Tri Mark's Madness Group-Closed (Page 12)

OK, I just bawled my eyes out.  What an amazing story!

Jacqui

As we approach the weekend, I would like to share this article with you.  It's not to scare anyone or alarm, but to remind you to be safe when on your bike and runs.  This article is about a Sally Meyerhoff.  Sally is an athlete who was working with Adam Zucco, one of the folks in my club who I train with and partners with Joel Friel in Training Bible Coaching.  She had just decided to turn pro in triathlon and was working towards the 2012 olympic team for marathon.  Please read this as a reminder to watch traffic and obey stop signs.  It's a pain to clip out, and it may alter your overall average for the ride, but it beats dying.

Mountain Pointe graduate Sally Meyerhoff, who won the P.F. Chang Rock ‘n' Roll Marathon in January, was killed Tuesday while preparing for her next event.

"(Sally's) family would like to make it known she will be tremendously missed," her coach Adam Zucco coach said by email. "They love her very much and she was the best sister and daughter anyone could ask for."

A press release by Maricopa Public Information Officer LaTricia Woods said a preliminary investigation indicates that Meyerhoff was southbound on White and Parker Road and failed to yield at the intersection and collided with the pick-up truck, headed eastbound on Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway at 1:30 p.m.. There were no indications of impairment of the driver of the pick-up truck.

Meyerhoff, 27, was a two-time state champion in cross country for the Pride after transferring from Marcos de Niza. She went on to have an All-American career at Duke.

Mountain Pointe athletic director Ian Moses was emotional but reflective.

"I have not met anyone as tough physically and emotionally as her,"  Moses said. "Having a chance to watch her grow as a student and athlete was a pleasure.

"The thing I will remember about Sally is how she wanted nothing but the best for herself and everyone else she came in contact with."

Zucco said Meyerhoff was great to work with because of her attitude.

"Whenever I think of Sally I think of the love of life she had," said Zucco, who recently started working with her again. "She was super happy and a harder worker."

Meyerhoff was considered one of America's top 10 marathon runners and had qualified for the team trials for the 2012 Olympics.

In recent months she rejuvenated her career after a disappointing performance in the New York City Marathon.

On Dec. 5 Meyerhoff, on a whim, competed in the Xterra Trail Run World Championships in Oahu. It's a half-marathon run in the tropical jungle of Hawaii. She came away the winner - despite slipping and sliding down the mountainside at one point - with a time of 1 hour, 28.58 minutes.

It stoked the competitive fire and had her mind clear when she entered the P.F. Chang's Rock ‘n' Roll Arizona Marathon. Some 10 days out she wasn't sure that she really wanted to take on another marathon so soon after the other events.

Meyerhoff came away the winner again with a time of 2:37.55. It wasn't her best marathon time, but showed Meyerhoff that all was right again.

"It was incredible," Meyerhoff said a few days after the P.F. Chang win. "I got to the 26-mile mark and that's a spot where there isn't a lot of fans and it felt like it was forever (to the finish line). Then I turned on to Packard Drive with all of the people cheering. I was sprinting by then, and thinking, I am actually going to win this thing. It was a dream come true."

There is a great article about the Hoyt family in the current Sports Illustrated.  A parent's love knows no boundaries...

Prayers to Sally's loved ones. 

Sad to hear about Sally! I've found that entering the running & triathlon communities has exposed me to amazing stories, both inspiring & heartbreaking. Just this week I actually started reading Dick Hoyt's autobiography about Team Hoyt so it's cool timing to see them mentioned on here. A week earlier and I'd never even heard of them.

Went out for an 80-minute ride this morning in 34 degrees with 17-22 mph winds and up to 27 mph gusts. UGH! Ended up cutting it short at a disappointing 50 minutes and I can't say how much of that 50 was even productive. It was all I could do to not turn home with my tail between my legs.

total time: 51:10
total miles: 10.93
avg speed: 12.78 mph
max speed: 19.99 mph
avg cadence: 82

Gotta love Minnesota (or maybe not).  Snow forecast for tomorrow morning, just in time for the St Cloud Earthday Half Marathon (relay for me).  Did an EZ 20 minutes today to turn over the legs and try out a pair of winter running tights I intended to save for next year. Feeling really good and looking forward to the race in spite of the weather!

But running in the cold and wind is way easier than biking in it and I'd almost always choose biking over running except on a day like today. I admire your fortitude in getting as far as you did, Henry!

