on to people's feet with no success. I found myself out in the open water pretty much by myself. My sighting was good ...probably because I was going so slow! I came out of the water 28 mins and 30 secs later. That is a lot of time to make up on people when they get out 7-8 mins before you!

The bike was going great until I went over a pothole and I dropped my chain - I was going about 23 mph when that happened, so there went all my momentum. I was able to stop, jump off and put it back on. I have no idea how much time I lost, but it had to be around 3-4 mins.

I was looking forward to the run because the course is pretty flat and there are always great crowds cheering you on. During my warmup I ran what I thought was part of the run course - needless to say that wasn't part of the course. I took the same route during the race and realized I was off track after about 30 seconds. I turned around and someone I had passed about a minute ago was heading in a different direction. I was so mad at myself because that cost me another minute. In a race this competitive you can't make mistakes and I was just ready to have the race over with.

I finished strong with a little kick at the end to catch a woman in front of me. Derek and the boys were there to cheer me on and cheer me up afterwards. Even though I had my issues, it was so fun to be back to racing and seeing all of the friends and other triathletes I have come to know and love. We really have a great community of athletes here, but also just really amazing and wonderful people as well. Up next is Heart of the Lakes where I am sure it will be non wetsuit as well. I am going to be swimming everyday this week!!!

Listen to your body...or your husband!

2011-05-30T17:50:00.003-05:00

At about 2:30 on Monday afternoon there was almost a huge sale on Ebay of triathlon merchandise. That is about the time I found out that I had a broken bone in my hand.
Kind of a long story to tell so I am going to keep it simple since I am kind of typing with one hand. Basically injured myself at the Gear West Duathlon and thought I was ready to race. I was questioning myself all week with the injury but also my fitness and wanted to see where I was at. I should have just stuck with the training plan but I raced and wasn't able to finish. Let's just say Derek had to carry me over his shoulder to the van after I was at the medical tent. Then on Sunday I deicded to join some friends for a recovey ride. Derek told me to just take the day off but I didn't listen and told him "I can still bike even if I can't run!" Well no sooner than about 15 minutes into the bike did I catch someone's wheel and went down I went pretty hard. My good friend Marta drove me back to the house where I tried to recoup. My hand was still bothering me and pretty black and blue this morning so off to Urgent Care I went to find out I broke my pisiform bone. Pretty much sucks but life will go on and I will be back!

Mud, Sweat, and Falls

2011-05-22T13:14:00.017-05:00

At this time last year I was 36 weeks pregnant and had so much fun volunteering at the GearWest Du, but really missed being out there racing. This year I knew it was going to be a muddy mess out on the run with all the rain we've had, but that is what makes this event so much fun. Kris Swarthout was announcing today and said if it would've been dry out there then that wouldn't have made for such an exciting day...agreed!

At GearWest in 2009, I was chatting with a friend and missed the start so I had to basically run through people to make my way to the lead women and didn't have a lot in the tank on those trails. I didn't want to make that mistake again, so I made sure I didn't go out too hard the first mile, but then second guessed my strategy about 1 mile in. I should have tried to get a little distance from people on the dry asphalt surface before the uneven trails. I came into T1 4th, but had the hardest time getting my helmet on - I was in there for over a minute....doh. Now I know what I will be doing before Buffalo - practicing T1 transitions! I saw Derek and Suzie come into T1 while I was still fumbling with my helmet. Derek got out of there before me and I know exactly what he was saying under his breath as he ran by me with his bike...Kort, get outta here!
The bike went OK - but Suzie caught me on the way up to County Road 24. I caught up to her, but there was another biker with us as we were making a right turn and I wanted to make sure we weren't drafting, so I dropped back 4 or 5 bike lengths, but then she took off like her pants were on fire and I didn't see her until we were back in T2. Julie Hull caught me on the bike too - both girls are mad crazy bikers!
After really pushing it, I caught up to Julie and Suzie on the run, but was having some trouble getting the right footing on the trails and pulled a glute muscle coming up a hill and Suzie blasted past me. As we were going into the woods I knew it was going to be a mess in there. I came up to a big mud pit and saw a lot of people taking pictures. (now I know why) As I planted my shoe into the ground, my foot came out, but my shoe decided it would prefer to stay in the mud! I said a few choice words under my breath and turned around to retrieve it.

Paul Phillips from Competitve Image snapped some great play-by-play pictures (above)...I guess I wasn't the only one out there that lost a shoe in the mudbowl! I stopped to put my shoe back on and started running, but then I slipped and fell. I was trying to catch Suzie, but at that point I knew it was a lost cause. I gutted my way up the monster hill to the finish line in fourth place. It was pretty funny to see everyone all muddy and laughing about the situation out there.

Photo taken by Steve Stenzel

I wish the day would have gone a little better, but it is always great to come home to the boys. They help me take my mind off of the racing when I see them smile and give me big kisses when I come home. Keaton is now walking like a drunken sailor all over the house and is so proud of himself.

Owen is obsessed with McDonalds and there are Batman toys in Happy Meals right now. That means I got to play Batman and Robin for about 20 minutes before I could take a shower and get the mud off me! Thanks to my brother and sister in law for watching the boys for us, so Derek and I could race. I don't know what I would do without family. Congratulations to all the racers out there today!!!

Get in Gear 1/2 Marthon - In Rain or Shine

2011-05-02T10:10:00.004-05:00

It is suppose to be spring here in Minnesota but old man winter wants to stick around and let his presence be known! Saturday was the Get in Gear 1/2 marathon and waking up to pouring rain just wasn't my cup of tea. I like running in the heat and would prefer it to be like 80 degrees outside. Some would think I am insane but I actually race better in the heat.
I had a mental breakdown this last week and was hoping my head was in the game to run 13.1 miles in the rain. Last weekend we were in Des Moines and hoping we could ride in 60 degree weather but alas that wasn't going to happen. We pounded out a 3 hour windy ride and Derek pretty much had to pull me the whole way home. I don't know how he didn't yell at me to suck it up because I pretty much complained the whole ride and at one point threatened to turn around and just ride on the trainer! Then on Sunday I had a tough run to prepare me for the half marathon and just didn't have the desire to do it. My legs were kickin but my mind just said stop - I didn't want to be on that trail anymore pounding out 3x12 mins at half marathon pace - I wanted to go home and drink hot chocolate! After talking with my coach I needed a little downtime. I hadn't had a day off for a long time and I finally took it - no yoga, no strength training, no easy swim or bike - NOTHING. As athletes it is hard to let our bodies rest because we think we need to be pushing all the time - judging where our fitness is at but that is where injuries and burnout rear their ugly head. I think for me I feel like I am constantly on my feet with 2 small kids at home and when I do get to relax I sometimes can't. I feel like I should do laundry or clean the bathroom or make dinner. I think as moms who are also competitive athletes this will always be a struggle for us.
Anyway.... back to the race. Derek and I were both racing, he was doing the 10K and me the half. We didn't get to warm up at all and were way back in the starting chute. Since there were so many people racing it took us a full 1:30 to get to the start line. It was hard to get into a groove for a pace for the first miles because you had to weave around so many people since we started way back. Finally at about mile 4 I felt like I was cruising and ran with a friend of mine for almost the whole race. I never really felt like I got into a good groove because at one point I had a side cramp and then I was wearing a rain jacket that chaffed me right below my neck and it was killing me! I crossed the finish line at 1:33:40 so about a 7:09 minute pace, not the best time for me but considering the conditions I will take it. I learn something every race and know it is preparing me for the races ahead.
Owen and Keaton are starting to enjoy eachothers company more but that also means Owen is starting to beat up on him more and boss Keaton around. I guess that will just prepare me for what is going to happen in the future. I pretty much know that I can't buy any new furniture for the next 6 years!

Fred Kurtz 10 Mile Race

2011-04-11T14:41:00.006-05:00

What a great race. Derek and I both were able to race because my great sister volunteered to watch the boys for us in the morning. The weather was perfect and it was a fast out and back course. The other cool thing about the race was that it had a handicapped start based on past races, so everyone would finish the race at about the same time. Derek and some of my other friends started about 3-4 minutes ahead of me and my friend Heidi. I was excited to start with Heidi but but her hamstring was bothering her so she wasn't able to finish.

I knew I wanted to beat my Twin Cities 10 mile time and to do that I would have to run about 6:45's. I started out too hard - was doing about 6:30's the first mile and a half and then I toned it down. I always seem to go out too hard and need to learn to pace better and get stronger towards the end. As I was approaching mile 5 I saw Derek and Suzie ahead of me - but then noticed that my shoe was untied. I didn't double-knot them because I just plain forgot, but need to remember the little things because that probably cost me about 20 seconds! I was feeling really good and knew I needed to push the pace a little harder because I wasn't breathing that heavy and as I passed Derek we exchanged a couple of words so I knew I could go a little harder.
I had a good feeling I was in first place for women but I didn't want anyone behind me (men or women) to pass me at the end. As we turned the corner off of the trail I knew the finish line was close but it still seemed so far away. I kept looking at my watch pushing myself to run harder so I could beat my goal. I crossed the line at 1:07:22 (6:45 pace) which I am happy about. Next up is the Get in Gear Half Marathon and I have a new goal in mind for that too. Derek had a great race as well, setting a new PR for him. My friends Suzie and Ann won their age group and I believe had PR's as well - great job everyone!

Owen is running a kids race next weekend - the Mudball. He is hoping he gets dirty and muddy. I am sure we can find a way for him to do both! Keaton will turn 10 months this weekend as well - he isn't walking yet but very close. I am ready for him to walk so he will stop eating the dirt outside and food off the floor inside!

Mistaken Identity

2011-04-03T13:41:00.007-05:00

I was mistaken for a man yesterday. Not the most flattering thing but when you register for a race and accidentally put yourself as male I guess that is what happens. I did pretty well amoung the men though - placing 8th overall and second female. I am sure when I registered I was also doing some other type of activity like changing a diaper, folding laundry or making dinner! The race was fun and the weather was great! Spring is finally here and I wanted to see where I was at with my running. I have been doing a lot of aerobic base work so throwing myself into some speedwork was good for me. I am not sore at all today so I know I could and should have pushed harder. Next week I am doing a 10mile run and since I would like to focus on half ironmans this year those longer distance running races will help. It was a tough course and I averaged 6:37 per mile so I am happy with that. I paced myself well the first mile and not sure if I went out too slow that first mile since I was talking to my competition for most of the mile! We started out together and I could tell she was a runner - she was bouncing around in the starting shoot like an Engergizer Bunny while I was chatting it up with some fellow triathletes that I knew. I guess I just don't have the competitive drive when it comes to running races like I do in triathlons. She asked me if she could pace with me and I was like sure I would like to hit somewhere between 40 and 41 minutes. At about mile 2.5 she dropped behind me and I was like where did you go? Here is a picture of us on the second lap. You can see she is still kind of bouncing around!!!

I knew she was behind me most of the race but I wasn't out to get first I was wanting a certain pace and time. There was some ice on the path and everytime I made a move to the other side of the trail she would do the same. Finally she stopped drafting off of me and asked if I was the defending champion - I told her no and off she went. I was like you can have it chica - but now I look back and I am mad I didn't push myself to hang with her and try for a sprint finish at the end - that would have been cool. Not sure if I would have won that sprint finish as she was only 19 years old and has more fast twitch fibers in there! However.... you live and learn and now I know next week just go for it! Lastly here is a picture of my cheering squad. Owen is use to the races but Keaton needs to get use to it or he will have a long summer :)

Busy, Busy Busy

2011-03-03T13:01:00.003-06:00

I can't believe that my last post was back in December but I do have excuses - Owen and Keaton. Plus, I am now coaching 10 athletes, training myself for the 2011 season and just trying to get some sleep. Keaton has been better with the sleeping. I finally called the Dr. on his 8 month birthday just to confirm that he did not need to nurse in the middle of the night and he would be fine. I know I nursed Owen once in the middle of the night until he was about 10 months old and then we had to stop cold turkey because I broke my collarbone on a bike accident. So, yes the Dr. confirmed that he is not starving, he just wants his mommy. So I stopped that night and so far so good. He still wakes up a couple times at night and I need to put his pacfier in his mouth (next thing we need to get rid of) but it is much better - I am at least getting 5 hours of continuous sleep.

Keaton is trying to climb stairs now... here is a picture of him doing just that.

I am afraid he is going to be walking in about a month - I would actually welcome that because he likes to eat anything on the floor right now.

Owen is still a Star Wars lover - we went shopping this afternoon and he saw a Star wars shirt and I refused to buy him anymore since we have about five so I broke down and got a Batman shirt.

I have finally narrowed down my race schedule this year. I went back and forth about going to Age Group National Championships this year or focusing more on long course. I decided that long course is more of my race. I love the Olympic distance and will be doing lots of them but Age Groups was also the same weekend as Pigman Long Course in Cedar Rapids and I won that race in 2009 in some extreme conditions and would like to see how I would do this year in hopefully some nicer weather.

Owen is also going to be racing this year - he has a 1 mile race in April and will be doing the Twin Cities Marathon 1 mile race as well. Derek is also doing the marathon this year and we talked his father into racing it as well. Looking forward to watching him cross the finish line! Well Happy Training everyone - time to play with the kiddos!

Surviving the Holidays

2010-12-28T19:57:00.011-06:00

We have almost survived Christmas. We have one more to celebrate - this weekend Derek's family is coming into town to stay with us for a couple of nights. Owen can't wait to see his Grandparents, he has a special relationship with Derek's Dad and with my Stepdad. Grandpas can play and play and play and play Starwars until the cows come home!

