FINALLY! When the gun goes off over the Tennessee River this Sunday, it will signal the official start of my 2011 triathlon season!

I’m racing the Half Ironman distance race at the Rev3 race in Knoxville, Tennessee. That’s 1.2 miles of swimming, 56 hilly miles on the bike, and a beautiful 13.1 mile run near the University of Tennessee campus. I raced the shorter Olympic distance tri in Knoxville last year, and I’m excited about stepping it up to the Half this time around.

Rev3 Knoxville 2010

Back when I was a swimmer I traveled to Knoxville on several occasions. I never noticed how hilly the area was, (most pools are pretty flat) so last year was a bit of a shock. But this year I am ready! I’ve spent enough time in the GAPS, pretty soon I think they’ll probably name one after me.  HaleyChura.com GAP? I like the sound of that!

And just in case the going gets tough (which it invariably will), I have a full arsenal of happy thoughts to fire me up during the race:

1. Goals

It’s no secret what my biggest goal is this year – I want to go back to Hawaii. I want to battle through the swim and lead the pack – all the way to the TOP of the steps! I want to brace myself for the crosswinds on the bike, stay aero, and keep pedaling! I want to RUN ALL THE WAY UP PALANI HILL!  I want to race like I know I can race.

I have tons of smaller (but no less exciting) goals to help me get from now to October. But the picture in my mind is always the same:

2. Workouts

I draw a lot of strength from my training. Coach Diablo knows this and he does a great job of sneaking terrible, awful, really hard workouts into my training plan. Secretly, I love these workouts. They push me to the brink (and occasionally over the edge) of failure, but I always end up stronger.

Long-distance triathlon is a lot like a really hard training day. So when I’m racing, I think back to some of those key workouts. The ones that make me cringe a little and wonder how I ever did them. And I know if I did all those workouts, those crazy sets in the pool, the mind numbing bike intervals, the absolutely ridiculous runs, I can handle ANYTHING on race day.

3. My Support Crew

My family, friends, teammates, coworkers, blog followers: you are my secret weapon. Because when the going gets really, really, tough I think about you. And how you support me, listen to me, send me fun emails, text messages, tweets and wall posts. You believe in me. And that is the happiest thought I could possibly think. So thanks. Now let’s race!

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The Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge weren’t the only ones making history this weekend. My good friends Nate & Kerri also got hitched, and the Pease Brothers became the first EVER brothers to finish a triathlon together. Amazing might not be a big enough word – it was a SPECTACULAR weekend!

Around Dynamo Multisport we sometimes refer to Nate and Kerri as Shrek & Fiona. See the resemblance?

Hahha – kidding! Nate and Kerri are just as beautiful on the outside as they are on the inside. And they both have Ironmans on their calendars this year so they’d better hurry back from their honeymoon; we have training to do!

Meanwhile, down in St. Petersberg, Florida three brothers swam, biked, and ran their way into the history books with their spectacular finish at St. Anthony’s Triathlon. A while back I wrote a post about the Pease Brothers and how they inspire me with their “Yes, We Can” attitudes. Well this weekend they really lived it. Congratulations K-Peasey, you are a triathlete!

And even though my own training took a backseat to more exciting happenings this weekend, I did actually do a little swim/bike/run myself.

Coach Maria set up an awesome open water swimming course on Lake Lanier and a good number of Dynamo athletes showed up to take the plunge!

Micki and Adrienne ready to swim!

And after the swim a few of us went for a ride that ended up being a little hillier than we expected. But extra climbing is worth it when you end up with a view like this!

It really was a great weekend. And if you can’t tell from the photos, I finally advanced to the 21st Century and got an iPhone! I may have gone a little crazy with the photo apps, but I’ve just never owned a more versatile device (not counting my car which often doubles as an office and closet). If you have any good app suggestions please send them my way!

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The calendar may say April, but here in Atlanta it’s starting to feel like SUMMER! With blue skies and temps in the 80s, Betty, Kathryn and I decided to do a little open water swimming.

We headed up to Lake Allatoona at Red Top Mountain State Park, just north of Atlanta. I decided to channel my inner Lynne Cox and go sans-wetsuit, though the initial shock of  the not-exactly-warm water had me practically climbing over Kathryn and trying to get back to the warm shore ASAP!

Eventually I warmed up and could really enjoy swimming on such a beautiful day! Betty set a fast pace and Kathryn and I just tried to hang on to her heels!

This was a GIRLS ONLY trip to the lake. My friend Lia, a 10-year-old soccer star and up-and-coming triathlete, recently drew me a cartoon reminding me why boys and girls are often separated during training and races:

"Now I understand why girls and boys are split up."

Lia is exactly right – boys (and especially their bike shoes) smell and sometimes we need a break!

The highlight of the swim came when we passed a HUGE rock near the edge of the lake….

I just couldn’t resist!

Jumping off that rock was just as fun as it looked. I love open water swimming and hope to do lots of it this summer!

And maybe next time we’ll even let the boys join – if they can keep up!

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Right now I am smack dab in the middle of Lynne Cox’s ultra-swimming epic tale Swimming to Antarctica.  Hidden within Lynn’s amazing stories of record smashing swims (many of them in absolutely frigid waters) was a fascinating fact:

Plastic water bottles weren’t invented until the late 1960s!

And it took several more years for the athletic version to come along. That meant when Lynne completed her World Record swim across the English Channel in 1972 she used Ketchup bottles filled with hot water and juice for nutrition. How crazy is that?!

So that got me thinking about my own race day nutrition. I am guilty of being a total tri-geek with the gels, bars, and crazy liquid concoctions. But my favorite mid-race treat is commonly found in my local grocer’s freezer (or likely in my five year-old neighbor’s lunchbox):

I LOVE Uncrustables!

I am convinced Uncrustables are the ideal Ironman nutrition. Each one is 220 calories of absolute goodness. They come pre-packaged for less mess, and have the perfect peanut butter to jelly ratio. Those people at Smucker’s really know what they’re doing.

I ate two Peanut Butter & Strawberry Uncrustables during my last two Ironmans and had zero stomach issues. They’re delicious, easy to carry, and just make me happy.

However, one word of caution: Uncrustables are not perfect.

Once, my colleague David anxiously opened an Uncrustable hoping to satisfy his mid-morning hunger pangs brought on by intense auditing. That’s when he found the unthinkable:

Yes, that is CRUST on an UNcrustable. It’s hard to imagine. After seeing the crust David and I immediately sent an angry email to Smucker’s. We suggested a free lifetime supply as an apology. I’m pretty sure the Uncrustable truck will be showing up at work any day now.

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