|
|
|
Body One Triathlon Team
I grew up in
Zionsville, Indiana and was the youngest of six kids! Most of my childhood was
spent as a competitive swimmer and I was fortunate to swim for Indiana University during my college years. After school, I took a long break from swimming and exercise, in general.
I married Chris and soon became pregnant with my son, Reid. Work and motherhood
became my priority for several years; however, the desire to get back into fitness was important. When my husband, Chris, opened Body One Health and Fitness Center in 2000, I made it a point to focus on
getting back into shape. The sport of
triathlon (swim, bike, run) started out as a relay several years ago. I was the
swim leg in a sprint distance event at Eagle Creek. Despite lacking a lot of
swim strength and speed, I had a lot of fun doing the race and felt this could be a sport I could enjoy. Thus, my journey into triathlon has been going strong for the past five years. Triathlons come in many distances from sprint to Ironman. Like
many triathletes my journey started with sprint races. Feeling the success from this distance, I soon set my goals on achieving
½ Ironman distances (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run). My first ½
Iron experience was a bit of a struggle but nonetheless exhilarating. With Leanne and Eric as my motivational training partners
and friends, I set to accomplish the goal a second time. After successfully finishing
the Muncie Endurathon in 2008 with a first place in my age group and a fourth overall result I knew the sky was the limit.
After the body
recovered from Muncie, Leanne, Eric and I dabbled in the idea of doing a full Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2
mile run). Well, persuasion is best met with encouragement from others and we
soon decided this would be our goal for 2009. I am very excited
about taking the journey to Ironman. Leanne, Eric and I will be competing in
the Louisville Ironman on August 30, 2009. I am thrilled that Body One Physical
Therapy will be supporting and cheering for us. Their commitment to sport performance
and injury prevention is impeccable. I value the experience and dedication of
their staff. It is this encouragement that will assist us in meeting our goal
and realizing our dream! When not competing
in triathlon, I enjoy spending time with my two wonderful kids, Reid and Ella, and my husband, Chris. Did I mention we have two maniacal hound dogs? I am also busy pursuing my nursing degree at Ivy Tech. I grew up in Central Indiana in a small town called Boggstown. I have always enjoyed
competitive sports in high school whether it was tennis, basketball, or volleyball. After college I did little as far
as athletics. I met my husband, Randy, and we married in 1991 and moved to Chicago for 3 years. I started working
in Real Estate in Chicago. Living in Lincoln Park was fun, but then decided to move back home and start a family. We
lived in Broad Ripple for a couple of years, and then built our first home in Westfield. I continued my Real Estate
career working for a new home builder. Two kids later and a little chubbier, I decided I wanted to go to the gym and get in
shape. I eventually got up the courage to go to a spinning class. That is where I met Anna Markus, my friend and
fellow training partner. She was the instructor for the spinning classes and really made it a tough work out with good
music (a little more classic rock/hard rock than most women would play). I liked the classes and continued to push into
new areas of training doing brick workouts (incorporating a run after our spin class), training for the mini, etc. Of
course, another baby came during this time frame (I ran the mini pregnant with her at 3 or 4 months). I have to say
that the weight that I gained during my third pregnancy came off a lot quicker then my prior two children because I was working
out regularly. Eventually I think Anna mentioned she was going to do the Cicero Triathlon and I decided "why not try
one.” I did it and really liked the challenge. I placed in
the top 3 in my age group a couple of times and decided that I wanted to try longer races. Anna and I decided to train
for the Muncie Endurathon (1/2 Ironman distance). I was totally new to this stuff, but once you get into it, you cannot
get it out of your mind. By 2007 Anna and I added a new training partner Eric Anderson to our bike rides. We had met
in cycling class. It is really nice to have training partners. It is hard to do the workouts some days, and to
share the time with someone else really helps keep you accountable and motivated. The three of us rode most Saturday
mornings last summer leading up to the 2008 Muncie Endurathon. This goal was realized. On several occasions Anna, Eric and I would talk about the challenge of a full Ironman. I
read about triathletes doing Ironman races in Triathlete Magazine. I’ve
watched the Hawaii Ironman, and always thought "no way.” However, after
doing Muncie twice, I thought that it really just comes down to committing to a training program and to condition my mind
and body that this is possible. Sooooo the new BIG Challenge for 2009 is a full Ironman! All three of us (Anna,
Eric and I) are committed to do the Louisville Ironman on August 30th, 2009. So the training is on. It is a little daunting to look at the amount of time required to properly
train for an event like this. I think it might have been an article I read about Ryan Hall in Runner’s World magazine
about only concentrating on the mile he was in while he was running a marathon. So, I am trying not to overwhelm myself
about the volume of training ahead of me and NOT completely FREAKING OUT over what I have gotten myself into. I think
I did mention that I am married and have 3 girls (Sarah, age 11, Lauren, age 9 and Abby, age 4) and I am a realtor with ERA
Real Estate Links in Carmel! I love it all and it is a bit hectic at times. What it really comes down to is a
family that supports me in my freakish endeavors. I realize it is a little stressful when I leave early on Saturday
morning before they are all up and don't return until 10:30 or 11:00 (that was last summer training for a half Ironman). This
summer I will not be returning home until 1:00 after a long ride. A patient and loving family will go along way over the next
several months, and I feel fortunate to have this. Eric Anderson In 2007, I met Anna and Leanne and heard about their half Ironman experience. I knew I wanted to do more than just “pound the pavement”.