Christmas begam for us when we went to Illinois on the 17th. Over the course of five days we slept in four different beds. Even though it was hectic to be away from our house and our routine it was awesome to see all of my family. My mom's side of the family always gets together at my cousins house in Chicago and I can't believe how many of us are in one house and the noise level that we create. I think at my cousins house there are at least 50-60 people! We all bring a gift to exchange for a game and it is a 20 dollar minimum so they are pretty decent gifts but the ones that go the fastest are the lottery tickets and alcohol! After Chicago we spent a couple of days in Galena with my mom, stepdad, my sister and the boys in a house at Eagle Ridge Resort. Derek took Owen skiing for the first time and he loved it. It is so neat to see him trying out new activities and being excited about his accomplishments. He got to ride the ski lift so I think that was the highlight of the whole trip! Then we packed the boys back up and drove to Sterling, to see my Grandma and my Dad and Diane. We only spent one night there because I had to get back to work on Thursday. Good thing we have a van because we wouldn't have gotten all of our things home. Let's just say my children are a little spoiled. Owen is so use to my sister getting him tons of presents that this year I told her get him one little thing because she spent way too much money on him for his birthday. After opening her gift I said OK Owen that is it and he replied "you're just kidding, right."

Christmas day was just the four of us and we went to the Water Park of America and that place is awesome. It is super warm inside and great water rides for kids and really reasonably priced. I want to make it a tradition that we go every year on Christmas - next year Keaton will be tearing the place up just like his brother was this year! Owen really enjoyed Christmas this year and he is still in a funk that it is over. I still have the decorations up and he wants to open the the advent calendar every morning. He told me today there was a piece of candy in number 14. I think Derek put a piece in there to cheer him up! I can imagine how disappointing it could be after Christmas is over for kids because there is all this hype and then the next day is just another day. Kind of like your birthday as you get older - just another day! I can't believe that I am going to be 32 in 2011. After having kids it does seem like the years fly by just a little bit faster.

In November we took some family pictures with Christine Wood and so happy with how they turned out. I am highlighting some of my favorites in this post.

Keaton turned 6 months old in December and still not sleeping the best for me at night. I want to give him a break since we were gone and messed up his schedule but I just think I have a bad sleeper. He does go to bed around 6:30 and sleep until about 6:30 but is up a couple of times at night crying out to to me to feed him! I also think he is going to be my trouble maker! Owen was and still is a very special child - he never opened up any of my kitchen cabinets to play in, I never had to lock things up because he wouldn't get into drawers, etc.

On the other hand Keaton is almost ready to crawl and tries to stand up in his baby bath and looks at me when he does it like he knows he isn't suppose to be doing it. He refuses to eat his baby food and wants to eat what we are eating so I have just resorted to giving him breadsticks to eat when we are eating dinner and then try and sneak baby food in his mouth. Derek said the other day he could see the mischievous demeanour in his eyes!

I have my race schedule all ready to go and super excited about 2011. I have some goals I want to accomplish for myself and for the future. I have registered for one race since it was discounted in December and want to register for the rest of them but holding off just in case a unforseen circumstance happens. I will be putting my race schedule up here in the next couple of days so stay tuned. Happy New Year everyone!

Sleep Training = No Sleep

2010-12-01T16:39:00.005-06:00

I am tired. Plain and simple. Keaton has wore me out. For the last month and a half he has been waking every 2 hours at night wanting to be comforted in some way. We tried the cry it out method for a while and I hated it but now we are going back to that and just letting him nurse once at night. He is 17 lbs and does not need to eat three times at night! I couldn't stand to hear him cry but now I am like OK kid.. suck it up and sleep!

That has been my life lately oh and add on that I started training for 2011, went to a USAT Clinic to be a USAT Level I coach, studied and passed my NSCA Strength and Conditioning Specialist exam, and trying to be a good mom and wife....so if you haven't seen me in a while - that is why!

Even though Keaton is not a good night sleeper he is a pretty cute kid - he loves to watch Owen play and loves to have his feet played with. He is really good at the yoga pose happy baby.

I have been trying to force a sippy cup on him so I can put some milk in there and be able to get away for more than 3 hours at a time. I don't know what it is with my children but neither one of them took a bottle - guess they love their mom!

Some great news is that I will be coaching with Optum Health performance. So excited to be working with a great company that wants to help people live healthy lives and has an state of the art training facility as well. The company is hoping to roll out more training centers like the one in Minnesota in other metropolitan cities. Check it out at OptumHealthPerformance.com.

So looking forward to Christmas. We are heading to IL for about 5 days and staying at a resort in Galena called Eagle Ridge. Owen is going to go skiing for the first time and I am going to try cross country skiing. I have never done it but heard it is a great workout and since I won't have access to a pool or bike for that time I figured that would be a great all body workout I can do. This is my Christmas post until the new year so Merry Christmas everyone!!

Owen's Half Mile Race and My 10 Mile Race

2010-10-04T17:57:00.010-05:00

Owen had been waiting for this weekend for a long time! I can't precisely remember but I think it was in June when we signed Owen up for the half mile race which was a part of the Twin Cities Marathon weekend. We initally were going to sign him up for the one mile race but Derek took Owen on a "training run" one day and said there was no way he could do a mile - he had to carry him most of the way home.

We really wanted Saturday to be about his race because he is always coming to ours and cheering us on. We talked a lot about it and he said he wanted to be body marked and have a cup of water to throw down! Saturday morning we woke him up and told him it was race day and that he needed to have a healthy breakfast. We then body marked him with Lighting McQueen temporary tattoos on the back of his legs. I also made sure I had a cup to put water in and a cowbell.

When we arrived to the State Capital Owen could hardly contain himself. We picked up his shirt and race number, did a little prewarm up stretching and he was ready to go!

The fan base went to the designated spot to get some good pictures and video. Owen was the last group of kids for the half mile so it was fun watching the older kids before him run. It was hilarious seeing these little legs moving so fast and the expression on their faces was priceless. Derek was running with Owen so it was easy to spot the 6 foot 2 inch guy with sunglasses amoungst the kids! Owen had the biggest smile on his face as he was running towards us. My sister was ringing the cowbell and I had the water ready.
Owen wasn't quite sure what to do in the moment so I told him to throw it down and as you can see from the picture - he sure did! Owen finished just under five minute so that is just about a ten minute mile if he would have done the mile - pretty darn good! Here he is with his medal after the race- I was so proud of him - he looked so happy and was having so much fun. I am pretty sure he won his age group :)

Sunday I was racing the Twin Cities ten mile and I had a blast. I really didn't have a time goal in mind for the race but just wanted to do sub seven minute miles since I haven't been running alot. Here is a picture that Terrence Lee took of me I think around mile seven or eight.

As you can see I have a big smile on my face - the weather was beautiful for running and I was just enjoying the moment of not actually competing. I still wanted to do well but it was nice not to have any pressure and just run. I finished with a 6:51 per minute mile so I was happy with that. Next up is the Monster Dash Half Marathon on October 30th. We are also celebrating Owen's 4th birthday that weekend - I can't believe he will be four years old - time really does fly. I am going to have to freeze Keaton right now so he doesn't get any bigger!

Peregrine Charities Race Report - Forgot the bike shoes, but not the lightsabers

2010-09-26T20:30:00.008-05:00

Derek and I absolutely love this race. We have traveled to Waterloo for the past 3 years for a number of reasons: Waterloo is closer than Minneapolis for both of our parents to come and see the boys and with the grandparents there we can both race. Also, Cedar Falls is a town right next to Waterloo and where Derek and I met and went to college - University of Northern Iowa.

I felt like I just wasn't myself this week, with my training. I am not sure if the lack of sleep had caught up to me (Keaton is still getting up twice a night to nurse) or if my body was saying "hey you haven't slowed down for me to recover from having a baby 3 months ago!" I knew there was going to be some great competition at Peregrine, so I was looking forward to having a solid race.

I started packing for Owen, Keaton and I a couple of days before we left because I wanted to make sure I didn't forget anything, but low and behold I forgot my bike shoes. I had rode the trainer with my road bike Saturday morning and forgot to take them off afterwards. We were about an hour out when I said to Derek "CRAP" I forgot my bike shoes. We didn't want to turn around because with two kids any extra time in the car is not cool. Derek's Dad was coming to race the sprint course in the morning, so he was able to bring me my mother in laws road bike shoes. I was pretty much freaking out about it the whole night and between Keaton waking up to eat, I think I got 4 hours of sleep.

Race morning was COLD! As Derek and I were driving to the race it said 42 degrees and then it went down to 40 degrees! I got the bike shoes and they worked...however I was having a hard time clipping out of the shoes and getting them off. You had to push down on some part of the lever and I thought to myself "Oh boy this is going to be interesting when I get off the bike and my hands are frozen".

Swim was same old same old - 24 minutes. Derek and I were talking about this on the way home and I think I am just in survival mode out there - I wasn't really huffing on the swim and he said that he is pushing so hard he is grunting... so for next year, I will be grunting on the swim. That is a priority of mine for next year - swim lessons and coach! I knew I was second out of the water and Janet McCullough had about a 2 minute lead on me. I should have listened to Derek and not put my socks on in transition, because my feet were still frozen on the bike - probably costing me an extra 10-15 seconds. The bike was so cold that my jaw still hurts as I am writing this from clenching it on the bike. There were times that I was secretly wishing I was one of the novices on a mountain bike., and I was racing my first triathlon and had my warm North Face Jacket on! I did manage to catch Janet at about mile 20 on the bike, but knew she was going to push me on the run and I was dreading dismounting with my borrowed bike shoes.

As you can see from the picture I had to do an old school mount/dismount - pretty much all out stop to clip out and then I couldn't get the shoes off (exactly what I was afraid of) and finally just yanked them off. I think I had about a 20 second lead on Janet coming out of T2. I felt strong for the first 2 miles and I still need to stick to my nutrition plan, because I didn't take my gel until about mile 3. I felt pretty sick to my stomach and almost didn't take it at all. I knew Janet was coming for me and I saw her on the turnaround and she looked really strong. She passed me at mile 4 and I tried hanging with her, but knew I just didn't have it in me today. I finished second for female and happy, considering all of the issues I had going into and during the race. My running is still not where I want it to be, but rest is what I need and I'll get it in November and December. This winter will be about rebuilding and strategizing for next year. Dan Cohen (my coach) gave me some great advice today and he is right on the money when he says it is all about what you do in the off-season. I will need to be patient and take it easy this winter because I feel like my triathlon season just started when for others it has ended. I am running the Twin Cities 10 mile next weekend and Owen is doing the Half Mile race with Derek - we are getting the cow bell ready for him!

On a side note I was finally able to meet Elizabeth Waterstraat. I really like reading her blog, since she and I have a lot in common. She also had a baby about 9 weeks ago and ended up winning the sprint race - Way to go!

Bike crash, Puke and 100 dollars later

2010-08-28T19:07:00.003-05:00

I signed up for the Maple Grove Triathlon pretty early in the season because I knew I would be able to do the race since Keaton would be about 10 weeks old. Derek's parents were going to come up that weekend as well because they bought us tickets to see the musical Wicked for an early Christmas present so we would have babysitters for the race.
The race was on Saturday so Friday was an extremely busy day trying to get ready for the race. I like Saturday races because you have the next day to recoup before going to work or in my case having Derek go to work and getting some time to rest with the two boys. My brother, sister in law and nieces were visiting from Kansas and arrived Wednesday night so I wanted to be sure to spend as much time with them as I could since I do not get to see them that much. We had a great day on Thursday going to the Walker Art Center, hanging out downtown at Loring Park and visiting the Basillia. My nieces and Owen are ready to go to church everyday after going to the Basillica - they thought it was the coolest place. Owen asked me Darth Vader was in there! He loved how it was so dark and quiet and had tons of questions about the statues and pictures he saw! I wonder what goes on in the mind of a 3 year old!
Friday, Owen went out on the boat with my family (my sister lives in town and she docks her boat on Lake Minnetonka - pretty awesome for me)! I didn't go of course because I had Keaton and it is not the best idea to be out in the sun the day before a race. Derek's parents arrived in town Friday and Derek's Dad was doing the race as well as Derek, Derek's brother and his wife - so I was very excited to be able to race with everyone.
The race started at 7:30 in the morning and so we were up bright and early - around 4:45. I was already up though at 2:30 because that is the time that Keaton likes to eat - it is so weird how at 10 weeks old they already have a clock that goes off in their head that at precisely 2:30 I eat! Anyways...it was hard going back to sleep because I knew I was going to be up 2 hours later.
It was a great morning - nice and cool but very windy. I do not mind the wind and actually think it gives me an advantage over others. I felt really good coming into the race and tapered well for it.
The swim was pretty brutal because it was so windy but I was extremely pleased with my time - I came out around 24 minutes and some change. I knew I could fight through the water but there were some people that were going to be having a hard time out there. Coming out of transition onto the bike course there is a little hill that I made sure I was in my small chain ring but I must have not checked my bike too carefully after coming back from pumping in the van (another crazy thing I have to do with a 10 week old) and my chain was off my bike. Good thing Kris Swarthout was there just calming me down saying "just relax Kort and put it back on"... thanks Kris! I came out of the water with Julia and Michelle and knew that CY was far out in front of us. I passed Julia within about 3 to 5 minutes of the bike and pushed hard. When the wind was at your back it was some fun riding but man when you rode against the wind it was brutality. There were a couple of times I took the corners a little to hard and had to slow down and get back up to speed - I need to work on my cornering because I know I was loosing time. With about 3 miles left in the bike course I went to get a drink of water and got a nice whoosh of wind as I was trying to put my waterbottle back in it's place when I dropped it and it went into my front wheel. My bike went one way and I went the other! I think the people behind me were more freaked out than I was! I was more concerned about my bike than if I broke any bones. I was fine to ride and run the rest of the race but my Zipp 808 wheel was not. The tube part of the wheel had tore off and so it was the end of the race for me. I was so depressed seeing people ride by but everyone was so nice making sure I was OK and Diane even offered me her bike! I got picked up and dropped back off at the race site (the guys who picked me up and the race marshal who waited with me were great by the way). I got to see Derek finish so that was fun and he won his age group! I went to go find my coach Dan before leaving the race because I needed a pep talk and I knew he would make me feel better.
Later that afternoon we went over to my sisters place to hang out with my family again before going to the Musical Wicked. Owen was going to stay with them and spend the night and then I had a babysitter for Keaton. Well....Owen got very upset when Derek's parents came to get Derek (I was going to meet them at the Musical after I put Keaton to bed) and proceeded to get so worked up that he puked all over me and him...ALOT! Poor kid... he has had a couple of busy days and is extremely tired. After taking a shower I asked him if he wanted to come home or go with everyone else to dinner and have a sleepover...he wanted to go home with Mommy. That's OK - I am pretty bummed sitting here still smelling like puke but there will be plenty more races and Musicals to go to. Great job to the Maple Grove Race Directors - they put on a amazing event and I can't wait to do it again next year. Also congrats to CY for winning the race and to Julia for coming in as the fist amateur - way to go!

