Amy C. Marsh

Since I was in Europe, I wanted to do a European triathlon.  So coach sent Matt and me to France to do a little “local” race.  B was nice enough to be our sherpa for the weekend. He took care of renting the car, putting the rack on the car, and did the driving!!  Though Matt was nice enough to get the directions and do any French speaking that was needed!

B, me, Matt, and Joyette drove to an F1 hotel Saturday night to stay before the race.  We figured it would be better than trying to navigate to the race site the morning of the race.  Since the race started at 12:30pm, we could have driven the 3 hours race day, but decided not to!  I said F1hotel.com, but turns out the site is actually HotelF1.com.

The race was fine.  Matt and I had our own official before the race explain everything to us.  He spoke French, and Matt translated for me.  I won the race, and Matt again translated for me at the finish line since very little English was spoken!  The bike was hilly, and I saw B out on his run about 13 miles into the ride.  It was nice to race in France and get a little bit of prize money from such a small race!  And, since it was paid in Euros, I got more than I thought I would.  B talks more than me in the video below, but you get the point!

Next up, I head back to the US for the Rev3 Ironman Distance Triathlon.  I’ll be solo again as B is going to be in Wisconsin giving IMMOO as they call it another go.

Last weekend Brandon and I had instructions from coach to ride easy to Montreaux to have a coffee, find the Freddie Mercury statue and ride home. It was a bit of a scavenger hunt trying to find the statue but we eventually found it.  The ride was mostly easy until B decided to drop me riding back up the hill. Here are some videos from our Montreaux adventure. Enjoy!

On my way back to Switzerland and have a nice 4 hour delay. So, I thought this would be a good time to write up my race report…

This was my first time to Lake Placid which is surprising since I grew up in Rochester, NY and it’s only about a 4 hour drive away. It was nice to be back near my old stomping grounds as it is a beautiful part of the Country…well in the summer time it is! Race day temperature was perfect. A bit of rain during the swim and the beginning of the bike but then mostly cloudy the rest of the day.

The swim was non wetsuit for the pros. And…once again I swam 55 minutes. For some reason I am stuck at that time for my IM swims. I was first out of the water but I’m hoping to skip over a few minutes at the next one!

Onto the bike and I started to push right away. Well, I thought I was pushing hard but when I reached the first turnaround I noticed that the other girls were gaining on me. I felt ok on the bike but not great. I really wanted to push the second loop of the bike and luckily my legs came around a bit. I was able to get a sizable lead heading into the run, which was good since I knew there were some fast runners in the field.

I started the run feeling great and in control. The miles were just clicking by and I hit the halfway mark at about 1:35 or so. I fell apart a bit the last 5 miles but still managed a PR for the marathon with 3:18 on a challenging course.

Very happy with the win and to now have three Ironman titles to my name. A few thank you’s to some folks…

-Brandon and Jocelyn for calling me race morning so that I didn’t oversleep (which is my biggest fear)
-All my sponsors for your support. A special thanks to Cervelo for being at the race site and checking over my bike to make sure everything was ready to go as I don’t trust myself.
-Brett for advising me to race LP and not IM Switzerland after seeing my bike handling skills and knowing that LP would suit my strengths.
-To everyone for all the kind messages.

Also, congrats to Jocelyn on a great race and only 4 weeks after CDA.

I have Ironman Lake Placid coming up, right up in fact.  “B” shot this short video right before I headed back to the States to race.

Once again I’m overdue for a blog post.  I usually try and blog when we have some down time or an easy afternoon of training etc… And when coach calls me out on not posting a picture of me with the rubber chicken, I decided to take it as another training assignment and just get it done.

After being in Switzerland for a month now, I have received the rubber chicken not once but twice.  Supposedly the rubber chicken goes to someone who has a “not so sharp as a marble” type incidents happen to them.  The incident usually involves some embarrassment, type of injury or maybe even missed training time.

