Tri-ing to get back to blogging!

Hello Blog world!  It has been a while!  My athletic career looks much different than the last time I posted anything here.  I graduated from CNU over 2 years ago now and that also marked the completion of my pole vaulting career.  While I miss it like crazy I have enjoyed the opportunity to explore new options since then.  While I may no longer be literally reaching for new heights, I think I am going to keep the title.

My first transition was to longer distance running.  I raced my first half marathon in May 2014.  Happily finished with a time of 1:53 on a hilly Pittsburgh course.  Since then I found an awesome new running partner who has helped me keep up my running.  However, surviving my second year of graduate school meant there was not a lot of time for organized formal training.  Last year, I decided I would train for a triathlon once I made it through my Oral Exam I would train for a triathlon.  Well, I passed my exam at the end of February, so it was only a matter of time.  Some crazy stuff happened at work at the end of the spring, and I pushed off signing up until the beginning of the summer.  For my first race I went for something local and short.  I chose the Hawk Island Triathlon Fall race.   Everything I had heard was that this race was very low key and full of beginners.

Changing advisors, setting up for an experiment, and traveling did not result in the most consistent training schedule, so I was a bit nervous come race day.  Swimming was absolutely my weakest link.  I only had the opportunity to get in a couple of open water swims and just one in my wet suit.  Certainly a recipe for success!

As you can imagine, race day was quite interesting.  The transition area opened at 5:30 am for my 8 am start.  Everyone had advised being there early, so Alex and I made sure the car was loaded up the night before, and made the 2 minute drive to arrive at the park at 5:35 am.   Pulling my bike out of the car (that is corrrect...no bike rack)  was when the nerves really set in.  Here I was pumping up the tires on my hybrid mountain bike next to this dude with his fancy road bike.  Watching all of these super light expensive bikes walk caused a serious hit to my confidence. Thankfully, the guy on the other side pulled a mountain bike out of the bed of his truck making me feel much less out of place.

After wandering the park back and forth between the car and check-in and transition several times, I finally had all of my stuff at the transition area.  There were two interesting issues with this.  First, it was 6 am, so it was essentially pitch black.  Which meant setting up my transition area using the light on my phone, haha.  Second, there were like 2 of us there that early and being my first race I was really counting on others to make sure my transition are looked ok.  For example, how was I supposed to rack my bike??  After some very important snooping I got myself set up.  Running through the tips I had from friends on setting up the area I discovered I was missing a key piece of equipment...my helmet...  Nice going, conveniently the race was two minutes from Alex's apartment where my helmet was.  So off he went to grab it for me.  What would race day be if I didn't forget anything right?

While he was gone, I met my rack mates for the race.  They were mostly women in their 30s and 40s who had also never raced before.  Made me feel much better.

With it being Fall the weather is quite unpredictable, sandwiched between two 80 degree weekends, the morning of my race it was a lovely 44 degrees when I headed into the water.  Thank goodness for the wet suit!  The lifeguards were running behind, so the Olympic competitors started about 15 mins behind schedule.  I nervously stood there on the edge of the water very unsure of what was to come.

The race had organized an open water practice on the Friday before the race to give people an opportunity to swim in the lake and get used to the course.  At this practice we all discovered just how crazy the seaweed situation in the lake was.  It felt like I was swimming through a forest.  The tops of the seaweed stalks were just inches below the top of the water.  Not exactly ideal for my newbie open water self.  But I was glad I new that going in.  The race officials had tried to clean it up some, but were largely unsuccessful.  The swimmers before me however did a wonderful job of breaking up the seaweed so instead of being attached to the bottom it was floating everywhere.  But I was able to remain calm and make it through.  The lake at Hawk Island is not exactly the clearest and too be honest this freaked me out a bit.  On top of that I was recovering from a head cold making breathing difficult.  As a result, I did a lot more breast stroke with my head out of the water than originally planned.  But 13 mins later I was happily jogging my way up the hill to transition area, thankful it was over.