Henry (re:lap-counters)

I didn't bring a lap counter last year and I won't this year either.  I'm in the 1st wave and there are lots of racers in later waves that volunteer to do early wave lap-counting.  (It's highly unusual for the "old,slow" women to go 1st, but it's a nice change.  Even tho my times will be back-of-the-pack, I will probably be one of the 1st 10 across the finish line - haha)

The lap-counters stand across the pool from where the swimmers start.  They have cards with numbers on them.  When the swimmer approaches the wall, his lap-counter lowers the card in the water against the wall and then removes it as soon as the swimmer turns to swim back.  The cards are very easy to see.  If I remember correctly, the numbers represent lengths, not laps.  So the 1st time you reach the wall, you will see a "1", next time a "3",etc, until the last lap - then, instead of a number, you will see an orange circle.  That tells you you're done - just swim that last length back and get out of the water and head for the door.

I'm pretty sure these counts are official and not regulated.  They really don't have any way to ensure that they're correct - but I think they do a pretty good job.

Congrats on your ride this am.  I bailed on mine - but my excuse is that it's recovery week for me so it's ok to skip the suffering.  It's actually good that you got out in this.  The wind was really bad last year for the race and it could be again this year (could be pretty cold too).  One thing to remember on race day.  If the wind's really bad, it's bad for everybody.  Do not look at your mph and get discouraged - and there might be a great tailwind for part of the race.

Denise

Beth,

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR HALF!

I did the Earth Day Half 4-5 years ago - it rained but wasn't cold.  I just remembered - they had pizza/cookies at the finish line - gotta love that.

Denise

oops! duplicate post. Sorry

You guys battling all that weather really is amazing. Aside from the heat that is coming on here (picture running at 10pm and its still 90ish degrees *puke*), we really are pretty spoiled as far as conditions go..

Yesterday was my long run, and the first chance I've had to incorporate the interval/sprint thing. I don't have a HR monitor, so I just up'd my pace. I did minute intervals during my middle 10 minutes, instead of 2.5 interval (that I see now).. poor reading on my part.. I'll fix that next time. I didn't feel like I was going to puke.. I did feel like my legs were going to quit at one or two points, and after my 10 minutes of up and downs I did do a fast walk for about 30 yards before running the rest of my  route (I abhore walking - almost as much as admitting to it.)... But even with that little walk I improved my mile time overall by about a minute. I was happy about that. Next time no walkie walkie..

I've always just added time, never done intervals, they typically kick my arse, so I'll admit, there was a bit of retraining of the brain muscle there.. All in all Im looking way forward to continuing with this training, I know I'm going to get some steller results.

Today is S/B.. Looking forward to incorporating more aquired knowlege into my swim.  Masters swim at the end of the month for me too! End of April's looking pretty good for me.

Happy Training today guys and gals.

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone! And Denise, thanks so much for the info on lap-counting. That sounds really simple! And I'm grateful because I keep losing track when I do timed swims in my workouts.

The wind was brutal this morning, but it made me realize how important the next couple weeks of cycling are.

Amazingly, I got my prescription goggles for a whopping $8.00 from swimoutlets.com (I think they were the Sporti Antifog?).  Yes, that is $8, as in, under $10.00.  I thought they might be terrible because they were so inexpensive, but they're easily the best pair I own.  The don't dig uncomfortable rings around my eyes, they don't leak, and (most importantly!) they don't ever fog.  My eyes are equally bad, so I was able to just order the same prescription in both lenses.  If you're eyes differ I'm not sure if you can get a different prescription in each lens?  Seems like you should.  At any rate, I can read the time clock just fine during my swims and love how comfortable they are.  I would definitely recommend them!  It might be nice to reduce the stress of T1 by being able to SEE your bike. :-)

I would seriously want to kill myself.    31C in the shade here.

We got a quarter of an inch and it was 33F at the start of Earth Day this morning. It was a cold and windy day but I ran a good 1/2 of the half marathon in spite of it. Our time was 1:59:29 and my split was 55:29.

finished my two day taper.  I have a half marathon trail run tomorrow but didn't want to do too mutch of a taper as this is a "c" race for me.  I want to enjoy it but kick a litte @$$ too.  I still did all my strength training including leg workotus as well as my track workout and my tempo run.  Only thing i will be missing is a long slow run for this week as tomorrow will be at race pace.  The last two days i just did elliptical for about 20-30 minutes with lots of stretching and upper body strength training for a small taper.  Race is at 8am tomorrow and weather looks to be perfect.  50* morning start with race temps hitting 60* by the time we finish.  Great running weather!

anybody else racing this weekend?

Great job, Beth!

Jacqui

Sounds like great racing weather.  Have a wonderful race and let us know how it goes!

Jacqui