Happy Holidays!! On the run...

Yes, the holidays are now here and it seems we are all on the run and in more ways than one. In NorCal this is running season! We run love to hit the trails out here and run some cross-country, get muddy, and find a cool trail race to do.

This past weekend we had a huge rain storm that finally eased off before me and some of the ladies hit the trails at the North Face 1/2 Marathon. Muddy, hilly, and hearts pounding we slid around, got dirty, ran, hiked and laughed our butts off.  Its a great event and one that's fun to do with friends. There is something to be said for running together with your friends and not worrying about times.

So get out there and hit the trails, its good to get dirty now and than. Plus you'll have the added benefit of burning off more than 1 or 2 cookies!

JL

The season is over folks!

Yes, fall has finally arrived and with it a teeny bit of the rain we so desperately need here in Norcal. Its been a very busy, full season - quite a blur actually - but a good one! It did seem to be one of the busiest I've had in recent memory though - so many pics and thoughts to post. This actually is one of my favorite times of year. For all of us endurance athletes fall signals the start of 'off-season' and signals a time to rest our bodies, brains, and spend more time 'goofing off' with family and friends. With that said I do still have goals, let's be real folks. But these are my 'happy list goals' and one's I look forward to checking off my list. If you haven't put your's together yet I hope this inspires you to grab a pen and paper!

So my goal by the end of the year is to do the following......

*Spend more time at home with my sanctuary - hubby, home, and K-9 companion
We spend all race season working so dang hard not only training all our athletes and running the TTE Nation Team but working events and training ourselves too. It leaves little time for romance and cleaning out the closets when the whole house suffers from 'training neglect'. I hear a date night calling......

*Quality time visiting the family!
I've already been on a couple trips - Seattle to see the grandparents and North Carolina to see all my aunts, uncles, and cousins back east (aka home).  Up next is another trip to Seattle to spend more time with my grandparents and Aunt who are going through the challenges of transferring to assited living and Virginia for Christmas to see my bro. I think this time is important. While my hubby Dave and I don't have children we are very family oriented and its important to balance my life with real time spend with the family. Its always fun to be "Aunt Jenny" who gets to spoil all the kids. It also helps keep grounded and gives perspective on what an amazing life we have out here.

*Sleep in! 
No early a.m. crack-ass of dawn workouts every day of the week - period! I am absolutely RELISHING my sleep in time and have simply split some of training sessions in two and do 1 a.m. and 1 p.m. OR I just do one (a novel idea!).  I recently added a new sleep app to my phone called "Sleep Cycle". Its free and even takes your waking heart rate. The nifty charts and graphs even help you track your worst and best nights sleep, average sleep, time in bed, and heart rate. A very useful tool that I plan to use all year.

*Spend more time in the kitchen
Baking, experimenting with friends, and breaking out the crock pot are at the top of my list.
I've already started this and the husband is loving the smells walking in the door :)

*Run, yoga, and strength train more
My goal is 4-5 days a week of healthy running and specifically more hill and trail running. And of course 2-3 days a week of 'non-sissy' hard-core gym work. I was at a trail race recently in Marin - the Coyote Ridge Trail Run put on by the folks at 'Coastal Trail Runs' and after a brief discussion with my BFF we opted for the 10-miler. Of course we always bump into peeps we know doing the 20 miler and all we could think was - 'thank god we decided to go shorter'! Yes - its true - I am a total distance diva....but I am SO done with that for the year. I go long all year and right now I want to go fast, go short, and go home! So - I've got a bunch of half marathon stuff to keep me leaned up this fall including the Stinson Beach half, Napa Harvest Half, and we'll culminate with the North face challenge half. So hills, hills, and more hills - hill intervals here I come! Enough said :)  WRT strength- I have a minor obsession with body pump!!@ So 2x a week sessions now is SO much fun though I am sore as hell- I LOVE it! I plan to add some other fun stuff including TRX and yoga to work out all the kinks as well.