My first transition was interesting.  I had a friend give me lots of very helpful tips on where to place things and what order to do things in.  Thanks to her help I was able to have my wet suit off quickly.  My very tired self though got all freaked out and started trying to unrack my bike before putting my shoes on.  Solid idea.  Thanksfully I came to my sense and made it out on my bike in 2  mins and 21 secs.  Not too bad.

Now, my bike training had been the most sporadic of them all so I had no idea how I would feel.  Thankfully, I was having a blast and rode fairly well.  My hybrid mountian bike and I managed to average 14.2 mph.  Not breaking records any time soon, but could have been worse.  I was excited to get back to the transition area to start off on the run, something I was familiar with.

While my bike training was not the most consistent, the one thing I made sure to do was several brick work outs.  I new exactly how jello-y my legs would feel as I headed out to run.  I also knew that the jello-yness would pass and did not mean I needed to run slower.  I started out at around 8 min miles.  By the end I averaged 8:17 pace.  Man, was it fun to pass people on the run.

The most exciting part for me came in the last quarter mile of the race.  Coming around a bend, I saw a girl in front of me walking, a respectable thing to do at the end of a triathlon, but my competitive self could not handle losing to some one who had walk part of the race.  I started to kick.  Getting closer I noticed a 22 on her leg.  She was walking and in my age group, there was no way I was losing now.  I kicked hard coming around the turn to the finish line beating her by about 6 secs, apparently she did not try to come with me like I feared.  But that effort came at a price, I did not even make it to the girl passing out metals before I was throwing up all over the side of the grass.  Conveniently right next to the medical tent. Totally worth it.  After recovering and walking over to the results board, I found my name at the top of my age group!!  I was so surprised!  That last push really made a difference.

I had so much fun at my first triathlon.  I am definitely doing it again!  I would like to someday do longer races, but for now I need to make sure I can get through a sprint swim.  Winter in Michigan is not exactly conducive to racing, so I won't have any big events until next spring.  Really looking forward to where my new Tri addiction will take me.  If you made it all of the way though this post I am incredibly impressed by your dedication!

shut down until further notice...

So after finishing out the season, Coach told me that he wanted me to stop for quite sometime.  The hope is that with enough rest my knee will heal itself without any sort of surgery or anything!!  I like this plan a lot I really dont want to have to do surgery again, but it is really hard to stop working out...I will start some abs and upper body again soon.

Started my internship at J lab on tuesday!! So far I am loving it!  My roommate is awesome!!  I have learned a lot already!!  It is very strange to be in a work enviroment rather than a school one...once I am done for the day I am done, no homework or aweful lab reports like last summer!!  I am really looking forward to getting to know the people here and makin some new friends.  I think it will be a good summer!

pain in the neck finish...

Season did not end the way I would have liked it too.  I had a really great pre-meet practice in Wednesday and was ready to go thursday afternoon.  Warm-up wasn't stellar, but things were starting to come together.  First jumped at 3.01 m I went right over it but landed funny and got up with a sore neck...made it over 3.16 easily, but by the time I was attempting 3.21 my neck was so tight I could not straighten my arm above my head.  Tried, but was not able to pull of the 10'9" clearance...really disappointed with how the season ended.  Coach messed with my neck after my last jump and could feel it was tight, Maggie saw it as I walked over to her...Boys did pretty well,  Joey finally got his PR by jumping 4.61 m.  Its a good thing he and I are juniors cause we have lots of work still to do!!!!  Now the team is gearing up for nationals.  Rich, Dira, and Jenna are pretty solidly in.  Asare and the women's 4x4 are right on the bubble.  The last day to qualify was today, the final lists come out on Sunday.  We are all hoping for the best!!!

I was able to drive home after the meet on Thursday, despite the fact that my neck refused to turn to the right...good thing it was mostly all highway!!!  Felt very sorry for the rest of the team on the bus, they didn't get to CNU until 4:30...Now I am enjoying a few days at home before heading back to school for some research work.  I am not happy with how the season ended, but I am glad to be able to start summer and give my body a chance to recover after a very long year!  Can't believe I am now a senior!!!  College went way to fast!!