Unfortunately, I have crashed twice on my bike within a week since I’ve been here.  The first crash I don’t remember much of because I blacked out…which is probably best that I don’t remember.   I was in and out of the hospital within a few hours and only 4 stitches above my eye and some brusing along the right side of my body.  Very lucky.  I sported a nice black eye for a week which was perfect timing for the TeamTBB photo shoot with Cervelo.  Coach bought me a nice swim mask to go around my stitches (all my teammates were jealous of the mask) so that I wouldn’t miss any training.  What a guy!

What a beauty.

I bounced back pretty quick and was back on the roads within a couple of days…so I thought!  About a week later I was on my way up the ‘hill’ after a workout and got clipped by a car and crashed again (Sorry to scare you mom and dad but it wasn’t my fault!).  This time I fell on my left side just to give my right side a break.  Not much damage was done.  Just a bit of shock and some bruising.  Ended up getting back on the bike and riding home with Tmac…who graciously waited for me to get looked over and talk to cops.  Again, very lucky.

Me and my new BFF hanging out.

So, I’m done crashing and glad to be rid of the rubber chicken.

Passing the chicken on to the next TBB athlete.

It’s been a long couple days of traveling and getting settled in to our new “home away from home” for the summer. We arrived in Leysin, Switzerland Monday afternoon after a nice 6 hour drive from New Hampshire to New York City, then a 10 hour flight from NYC to Geneva…it was suppose to be an 8 hour flight but we had the pleasure of sitting on the runway in NYC for 2 hours before take off. After arriving in Geneva, we took a 2 hour train ride to Aigle and then a 20 minute trolly ride up the mountain to Leysin, our final destination. I just got tired writing all of that!

Before all the fun traveling, I raced Mooseman 70.3 last weekend in Newfound Lake New Hampshire. First time to race in New Hampshire and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Beautiful small quiet town in the middle of nowhere. We had a nice homestay right on the lake and only a few miles from the race site.

Race day weather called for 100% chance of rain. I was hoping that the weathermen in New Hampshire were a lot like the weathermen in Austin…in that they would be wrong. Nope. It started to rain as soon as the swim started.

The swim took place in Newfound Lake which is one of the cleanest lakes in North America. Not too much to report on the swim. I started out strong and ended up swimming out front on my own. There were no super star swimmers in the field so I ended up first out of the water by about 45 seconds or so.

The bike was challenging with 3000 feet of climbing in 56 miles (Well, I thought that was a lot until I arrived in Switzerland). The roads were wet and it was pouring rain. There were many winding turns and steep descents that made me a bit more cautious on the downhills. I lost some time on the descents but didn’t want to risk crashing since I still have a whole season in front of me.

The run course was a bit rolling with a decent hill that we climbed twice. Run felt good and was getting faster and stronger as each mile passed. This is probably the first time that I actually wished the run course was a bit longer! I just wanted to keep going.

I just missed top-3 by a few seconds but overall it was a good day and good effort. Now it’s back to work in the mountains before then next race which is TBD.

Last week a friend of mine asked me to be a guest reader for her first grade class. This was my first time to reading to a group of first graders so I was a bit nervous…I didn’t want to mess up!

Well, my first mistake was that I told the class that this was my first time reading to a kindergarten class. Never call first graders kindergarteners! Other than that little slip up everything went well.

I read the book “Mia Hamm Winners Never Quit”. I was amazed at how well the class behaved and listened while I was reading. Cute story about how not to quit no matter how bad you might want to.  If you push hard and try your best, then success will eventually follow.  I think I even learned something!  Then, there is always one kid in every class that has to ask…”What if you never lose to begin with?”

The kids had some excellent questions for me after the reading session was over…
-How wide are your arms?
-How many miles do you run before your shoes burst?
-How fast are you?
-How many miles can you run in in hour?
-What’s your favorite fruit?

My Mother Taught Me

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1.. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE .
“If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.”

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
“You better pray that will come out of the carpet.”

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
“If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!”

4. My mother taught me LOGIC .
” Because I said so, that’s why.”

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC .
“If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you’re not going to the store with me.”