*Write a weekly post in my blog!
I KNOW, I keep saying this but its time to commit for reals. I should no better than to over commit during race season when I have ZERO time...but alas writing and bloggin is a passion - so its time to 'buck up' as I heard recently on the Big Bang Theory.  And yes - I do have a book or two in mind as well...but for now I am starting here with my newly re-designed blog and WEEKLY POSTS!!! Thank you for the support!

Dog days of summer....

The summer race season is about over here in Norcal now that the Vineman events are officially over in Sonoma County. Many athletes here are done with their seasons with the conclusion of Vineman while others are gearing up for late summer and early fall races.  If you are still one of the motivated peeps who didn't start training in December and are looking to use some more of your hard earned summer fitness there are 3 new races on the Norcal race scene! Exciting times folks as we haven't truly had anything new in quite some time.

Here's the scoop:

August:  Oakland Triathlons
There will be a sprint and olympic distance for those looking to go fast, go hard, and go home! Especially for those of you who usually do the Ukiah Triathlon this is a good alternative as that race has been cancelled due to the drought. I can't say enough how valuable the shorter distance races are - even to all of you long course junkies. They give you an edge you just can't get going 'steady betty' all the time.

September:  Ironman 70.3 Lake Tahoe
For those of you who race Vineman 70.3 OR didn't get in, got injured, whatever....there is a cool new 70.3 right here in Norcal! Tahoe is an AMAZING venue - need I say more?@! You don't have to step up to the big beastly IM Tahoe...try this wicked fast looking new 70.3 course instead. Other than a little altitude (lol) and 1 big climb - this course looks to be fast, fast, fast AND jaw-droppingly beautiful. Looks EPIC to me - and since Ironmans contract with the City of Lake Tahoe is only for three years this race might not be back on the calendar next year....so why the hell not give it a whirl?@!

October:  Challenge Rancho Cordova!!
YES - another very coool race series. This actually used to be the old Folsom Half Ironman series. This new 70.3 distance is now in October instead of August and is also another really fast course. Though not quite as pretty as Tahoe the Challenge family puts on an amazing series of races and is worth the time and money. Give it a shot and see what you got!

That's it for now folks. I will post some updates and photos from the summer and Vineman soon.  For now the TTE Nation is headed to Tahoe for our Annual Summer Training Camp. Not only do we get some crazy good training in we also get to enjoy a summer vacation together and a chance to chill by the lake....updates and plenty of pics to come...

Ciao for now~

JL

Goals, goals, goals....

Race season is here folks and with it many athletes I know and work with are planning their goals for the races and events they've selected this summer. After chatting with a couple athletes recently it got me to thinking about how much we love to push ourselves sometimes. Let's face it folks - many of us are very goal oriented, type-Aish people that like to 'think large and be in charge'. However, training and racing as in life often forces us to face a few humbling facts - or what I like to more appropriately call "Life Lessons".

Here are my "top five" conversation pieces I've had recently with a couple of athletes I work with that might help you re-evaluate your goals and how to approach them in a healthy way.

1.  You can't force success.

As much as we'd like to it often takes time, consistency, and patience. Training and racing is a 'process' - not an end point. So enjoy it!! It's supposed to be fun too, remember?@!  

2.  Keep your eye on the prize, but don't let it blind you.

Remember it is important to keep your goals in sight, but not at the expense of other important things in your life, like.....health, family, friendships, work, and yes - your relationship with your significant other, wife, partner, dog, whatever.

3.  Your body hear's everything you are telling it.

Bottom line folks is this is a "tough love" talk. It's not easy to hear, but if you tell yourself you suck at every finish line or practice than guess what - yes, you will suck. If you think you are slow, fast, fat, thin, happy, sad, bored, or amped - you will be.  It is important to realize that we constantly are 'feeding' our body, mind, brain, and spirit with millions of thoughts and images a day. What are you going to feed yours with?

