Tag Archives: travel

Austin Trip & Running Tour

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Mike & I took a weekend trip to Austin recently and it was great to get away!  Between the Chicago Marathon, NWM Half, and now this, I feel like I haven’t really been wokring in October.  Doesn’t feel too bad…

Anyway, here are some highlights from our trip:

  • Good margaritas!  At pretty much every place we went
  • Caught a movie at the Austin Film Festival
  • Good tex mex food, and Texas BBQ
  • Tour de Fat in Austin
  • adventures cycling around on crapalicious bikes we rented
  • road trip to San Antonio! Visiting the Alamo

 

We signed up for a running tour because, why not? We signed up for a tour with City Running Tours which had multiple run options in Austin, and also does tours out of other cities, including Chicago.

We picked the 5K Beer Run, I think primarily because of the time of day, and also that we enjoy beer (& running).  We jogged the 1.3 miles from our hotel to the meet-up location at the Texas Running Company, a local running store. 

We headed out for the run, lead by our guide Rusty.  We started by heading down to the Lady Bird Lake, where there is lakefront running in Austin!  Rusty did a good job of keeping us on track while also telling us about Austin and the local sites we were seeing.

The lakefront trail was pretty (and a gravel-packed trail, as opposed to our asphalt-paved LFT), and there were a lot of people out.  One nice thing that we saw is that there is a running club that puts out several water coolers at a few points on the trail so that runners & walkers can stay hydrated along the way. 

We headed into the Austin city center, where Rusty pointed out key historical buildings and gave us an idea of what Austin was like during its early city formation.  We stopped at a bar that is owned by the same group that makes the Shiner’s beer, and stopped in to sample a few!  We also took a photo at one of the many statues paying homage to Austin’s musical history, including Willie Nelson.

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All of the other runners that participated were also visiting from out of town, although many from either suburbs or other parts of Texas.  We continued onward toward the state capitol, and actually went inside!  The state capitol is pink due to the pink marble that they used in the construction of the building. 

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And a photo at the Statue of Liberty in the Capitol’s garden:

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We then finished up the run going past the Governor’s mansion and then onto a Pacman arcade bar where we enjoyed another excellent Texas beer- Firemans’ #4.

All in all, this was a fun way to learn about the city we were visiting and also get a run in! 

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Pleasant Prairie Sprint Triathlon

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Today I completed my second triathlon at the Pleasant Prairie Sprint Triathlon in Wisconsin. Mike was doing the “du” with the Dare2Tri club, and I had signed up for the sprint as part of the Chicago Tri Club. 

Pre Race:

  • I was very nervous for my 2nd triathlon. I’ve been very skittish about my cycling recently, and was worried about that.  I also realized (this week) that I hadn’t really done much overall in training:  two swims (one in open water), and a single brick workout of swim-run.  None of the standard bike-to-run brick workouts.   
  • Weather was great! We had cool, clear weather and luckily the thundershowers forecasted did not show up! 
  • Mike and I went up to Pleasant Prairie on Saturday, and got to hear the course overview, talk through the swim while actually seeing the buoys, and drove the bike course.

  • We also got to meet up with CTC’ers for dinner, which was great to meet more people and have some friendly faces on race day. Melissa, Renee, Cristina & Matt were all great to talk with! 

The Swim:

  • I chose not to wear my wetsuit given the 77 degree water temperature. I’m glad I was wearing only my tri kit as that was more than enough for me! 
  • It felt longer than my first tri swim– mostly because it was deeper so I had to do more real swimming.
  • I still felt pretty strong on the swim. I definitely didn’t panic and was passing quite a few people. 
  • Coming out of the swim and into T1, I couldn’t find my spot!  Where is my bike?!!! I definitely lost some time on that transition, and need to work more on these in general. 

The Bike:

  • I was really worried about riding on my new (six-months-old) bike.  I was even debating whether to clip in or not.  I decided to clip-in, and am happy about it!
  • I felt very good about my shifting decisions, although I did have some trouble initially getting from the small gear in front to the bigger one.  More familiarity & time on my bike would help me execute these shifts more confidently & quickly. 
  • Overall I felt pretty strong, and I tried to keep a high cadence up as much as I could. I executed quite a few solid turns
  • The Not-So-Good:  I’m still not as comfortable as I’d like.  As I said in my South Shore recap: 
    • I have a fear of falling, which while under control in normal circumstances, increases exponentially if any of the following occur:
    1. Attempting a turn – there were two 180-degree turns on the course.  I had to stop at each point to redirect my bike.
    2. Taking my hands off the handle bars (adjust sunglasses, take a drink)
  • That is still definitely true.  I avoided taking a drink (although I’ve done it successfully in practice a few times) while riding, and am so happy about my new sunglasses. 
  • I also had a little bit of a spill around mile 9.5. My calf cramped up as I was about to take a turn, and I couldn’t keep pedaling to keep the turn going, and then had trouble clipping out to stop for a moment.  Just a few scrapes, and I got a free calf massage & hug from a safety official!
  • T2 was also a bit slower than I’d expected.  What am I doing in these transitions?