Turteman Triathlon Race Report - 8 weeks postpartum

2010-08-14T14:01:00.006-05:00

Derek and I have discussed this race so many times when I was pregnant with Keaton, that it was driving Derek crazy. He finally said “Kort, you know your body better than anyone and if you feel you are ready, do it”. Going into the race I knew my training wasn't where I wanted it to be - especially the run. I was able to bike a lot when I was pregnant and that seemed to come back pretty quickly, but on the run I just still feel out of shape and don't have that kick I used to have. I feel good running aerobically for an hour, but bring speed work into it I am pooped out!
My mom was in town visiting this weekend, with her two sisters and my uncle. I was so thankful my mom volunteered to watch Keaton and Owen because I really need Derek there to help me just calm my nerves and give me some advice. My uncle also came to the race and he was excited to watch his first triathlon.

I didn't need an alarm clock because Keaton always wakes up around 4:30/5:00 to eat so we got out of the house right on time. As I was racking my bike, my good friend Suzie Finger arrived and it was so nice to be able to talk with her about the race. We then got into talking about how much I eat because with nursing you burn about 500-600 calories a day and then with training I can't seem to eat enough!

I knew I had to plan my warm up strategically because I would have to go back to the van around 7:00 and pump before the race because 1) I had to keep up my supply and 2)I didn't want to be carrying around extra pounds at the end of the race!!!

The swim start was pretty interesting because the lake is really shallow and there were so many spots where you would sink into the mud. We could barley walk or stand, much less dolphin dive or run. All of the folks in the first wave were laughing about the situation as we were getting ready to start! The water was so warm and it wasn’t wetsuit legal, but I was so happy when Kevin at Gear West contacted me Friday that someone had returned a Blue Seventy swim-skin in my size. THANK YOU GEAR WEST because I was the first women out of the water and that has NEVER happened. I’m not sure what happened, but I think the lake conditions slowed everyone down. Here is a picture that Catherine's husband - Terrence took of me coming out of the water.

I know that Catherine Lee is a good swimmer and sure enough she was right behind me out of the water. I had a hard time getting the swim-skin off because I was thinking it was a wetsuit and was trying to pull up on the zipper and then I had never raced with my new helmet, so I was having trouble getting that on. Catherine gained almost 15 seconds on me in transition and we left to go out on the bike course pretty much together. We went back and forth a couple of times on the bike, but then I gained a very slim lead coming into the final stretch. I was pushing pretty hard on the bike, but not racing for so long was catching up to me and I had to upchuck a couple of times - most likely from drinking so much lake water! As I came into T2 I knew I needed to gain some time on Catherine because she is a great runner. Jerry McNeil was having a heyday with Catherine and I being so close to each other and I had never been in a situation where I had someone so close to me throughout the race - I am usually trying to run people down. The run was about 5 miles long but it seemed like a lot longer when you know someone is hot on your heels. There were so many times I would look down at my watch and say to myself "OK, when my watch hits 1:35 I’ll run faster", and when that time would come, I would say “OK, when my watch hits 1:36, I’ll run faster!” Finally, I knew that the finish line was only about a quarter of a mile away and I just took off, but I think I faded right before the finish line. Derek has videotape of me approaching the finish line and I look like I wasn't even moving! It felt great to come back to the sport and actually win my first race - I knew I would be competitive going into it and there were some great girls out there pushing me that is for sure! I don’t think I could have put forth that kind of effort without Catherine pushing me throughout the race. Congratulations to Catherine as she went on to win at Lake Marion the next day - there is no way I could have done that!
I was so happy to be back out there doing what I really love, but there is no way I could do that without the support of my family. Some people may think I am selfish or doing this too soon, but this actually makes me a better mom and wife. Just to add, the volunteers at Turtleman were amazing. Than you so much - without you there wouldn't be triathlons!

Training Logistically

2010-07-11T14:28:00.004-05:00

Keaton will be 4 weeks old this Thursday and this will be my first week of having the two boys by myself which means that training and working out will be tough and may not happen as much or as long as I would like it to. Some people, many who read this blog think I am insane that I can go for an hour and a half bike ride or run but I really do feel great and I do listen to my body and know what I am capable of. I am definintely not pushing it like I want to and giving myself time to heal before I do those hard workouts that I have been dying to do for the past nine months!

I have a goal of wanting to do Turtleman Triathlon and Derek keeps saying to me....I don't want you to be dissapointed if you have a bad race or not be able to be competitive like you were last year. I have decided though that I will make a decision the week of the race if spots are still open and see how I feel. I think I will feel ready for it, it is just will Keaton let me be away from him for more than 2 hours and with breastfeeding every 2-3 hours I may be carrying some extra weight by the end of the race!!

I was able to go for a nice aerobic bike ride with Suzie today for an hour and a half and I can't wait to be able to train with her next year. We talked the whole time and it was so nice to get outside to feel fresh air on my face and not the fan on the trainer downstairs in the basement.

I am a little anxious about next years triathlon season and have already planned out my race year! I know for sure that I will be doing three half irons and possibly four as I think this is the distance for me.

My cousin sent me a cute outfit for the boys and Owen was so excited about it that he has worn the shirt for the last two days and won't let me take it off of Keaton. I told him that we HAVE to take it off tonight and he can possibly wear it in a couple of days. He loves being a big brother and while I was away on my bike ride with Suzie Keaton had woke up hungry so Derek was trying to calm him down with a pacifier. I walked into the door and Owen came up to me and said Mom, Keaton needs you, he needs Mommy Milk. He hasn't been jealous or anytjhing (NOT yet at least) so I am very blessed and lucky to have two wonderful boys!

Welcome Keaton James

2010-06-20T12:22:00.005-05:00

We are so excited to announce the arrival of Keaton James Haag. Keaton graced us with his presence on his due date - June 17! I guess he wanted to follow in his big brothers footsteps because Owen was born on his due date and on a Thursday as well - kind of weird and cool! My doctor told me that she hasn't had that with any patient before.

I could tell Wednesday morning that my body was preparing itself for the big day. I went to the gym to swim and do the elliptical and could just tell I was not feeling the best. I got off the elliptical and went to the pool because I thought that would make me feel better. My swimsuit was extremely tight at this point and I was thinking to myself as I was swimming laps that either it has gotten tighter or I am having contractions. They didn't hurt but my stomach was tightening every 10-15 minutes. I decided it was time just to pack up and go home. When I got home Derek was surprised to see me home so early and commented that well if you ended a workout early then something has to be going on. I told him to make sure his cell phone was charged just in case. Owen and I went about our day that day but I did let him watch some more TV than he is use to because I thought hmmmm I may need some more rest than usual! However, we got bored and went to the local pool when it opened and went swimming for a couple of hours. I was continually having these contractions but like I said it just got really tight but didn't hurt.

As I put Owen to bed that night I prepared him to let him know that his baby brother will probably be here tomorrow or in a couple of days. I called my sister and mom to let them know as well because Owen would be going to my sisters place until my mom or Derek's parents got into town.

Thursday am at about 2:00 in the morning I just couldn't sleep anymore. The contractions were still coming at about 10 mintues apart but now they were keeping me up at night and I thought well I gues I could just watch the rest of the Real Housewifes of New York City! I watched that and then tried sleeping some more. Finally it was 6:00 and Derek was getting up to workout. I told him to get it done and then let's go to my sisters place to hang out until we go to the hospital. I just wanted to make sure that when we go to the hospital we didn't have to wait around and we were admitted right away. With Owen we had to wait like three hours to get a room and I was not a happy camper about that. This time around I wanted to be home or somewhere as comfortable as I could be because I knew I did not want any drugs and wanted to do this naturally. I had an epidural with Owen and didn't feel any pain. I only pushed for 15 minutes with him but didn't like the feeling of being drugged up and since this is my last child I wanted to feel the whole thing - call me crazy!

We got to the hospital at about 11:15 and was admitted right away because I was already dialated to a 5. The contractions were starting to hurt but it was tolerable. My mom arrived at the hospital at about 1:30 so it was nice to have her to talk to for distractions. My labor and delivery nurse was great and she explained to me that since I had an epidural the last time with Owen this time around it is going to be A LOT different - boy it was!

I starting squeezing Derek's had pretty hard at 3:00 and told my mom to leave the room at 3:25 - at that time my Dr. came in and said well we are almost ready to go I am going to put my scrubs on. At about 3:40 I said to the nurse I REALLLY WANT TO PUSH! She went and got the Dr. and it was go time. I could hear them getting everything ready and Derek was saying to me - you have been through more hurt than this you can do it Kortney.... He was an awesome supporter. Keaton was born then at 3:59.

Owen came into the room about a half hour later and was super excited to see his brother and what his brother got for him for a present! Owen has been getting so many presents I think he thinks it is his birthday! He has been such a good boy and only got jealours once when Keaton got a superhero shirt. He thinks it is his and that it will fit him. I told him he could try it on but if it doesn't fit then we need to give it to Keaton - I am just going to go out to Target and get him the same one so they can be twins!

Here are some pics. Owen can't wait for him to be able to play Star Wars he already got him a lightsaber!

Keaton is almost back up to his birthweight so that is good. He is so much smaller than Owen - but about the same in length so I know he will catch up to him. I am taking advantage of people helping me with Owen and have taken some naps with Keaton because at night I am not getting much sleep. Since he is so small he is wanting to eat about every 2 hours. I feel great and we went for a family walk last night. I definintely am not up for a swim, bike run just yet but give me a couple of weeks and perhaps a swim will be in my plan. Thanks to everyone for all of the support and nice comments on facebook and for all my friends who have come to visit and bring over meals we really appreciate it!

Almost 37 weeks & Gear West Duathlon - I wish it was a race report!

2010-05-24T15:18:00.002-05:00

I wish I could say that I raced the Gear West Duathlon this past weekend but I didn't...however, I did have a great time volunteering and watching Derek race as well as my fellow teammates and other racers.

I can't seem to sleep in these days and got up at the butt crack with Derek on his race morning. I knew I had to be out of the door by 6:45 so Owen and I could get our coffee and smoothie. I always envied those people at races who were drinking their latte's and this time that was me!

It was a hot morning already and you could tell it was going to be a challenging day for people on the course. Owen and I were ready with the cowbell and every time a wave of people came by Owen was all about ringing it. Next up is the Buffalo Triathlon for Derek and for me to be the sherpa. I won that race last year so it is kind of bittersweet that I am not racing in it this year. A good friend of mine the other day told me to take it easy though because this time won't last forever and there are always more races but you will never be able to snuggle with your children forever.

Baby boy #2 is moving like crazy and I thought I was ready to go into labor this last Friday. I felt miserable and I think he was doing somersaults in my stomach! The baby room is going to be finally done this weekend, I think we had the baby room for Owen done like 2 months before his due date! Poor kid I have only take two pregnancy pictures of myself this time around, and with Owen I took one every week. I am not going to the Dr. this week because she told me if I didn't feel any different there wasn't a need for me to come in. The next time I see her will be week 38 - let's hope I feel different by then!

More Ice Cream Please

2010-05-05T09:37:00.005-05:00

At my last doctor appointment yesterday I had an ultrasound to see how the baby was growing. The little guy - aka "Spike" (this is the name Owen has picked out for him) is doing great and is almost 5lbs. The doctor was shocked that he was that big already - she told me I was hiding him well. I was told to not run anymore and that is a killer for me. I can do the elliptical still and bike and swim but since running is an impact sport and I am already dialated to a one at 34 weeks I need to make sure he doesn't move down any lower and we make it to 37 weeks. With Owen I delivered right on my due date and he was 7lbs 14oz - so I am capable of having a big baby! I am also eating ice cream at least 3 days a week - I have discovered Sebastian Joes Oreo Ice Cream and it is a new love of mine.

Spike moves around like crazy - at 3am I can see my belly moving around like there is an alien in there and yesterday at the ultrasound I finally saw what he is doing to me! I could see his hands punching my stomach - it was pretty cool to finally realize I didn't have an alien in me but my very active son. I guess he gets it from me!

My mom is doing good but we still do not know what caused her to have a mild stroke. They have ran all sorts of tests but cannot pinpoint the exact cause.

I am volunteering at the Gear West Duathlon in a couple of weeks and then going to watch Derek and cheer on some fellow triathletes at the Buffalo Triathlon and Manitou Triathlon. It's going to be hard watching and not racing...I am a very competitive person and have to remember there is time to race later this year and next year. Derek was complaining about a workout he had to do... I told him to suck it up because I would love to be able to do his workout. I can't wait to get a heartrate above 140 beats per minute!

7 more weeks - I think I hit the crazy stage!

2010-04-27T09:59:00.007-05:00

It's been an emotional last two weeks for me. I think the hormones have hit and I am a full fledge crazy pregnant women! We put our house on the market a couple of weeks ago and have had some hits but decided that if it does not sell by the time the baby comes then we are fine with that. It is not like we have to sell the house and we really like where we live, our location and our house.

Owen came to my last Doctor appointment with me and I told him if he was good then we could go and get ice cream. The Dr. again told me to eat some with him! Here is a picture of Owen after ice cream - he really wanted blue ice cream so the only place I knew to go to was TCBY....mmmm I love that place!

