Accenture Ironman 70.3 California Preview

Yo yo yo crazy ass like you’re a Laguna Beach reality star fans!

Race week is upon us, actually just three days away, damn! Here’s the deets:

Friday 10:30am-11:30am, Accenture Booth at the Expo – Q & A / Autograph / Hangout Session

I’m honored to be invited to Accenture’s booth to answer questions and sign some autographs. If you’re in town for the race or otherwise, please come down and say hi. I’ll likely have some Picky Bars stuff with me as well. Booyah!

Please come to the booth, so it’s not only my mom’s friends.

Saturday 6:40am – Race is on, bam!

How to watch/follow

1. Come to the race! The run course is actually a pretty good spectator course as if you’re near T2, you see us go by 4-5 times I think. We should be running by about 9am or so. For the craziest of fans, the swim & bike start will be from 6:40 to 7ish at the pier. Here’s a link to the course points.
2. Online – http://www.ironmanlive.com should have updates, look for “Accenture Oceanside 70.3”
3. Twitter – I’m going to try to get someone to update from my twitter account, but also follow Roka Sports, Mallory Burda (Specialized Sports Marketing), and IronmanTri.

The Field

Just like Alcatraz, this field is no joke. And while it doesn’t have multiple reigning World Champions in it, this field is stronger and deeper through the top 10-15 guys or so. The guys from First Off The Bike did a solid preview here, though they obviously confused me with someone else. *As a side note, if you’re in to podcasts, theirs is awesome, funny, entertaining and informative. Do it!

Long story short, there are a LOT of really good guys, too many to list. At least 8-10 that I haven’t beaten or haven’t raced before. I think this is the best field I’ve faced outside of World Championships.

How I Feel: Yep, a little Tired

Honestly, at this very moment, tired. I’m on my first ever race flight from Bend, while it’s great to finally be back, it’s been a hectic few weeks, moving, getting settled, and adjusting to the altitude. As my buddy & Restwise co-founder Matthew Weatherly-White puts it – “Stress is stress is stress. Whether it’s training or something else, it produces the same physiological response.” For the first 10 days after Alcatraz, it felt like I was going backwards, not the lead up you want to a big race. Matt and I had to pull way back to adjust. I did a few days of almost nothing just to recoup.

But the rest paid off. Looking back at my training since then, I can say that I’ve had probably 2 of the best weeks of my career. Being back in Bend has energized me with new places to run, ride, and swim, and of course being reunited with my boyfriend Matt Lieto. I’ve done some great workouts in all three disciplines. But like the end of any big training block, I’m feeling pretty wiped right now, and hoping I recover in time for Saturday.

Matt hasn’t stopped following me around since I got back to Bend.

An Awesome Opportunity

It’s nuts to look back at last year and read my recap. I finished 3rd, and it was a huge breakout performance for me. It was my first group swim, and the first time I caught the lead pack on the bike. I was so excited. I celebrated across the finish line like I won.

A lot has changed in a year. I’ve won more races, placed well in other fields, and “legitimized” myself…at least to myself. But the biggest difference is that my goals have changed. I want to have big performances in big, World Championship caliber fields like the one here on Saturday. I know that I’m a faster swimmer, cyclist, and runner than I was at this point last year. Whether or not I’ll be as fresh remains to be seen. The training says it’s in there, and if my body can recover in time, then maybe it’ll come out and make the day a little more fun. If not, I’ll blow snot all over my face and grunt my way to the finish line. Either way, I’m excited to see what happens.