The RunSurprised smile

  • Once I was out on the run I just wanted to finish happy!  I tried to keep it easy for the first mile, to get my legs back, although they didn’t feel to bad.  I kept zipping along, and mostly passing 40+ aged men.  Caught up to Christina who I’d met the day before at the CTC dinner. 
  • I didn’t think or push way too hard on this run, and probably could have gone harder sooner. 

Overall Thoughts & Tips for Next Time:

  • This was a very well organized race!  Lots of very clear direction & support on all three legs of the event, quite a few spectators both on course & at the race base, and lots of liquid & food post-race for everyone! 
  • More practice on the bike – longer distance rides and getting comfortable with turns, drinking, etc.
  • Practice transitions.  Make those times tighter!
  • Swim more!  Get my swim time down to what it could be. 

Times (and age group rankings):

  • Swim: 16:53 (4/17)
  • T1: 4:28 (15/17)
  • Bike: 44:28 (11/17)
  • T2: 2:47 (13/17)
  • Run: 27:52 (5/17)
  • Total: 1:36:27 (9/17)

What’s  Next? 

I have the Grand Haven Sprint Triathlon coming up in two weeks!   A few goals I have for that that I’d like to work toward: 

  • Sub-15 Swim
  • Bike:  17.9 MPH ( my pace w/o the “rest stop”)
  • Faster transitions- get both transitions to the length of today’s T1
  • Maintain my near PR run! 
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Back!

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I’ve been away from blogging for a little while – did you miss me? I’ve been busy – between wedding stuff, honeymoon, race support & now staycation time!  Here’s a potpurri of some things that have been going through my mind to share with you all:

Wedding Stuff:

The big day went great, and I’m so grateful for all of the love and support shown by our friends and family throughout the wedding weekend (and months leading up to it)! A few links to share with you:

Workouts:

  • Pre-wedding, I got in ~ 3 runs that week, one of which was a 9 miler by surprise! I just kept running and running, and didn’t need to get back for anything.  I wish I had taken some Gu or ShotBlocks though. 
  • During this almost 10-miler, I composed a blog post in my head, and meant to write it out sometime less than 2 weeks before that run.  The post would have been titled “I’m ready for professional running.” It was such a beautiful day out, the sun was shining, and I was spontaneously on a long run when I’d initially planned for a quick 3 or 4 miler.  Bring it on, Kara. 
  • I did 3 runs in Tuscon (our honeymoon spot) and they were hard!  I figured out a few days in that there are a few key differences between CHicago & Tuscon:
    • Heat – 90 degrees v/s 50s that Chi-town had been getting,
    • Hills – my workouts were on trail or road that happened to be situated on hills, oops I mean the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains,
    • Elevation – Tuscon is situated at ~2000 ft elevation, compared to our 579 ft. While Tuscon’s not the highest spot in the US, I have been known to experience issues at elevation and this trip seemed no different. I feel “off” for a few days, feel pretty bad around day 4, and then great from 5-6 onward. (Oh wait, the honeymoon was 6 days long)
  • I’ve gone to some yoga classes – 3 so far, but there’s potentially time for some more! We’ll see! I did think I’d be ready for Yoga Teacher Training after these two weeks tho.

Honeymoon / Staycation:

  • Honeymoon was in Tuscon AZ – if you didn’t figure that out before.  We selected it as the new “hipster” honeymoon spot.
  • Mike also happened to compete in the US Paraduathlon National Championship Event.  They conveniently scheduled it during the honeymoon so we wouldn’t have to travel somewhere else.
  • We also enjoyed the pool at the resort we stayed at, and ate some really great Mexican, Tex-Mex, Native American & Contemporary American cuisines while we were there. 
  • Staycation has been going on before & after honeymoon. I’ve been catching up on rest, reading, completing errands that fell by the wayside when Hurricane Wedding arrived. I’ve also been able to work out most days during Staycation, and not feel like a crazy lady combining work/workout/extracurriculars/food/blogging all in a single day.
  • I have been enjoying cooking during the past few days – I made some Cheesy Quinoa Fritters yesterday, pasta & a peanut butter cake today. More meal prepping has been going on as well! 

Well, that’s all for now! Good night!

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