I have made some changes to working out. I no longer do flip turns in the pool and feel really slow stopping but I figured that the baby probably doesn't like doing somersaults anymore. I also cut down the mileage on running to 15-17 miles a week instead of the 20-22 miles I had been doing. I feel as though the baby is doing great - he moves so much and I am trying to figure out what body parts are jabbing me.

I wanted to get my certifications done before the baby is born but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. I am not able to take one of the tests until July and I do not know if I can be away from him for more than 3 hours only 3 weeks after he is born so I am most likely going to wait until late July or August. I am so ready to be done studying and just need a break from it. It is hard to get the time in to study when I am home all day with Owen and work a couple nights of the week and then when I am not working I want to spend time with Derek. I sometimes wonder how the heck am I going to do this when I add one more to our family, but where there is a will there is a way.

I recieved some other news that has stressed out as well about my Mom whom I talk to every day and even though she is my mother she is also my best friend. She and my sister are the ones I call to complain to, to share my good news , and just to hear their voice. My sister called me while I was actually picking out a Mothers Day card at Target with Owen and I could tell something was wrong in her voice. She told me everything was OK but Mom had a minor stroke. I couldn't talk for a second and just said what, I don't understand. I quickly paid for my things and left to go to my sisters house. Derek was doing the Ironman Minnesota Bike Ride so I couldn't get a hold of him and I felt so alone driving to her house. All of these thoughts kept running through my mind of her in the hospital and wondering how this could have happaned. My Mom is home now and they ran all kinds of tests on her but couldn't pinpoint the reason why she had this minor stroke. She was planning on coming up here when the baby is born but it scares the heck out of me with her driving if this could happen again. Thank goodness my stepdad was with her and took her to the hospital right away. We should receive more information later this week but please say a prayer for her :).

Happy Easter...10 weeks to go!

2010-04-02T16:44:00.006-05:00

A lot has happaned since I last blogged - I am in my 30th week of pregnancy and still active but had to slow it down this week as I got the flu. It was pretty bad - I was in bed all day - poor Owen kept coming into the "germ room" bringing me books to read and playing instruments to get me up. At my last doctor appointment I was told to go home and eat some ice cream but I go and loose about 5 lbs! I gained the weight back pretty quickly, especially with the three cinnamon rolls I ate this morning! No one else in the house has gotten the flu so that is good - I thought for sure this was another case of the Owen supervirus which Derek and I got when Owen brought it home from daycare a couple of years ago.

Some other exciting or perhaps stressful things that are going on is that I finally convinced Derek that we should do some house hunting since it is a good time to buy. I have been telling him this for the past 6 months, but now that I am a couple months away from having another baby he thinks it is time to buy! We have looked at a lot of houses but nothing is standing out to us and we really like our house and area but going to grow out of it and would like other options with a bigger house. We are now in the process of looking at some lots to possibly build. What I love about Derek is that he is determined, hard working and reliable. He is researching these lots like a mad man, talking to builders, etc.. there will not be a piece of information missing, stone left uncovered, etc... in that case I do not need to stress. However, if we put out house on the market right after having a baby may make me a little stressed out.

I am registered for my NSCA strength and conditioning certificaton for April and can't wait to have that over with. It is interesting information but will be nice to just read a normal book at night and not a book on the antagonist of muscles! I am then planning on taking my personal certification test in May - hopefully the baby won't be born early so I can get that done.

I know I am biased but do believe I have the best little boy and so glad to be done with my part time position as an Administrative Assistant a couple weeks ago. Not having to run around to take him to daycare in the morning makes both of our lives easier and I love being able to go to the zoo with him, run to the library, take him swimming, etc... I want to spend as much time with him before the next little man comes into my life. Here is a picture of him collecting Easter eggs and a picture of me with my belly. Hope everyone had a great Easter - it is beautiful out there!

25 weeks!!

2010-02-28T14:53:00.005-06:00

I haven't posted any pics of my pregnant belly and so I thought it was time. I am 25 weeks pregnant so 15 more to go and I feel great. The other day I ran 9.3 miles on the treadmill at a 8:36 pace - I can't believe how good I feel when I run and my heart rate stays low. I make sure not to go too high on the HR and if I am doing intervals I make sure I rest more to get my HR down. I am still biking and swimming too but had to change over to my road bike a couple of weeks ago because my legs keep hitting my stomach and I didn't want to change up my form on the bike and want to make sure I am still keeping my knees in.

It is funny in the picture I am holding a zebra because Owen and I were playing cowboys and I couldn't find a horse so we used a zebra! I sure hope his baby brother will like playing Star Wars and "Bad Guys" because Owen is ready for him to play now!

I have signed up for a couple of races for the summer. I am doing two or three in August and then two or three in September and want to try my hand at cyclocross - at least one race. Derek does them and tells me how much fun they are and he thinks I would like it. I don't have the right bike for it but going to perhaps borrow a bike from a friend or just switch out my tires on my heavy mountain bike for one race. I also am planning on doing the Twin Cities 10 mile if I can get into the lottery and also another half marathon in October.

I think the one thing that is starting to bother me about being pregnant is that everyone is signing up for all of these races and training hard and I have to just take a step back this year and prepare more for next year. I have been studying really hard for my Strength and Conditioning Certification with the NCSA and I was reading about detraining the other day and started freaking out because they said that within 1-2 weeks of not working the body you loose fitness (cardiac output , stroke volume, accelerated HR, etc). With my first pregnancy I started back into working out about 4 weeks after having Owen but not in the same way I would want to now. On the other hand I am in much better shape this pregnancy and wasn't running or training the way I am this time around, so we will have to see how I am doing after 3-4 weeks after having the baby.

I have so many plans for the next three months before the baby is born and I hope to get them all done. At the top of my list are my certifications so I can start helping people with their fitness and goals. I am planning on taking my first test for Strength and Conditioning in early April and then the next one for Personal Training in early May. A fellow triathlete and really good friend of mine Suzie Finger and I are planning on working together after I get all of my certifications. She is a personal trainer already and just started her own blog on her races and her awesome smoothie and juice recipes. She is the one that convinced me to buy a juicer and it is one of my favorite items I use! I will try and continue to post some more pics of my growing belly. It is funny because the second time around you kind of forget to do these things. I think I took a picture of myself every week with Owen!

It's a Boy!

2010-01-26T17:30:00.003-06:00

We found out today at our 20 week ultrasound that we are going to be having another boy. The ultrasound tech tried hiding from us the fact that we could see body parts by saying that certain parts could be the umbilical cord but at the end of the appointment she confirmed to us that we were having a boy. I am really happy because I think him and Owen will be great pals and Derek is thrilled that we don't have to buy all new things for the nursery and clothes!

I haven't written in a long time becuase things have been crazy in the Haag household. Owen has kept us busy pretending that he is learning to be potty trained. He tells me all of the time that big boys wear underwear and babies wear diapers. I then ask him if he is a big boy and he responds with an enthusiastic “YES”, however, I inform him that he still wears diapers. We had so much momentum in January with him going on the potty but now he wants nothing to do with it. I think he is trying to establish control with us, because he also likes to tell Derek and I that after we pray at dinnertime he did not say Amen!

I have started studying for my NSCA – CSCS certification and hoping to take the test in early April and then take my CPT certification test in May. It is something I have to get done before the baby is born and it is tough! I know I only work part time but now I feel like I work full time. I don’t know how full time moms do it with keeping the house clean, feeding everyone and still having time to work out!

I am feeling great and still exercising and training. I am definintely slowing down though. I came home from the pool today and Derek asked me how it went. I told him fine but I can tell that I am slower, he then informed me that well you are 20 weeks pregnant! I think it is hard for me to accept that because I am such a competitive person by nature so when people are passing me in the pool or when I am not making times that I use to in regards to swimming and running it frustrates me. I need to be happy that I can still do all of these things and that I will come back stronger . I think it is a good idea to always set goals for everything you do and I have been doing that the last couple of years with the sport of triathlon. This year my number #1 goal was to have a healthy pregnancy, and then #2 was to be able to race by August. I think #3 was to be able to achieve race times similar to last year. This year triathlon will have to get my body back in shape and I am accepting that… but it’s still hard!

We leave for Florida in 12 days and I can’t wait to get out of this cold weather. Owen is so excited to go on a plane too because he knows that he gets to watch a movie on it! It will be so nice to be able to walk on the beach, eat fresh food from the farmers markets, and just relax!

I had a baby shower for a good friend of mine a couple weeks ago and
tons of friends from college were here to help us celebrate - here is a picture of all of us at my house. You can't see my tummy in the picture but I will take some soon and post them.

Thanks Santa!!!

2009-12-06T08:12:00.009-06:00

This weekend we went and picked up my new bike at Gear West. It is so awesome and I love it! I rode on it on the trainer this morning and I can totally feel the difference from my old bike, just the smooth shifting and the feel. Too bad I won't be able to probably ride it until July. When the weather starts to get nicer I will be too pregos to go out on the road with it. We were at Gear West a couple of hours yesterday so I could get fitted on it - thanks to my sister Rachel for watching Owen for us because I don't think he would have been able to be there that long. He loves to go to the store though and ride the kid bikes but that wears off after about a half hour!

I am feeling great and not showing, but to me it looks like I'm just chubby. Still training and doing everything, just not with the intensity that I'm use to. I've learned that if you are in great shape before being pregnant you can do everything you were doing before, you just have to change things up a bit. I have also decided that I would like to get into doing some type of personal training with pre and post natal exercise, so I'm going to work on getting that certification before the next baby is born. I have so many ideas running through my head lately that I can't seem to sleep at night. I think about the baby, work, preparing for the next baby, racing next season, etc... I know it will all work out and to trust God in that area.
Owen has worn this Darth Vader costume now for three days in a row - the kid is obsessed with Star Wars and goes around the house telling everyone he rules the galaxy. It will be interesting when his new baby brother or sister may rule the galaxy for a while!

We are taking off to IL this next weekend to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family. There will be tons of cousins there for Owen to play with - maybe one of them will show him how cool it is to use the potty! This is one thing that we have not mastered yet!

Another one on the way

2009-11-11T13:22:00.006-06:00

It has been a busy month with Halloween and Owen's birthday party. Owen was Mr. Incredible for Halloween and then the next day we celebrated his birthday with family. He had a Star Wars birthday party because he is obsessed with it! Derek loves it that he has a Star Wars buddy and I am glad I am not forced to watch the movies.

We also found out a couple of weeks ago that I am pregnant and due on June 17, 2010.
I knew I wanted more children I just wished that it didn’t take 9 months to be pregnant. I went back and forth on when I wanted to be pregnant. After my Rookie year last year I knew I would like to have one more summer of racing while I was in good shape but I didn’t want my children to be too far apart. It would have been nice to have the baby in early spring so I could get back to training and doing some races later in the summer but I think I could still do at least 3-4 and then some running and duathlon races in October. Owen will be 3 ½ years old when the baby is born and I think that he will be a great little helper. I am feeling good and getting over being nauseous all of the time and starting to get my energy back. I am planning on keeping up a good training program and doing all of the things I would normally do – I just think I will be a little bit slower!! One thing that I think will be good to do is swim and since swimming is such a technical sport – the bigger you are doesn’t really make too much of a difference – heck I will be able to float!

Updates - Pigman 1/2 Iron, St.Croix Valley Olympic and Peregrines Charities Triathlon

2009-09-28T13:32:00.011-05:00

It has been a long time since I have blogged because 1) Life gets busy, 2) I was so upset after what happened at Big Creek I didn't want to write about racing and 3) I wasn't sure if people actually read my blog! However, after getting some emails from friends of how I did in some races I decided to do a recap of what has been going on in the last couple of months, hopefully this won't get too long.

In August I did my second 1/2 ironman distance and placed first at the race - it was called the Pigman Half Iron. It was a crazy day for the race though, with 40-50 mph cross winds that practically blew people off of their bike. I somehow managed to bike my way through it and came off the bike in first. This is an unfamiliar place for me because I am usually running people down, however, people were trying to run me down and it is not a good feeling being the chasee. Once I entered the park though and made my way to the finish line it was a great feeling knowing what I accomplished that day. Here are some highlights about the race from Jerry MacNeil's blog:

http://minnesotatrinews.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-touch-was-pigman.html

http://minnesotatrinews.blogspot.com/2009/08/kortney-conquers-porcine-man.html

Pigman Half Iron

I needed some time to recover from Pigman so I didn't race until September 6th. The event was called St. Croix Valley Triathlon - Olympic Distance. I really like this race and do not know why more people don’t sign up for it. The course is tough but really scenic and in Hudson, WI which is right on the St. Croix River and only about 30-40 minutes from our house. Derek and I both were able to race that weekend because my sister in law was in town for a wedding and she and her husband watched Owen in the morning for us. The start of the race was a little chaotic because all of the men went in wave 1 and then all of the women started in wave 2 and it was a two loop course. On the second loop I got myself involved with the first wave and had to go around a lot of the men but I came out first for the women – probably the one and only time that will happen! I did have a decent swim – 24 minutes – which is the best I have done for an Olympic course. I felt like my sighting was good and I was pushing and building the whole time. I came off the bike leading the race and since I didn’t have any women to catch, my goal was to try and catch Derek. It was hard to get motivated because I seriously didn’t see anyone on the run. No one passed me and I didn’t pass anyone, it was really lonely. The only tme I started seeing people was when I started making my way back to the finish line. I crossed the finish line about a minute after Derek (women started about 3 minutes after the men). I thought it would have been funny to see us both sprinting to the finish against eachother. There would have been no way I would have outsprinted him though!