4. If you want it, work for it.

As simple as it sounds it really can be that easy. Many like to make excuses as to why they are any of the adjectives above. But when it comes down to it, it is you who must decide what you want and how are you gonna achieve it. Again - insert the adjective here - you decide when you get up or go to bed at night (to a certain degree - I recognize children and jobs can effect this); what you put in your mouth; if you will skip that swim or group ride, or run too hard when coach says "chill". Again, why are you doing this and what is your goal???

5. Remember to make room for fun!

Triathletes are a lovely, fun, amazing group of people. I've made the most incredible friends, met my husband, and continue to meet the most interesting people in this sport. It's one of the many things that draws me back to it year after year. The comraderie, good times, and pure joy of sharing a hard training session or race has filled me with memories I'll never forget. But, alas - as a group our strength can also be our greatest weakness and at times we can easily get stuck in the "work" part. Triathletes at heart are a very hard working bunch - and don't get me wrong - that is an essential ingredient to successfully reaching your goals.  All I am saying is this....don't forget to slow down, have a bit of fun with your friends, smell the roses, and yes - its ok to drop back and swim / bike / or run and drink a beer with the new guy.

Ciao for now...

JL

Summer Race Season is here, Vineman Monte Rio Olympic Distance

We had a great time at the first race of the season here in Norcal at the 2nd Annual Vineman Monte Rio Olympic Distance Triathlon. This is arguably the best new Olympic Distance race on the circuit in the area. With a stunning backdrop along the Russian River....ahh....how we love NorCal!

2014 Vineman Monte Rio Swim Start

Drought conditions forced many to "walk/jog/scull" the swim. Great swim for first timers or those who don't enjoy the swim section...you can always "walk / run" the swim!

The course than heads out into the redwoods and than hangs a right out towards the ocean. Spectacular views on the bike course along Hwy 1 are a thing of beauty and tough to ignore as athletes enjoyed a nice tail wind and fast push back to Duncan's Mills and T2. All I can say is "WOW" - I remember thinking it was "distractingly beautiful". Worth the money for this folks. With inlands temps over the weekend in the mid-90's it was an absolutely amazing weekend to be about by the Norcal Coastline.

Hwy 1 Bike Course

Best part is T2 welcomes you back with a gentle transition over the bridge that crosses the Russian River and swim course - a cool view from up high to see the swimmers still in the river. This section is pretty much it for the sun. You head up a gentle grade to the turn around at mile 3 where there is a break in the trees and a little sunshine. Than the rest of the run course is entirely shaded, under the cool majestic redwoods with lots of fast, downhill running to boot. What's not to love about this race! Anyway - a big congrats to all the athletes who finished!  Including a bunch of first timers from the Montecito Heights Health & Racquet Club 8-week program I coached - congrats triathletes! Here are a few fun pics from the day of our TTE Nation teammates and the MHRRC Group. Lots of podiums, p.r.'s, and smiles all around. All together a great way to kick off the summer season of racing! Congrats and well done everyone!

MHRRC Triathletes at their last transition practice before the big day.

Congrats on your big finish everyone! Welcome to the #trilife 

TTE Athlete Shaline Echols and her daughter who came out to see what this 

crazy business is all about. Congrats Shay!

Til next time, happy training and racing~

JL

New goals

Its now June and I can't believe how the time has flown by. We're now six months into 2014 and the summer is finally here. YAY! Along with it are some new goals - those which include:

*Start my blog back up
*Get my shoulder healthy (I have an impingement injury)
*Stretch a bit more
*And of course those athletic goals....

I am still mulling over those but looks like I will be signing up for something soon. I will keep you posted! But for now I will be taking a group of tri-newbies out to their first race this weekend. The Vineman Monte Rio Olympic Distance Triathlon.

Wish us luck and come join us this year!

ciao, ciao!

JL