One shot left!

We are up in NJ for the week for two final qualifier meets.  I was less than pleased with the how I jumped at Swarthmore on Monday!  I felt really good and had a jump at 3.15 that was about the best I've done in competition all season!  But could not manage to repeat it at 3.25...frustrating.

Now we are hanging out at the hotel.  Had a nice shake out in the rain yesterday.  Played laser tag all afternoon!  It was so much fun!  Today we are about to have a pre-meet practice, then go explore Philadelphia for the afternoon, including dinner at Pat's!  How sad is it that I had to go all the way to a school in Virginia before I would ever have my first real Philly Cheesesteak!! 

Tomorrow we compete at our last meet before nationals.  I need to jump 3.70ish to qualify.  I know its possible I just need to get it done!

Pro Athlete week

Having a blast getting to act like a pro athlete this week, nothing to do but practice!  Monday and Tuesday were just simple shake out days, getting conference out of our systems.  This morning we did some short approach jumps then 4 laps of in and outs, first full workout I've done in like a month!!!  Legs felt good though.  I enjoyed it even though it was pouring down rain!  Little upset with Joey for dumping the water from the roof of the tent on me...but oh well!  Looking forward to seeing the avengers and making family dinner with the team tonight! 

Ups and Downs...

Conference this weekend certainly had its ups and downs.  The team worked really hard.  It was so exciting to see everyone out cheering on their teammates.  There were great performances across the board.  Pole vaulting went well.  Managed my 5th conference victory with a jump of 3.37, a 1 cm pr.  As a team we were seeded to lose by 65 points to Methodist...In the end we closed the gap to only lose by 8...Still not nearly as good as winning, but not a bad accomplishment!  The men's team came out with a huge win!  It was a really long weekend, with an incredibly long bus ride home...made it to bed at 2.  Had a great weekend with the team.  This has been an amazing year with an amazing team!! I am so proud of all that we accomplished!  I am looking forward to competing with them for a few more weeks and hopefully traveling to California for nationals with them!  I know we will come back stronger next year!

Conference Time!!!

Good practice today.  Yesterday took more out of me than I thought it did, but I was still able to get some good pre-meet work in.  Jumps felt great looking forward to going over stuff on Sunday!! 

This is a weird time as we started to say goodbye to those not competing at conference.  We have such a great team!!  Gonna miss everyone!!!

Grades were posted today!! I was nervous, definitely thought that the 4 was out of reach this semester, but finals must have gone better than I thought they did cause despite being sick during finals week, I pulled off a 4.0!  5th semester in a row!!

Great practice

Had a really nice first full practice today.  It was a jump day.  Did not get to tired...It was some of the best jumping I have done in a long time.  Looking forward to jumping at conference on sunday!!

back from sick and start of summer!

Today was my first day doing more than the warm up since I got sick at the beginning of last week!  According to the doctor there was nothing wrong with me...but whatever it was it is finally going away.  Coach only let me know 3 of the 5 120s.  They felt fine.  I was beyond slow...hopefully that goes away after a day or two.

I can't believe the year is over!!   It was most certainly a crazy one!  By far the toughest one yet.  But overall it was a good year!  Lots of great memories!  But so glad its over and its summer time!

Now its time to enjoy being  a "pro" athlete for a few weeks!!!  Looking forward to enjoying time with my teammates.  Conference in PA this weekend!!  Hopefully it'll go as well if not better than indoor!

Good practice!!

For the first time this season I was able to carry the momentum of a meet into a practice!! I had a great day. Completely destroyed my arm cause i forgot my arm band...but oh well...Looking forward to practice on wednesday, next jump day, and the meet this weekend!!! only two and a half weeks til conference!! this season is flying by!!!

Semester Flying By!!!

This semester has gotten really busy, as a result I have not really had any time to post on here, sorry.  The outdoor season is now well underway.  So far I have jumped 3.15 at Washington and Lee, 3.35 at the Commonwealth duals, and 3.05 at William and Mary.  I am not happy at all with how today went...but now its time to hunker down and really get the season going.  The commonwealth duals were awesome, but if I want to be at nationals I need to be about a foot higher.  I know its there, I just need to actually be healthy enough to get real work done at practice.

