The Zen of Ultra Running

 Tri CLE Rock Roll Run is a local race in NE Ohio. The race always takes place the weekend before school starts. Usually, the race is on Saturday and the first day of the semester is the following Monday.  Since it was a local race, I couldn't not do it. After discussing with my coach, he said I could do a sprint tri at this race because he did not want me to do anything too long that would take more time to recover from the race than actually get long training in.  I signed up for the sprint tri again this year. Since the race was two days before the semester begins, it's the last thing on my mind leading up to the race day. The weekend before the race weekend, I went out and did another long, hilly road ride, which left me feeling toasted for the next couple of days (but it was a good training ride tho). Then, I had to scramble to get my classes ready for the new semester. On Friday (the day before the race), I had research meetings in the morning and then attended a college

This year I had a chance to race a sprint triathlon in Thailand during my visit. I signed up for a race organized by the same company before COVID but it was canceled due to COVID. I saw that they had another sprint tri this summer during my visit to Thailand. So, I signed up for the race.  The problem was I did not want to ship my bike to Thailand with me (due to many logistic problems) so I borrowed a bike from my friend who is also training for an Ironman. I use her bike to train for the Ironman when I am in Bangkok.  The race was on Sunday (June 26) in Chonburi, which is about 1.5 hours from Bangkok. The course was actually in a golf resort owned by my college friend. So, we decided to go there a day early and stayed there on Saturday night. I did not want to wake up super early to drive to Chonburi on Sunday morning. We arrived in Chonburi about 5pm, checked in at the hotel, and went out to dinner at a restaurant by the sea. We missed fresh seafood.  On Sunday morning, I woke up a

First tri of the year at Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon. In early January, I posted about signing up for races on social media and Mickey sent me a private message about this race that he organized. It's an indoor tri with a 20/20/20 format. That is 20 minutes pool swim, 20 minutes stationary bike, and 20 minutes treadmill run. I talked to B (my coach) and he said it sounded like a fun race so I signed up.   The week leading up to the race was pretty uneventful. Work was busy as usual but not stressful. It was supposed to be super cold on race day (thank god it's an indoor tri). I asked hubby to drop me off at the race, which took place at a gym in Beachwood. He was not interested in my race so he dropped me off and went to a coffee shop and grocery shopping LOL.  I got to Lifetime Fitness about 1 hour before my wave started. The race was very well organized and the volunteer walked me to the designated area in the locker room and marked my body. After I put my stuff in the

Not exactly sure what I was thinking when I signed up for this race. It's the weekend before the fall semester began and I was super stressed out as I revamped 75% of one of the courses this semester.   The purpose of this race was again to practice race strategy and nutrition. I was very glad that there was a race in Cleveland/Northeast Ohio after HFP sold their races to another company based in Columbus and they moved all the races (including the ones that I already signed up for) to central Ohio :( So, it was a no-brainer to sign up for a race close to home.  Except for that, the race was two days before the semester started.... The inaugural Tri CLE Rock Roll Run was very well organized and the communication was very clear (if you took time to read the athlete packet that they sent out before the race). The race took place in downtown Cleveland and T1 & T2 were in different locations. This was the first time I did a tri that the transitions were not in one place. The swim s

 I cannot believe that the last time I updated this blog was after Regal Beagle 50K in November 2020. Has it really been 9 months?  Oh well, I forgot to write a blog about Outrun 24 race in May. I showed up at the race with a goal of just to finish a 50K because I wanted to save my legs and energy for the Olympic tri race at Deer Creek. At O24, I ran 35 miles and went home. Then, I got sick a week before Deer Creek and did not go to the race :(I was very disappointed as I was training pretty well and felt like I was "ready".  Then, we took off on a 2-week vacation in the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador and I felt like my training went backward a little (with minimal running, biking, and swimming during the two weeks). However, the vacation was something that P. and I really needed after more than a year of staying at home and no traveling.  After coming back from vacation, I saw someone posted in the Cleveland Tri Club Facebook group about the Spring Classic Sprint Tri (in Youn

Portage lake triathlon was the first and last triathlon race for me in 2018. Because my main focus since the beginning of the year was on the Canal Corridor 100, I did not allocate much time for swimming and biking (let along Brick workouts). Originally, I signed up for Vermillion triathlon (sprint) but I felt that I was not ready before Vermillion so I emailed the race organizer and asked to defer the race to Portage Lake. They were very understanding and switched my registration to Portage Lake sprint tri. A couple of weeks leading to the race day, I'd been biking with B. and K. on Sundays but did not seriously "train" for the race. I was glad to clip in and out of the bike shoes without too much ankle pain. Wednesday before the race I did Brick (bike and run) for the first and last time before the race. I did not have any expectation with this race at all. On the race day, it rained really hard and the temperature dropped to 50+ degrees that morning. Many people

Saturday July 15 - Rainbow Run 5K  My sister will be studying at the U of MO at Columbia for a semester. She had some time before the school starts so she came to stay with us for 10 days. I convinced her to sign up for a color run 5K because it's always my dream to run a race with my family. My sister is not a runner and hates all kinds of exercise lol but she thought the color run would be fun. So she agreed to run it with me. We ran and talked (mostly I talked) the whole time. We had a lot of fun. 5K seemed to short but for a non-runner that's already long enough. She complained that her legs were tired the next morning lol Sunday July 16 - Lake Metroparks Lighthouse Sprint Triathlon This week I'd been sick. I caught a cold on the flight back from Columbia, MO (stupid germs on the plane). I was still coughing on the race morning and was considering a DNS. I also had been traveling for the past couple of weeks and the training was not very consistent. Consid

First triathlon race of the season. I saw the announcement on the university student rec website and the flyer at the pool. I checked the price and it's only 15 dollars for members. I was still a member at student rec when I signed up for the race. Well, who could say no to a 15-dollar triathlon race? (with a t-shirt, it's 5 dollars more). I've been adding more swim and bike to the training since the injury but I am still a slow swimmer. I received the instructions from the race director that I was in the 9am wave (female). The first wave was for male competitors starting at 8am. There were 3 waves today (8am (male), 9am(female), and 10am (mixed and relay). So, I arrived at ONAT around 8am. A bit after the first wave started. Below is the picture of the first wave swim. They did not have a bib but assigned me a number. I'm #10. Longest last name (again).  Body marking right after I checked in.  The swim started right at 9am. There were so m