Now for the last race of the season…Peregrine Charities in Waterloo, Iowa. I did this race last year and I thought they did a great job for their first annual race. I was hoping there would be more people this year and want to get the word out about this wonderful race and organization. The race is really well organized, the volunteers are so helpful and encouraging, the prizes and gear bag they give out are awesome, and the race director is one of the nicest people you will meet. What is fun for us about doing this race is that we went to school at the University of Northern Iowa which is right next to Waterloo and so we are able to walk around the campus and reminisce about being in college! We were also lucky that we had both set of our parents there to help watch Owen so we both could do the event. I placed second last year in this race and it was also my last triathlon I was going to do this year so I wanted to do well. The course was a mile swim, 22 mile bike and a 6 mile run. I knew there was one really good swimmer in my wave so I was hoping not to come out too far back from her, unfortunately that didn’t work out too well. I knew I was struggling in the water because I was just not staying on course. It was really hard to see because we were swimming right into the sun but my sighting really stinks! It got really bad when I saw some green caps passing me (Derek was in wave 3 and in a green cap – they started 4 minutes behind my wave), then I saw Derek passing me with about 100 yards left in the water. I caught up to Derek right out of transition and he told me to kick it into gear and so I did. The bike course was pretty windy at certain times but that doesn't seem to bother me at all and I actually prefer it to be windy because that benefits me against my competitors. I knew there were two women in front of me, I caught one of them on the bike right at the turn around point and then I didn't catch my other competitor until we were almost to T2 - about a mile away. I knew I had a decent chance of winning if I was able to come into T2 first off of the bike and then have a steady run. I pushed it pretty hard for the first three miles because I knew I needed to build a lead. When I reached the turn around I checked my watch to see how long it would take me to see the next women. I figured I had about a 30 second lead until I saw Derek and he told me I had better push it because the other girls were looking strong and fast. I was then scared and actually started pretending there were people in front of me to catch because I needed some motivation to get to the end. The run is mostly on a trail but once you exit the trail you run on a road for about a mile. Once I hit the road I looked behind me every now and then and didn't see anyone. It felt great crossing the finish line knowing that I didn't have the best swim but was able to make up some time on the bike and run and to finish the season with a win.

Picture of Derek and I after the race

It has been a great summer but I am tired and need to take some time to rest and improve. I also think Owen is tired of going to races and I am looking forward to being able to spend more time with him and not have to worry that I shouldn't chase him around the house because I have a race tomorrow and should rest! I have a great coach who helped me realize that rest is just as important as the training and quality over quantity. I have had people ask me if I am going to do an Ironman and the answer is yes but not anytime soon. I am not sure when the best time would be, but it is something I would like to accomplish. Right now I just want to be able to enjoy racing and competing like I do, but also have that balance of spending time with my family and friends. Thanks to everyone who reads my blog I appreciate all of the nice comments, and looking forward to next year already!

Big Creek Race Report - Live and Learn

2009-08-03T07:41:00.004-05:00

I knew comimg into this race I wouldn't be 100%, since this was my fourth week in a row of racing and the week after my first 1/2 Ironman. I actually thought about not racing, just to give me another week to recoved before Pigman. I should had listened to my body and taken the week off, but decided to make the trip to Iowa and race. Big Creek is such as great race and I really wanted to do it. I felt good at the start of the race, but I knew something was a little off. The day before we spent most of the afternoon trying to fix my bike at a local bike shop because it was making some strange noises that resurfaced again race morning.
This was the Midwest USAT Championships and I saw some fellow Minnesotans at the race so it was nice to see some familiar faces at the swim start. I pretty much got beat up on the swim....the elites and relay teams all started together and we were all fighting for position. Since I am not the strongest swimmer I let people swim ahead and then worked my way into position. I had a great swim by my standards, coming out of the water in less then 24 minutes. I think I was the 3rd elite woman out of the water. There were a lot of other women that came out right after me and I knew this was going to be a close race between myself and two or three other girls. Out on the bike I just didn't feel right. I was pushing really hard, but the whole time I was just telling myself to hang on. I came off of the bike in second place, about 30 seconds back from first. I knew I wasn't doing well because I didn't have a gel on the bike (it came off sometime during the race) and I drank all of my liquids and was still VERY thirsty. As I was heading out on the run everything fell apart. I knew I wasn't on when a fellow racer told me to keep it up as I passed him and I didn't say anything back! As I approached the first water stop I grabbed a drink but most of it fell out and I drank what I could. At about the second mile, I collasped. I tried getting up but saw balck and silver spots and knew it was time to be done. I am very dissapointed because I was on my way to a PR, but now I know that four weeks in a row is not for me. Thank you to all the volunteers who made sure I was OK and to the other racers (who actually stopped during the race...one of them was in third place), I really appreciate it. I am not racing this weekend. but going to volunteer at the Turtleman Triathlon. Most of the time when I am a spectator at a race I am bummed because I am not participating - this weekend will be a different story!

Chisago Lakes 1/2 Ironman Race Report

2009-07-27T06:33:00.005-05:00

Whoo hoo - so glad I decided to try a 1/2 Ironman - I had a blast out there..... well perhaps until mile 10 of the run. This was the third race in the four straight weeks of racing and I felt great coming into it. I had gotten over my cold and was excited to try my hand at this distance. The weather could not had been better and there was going to be some great competition to race out there.

The swim went well, except that I lost my timing chip in the water. I felt it get more and more loose and then it finally came off. I knew there was no way I was going to find it so I kept on swimming. I came out of the water and yelled at Derek that I lost my chip and looked for a volunteer on my way to my bike. I told a volunteer what had happened and he said he would have a chip waiting for me when I got off of the bike.

With this being my first 1/2 Ironman I knew I needed to get my nutrition right and to push the bike pace, but not like I do on an Olympic race. I didn't think I was going out hard enough at first and started to pick up the pace at about mile 5. I took about 4 gels on the bike and consumed all of the liquids I could. It was hard to focus out there for so long so I kept picturing the Tour de France guys and how hard they have to focus!

Coming off of the bike I was in fourth place and knew that the girls ahead of me were good runners. My coach told me to pace myself on the run because I have a tendency to go out too fast and I wanted to build the pace. When I reached mile 1 I knew I was going too fast so I backed down and then saw at mile 3 I was at about 20 minutes into the run. I knew I needed to slow down to be able to last ten more miles. At mile 5 I decided to go for it, so I picked up the pace and started running with a guy who called himself "Crash".

Here is a picture of "Crash" and I coming out of T2 together

We were really cruising and it felt good. I was hoping to keep that pace up until the end but at about mile 10 I felt my legs get pretty tired and heavy. I knew if I kept my feet going I would get there. I finally saw Derek, my sister, my friend Becky and Owen at the end and it was so nice to see them and hear them cheering for me - I needed it! I thought about my run after the race and it was clear that I should had taken more nutrition. I only took one gel and some sport beans so for the next half - definitely more gel!!

I ended up getting third place overall and I'm very happy with the result. Next weekend is Big Creek in Iowa and it is the Midwest Region Age Group Championships. I did this race last year and liked the course and it is really close to my in-laws house so we won't have to wake up at 3:45am to get there!!!

Heart of the Lakes Race Report

2009-07-21T10:59:00.004-05:00

I didn’t have the best week leading up to this race. I started getting a really nasty sore throat on Monday followed by a cold, cough and runny nose by Wednesday. I tried to double up on Vitamin C, and rest, but by Saturday I still was feeling pretty run down. I really wanted to do well at this race because it was the Minnesota State Championships and I’d also have a good number of family members watching and racing. The weather leading up to this race wasn’t the best either – I didn’t mind though because it helped in making the race wetsuit legal (the cut-off for wetsuits is 72 degrees). I had a friend from work who has a cabin near the swim start. He called me Saturday afternoon and let me know the water was a balmy 68 degrees – I couldn’t have been happier! There was no way that the water was going to warm up four degrees when we were standing around in sweatshirts and coats on Saturday!

Sunday morning came early as we got out the door at 4:30am and I was feeling pretty good, considering my cold. The weather was a little on the chilly side at the start of the race, but it turned out to be a gorgeous day in the low 70’s by the end of the race. There were some amazing athletes in the Elite wave (men and women) and some were there to break some course records. The swim was a little rough with lots of people swimming on top of each other and fighting to gain position, but I was happy to come out of the water in 5th position. The bike course was very fast and a lot of fun. I felt great and ended up riding a 24 mph average and into 2nd position going out on the run. I knew that with having the cold this week something would suffer and it was my run. I was hoping to do a 6:15-6:20 pace but ended up doing 6:28’s. I also was bothered by something on my run and discovered after the race that I stubbed my middle toe pretty badly coming into T1. At first I thought it was broken, but I think it’s just a bad bruise. In all, I was happy with the overall 2nd place finish to the amazing Cathy Yndestad. Cathy broke the course record by almost 40 seconds!

Derek also had a solid race and probably his best performance yet. Derek’s Dad, brother, sister, and brother-in-law also turned in great performances and are truly hooked on triathlon. Here is a picture of all of us afterwards.

Next weekend I will be doing my first ½ Ironman – I am looking forward to this race a lot. I have been emailing Coach Dan everyday thinking of new questions, since I have no idea what to expect. It is in Chisago City and I’ve heard there is amazing Swedish ice cream to eat afterwards – yum!

Lifetime Fitness Race Report

2009-07-13T14:59:00.000-05:00

This weekend was the first of four straight weeks of racing and it couldn’t have started out any better. This was my first time racing the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon which takes on the south side of Minneapolis, only 15 minutes from my house. The competition at this race was definitely stacked, as two of the top Elite Amateurs were racing, as well as plenty of competition from out of state and Minnesota.
The race started early, but the 4:00AM wake up call was a lot better than the 3:00AM wake up for Hy-Vee a couple of weeks ago. The pros started first with the elite amateurs following shortly after. I wish I could have watched some of the pro's race but I did get to hang out with them after the race - details coming....

I have been working on sighting better in the open water so when I came out of the water at 24 minutes, I was really happy with that. The bike course was very technical with lots of turns and bumpy roads, so I wish I would have had a better bike split, but that will come with more experience and time in the saddle. I was happy with the run because I came off the bike in 8th position and caught most of the pack of women in the first 3 miles. The run course is two loops and I hoped on the 2nd loop I'd be able to catch a few more girls. I thought I was running faster the second loop, but the 3rd place finisher must have kicked it into gear, because I couldn't see her and she finished about a minute ahead of me. It would have been nice to get that 3rd position, but I was very happy with how my race went. I was also happy to hear as I was making my way to the finish line that Cathy Yndestad claimed first for our division. She is a top elite in the nation and was going up against other top athletes and this was a great race for her to win.

Now for the part of hanging out with the top professional triathletes. After I crossed the finish line I was approached by a volunteer informing me that I was the fourteenth woman to cross the finish line overall (pros included) and that I was chosen to be randomly drug tested. I was like sure – no problem. She said to go ahead and do what I needed to do, she would shadow me and when I was ready we would go to the church where they were doing the testing. I had no idea what to expect and thought this would take a couple of minutes, but wanted to let Derek know what I was doing so I gave him and Owen a quick hug and told him I would be right back. When I walked into the church basement, Andy Potts, Matt Reed, Greg Bennett, Laura Dibens, Becky Lavelle, and Sarah Haskins were all in there! It was pretty neat to be in the same room with them for a while and listen to them talk about their race – especially the men since it was so close at the end. The testing went a little longer than expected – about a hour and a half longer! First, I was very dehydrated and cold (I had my racing suit on and was sweaty and still wet). We're starting to potty train Owen and finally I realized that it's really hard to go to the bathroom when someone is staring at you. I do understand the need to do this type of testing and the company that did the testing was very polite and professional – let’s just hope that I am not that lucky number next time!

Hy-Vee Triathlon Race Report

2009-06-30T13:18:00.005-05:00

The Hy-Vee triathlon is definintely something to experience, however, the 3am wake up call Sunday morning is something I do not want to experience for a while. I had a lot of fun that day but not happy with the performance I gave. The race was not wetsuit legal and so I knew that I was going to have a slower swim than normal but didn't think I would have to overcome eight minutes on the leaders out of the water. I think I have figured out that I am definintely crossing over and not swimming straight so my plan of action is to CHANGE this pronto! I am constantly having to change my course of direction in the open water and this is costing me a lot of time. I also need to mentally get my head in the race, I am not sure if this comes with experience as I am a newbie to this sport or if it is just my impatient personality. I probably lost about 15-20 seconds on the run because I thought this one turnaround was where the cones were but someone shouted to me that I needed to turnaround and go to where the barrels were - arghhh... I ended up finishing 4th in the elite wave but 7th overall with the age groupers. Derek told me the other day that "Kort, you are the only one that puts the expectation on yourself - you need to go out there and do what you are capable of doing. Last year you were a rookie to the sport and there weren't any expectations -relax a little."
In all I had a great weekend with family and friends. There were some old college friends who were at the race watching and it was great hearing their voices cheering for me - thanks girls. Also, Owen got to see his favorite person race - his Grandpa. I tell ya - those two are something else. When Grandpa is in the room - no one else exists....however, Grandpa may have some competition from Tony the Tiger. All day long Owen kept talking about Tony the Tiger and how he wanted to see him again, I have never seen Owen run so fast in his life to catch that Tiger!

Copper Creek Race Report - Can I have a do-over???

2009-06-14T20:08:00.006-05:00

Derek told me to wait a day or two before blogging, but I hope that by writing this I will feel better. Today was not my day to say the least. Last year I won a series of races called The Flatland Series, down in Iowa. We go to Des Moines a lot, since my in-laws live there and the Flatland team does a great job of organizing these events. I hadn't raced a sprint distance triathlon since my very first race, so I was looking forward to really pushing it for the short distance. I knew there was going to be some great competition at Copper. Two pros, TJ Tollakson and Michelle Witinok-Huber showed up for the big race. The morning of the race looked promising... no rain, however it was extremely foggy (last year they had to cancel the event due to thunderstorms). The race started about 30 minutes late, because of the fog, and when we started swimming it was still difficult to see. I felt good coming out of the water wanted to hit it hard on the bike. You couldn't see very far ahead, again due to the fog, so when I got to an intersection I was told by a police officer to turn left. After about half a mile, I just knew something didn't feel right. I was actually getting onto the highway. I turned around and completely stopped wondering if I should quit or keep going. I then saw a car pulling up to me and he said "sorry about that, you need to go back and turn left by the police officer". I took off in that direction trying to make up time. I saw another biker coming my way and told her to turn around because it was the wrong way. I knew that mistake cost me big time, because I went 0.7 miles over, when I looked at my computer after the race. I was able to pass one girl on the run, but was too far back to catch anyone else. I figured it cost me about 3 minutes. I know we there are lots of people that this has happened to in past races and I hope this will be the last time it happens to me. It just really stinks when you drive home for 3.5 hours thinking about it. Lesson learned - know the course inside and out and don't listen to anyone that tells you different!
On a good note - Derek won his age group. He is doing so great already this year and I am really happy for him!