I cannot believe that there are less than 3 weeks left of classes!!!  I feel like this semester just started!!  Looking forward to a great summer, starting with a trip to Ohio for Krystal's bridal shower.  Then 10 weeks of REU at Jlab!!!   So excited!!  Gonna be a realy busy but real good summer!!! Hard to believe it is my last summer as an undergrad!

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Beautiful day outside!!!!

Today was our first full day of outdoor practice and it was absolutely gorgeous!!!  Had a nice meeting before hand, got to congratulate Rich and Dira on great performances at nationals this week!!!  Pretty cool to have a national champion on the team!!!!  Also, got some bad news though...team is really struggling in the classroom!! def got my work cut out for me!!!

Outside today we just warmed up and did some acceleration work.  Then we headed into our gorgeous new weight room!!!!!  Its huge and amazing!!!!!!  Just a little excited about it haha!  Maggie still doesn't want me doing lower body lifting since my knee is still a pain...She thinks it may be my meniscus...annoying!  Did upper and ab lifting instead.  First we had quite a bench work out to do.  sets of 10,8,6 and 4 increase the weight by about 15% each time.  I lifted 95, 100, 110, 120 lbs.  Then did 2 sets of 8 low rows with 35 lbs.  Also, 2 sets of 8 incline press, 50 lbs, same for 2 sets of 8 shoulder press.  Got really good abs done today work!!!  A sets of two min abs, 2 sets of 10 back extensions with a 30 lb weight, and did the vertical assault ab workout for the first time in a while!  Made me realize how out of shape my abs are!!!  But made it through it!!  Excited to get back in shape and get going on the outdoor season!!  Hopefully the weather stays this nice!!!

little biking!

Got on the bike today for like 20 mins.  Knee felt good for the most part, noticed it just a little towards the middle of the ride.  Then extended 2 mins abs to 5 min abs.  Getting ready to head back tomorrow! been great to be at home and relax some! Def not ready to be back in normal schedule after tom!!!

some lifting...

Cannot believe how sore I am today after what little running I did yesterday!  Knee has felt pretty good afterwards though, def a good sign.  Got in a little it of lifting tonite.  Fun ab workout.  Then 3 sets of 8 bench at 95 lbs.  3 sets of 10 dips. 3 sets of 10 shoulder press. 3 sets of 10 push ups. 3 sets of 10 flys with 8lbs each. 3 sets of curls with 8 lbs each.  Arms are still a little sore from tuesday... At least I feel like I accomplished something this week, even if I could not run...

Also, Congrats to Dira on her 9th place finish in nationals today!  And Rich is sitting on top of the heptathlon at the end of the first day!  It would be great if he could win it all!

little running

After a great visit to Millersville with Meghan, I got to try to run some today.  Maggie told me that every other day I can do about 20 mins of running or biking.  Today was the most gorgeous day of break!! So, I went out and ran around the neighborhood.  The sidewalk hurt, but when I moved to the black top I was able to keep going.  Hopefully itll continue to get better so I can run real workouts when I get back to school next week.

keeping busy

Since I am not allowed to do cardio or any other sort of leg workout, I have decided to that I will work on my upper body lifting and abs.  Yesterday, I started off with just some push ups.  Today, I really got work done.
Upper stuff--3 sets of 10 bench at 85 lbs; 3 sets of 10 rows at 50 lbs; 3 sets of 10 curls at 30lbs; 3 sets of 10 dibs; 3 sets of 7,7,7s with 8 lbs each; 3 sets of 10 military press with 30 lbs;
Abs--3 sets of twisting pulses; 3 sets of 1 min 6" crosses; 3 sets of decline sit ups with 25lbs; 3 sets of 10 roman twists with 25 lbs; 3 sets of 25 side crunches on each side; 3 sets of 2 min abs;
Also did my rehab and stretched.  Supposed to talk to Maggie tomorrow find out how she wants me to spend the rest of the week.

