April in Review

Happy May Day!

April has come and gone and has been one that almost saw Amber not race at all. This year has been pretty slow for me and April was no different-only eating in one race: Merrimack River Trail Race. I had come in 4th last year running at 1:02:47 and knew I was going to be a bit slower. I ended up finishing in 8th place running 1:04:26- about 12 seconds per mile slower. Considering I had only been averaging 10 miles of running a week, I'd take it. Still does not bode well for longer distance races that I am considering for later in the year... better start training again:)

On the last weekend of the month and the last day before turning 31, Amber and I entered the Quabbin Bike Race. You can find Amber's race report here. Let me tell you, having a ten minute head start on Amber and getting passed by her like you're standing still is pretty amazing. I can't wait to see how she does at St. George 70.3 this Saturday. Oh yeah another triathlon after a five week hiatus! She is chomping at the bit to swim, bike and run again. As has been the pattern this year, this race is stacked. It is the Pro Championships so it was expected to be competitive but.... this is crazy competitive! 42 pro females! Amber has entered many races with less pros total.

Here is a list of the pros expected to toe the start line this Saturday.

1. Anderson Christine
2. Baker Kat
3. Bazlen Svenja
4. Bennett Laura
5. Black Ali
6. Blakemore Katy
7. Bromme Uli
8. Butterfield Nikki
9. Calkins Kathleen
10. Castro Terra
11. Cave Leanda
12. Corbin Linsey
13. De Groote Sophie
14. Deim Trish
15. Ferreira Amber
16. Fletcher Christine
17. Gajer Julia
18. Garcia Whitney
19. Homo Malaika
20. Jerdonek Lindsey
21. Kehoe Danielle
22. Kessler Meredith
23. Leiggi Heather
24. Lidbury Emma-Kate
25. Luxford Annabel
26. Madison Mackenzie
27. McQuaid Melanie
28. Mensink Lisa
29. Norden Lisa
30. Paterson Lesley
31. Pedersen Camilla
32. Piampiano Sarah
33. Riveros Barbara
34. Seymour Jeanni
35. Shapiro Margie
36. Shutt Beth 
37. Smith Jessica
38. Tomenson-Bharadwaj Miranda
39. Walsh Beth
40. Wernick Charisa 
41. Williamson Kelly
42. Wurtele Heather

But I'm not scared for Amber, because in addition to kicking butt at Quabbin she has been training like crazy as can be seen by the below photos:

Mini-golf

Losing at Mini-golf

Cutting back on meals

Realizing that's not a good idea

Core training

So as you can see Amber is MORE than prepared enough to take on all these pros this Saturday in Utah.

Follow her at ironman.com and I'll be trying to update her Facebook page with race details as I get them.