Buffalo Triathlon Race Report

2009-06-08T18:39:00.003-05:00

On Sunday, Derek and I arrived to a very cold day in Buffalo, MN. It was the first triathlon of the year for both of us and will most likely go down as one of the coldest! The weather didn't deter me because I love this race. Last year I won my age group and then decided to start racing in the elite waves. It is a challenging course with hills on the bike and run, and has lots of great volunteers and participants. I think between the Sprint and Olympic course there were about 1500 participants.

The weather in Minnesota is notorious for changing quickly. We have had great weather with highs in the upper 70's, but in the last 3 days it all went downhill. I think the high for Saturday was 55 degrees which made the morning of race day pretty chilly! As Derek and I were driving to the race the thermometer read 46 degrees. Unlike others, I like running in the heat and humidity – it seems that I do better in those conditions and knew it was going to be quite cold in the water and on the bike.

After the pre-race briefing all of the elite athletes started putting on their wetsuits and jumped in the lake for a “warm-up” and the lake was actually warmer than the air, so it felt really good to be in the water. I did not want to get out! I stayed in the back of the pack for the swim because I knew there were some really great swimmers (especially women, three of the seven elite women had the top ten swims on the day). I didn’t go all out in the beginning of the swim and stayed pretty aerobic and felt great coming out of the water. However, when I looked at my watch I was pretty dissapointed because I swam a minute slower than I had last year. I knew my sighting was really bad, because I was pretty far away from the buoys. I kept moving over to the right, but it felt like I was swimming in a straight line…WRONG! When I got up to my bike, I didn’t want to take the time to put on the underarmour shirt that I planned because I knew I was at least three or four minutes behind the other women.
The bike went great despite that I was FREEZING and the wind was blowing like crazy. I believe I was in fifth place coming into the bike and made my way up to second. I was so happy to get off the bike and start running to warm up, but it felt like I camped out in T2 for five minutes. My fingers were so frozen that I couldn’t get my helmet off and then my feet were so numb that it was hard to get them into my shoes. When I finally made it out of transition it felt like I had stumps on my toes and I don’t think my feet thawed out until the fourth mile of the run. I knew I was second coming out of transition and that Kate McCann is a great biker (and even better swimmer) and was probably about 2-3 minutes ahead of me and that Heidi Keller Miler was right behind me. As I made my way up the monster hill I could see Kate at the halfway point and kept telling myself to run faster. Close to the turnaround I saw Derek and he gave me inspiration to go-go-go. He told me “You can catch her Kort, do it.” I had read an article in a magazine a couple days before talking about going for the win and having confidence to go after it. I used that determination to push myself to the finish line, and get my second win as a newbie to this sport. Next weekend we are heading to Iowa and the weather looks to be much nicer – bring on the humidity!!

Below is a picture of Derek and I after he found out I had won.

Respect the Van!

2009-05-29T14:32:00.007-05:00

Well we did it - we bought a minivan and I couldn't be happier. The purchase happened on Wednesday night. We spent about three hours at the car dealership and I think Owen was so hopped up on candy (I kept feeding it to him to be quiet as we were signing all the paperwork) that he didn't even get to say goodbye to the Nissan Altima. I was a little sad about saying goodbye to the Nissan, it was my first car that I bought after college without my parents help, and it was a good car to me. However, after having the van for a couple of days I can officially say good riddance! Owen really likes the new wheels - he keeps saying it is HIS car. It is so functional and will be so great when we can go to races and not have to take apart our bikes and put them in the trunk and then our wheels in the back with Owen trying to kick them the whole way to the race!

Apple Duathlon - High Caliber Competition

2009-05-24T08:23:00.004-05:00

Saturday was the Apple Duathlon, which many say is one of the most competitive duathlon in America. I definintely think it was! The event was also a Worlds Qualifier, and the top three earn Team USA berths. I decided to go ahead and race elite just to see how I would do against the top.

It was a beautiful day and I felt good going into the race. The first 5K was brutal - I knew that the girls I was running with could run fast. There were 5 that did sub 6:00 miles. I would have liked to run a faster first 5K but I didn't know if I should conserve a little, but now I know what that feels like and to push harder. Coming into the first transition, my coach had told me that there was a hill at the beginning of the bike and I practiced getting into my shoes and felt comfortable with having them clipped into my bike, however, that didn't work out that well. I tried getting into my shoes too soon and I actually had to stop on the middle of the hill put my bike down, clip off my shoes, put my shoes on and then get back on my bike. I am thinking this cost me like a minute - AHHHHHH!

The picture above is me coming out of transition without my feet in the pedals. I was right there with a couple of girls and this mistake really cost me.

I made up a little time on the bike and passed three girls so I knew going into T2 that I most likely wasn't in contention to have a spot on the podium but still wanted to finish strong. The run was the same as the first 5k so I knew where I needed to push it into gear. I passed one girl on the run and just could see another runner in front of me but just didn't have enough at the end to catch her. I finished 7th overall so I am not overjoyous about that placing but know that I did well and should be proud. With being new to the sport I know I am going to make mistakes, I just need to learn from them and go on. Next race is Buffalo Triathlon and really looking forward to this race as I know the course pretty well.

Move legs move

2009-05-18T12:01:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was the first big race of the season - the Gear West Duathlon. It is a great race but a tough one. I haven't felt the best for the last two weeks, I have been battling this cold that just won't go away and haven't felt like running has been the strongest for me. However, it was going to be a great day - hardly any wind and lots of great competition. The race didn't start out as I would have liked though..... I was at the start line ready to go talking with some other girls when I heard some cheering and look out the corner of my eye and the elites have started the race! Needless to say I pretty much bolted my way through the crowd and probably gave up a lot of energy because I didn't know I was the first female for a while until I got passed and then got passed and passed some more. The run was a cross country style with running on the grass, trails and hills - I pretty much hated it. I was so glad to get on my bike and have been working on my transitions and was excited that I was able to mount on my bike and have my shoes clipped into their pedals and bike away. I caught up to a couple of girls on the bike but mega bikers Julie Hull and Jan Guenther caught up to me at about mile 10. I tried hanging with them because I knew that the run was only a 4K and I wouldn't have much time to try and catch them. Coming off of the bike I knew I wasn't far behind three of the women and that I was in fifth place. In the end my legs just didn't have it and finished fourth overall for female. Next weekend is the Apple Duathlon which is a qualifying event for the 2009 ITU Duathlon Short Course World Championship and they are some stellar duathletes coming from all over the United States to try and qualify for the event . I have been going back and forth about if I should race elite or age group. Since I am not planning on going to the World Championships I decided that I should just race elite and see how well I do against some of the best duathletes out there - Wish me luck!!

Get in Gear 1/2 Marathon Race Report

2009-04-27T12:53:00.004-05:00

The Get in Gear is a very popular race in the Twin Cities and many look forward to this event no matter the weather. Coming into this race the weather report looked very grim and unpleasent. Rain and possiby a chance of snow in the morning -YUCK! However, it actually turned out to be a great running day, minus the gusts of wind every now and then. The sun started to come out just as the race announcer told everyone that it was time to line up. The Elite 10K racers would start first - WOW are they ever fast. You could tell they meant business by the way they were warming up and preparing themselves - glad I wasn't in that group!

The morning of the race I thought back to what I didn't like about the 10K race I did just a couple of weeks ago and changed up a couple of things. I was definintely more prepared for this race and was able to get to the race site with plenty of time to warmup. I didn't have to worry about Owen this morning as I knew I would see him sometime during the race, because Derek was going to meet me at mile 9 and cheer me on.

My goal was to run 7:00 minute miles and I almost got there. I ran 7:03's but think I could have pushed myself a little harder and finished faster. I know at the last mile I was slowing down because I wasn't sure if I was going the right way. I asked some people if this was the 1/2 marathon and they said yes but everyone around me was walking and then there were people walking toward me - I was really confused. As it turns out it was the right way and the walkers were part of the 5K walk that started after the 1/2 marathon and 10K. I finished second female overall so I was happy about that - I swear I am champion of second place! I need to get over that hump!

Learning Experience

2009-04-05T13:07:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was the first road race I have done since 2007 and we are going to put it in the books as a learning experience. For some reason I never seem to get my head into the game with road races. The race was a 10K organized by the City of Golden Valley - where I work. However, it left me a little frustrated, because it was probably the worst race I've had in the last year.

Before the race, we dropped Owen off at a friends house so we were kind of running late to the race and I am the type of person that races better when I am really warmed up and prepared (duh - aren't we all)!!! Derek ran the 10K too so we did like a 5 minute warm up with a couple pickups before the start. The weather was decent but not at all warm - I think it was about 30 degrees and I actually thrive in the warm weather. There were a couple of things that frustrated me during the run:
1. Was having some stomach issues
2. I had no idea where I was at - I couldn't see any mile markers and had a plan of where I wanted to be at for each mile
3. My darn hat and headband fell off my head I think around mile 2 during the run so I turned around and went and picked up it - probably loosing like 30 seconds and had to run the rest of the way with the hat in one hand and the headband in another. I thought about throwing it in someone's yard or at a spectator, but I knew that we needed to get Owen after the race and didn't want to be driving around looking for these items. I finished in a time of 41:44, so a 6:44 min/mile pace and the 3rd women overall. I need to remember to just think about the race and nothing else - push everything else out of your mind for that hour or so and dig deep.

I have another road race - the Get in Gear half marathon, in a couple of weeks before the duathlons and triathlons start. I actually like running longer distances and this one is in the city. There should be a lot of people watching, so it will be a fun one.

Surprise!!!

2009-02-14T13:27:00.003-06:00

On February 11th I turned 30 and Derek decided to make a party out of it! My birthday was on a Wednesday but we went out to celebrate on Friday. I thought we were going out to dinner and a show but to my surprise he coordinated a surprise party. I seriously had no idea that he had been plotting this for the last three weeks. He gave some excuse that he forgot the tickets at home while we were at dinner and that we would have plenty of time to go home and then to the show. Here are some things that he did this week without my knowledge:
1. Went to Costco and told me that the money he spent there was because his brother wanted to get some stuff there
2. He told me that we had to turn on the refrigerator downstairs because he read some article that you should turn appliances on every 6 months
3. Was picking up the house like a madman before we left for dinner and I was like "why do you care what the house looks like, it is just our family coming over."
As we were on our way to pick up the "tickets", there were some cars that were parked down the road from our house and I mentioned to Derek that "Wow looks like our neighbors are having a party". Little did I know the party was in my house! Thank you to everyone who helped Derek coordinate the party - especially to our brothers and sisters - Jared, Rachel, Bethany, and Jason. Thank you to Derek who surprises me everyday with his generosity and love.

Woga poses - according to Owen

2009-02-08T15:53:00.005-06:00

I had a long run today and was pretty stiff when I got back so Owen helped me do some yoga (he says Woga) afterward. He loves to do downward facing dog and the cat poses.

The weather has been great here for the last couple of days - above 30's!!! The snow has melted a little and I hope it stays that way but I have a feeling that the cold weather is not through with us yet!

Weather is making me grumpy

2009-01-22T19:44:00.002-06:00

I was suppose to be running the Winter Carnival Half Marathon this weekend but since it is only going to be a high of 7 degrees for the day I decided that it probably wouldn't be the smartest idea. The last two days here in Minneapolis has been great weather but yet again we are settling in for a cold spell for the next week. I am starting to think we need to get a winter home or know someone who has one!
Owen hasn't been in the best spirits either. The poor little guy has a terrible cold and is absolutely miserable and is kind of making me miserable and grumpy too!
On the brighter side - my training is going well and I feel like I am swimming faster, yet I do have some technique I need to work on. Coach Dan is great though and I love the workouts he gives me - it really helps to have things changed up so I don't get in a rut. I wish I could have him at every swim session to tell me what I need to work on!

Superman

2009-01-04T14:08:00.006-06:00

It's a cold day here in Minnesota and since I didn't have to step outside for my workout Owen and I had a fun day inside.
Owen and I decided to first build a fort with the cushions from the couch but then I found the Superman outfit! A friend let us borrow the outfit from Halloween and I totally forgot we had it in his closet until today. I pulled it out for him and he was all about putting it on. He had a blast jumping on the cushions and pretending to be Superman. He was still wearing the outfit during lunch and told me that Superman was all done eating! We will see if Owen or Superman wakes up from his nap.

Patience with the Presents

2008-12-26T10:32:00.010-06:00

Owen's new word for the week is patience. I kept having to tell him "patience with the presents Owen". Before we left for Illinois last Friday we gave Owen a present to play with for the car ride and ever since - presents were a hit. We had a wonderful Christmas and so glad we were able to see my family in Illinois even if it was short on sleep and treacherous weather. I again asked myself on our way home- "why do we live here?"

We arrived at my cousins in Chicago late Friday night and the exhaustion began. First, I woke up at 1am with the flu and kept having to return to the bathroom every hour until 6am. During one of my trips to the bathroom my sister was in there and I told her she probably would want to leave. She wasn't very sympathetic to my sickness as last year her and Jason got the Owen super virus and she didn't want any part of that this year!

On Saturday, all of my Mom's side of the family was coming to my cousins house for Christmas. I love spending time with them and everyone gets along so well and there are tons of cousins for Owen to play with.

