Thru Endurance We Conquer!

I picked up a new sponsor this week. Motor Tabs, a sports drink - electrolite replacement drink. It's a low calorie, but high electrolite tab. The really exciting part is that there are no artificial sweetners - unlike some of the other companies. I'm really looking forward to getting the first shipment. There's more varity of flavors with the Motor Tabs as well. www.motortabs.com

I have had such poor motivation this week in the water! I just could not stand the thought of swimming and barely got through 2500 yards on Wednesday and 2000 yards today. Since the swim is one of my best legs, not having the motivation to get in the water isn't good. Hopefully, I'll get into a better groove when all these trips are done. I'm getting tired of traveling. The racing is fun, but...

Part of the fun of traveling to races are the stops along the way. On the way to the Chile Challenge in Angel Fire, Nick and I stopped in Cuchara to explore some of the trails in that area of Colorado. It's never a good sign when during the climb up, you see fresh bear tracks in the trail. Nick and I made so much noise on that ride, I think we scared ourselves away! But the trail was cool. We had almost an hour climb to the top, through snow drifts and mountain streams. My socks were soaked halfway up the climb. But it was worth it. The drop back to the car was on twisty, tree lined single track. Definatly worth a trip back to explore some more, this time with the bear bells and spray. Chile Challenge is both Short Track and a Cross Country race. I hadn't done a short track race before, so that was worrying me. This course was fast - about 1:30 per lap. There were a few tight turns on loose gravel and one steep, punchy hill. This was 20 minutes of all out, red line effort. I we...

Okay, I lied. We started working on the build on Sunday. Nick wanted to see how things fit and if we needed to get anything different then what we'd ordered. So far, not bad - only the front deraillure wasn't the right size. Easy enough to fix. So now, we have the fork, stem, handlebars, shifters, brakes and front and rear derailures on the frame. I still need wheels, grips, seatpost and saddle. After that, and several rides, it should be ready to race. I'm hoping that I'll be able to race it at the Indian Peaks Xterra on August 1st. - I've got a few photos http://picasaweb.google.com/TracyThelen.triathlete/TomacBuild #

I have my new Tomac now. The frame is hanging on the wall in the living room, waiting to be built. Most of the components are in boxes in the garage. We have a few more things to order, but should start the build process soon. I can't belive how light the frame is! I can't wait for the first ride, but it will take a while. I'd rather take it slow and do things right, then rush and have a bad race because of it. For now, staring at the sleek black and red frame and dreaming will have to do.

Okay - I'll admit it. I've gone to the dark side and joined the compression sock craze. Earlier in the year, one of my sponsors, MarathonGuide .com sent out new running uniforms and a pair of Recovery Socks compression socks. I wore the socks a few times, but wasn't convinced about the effectiveness. I am now. I used those socks during the drive to Las Vegas for the Xterra West Cup and on the flight to Fargo for the marathon. I didn't have any of the heavy feeling or swelling that I normally get when I sit for a long time. My legs weren't as tired when I started moving again, either. I also noticed that my legs aren't as tired after work, espcially when I've done hard workout in the morning. I ordered a few more pairs of the Recovery Socks today - one in fusicha! Hey, if I'm going to look like a dork in knee high socks, I might as well go all the way.

Fargo has been on the list for five years. I really liked the way the marathon played on the town's name (Go far in Fargo) and the comments on Marathonguide.com were also very positive. This year, we finally got up north to run Fargo and it was worth it. Everything about the race was organized and everyone was super friendly. The whole town knew that the marathon was coming and wished us luck when they found out we were there for the race. Everything was held in the FargoDome - the expo, pasta dinner, prerace, post race and awards. Because of the floods earlier in the year, the course was changed to a two loop affair. I had no issues with that - it's nice running two loops sometimes. You know what the last half is going to be like. I wasn't sure what was going to happen at the race. I really didn't think that I had done enough training to run a decent marathon. I've only done a few long runs - focusing mostly on the bike for my triathlons. My goal was between 3:00 t...

First, thank you to everyone who has alerady donated to Operation Rebound. Your support will help provide coaching, mentoring and equipment such as racing chairs or prostetics to disabled veterans. I wanted to let everyone know about the next fundraising event on June 7th, the day after the Xterra Northwest Cup. I will be competing in the Mad Dash Eight Hour Mountain Bike Challenge, with the goal to raise money for Operation Rebound. How can you help me reach my goal of $2000 for OR? Consider making a per-lap pledge so the more 10 mile laps I complete in the eight hours means for money raised for Operation Rebound. Even a small pledge such as $5 a lap will go a long way towards helping American veterans disabled in the defense of our country regain healthy, active lives. I hope that I can count on your support in this event. As always, you can also donate on line at http://teamorsilverman09.kintera.org/tracythelen Thank you for your support

Well, the first triathlon of the season is finished. That was a challenge. I learned some things to build on for the rest of the season and to get ready for next year. The swim was my best leg - I felt strong in the water. The start was a little bumpy, but we had a really narrow channel to swim through. I had no problems with sighting, even though I haven't practiced. My transition was slow - could not get the wetsuit off. It got tangled on my ankles and around my wrists. As for the bike, I knew when I pre-rode that I was going to hurt on this course. The course was like riding on the moon - blue arrows spray painted onto the gravel and sand. There were two really steep hills, with equally steep decents, a long, sandy wash, plenty of rollers and a fun twisty section along the lake shore. There really wasn't anything worth remembering except for the eight women who passed me! The run wasn't much better, which was surprising. I usually can run very well, but the heat did me i...