V tech and spring break

No heighted at tech, not happy.  Now Ive got to refocus on outdoor.  Over break, I am supposed to let my knee recover, so I cannot do much.  Happy to be home, and hoping the outdoor will go better than indoor this year.  Best of luck to Rich and Dira as they compete at nationals in Iowa this week!!!!

http://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/article/2012-03-03/winter-championship-multimedia

Great day back!

Today was the first time I have done anything substantial at practice in what feels like forever!!!!  but it seemed like giving my knee the time has really worked.  I was able to have a full jump day today with no pain at all!!!!! So exciting!!  Today was our one big jump day before tech on saturday.  Started off with the normal warm ups.  Short approaches felt pretty good.  Even my full runs felt fine!  First couple were a little awkward looking but then i just used to the tape on my knee and was just fine.  Thought it would be a good idea to just go straight to my big pole today since i know that that is what it will take to get over the heights i need to this weekend.  My first jump on the big pole was a bit of a mess.  Didnt make it past the box, and came crashing down.  Managed to get pracitcally over the side of the mat, and all my gymnastics training paid off.  Just collapsed when I hit the ground and got up just fine!!!  Think I gave Maggie a heart attack though :)  Shook me up for a min, but then grabbed the shorter pole and went up no problem!  Took three jumps with the bungee at 3.40 then 4 more at 3.70.  I have a major problem with jumping to the bungee.  My jumps at 3.40 were just as close as my jumps at 3.70...not good, something I have to work on in my head for the next few days.  Also, I am still not going up the way I need to be.  Hopefully, I will be able to get things to click in during friday pre-meet and saturday's meet!  Getting really excited!! and really looking forward to spring break! itll be nice to have a change of pace!

Recovery Week

So since I somehow managed to do something to my knee while triple jumping on sunday, Coach and Maggie have been making sure I take things incredibly easy this week.  Monday and tuesday were pretty chill for the entire team so I did not miss much.  I have been doing all my rehab stuff and trying to get it healed up as soon as possible.  Coach already decided he does not want me to jump this weekend at Mason, he wants me to have a good week of prep with real jumping practice before I go after a nationals mark.  So the plan is to take this weekend off to heal, then go after it next Saturday at the Tech meet.  I am currently sitting 37th on the nationals list, top 15 get in...At the moment it looks like I will need some where between 3.60 and 3.70 to get in!!!  Def doable!!!  I would really like to spend my spring break in Iowa!!

As for the knee, today I was able to do basically all of my warm up, except for a few extreme things.  I tried to do some short approaches, but Coach kicked me out...said I wasnt running straight, oh well, hopefully in the next few days! 

GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a day!!! That was most definitely the most exciting a meet has been in a long time!!!  Both teams went in as underdogs and came out on top!!!!!  The women's meet came down to the last two relays!!!  So exciting!!!  This is the first time since I have been at CNU that both the men's and women's teams have won the title at the same time!!  The team did such a great job today!!  The women's team completely swept the meet!!  We won as a team, Coach Wingard won as a Coach and Dira won both track and field athlete of the meet!!!  The only one the men's team gave away was the track athlete.  So we really have nothing to complain about!!!  Overall the team had 50 PRs today!!! And for the first time in a long time I was actually on that list!!!  Came in really low to make sure I cleared something.  Lauren ended up putting things together and her and I got over 10'6" together!!  It was wonderful to have someone to jump with!! and wont lie, the only reason I got over 11 today was because I did not want to lose to her!!  She is a great teammate, and I like her a lot, but its gonna be a really competitive couple of years!!!  I was so happy to finally have a break out day today!!  Literally, a foot and a half higher than I jumped two weeks ago!!  Still not the most I can jump, I know I am ready to go over 3.50 m plus!  I am really looking forward to Mason next weekend, I always do really well there, and I wont have as many baby jumps so I wont be as tired.

So excited to finally have a new height to report!!!!  Way to go CNUTF!!!!!!!!