I felt horrible most of the day and drank Sprite, while everyone else was drinking fun drinks like martinis, cosmos and eating all sorts of food. At about 6:00 that evening I could tell Owen was getting tired and needed to go to bed. With all of the excitement he didn't take a nap and mommy was pretty much ready for him to go to bed. Derek said he would stay up in his room with him for a while. A half hour after putting Owen to bed Derek still hadn't come downstairs so I went to check on him. It was completely black in Owen's room but Owen wasn't in his pack n play and Derek was asleep on the bed. I felt like my heart had gone into my chest! Then out of the corner of my eye I see a little body on the other side of the bed running. I said Owen what are you doing out of bed. I put him back in the pack n play and told him it was time to go to bed. Derek was out cold on the bed and must have fallen asleep with Owen. Not sure why Derek decided to cuddle up with Owen on the bed because Owen is known for not sitting still and moves around ALOT before finally falling asleep. I then proceeded to head to bed about an hour later and was woken up to Derek getting sick in the downstairs bathroom. YES I could hear him all the way downstairs. Not sure why when men are sick they think they may die! I felt horrible for my cousin that we we infected her house so badly. Since Owen went to bed at 6:30pm he then woke up at 5:30am and since Derek was sick, I was also up at 5:30am. That day we left for my mom's house which was about an hour away. We stayed at my mom's one night and then left the next day for my dad's house which was also about an hour away. Owen had fun at both grandparents houses. He was able to shoot baskets at my mom's (his favorite thing to do), and got to play guitar and see cows at my dad's farm.

We arrived home on Christmas Eve after 8 hours in the car. It usually takes 6 hours but the weather held us up. Owen was so good in the car - I couldn't have asked for a better little boy. The funniest part of the trip was when we were almost home and I said to Owen - "we are almost there", and he replied - "patience." I about died!

I decided during this trip that it is time to perhaps start looking for treadmill. Every place we stayed at had a treadmill at their house. I loved being able to run on it pretty much anytime of the day. I know for sure when baby #2 comes there will be one in the house!

It was nice being home on Christmas morning and seeing Owen's face when he walked into the living room and opened his stocking and presents from Derek and I. Later that day my sister came over to help me cook and give Owen his present. Derek's family was coming over later that day to celebrate. Owen was so excited to see his Opa and I don't think Derek's dad was able to sit down until Owen went to bed!

Christmas was great this year. I loved being able to partake in all the fun activities with Owen, like reindeer rides, Santa Claus, decorating cookies, singing songs, and buying presents for him. I can't wait to see what Valentines and Easter will bring!

Christmas Weekend

2008-12-15T13:50:00.005-06:00

Owen is now in the Christmas spirit. On Saturday we went to a neighboring town and rode in a 1860 Russian sled with Reindeer pulling it. Thank goodness I had my sister waiting with me in line and helping me keep Owen focused on the task at hand.

He got to see Santa as well walking down the road as we were waiting in line. He didn't know what to do with the big guy at first but when I told Owen that he had candy for him - he was all about hugging him!

The funniest part of the day had to be when a couple butted us in line and I said to Rachel - "well that's crap." Owen then repeated crap, crap. I should have whispered in his ear - "cheaters!" I need to remember that he is loving to repeat ANY word! That night we went to downtown Minneapolis where they have a Holidazzle parade. The place was packed because it was such a nice evening. Owen's favorite float was probably The Three Little Pigs and The Big Bad Wolf. He kept saying Huff and Puff all the way home. Then on Sunday I went to a friends house to bake cookies - AGAIN! This time I decided to be somewhat healthy and make my pumpkin bread with chocolate chips and applesauce instead of canola oil. It is really good. As you can see from the picture below it is a good thing I workout or I would be in some serious trouble!

Christmas Cookies

2008-12-08T08:13:00.004-06:00

Every year for Christmas my sister and I have a tradition of decorating Christmas cookies. We have done this for as long as I can remember and this year we carried on the tradition with Owen! As you can see from the picture below Owen did more eating than decorating. He really enjoyed the sprinkles and trying to make a star cookie.
I decided I should enjoy my fair share of cookies since I was one of those crazy Minnesotans yesterday and went for run outside in 5 degree weather! WOW was I cold when I came home. It wouldn't have been so bad but during my run it started to snow and then my hands got wet and my poor face had frozen snowflakes in my eyes when I got home. I yelled for Derek right when I stepped into the house because I couldn't get my gloves off - they were too frozen to move!

Thankfulness

2008-11-30T14:17:00.004-06:00

We returned yesterday from my in-laws for Thanksgiving. We were there last weekend so we could attend the Iowa Triathlon banquet in Des Moines, where I was recognized for winning the Flatland Series. This was a series of 4 races in Iowa and it was based upon an athletes participation and results. I won some great prizes which should be great for next season.

We decided to come back on Sunday and leave Owen with Derek's parents and have a couple of days to ourselves in Minnesota. I missed the little guy but WOW- you can get so much done when you don't have a 2 year-old around! We really enjoyed eating our dinner in front of the TV - we haven't done that in 2 years!!! We came back to to Des Moines on Wednesday to celebrate Thanksgiving with Derek's family. I think of his family as my own and couldn't be more blessed to have them in my life. I wouldn't trade them for anything. They are wonderful with Owen, treat me as their own and are so supportive of me and my racing. As you can see from the picture - Owen thinks his Opa is pretty special too.
I can't wait to go back to Illinois in a couple of weeks to see my parents, grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, etc... Christmas is a special time in our house and I hope Owen feels the Christmas spirit as well.

Tri Night 2008

2008-11-16T10:26:00.005-06:00

Last night was the Minnesota Triathlon banquet and I was honored to receive the 2008 Rookie of the Year Award and was also voted as a member of Team Minnesota. The event was held at St.Paul College and the food was great. What was even better was three time Olympica, Hunter Kemper spoke to the audience. He shared his memories about being an Olympian as well as his determination to help defeat a disease called A-T that affects one in 40,000 babies. A-T shares traits with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and many forms of cancer and I couldn't imagine if my own son had this horrible disease.

Friday night Derek asked me if I had anything prepared to say if I won the award. I was like "um no I think I will be fine going up there just winging it", needless to say and I hate saying this - Derek was right and I should have had something prepared! I kind of blubbered on the stage and couldn't sleep last night thinking - "I hope people don't think I am quirky or uneducated...but then I have to also remember that they probably don't even remember what I said! If I could do it over I would have kept it short and simple - something like this.."Just wanted to say thank you for recognizing me for this award. I look up to all the athlete in here who have had so much experience in this sport and looking forward to next year working with my coach Dan. Also thanks to my husband because I wouldn't have gotten into this sport without him." Oh well - there is always next year or next week to redeem myself. Next weekend we are going to Des Moines, IA for the Iowa Triathlon Banquet as the winner of the Flatland Series will be announced. I hope to come home with that award as well. Since we'll be back in Des Moines a few days after the banquet, for Thanksgiving, we are going to leave Owen with Grandma and Grandpa. It will be weird to be in Minneapolis and not have Owen here, but it will also be very nice. I think we are going to go to a movie and I am going to decorate the house for Christmas. I LOVE CHRISTMAS and everything about it, I love buying presents for others and getting into the Christmas spirit!!!

Fun Fun Fun

2008-11-12T16:35:00.002-06:00

I had the last two days off of work since it was Veterans Day yesterday and then I usually have Wednesdays off, so Owen and I took this opportunity to go have some fun. Yesterday we went to the Mall of America and listened to the Teddy Bear Band and then rode some rides at Nickolodeon land and had lunch at the California Cafe - his lunch rocked - I pretty much ate his! I did my good deed for the day and gave two free rides to a mom with two little girls who were on their way to Nickolodeon land, Owen was pretty much done for the day and I decided it was time to go. I didn't think we would be back there in the next month to use up the tickets. I tried to avoid that place as much as I can, and now with Christmas coming there is now way I want to spend my afternoons there!
Today I went to my first masters swim practice and thought I did pretty good. I am going to try and go at least once a week because I think it will definitely help my swimming, I just wish the practice wasn't 20 minutes away. I also met with Dan - my coach for next year and going to get started with some structured training next week. I was happy to hear that I shouldn't be doing any pylometrics and speed work - but to work on form and aerobic endurance.
I took Owen to the gym so I could run 4 miles on the treadmill. I took it easy and ran about 8 minute miles - it was nice and relaxing. After that we went to the Community Center where he played on the cars, trucks, bikes, motorcycles for about an hour. I put him down for a nap after we had lunch and you would have thought that with his busy day yesterday and today it would have wore the little stinker out but it didn't - he hasn't been taking naps for about a couple of months but has quiet time in his room. If he takes a nap - it is pretty much one a week. I think I need the quiet time more than he does!
This weekend is the Minnesota Triathlon Banquet and I am up for Rookie of the Year with some other outstanding athletes. It should be a good time.

It's a Celebration!

2008-11-09T15:02:00.004-06:00

I returned yesterday from Florida where I was a bridesmaid in my good friend Nicole's wedding. The wedding took place on Sanibel Island and it was a beautiful place and Nicole looked so amazing and so happy. I went on this little vacation by myself and I enjoyed every minute of it. I left Wednesday to go down there and got to spend pretty much all day Thursday laying on the beach - it was wonderful! I ran on the beach a couple of days and swam in the ocean too. There was one day where I didn't run on the beach and saw a sign that read "$500 dollar fine if you feed the alligators" - I decided to get off that path and return to the beach!
I called my Mom while I was down there and asked her why the heck we grew up in Illinois where there is winter, and why the heck I live in Minnesota! When the plane touched down in Minneapolis though, the 25 degree weather didn't damper my spirits when I saw Derek and Owen pick me up from the airport. It was great to see them!

Here is a picture of the bride Nicole and I just before she is ready to walk the down the aisle - 0ops I mean the beach!

Halloween + Birthday = Overload

2008-11-03T12:18:00.007-06:00

Owen turned 2 yesterday and it was a fun filled weekend starting with Halloween on Friday, he definitely knows what candy is now! This was the second year in a row he was a chicken. Derek and I let him decide if he wanted to be a chicken or superman and gave him the option multiple times but it was Winner Winner Chicken Dinner everytime!

Right before we started trick or treating, Owen's Uncle Jared gave him an early birthday present - a mini escalade car, and that did not leave his sight the whole night. It was a pretty funny sight to see Owen sucking his sucker, carrying his bucket and his car while we went from house to house.
On Saturday, Owen's Grandma and Grandpa were in town and they took him along with Aunt Rachel to the Mall of America where they spoiled the little chicken. They went to Nickelodeon land and rode rides and then ate lunch at The Rainforest Cafe where Owen saw his first crocodile and snake!!! I think the funniest story of the day was when they passed Caribou Coffee in the Mall and Owen pointed to it "I want that." I think Mommy may frequent that place too much!

Sunday was Owen's actual birthday and we had a Curious George party for him. He felt pretty special when he walked in the door and we all started clapping and singing for him!

He received lots of cool "surprises" that day and tried taking many of his surprises - aka trucks to sleep with him last night but mommy would only allow one car with him in bed. Surprises was our word for presents that day.

I leave for Florida on Wednesday for a friends wedding and will miss the little guy a lot but I know Daddy will take good care of him. They have lots of frozen pizza, corn dogs, and fruit snacks on hand! In a couple of weeks I need to start my training for a half marathon I am going to do at the end of January. Not sure how much fun it will be since it is part of the Winter Carnival in St. Paul and called the Frozen Half Marathon! I have been swimming a lot more lately too and think I might be up for Masters at the SCS pool here in a couple of weeks to show my coach my improvement.

It's Pumpkin Time

2008-10-13T12:21:00.003-05:00

We had a great time this weekend going to a local pumpkin festival. Owen loved playing on all of the pumpkins and checking out the fire trucks. He even got his own firefighter hat that he worn pretty much all weekend.

Derek's brother was also up here this weekend. Him and his wife are actually moving to Minneapolis and he living with us until they find an apartment. Owen has found a new best friend in Jared and follows him around the house! It was also Derek and mine 6 year wedding anniversary. We were able to get away for a while and walked to Caribou for a coffee - he knows how much I love to walk and talk so that was special that he wanted to do that with me. It will be Owen's 2nd birthday soon, I can't believe he isn't this little baby anymore. I love that he is growing up and learning knew words everyday but also sad that I can't rewind time and have him take long naps on me anymore!

Mmmmm Coffee

2008-10-09T20:15:00.005-05:00

Owen's new thing is to drink my morning latte. I didn't always drink coffee but it started after I had Owen - I think all new mom's need it! It's our morning juice. Every morning after we watch a little Curious George and play some trucks - it's coffee time. It cracks me up that the cup is almost bigger than his head!

San Francisco Vacation

2008-10-07T20:31:00.007-05:00

Derek and I were able to get away for four days to San Francisco. A good friend of ours was getting married on Saturday, October4th and we decided to make a vacation out of it. Owen stayed home with Derek's family and got spoiled by his grandparents.

We had a great time sleeping in, going for runs along Crissy Field, shopping, eating, and staying up late and enjoying the night life! Some friends of ours who we met while living abroad were also at the wedding, and it was great being able to spend time with them. He is from the UK and she is from Argentina so it was always quite eventful when we were with them!
The day of the wedding it was suppose to rain but it ended up being the nicest day of the trip (thank goodness because the wedding was outside). The location took place overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and the bride pulled up in a trolley car and she made the sun shine brighter with her smile and her beauty - she looked amazing!! We had a great time in San Francisco and I think we are finally recovered from the lack of sleep we got on Sunday. Our flight left at 6am so we had to get up pretty early to catch that flight and didn't get to bed until after 1:00am! We missed Owen but it was nice eating when we wanted to eat, and wake up when we wanted to wake up!