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT .
“Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident.”

7. My mother taught me IRONY.
“Keep crying, and I’ll give you something to cry about..”

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS .
“Shut your mouth and eat your supper.”

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
“Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!”

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA ..
“You’ll sit there until all that spinach is gone.”

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
“This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.”

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
“If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times. Don’t exaggerate!”

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
“I brought you into this world, and I can take you out..”

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION .
“Stop acting like your father!”

15. My mother taught me about ENVY .
“There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don’t have wonderful parents like you do.”

16.. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
“Just wait until we get home.”

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING .
“You are going to get it when you get home!”

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
“If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way.”

19. My mother taught me ESP .
“Put your sweater on; don’t you think I know when you are cold?”

20. My mother taught me HUMOR .
“When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me.”

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT .
“If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up.”

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
“You’re just like your father.”

23.. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
“Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?”

24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
“When you get to be my age, you’ll understand.”

And my favorite:

25.. My mother taught me about JUSTICE .
“One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you !”

I’m so far behind on my blogs that I am now writing two race reports in one.  Enjoy!

I raced New Orleans 70.3 about 3 weeks ago where I finished 3rd overall.  Since the race was so long ago and I can’t even remember what I did yesterday, I’m going to just give a quick recap of what I can remember…

Swim- Extremely choppy in Lake Ponchotrain.  Had a rough start and finish but managed to be third out of the water.  A bit further back than I wanted.  Swim times were slower all around because of the tough conditions.  Was actually glad to be out of the swim and onto the bike.

Bike-   Flat and fast but some wind made it challenging at times.  Was about a minute back from the leader for most of the ride.  With about 20k left I took the lead.  Very solid ride.

Run- Point to point run finishing in the French Quarter.  Felt amazing the first 5 miles of the run. Faded a bit in the middle of the run and was passed by two women at about mile 6 and 7.  In the end, I was able to hold on to third.

N’awlins 70.3 post race was a blast with live music, homestyle cheese grits, and hanging out with friends from Austin.

This past weekend I raced Wildflower (aka…the Woodstock of triathlons).  If you have not done this race it is a ‘must do’.  Wildflower showcases what triathlon is (and should be) all about.  Most people camp out but we opted to stay in a house.  The expo, food, awards ceremony etc..is all at one location and it’s just a big party.  You meet so many new people, hang out and enjoy the festivities all weekend long.

I had an o.k. swim and was third out of the water.  Unfortunately I had three flats on the bike…my right leg, my left leg and my head.  It was a frustrating ride and I let it get the best of me.  If I pushed harder I would go slower. I managed to pick myself back up after an embarrassing ride and have a solid effort on the run to finish 9th.  Not the place I had hoped for or what I know I’m capable of, but I’m pleased with the effort that I had on that day.

I’m really excited where my fitness is right now so early in the season and know I’m getting stronger with every race good or bad.  However, I am determined to have a good race at Wildflower some day so yes…I will be back!

It feels as though I just unpacked from our training camp and now packing again for our first U.S. race of the season… New Orleans 70.3.  I did this race last year and had a flat at about mile 1 of the bike.  I finished the race but it wasn’t pretty.  So, this year I’m looking forward to redeeming myself.  There are quite a few Austinites racing so it should be a fun trip.

I had my second Lance sighting in 2 years this past week.  He not only passed me once but twice!  I was out riding when I saw out of the corner of my eye a red blur all in Radio Shack gear fly by me going up a hill.  I knew it was Lance because his sag wagon was right behind him.  I got to the top of the hill and there he was off his bike stretching his legs.  I waved as I passed and held my breath so that it looked like I wasn’t suffering.  A few minutes later he passed me again and said something to me but wasn’t sure what it was so… I’ll go with “Nice job”:)

Our local bike shop did a fun interview with us after IM China.  You can check it out here.

Well, I guess that is it.  I thought there was more but there’s not.  We’re about to head out the door for our long trek to New Orleans.  We’re only an hour late starting then we had planned on.  Not too bad for us!