I ended up joining the Westfield Master’s swim group and purchased a road bike.
I was on my way to my first triathlon. Last year I was able to complete
a sprint, Olympic and Half Iron distance races. I’ve got a lot of improvements to make in each segment of triathlon.
I’ve enjoyed the friendships made and have appreciated the way the tri community pushes and encourages one another. The training that I’ve been able to do with Anna and Leanne has been blast
and the way we push each other and keep each other accountable to stay consistent in our training has been a big help to me. I am looking forward to seeing what we will individually accomplish in 2009. I am especially looking forward to the completion of my first Ironman in 08/17/09 Less than two weeks away until IMKY! We are finally in the taper phase of our training which means we train
less and rest more. Leanne and I competed in the Cicero tri on August 8. It was a great day for me as I took the
overall women's title. I was very encouraged by my run split as I have been working harder on this leg of my tri training
(check out www.onlineraceresults.com to see results- look under Cicero triathlon). Leanne had an asthma attack due to a reaction
she had from the algae in Morse Lake. Needless to say, she was disappointed with her race. Of course, we have
all had days and races which did not meet our expectations. But, this is part of life and you learn from each experience
and then move on. In the end, we all hope everything falls into place on August 30 and that we go into Louisville with
a rested body and mind, and NO equipment failure! Please check out www.ironman.com and go to "track an athlete" for the Louisville Ironman. You can see how Leanne,
Eric, and I our doing at certain points of the race via the website listed above. The days draw closer, and the nerves
grow bigger. Stay positive, stay strong, and pray :). 08/04/09 Another week and we're getting so close. We can feel the end is near
as our thoughts become more consumed with this crazy endeavor we will be embarking on. Leanne and I competed in the
Shelbyville Triathlon this past weekend. Unfortunately, a high content of e-coli was in the lake and the swim portion
of the race was cancelled (yummy). Sooooo...the race became a duathlon and was composed of a 2 mile run/ 14 mile
bike/ 3 mile run. Needless to say, I wasn't thrilled as running is my weakest leg. But, I wasn't going to go into
the race with a negative attitude. I got out there and kicked some butt. I went away winning the overall women's
race and gained a lot of confidence going into the final weeks of training. Leanne showed off impressively with
a 1st place finish in her age group. I was so proud of her effort as she stayed consistent and strong throughout the
entire race. We plan to race the Cicero tri this weekend and pray they don't cancel the swim! Eric is still going
strong with the training and is staying focused on the plan! Go, Eric, Go !!! 07/28/09 Yippee!! We just got through one of our hardest weeks of training. Talk
about brutal. On Saturday, I was ready to tackle a monster run but was hindered by the weather. Of course, I started
out running outside about 6:15 am. About 1.5 miles out, a bolt of lightening came dangerously close and I quickly made
a turn-a-round and sprinted back home. Okay...I knew 3 miles was not going to cut it. So, I took myself to the
clinic and ran a grueling 1hr/30 min on the treadmill (12.3 miles). Well...I still needed to get more time in on the
run, but I needed to teach my cycle class at the gym. I taught a tough 60 minute cycle class (hills galore), but knew
I needed to run more. Well, I got my butt back on a treadmill after the class and ran another 30 minutes (3.7 miles).
After it was said and done, I got in my time and mileage for running (19 miles) and squeezed in a 60 minute bike class to
top it off. You'd think I 'd deserve a day off, but NO! Sunday delivered a 5 hour bike ride (glorious
wind throughout) and 3 mile run. Leanne and I were wiped out, to say the least. I am relieved that this week
calls for a litle recovery and that taper time is fast approaching. I plan to race the Shelbyville Tri this Sunday.
It's a sprint distance (600 meter swim, 14 mile bike, and 3 mile run) with a nice and flat course. 07/21/09 So....I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate around this little site and things
aren't going well. The rest of my journal entries are below the pictures. Anyway, training this week was lonely.
Leanne was on vacation (she ran a lot of hills while enjoying southern Indiana), Eric's son was heavily involved in baseball
playing, and Batt had a manly men's retreat at his church (do I hear a hallelujah?) which kept him away over the weekend.
Well, like all disciplined athletes, I did what I had to do and trained alone. Okay...motivation was tough. I
could only stand to ride about 3 hr/15 min with a 4 mile run after on Sunday. The training plan asked for a 4 hour
ride and a 50 minute run. Minor details. I followed the plan to a tee on Saturday and worked through a 15.5 mile run
with a 60 min bike after. Not too shabby. I celebrated Saturday with Harry Potter (my absolute favorite book series)
and was slightly disappointed. Being a superfan, I expect the movie to follow the book and saw a few gaps. Overall,
the scenes with Snape (my favorite) saved the movie and I can't wait for book seven to be on the big screen :).
Training gets more brutal this week and continues for another 3 weeks. Then.....it's taper time (can I get another hallelujah).
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