Race Report Peregrine Charities Triathlon: It's Vacation Time

2008-09-28T20:37:00.019-05:00

This weekend was a fun one - we headed down to Waterloo, IA and I raced in the inaugural Peregrine Charities Triathlon Since this race was in Iowa, there were a lot of athletes that I had never raced with before. Some of the other women were from Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska, but I was the only one from Minnesota! The race was held at George Wyth State Park and due to the flooding that occurred this summer in Iowa, the swim had to enter and exit from a boat ramp. I had a good swim, but I know I can get faster. I will definitely be working hard to improve my swim time in the off-season. I will also be working on my transitions due to the difficulty I had in T1 this weekend and others in the past. I would like to say I was flustered by the photographer from a local newspaper taking pictures of me while I struggled to get my wetsuit off, but that is just not the case and I need to practice, practice, practice this important piece. The bike was great- mostly due to being able to use race wheels for the first time - it was fun catching people and hearing the whoosh sound off my new Zipp Sub 9 disc wheel. Unfortunately, there was a part of the bike that wasn't so much fun - hitting a race volunteer!! I think the guy was preparing to stop traffic for bikers and didn't see me coming. I was making a left hand turn going pretty fast when he ran right out in front me. I yelled - "look out" but we hit shoulders with each other and I quickly tried to recover by going up onto the sidewalk and then getting back on the road. I was a little shaken up after that, but knew I had about 8 more miles to go and had to shrug it off and get moving. T2 went much better and I was off on the run. Derek told me there were three girls ahead of me and I could see them about 90 seconds ahead of me. When I'm able to see people ahead of me in a race, I get fired up and I'm able to push myself to run faster. I caught one of the girls pretty early at mile 2 and then at the turn around point I saw the other two girls. I knew there were some good runners behind me so I just kept my legs turning. I could still see the other two girls in front of me and knew they were not ahead by much. I caught the second place female just as we were getting back onto the road, at about mile 5. Most of the run was on the trail and then the last mile was on a road back to the finish line. I didn't have enough speed to catch the first place female and finished in 2nd place by about 45 seconds. It just goes to show that transitions can make or break a race. If I would have had a better transition in T1 - I like to think the race could have gone differently. Afterwards, I was talking to another racer and she asked why I was riding on the sidewalk? We laughed about the situation with the volunteer but thank goodness I didn't crash, as I've had my share of bike accidents (fractured elbow and broken collarbone)! In all, it was a great weekend and I am super excited that my husband and I are leaving soon for San Francisco for a good friend's wedding.

Some other great weekend highlights:

Seeing my mom, dad, step dad and my dad's significant other. They all came to Iowa to watch the race but I think there were hidden agenda's there too (to see Owen - of course)!

Owen being able to swim in the hotel with his favorite person right now - Daddy!

Derek and I being able to re-live our college days by walking around the campus and going to lunch at our favorite hangout - the O.P.
I had a great first year of racing, but I know I can get faster. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am a newcomer, but my competitive nature comes out and I'll continue to drive to get better.

Mmmmm Pumpkins

2008-09-24T13:32:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know I should not be eating these things during training but it is the one thing in the candy aisle for Halloween that is my one devise. I bought some Halloween candy the other day and hid it from my husband. I have to find really good hiding spots because he goes and looks for it. It is funny, he tells me to hid certain food so he won't inhale it but then when he finds it he blames me for not hiding it well enough!!! Anyways, after the Waterloo race we are leaving for a vacation to San Francisco for a friends wedding and I am going to eat as many pumpkins as I want!!!

Getting ready to roll at Waterloo!!!

2008-09-20T20:23:00.006-05:00

I am looking forward to next weekend with my new toy I got this last week - some new wheels! Derek and I decided we couldn't pass up the deal they were having at Gear West on the Zipp sub-9 rear disc. Then my coach Dan, let me borrow his front Zipp 808. I haven't had race wheels until this race so it will be interesting and fun to see how much faster I will be. Waterloo, IA is right next to Cedar Falls, IA and that is where Derek and I both went to college (University of Northern Iowa). It will be fun to go back and walk the campus a little bit and then after the race go eat some pizza at our favorite hangout when we were in college - the Other Place - aka The O.P.

Race Report Doathlonforlife: The Haag Trifecta

2008-09-14T19:06:00.009-05:00

It was a pretty busy weekend because I decided, at the last minute, to race in the Doathlonforlife duathlon in Des Moines, IA. I wasn't sure if I should go because I wouldn't be able to leave until early Saturday evening. I was helping host a baby shower for a great college friend of mine who is having a baby in November (she looks amazing by the way) and I kind of have a routine I like to follow with the night before a race, however, it all worked out. I convinced my husband and father in law to race too and the Haag Trifecta was in effect.

There were a couple of girls in the field who I knew were going to be competitive and since I had never done a Duathlon before I wasn't sure of a race strategy. I knew that if I could keep a 6:30 min/mile pace in past Olympic distance races, I should be able to go a little faster for the first portion of the run which was only a 5k. I started out well with the lead girls but came up to T1 in 4th place. I made up some good ground during the bike and moved up into second. After the bike, I knew that I didn't have much time to catch the first place girl since we only had 5K left. I saw my sister in law as I was heading out on the last 5K and she told me I was the second girl, I responded - "First place is pretty far ahead isn't she?" If you know Lindsey, then you know she never has anything bad or negative to say about anything or anyone. She responded to me - "You can catch her Kort," but I saw the look on her face and knew otherwise!!!

Derek got second in his age group and Gery (my father in law) continues to impress me with his ability to finish triathlons, 1/2 marathons and now duathlons! He's getting faster in every race.

In all, I was happy with my performance, but I think I have had enough of this 2nd place business!

The little things....

2008-09-04T15:15:00.007-05:00

It is amazing at how the little things in life are so important to you and how much you remember them. I wrote in Owen's baby book the other day about our summer adventures and how much he is growing and changing. He will be 2 in November and I don't want him to get any older. I wish I could just freeze him at this age! Yesterday we went and fed the ducks by our house and after we were done he waved and said goodbye to them - it was so sweet! He is constantly doing things that makes me laugh. When Derek gets home he runs to find Derek's shoes and says "D's", D's". He can't say Daddy so Derek is known as D. Then the other day he was playing in the basement and came upstairs with his sombrero hat on!

I am very lucky I work part time so I can spend quality time with him but you always think - I should be doing more for them. I think that all mothers acquire guilt the minute you become a mom.
For me, I know that next summer I will be training more and racing more and I don't want to miss out on anything that Owen does or have him miss out on anything. I have always been good at multi-tasking and making sure that my priorities are in line. I find myself reading other tri mom's blogs and how they also struggle with the same thing. It is nice to know I am not alone and being a mom, wife, and triathlete can be done.

St Croix Valley Race Report: Run Scooter Run

2008-09-01T06:58:00.015-05:00

It was a wonderful weekend as my Dad and his girlfriend, Diane, were here visiting from Illinois. We were sitting around talking Saturday night and my Dad was telling stories about his younger years. I knew that my Dad was athletic, but didn't have the opportunity to participate in sports as much as he would have liked, because of the work on the farm. I didn't realize that he had a nickname because of his speed - Scooter. It was pretty funny listening to tales of his Scooter days!

Sunday was the St.Croix Valley Triathlon in Hudson, Wisconsin. It was a great race and I was surprised there were less than 100 participants. They had the sprint distance the day before with over 700 participants. I think since it was Labor Day weekend and with Ironman Wisconsin coming up many racers took the weekend off.

The day started out a little strange for me. First, I drove to the race by myself and I know I should be able to do this, but I usually have Derek with me to help me prepare and talk. Derek was waiting to come to the race later so we wouldn't have to wake up Owen too early and meet up with my family. Well, it was probably a good thing because I accidentally grabbed his wetsuit. The race started at 7:30, I called Derek at 6:35 frantically telling him I had his wetsuit. My speedracer of a husband got to the race with plenty of time for me to put my wetsuit on and get in the water to prepare for the start - He is great! The swim was a tough one - you could touch the bottom at pretty much any time and it was really hard to see where you were going because of the blinding sun. I came out as the second female on the swim and knew I needed to make up some time. I made up about 45 seconds on the bike and just bombed T2 - I didn't have enough time to get my feet out of my shoes and probably lost about 10 - 15 seconds. The run is where I am a little frustrated with myself. I knew I was about 45 seconds behind the first place female and thought I would hold off and keep her in my sights and then try and catch her further down the run. What I should have done was run hard to catch her and then keep a steady pace. At about 3 miles left in the run I felt like I was pushing it hard but it wasn't hard enough as I came to the finish line in second place. I guess I should have taken more tips from Scooter before the race!

St. Paul Race Report: First Win, but..... I need a swim coach

2008-08-17T15:45:00.014-05:00

I did the St. Paul Triathlon (1 mile swim, 40K bike, 10K run) this morning and finished first overall for female participants! It feels great to get a win under the belt (but I need a swim coach). The swim was a little longer than most distances I do but I was disappointed in my time coming out of the water. The bike course was super fast and you had to do two laps so you were able to see where your competition was on the course. When I got off the bike my sister told me I was about a minute and a half behind first place. The run course went around Lake Phalen twice so it was hard to come around the finish line knowing that you had to run 3 more miles! I kicked it into gear and it felt great knowing I was getting to the finish line as the first female for the International course.

Derek also did the race too and did the Sprint course (.5 mile swim, 20K bike, 5K run). He did great, and ran the course 5 minutes faster than what he did last year, a personal best!! I am so glad he got me involved in triathlons - without his drive and determinition to improve I don't think I would be participating in them.
My mom was here this weekend and was able to see me race for the first time. I heard her cheering me on as I was getting out of the water to start the bike course. Derek's Dad was here as well as my sister and her husband to watch. It was fun having them here so they could watch us as well as having someone watch Owen so we both could do the same race.
Today was also special because Owen finally took a nap - I think he has been so excited having my mom here that he doesn't want to sleep!!

Whoo Hoo

2008-08-12T11:58:00.004-05:00

Got a cool mention in midwest events website today - check it out http://www.midwestevents.us/news/124.
Also, my mom is going to be here to watch me race for the first time this weekend. She was funny the other week when she asked me where I swam - I told her in the lake. Her reply was - "did you wear a lifejacket". Umm no mom - that would be cheating!

Anyways, also wanted to say thanks to my brother in law - Jared who helped me with the header on my blog.

Turtleman Race Report: No way am I getting 8th!

2008-08-10T14:48:00.009-05:00

Yesterday was the Turtleman Triathlon in Shoreview, MN. It is probably one of the most competitive amateur races races in Minnesota besides the Lifetime Fitness triathlon. I was suppose to do this race three years ago but I fractured my elbow that year and wasn't able to participate. It is a great race - very well put together with volunteers, organization and spectators. I would definitely do it again! I was pretty nervous for this race as the people I have been reading about winning and performing well in other races were there and my sister was coming to watch me for the first time.

Coming out of the swim I was 9th - I knew I didn't have that great of a swim - my sighting was pretty bad and I should have kept up with some other swimmers and tried drafting off of them. I kind of let people do their thing in the beginning of the swim and not get involved with the battle of positioning. I need to try and be more aggressive with the swim for the next race. Getting on the bike I felt great - averaging 22.5 miles per hour - the fastest I have done so far. Getting re-fitted at Gear West (thanks guys) on my bike has definitely helped - and I may try and see if I could ride a little more aggressively. Coming off of the bike I felt great and wasn't quite sure what position I was in until I saw Derek and he told me that I was in 8th place and that I was close behind 6th and 7th. I thought well if I am close - No way am I getting 8th! My goal for running was a 6:45 min/mile and I topped that running a 6:31 min/mile. I caught three racers on the run and finished 4th! I was very happy with that performance and race announcer Jerry McNeil mentioned that I could be a nomination for Rookie of the Year. I am not sure what this title entails but would be very honored to be considered in that category with other great women triathletes.

After the race Owen was getting pretty antsy in his stroller so we played on the beach for a while - you couldn't have asked for a better day. Of course, during our playtime I got my shirt dirty for pictures - it never fails. I seriously cannot wear white. Ask any of my family members - especially my husband and they will tell you it doesn't shock them anymore!

Booty call!!!

2008-08-07T14:54:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was a very fun day with Owen. We went to Elm Creek Park Reserve and he played in the water there for about 2 hours. One the way home he was pooped out but the once I put him down for his nap he was not interested in his nap and was a crazy man in his room for about a half hour before falling asleep. I put him down in just a diaper and shirt because it was warm outside and his shorts were a little wet from changing him out of his swimtrunks. When I went to go check on him he had taken off his diaper and it was lying by his crib and his little bootie was staring me right in the face. It was a precious sight and one I won't forget for a long time.

This weekend is the Turtleman Triathlon in Shoreview, MN and it should be a great race - expecting great weather and it will probably be the most competitive race I will be in this year. I haven't started feeling that nervous about it but I think once I pick up my packet at Gear West I think I will start. My sister is going to stay at our place on Friday so we don't have to wake Owen up so early in the morning and Derek can help me prepare. I am so glad that she is in town to do that for us. Hopefully he will get some good pics this weekend since he won't have to entertain Owen while I am racing.

My very FIRST blog!

2008-08-01T13:31:00.002-05:00

I decided the other day that I should start blogging - so here it is - my first one! I am not sure how well I am going to do on this but am going to try to blog at least once a week.

I am still on a high from my race this past weekend - I did the Big Creek Triathlon (Olympic distance) in Polk City, IA and placed 2nd overall for female. I gave this race my all and achieved a 2:16. My goal was 2:15 but had some difficulty in the transition area with getting my wetuit off and then ran out the wrong way on the run. I don't think that caused a full minute but perhaps it could have.

My next race is Turtleman on August 9th. I will be really nervous for that one - there will be a lot of experienced and competitive racers.

My husband is such a great supporter with my racing and is really proud of me with what I have accomplished. I do wish I didn't have two accidents that kept me out of racing for two years but as they say you learn from your mistakes. We will have to see what the future brings with racing - I am just enjoying my first "real" year of racing.