Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Garden of Life


I wanted to Welcome my latest sponsor Garden of Life. Check out their Great Organic and Vegan Nutrition and Empower your Extraordinary Health.

Vega vs. Sunwarrior vs. Garden of Life: Plant-Based Protein Showdown! 

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Great Italian Shoe Company - Gaerne


I just got sponsored by Gaerne - http://www.gaerneshoes.com/
Now I can pass the savings onto you. If you want some Great Italian Tri shoes, Road or Mountain bike shoes or anything at their site use coupon Code "Beata" without the quotes and enjoy 40 PERCENT OFF your entire order. Who is ready for a shopping spree? Xterra Athletes check out their G.Kona Tri Shoes...



Saturday, January 26, 2013

Xterra 2012 World Championships Video


I just finished watching the video with my best friends and competitors at the 2012 Xterra World Championship, Melissa Scott and Jennifer Moos, and with my husband Pax and Jennifer’s boyfriend Tom. We all trained together to get ready for the big event, we all went to Maui and had an amazing time and of course raced there.
Today however we set down and spent an incredible evening all together to share this moment once again now on the big screen.
It was awesome to see the race from a different perspective and it is just quite amazing to look at the movie and be able to say, “I did it” and to remember every little part of the course.
The end of the show was very emotional for me and it felt like I was reliving it all over again.
And yes, it made me cry…
I remember a year ago watching the 2011 World Championship of Xterra when I told my husband that one day I will be racing in that event. He looked at me and giggled, not thinking I was serious with my statement, but become supportive from there on.
Only one year later not only did I race in that event, but I placed 9th in my Age Group in the World, and also now I see myself in the 2012 Xterra World Championships video which is airing all over the country…
This makes me happy for many reasons. First of all, I dreamed something out and I made it happen. I shared every little step of this amazing journey not only with my husband who was always by my side but also with a few incredible friends that made it there also and were able to see and feel everything that I did. All of it made the whole experience even more powerful. All I can say to everyone out there is to    NEVER STOP DREAMING…
Here is a little clip from the video.





Saturday, January 19, 2013

Coconut Cup #4 Amelia Earhart


Individual Time Trial Saturday - Fastest Female Split - 19:22, 4.5 Miles, 13.94 MPH Average, 25.0 MPH Max Speed.

First race with the new components from Syntace. 
Strong. Light. Smart. and now Fast. 




Spending the whole week with the flu is not fun. Spending it mostly at work and then when you get home feel so weak that you can’t even think about training since you are barley moving is definitely not fun at all.

But having to race the same weekend two days in a row is just totally insane.









It’s what I told myself and thought it would be quite wise to just simply stay home and try to get better.

Friday I finally started to move around again and was so happy that I could do a few little jumps around on my peaceful walk in the park with my husband. That’s all, it was my preparation for this week. Like you see we packed the bikes and went Saturday to preview the course and to have an attempt at the Time Trail.




I’m not sure what happened, because beside all the weakness accumulated in my body, when the time clock was started on me I jetted out full speed. I was flying, I was suffering, but I was flying, I felt fast and I was fast. There was this weird feeling of exhaustion but also a pleasure to be able to tackle the course at a really cool speed. I didn’t expect any miracles from this attempt I just knew that whatever I did it felt pretty good. I think my husband was even quite surprised when he saw me on the trails. After crossing the finish line and waiting a little while I realized I was quite faster from the girls in my class. What I didn’t know is that I actually clocked the fastest time for the day for all the girls running it from all the classes. It was a really cool thing to happen.



  



Here is a moral to the story: You just never know what the day is going to bring to you.  You need to get out and find that out yourself. If you don’t, you will never know what is there…

This was only day one however with only a short 4.5 mile track to worry about.








Sunday however had a 3 lap full course waiting for me with 21 miles of riding and this definitely threw some concerns.

I could not be any weaker on race day. I set down on my beautiful green “champion’s chair” and I just could not move. I had zero energy in my body and thinking even about moving my hand was not fun, what about a full blown race. I was afraid of riding so much and pushing myself through a weakened by the sickness body.









To my disappointment on the one side and to the kind force on the other, most of my competition was just not there. Race director joked around saying that we had to of “scare the rest of the girls away”. Not having a full field of ladies hungry for the victory allowed me to pace myself, ride conservatively and bring up a notch only when necessary. I can’t even explain how grateful I was for this coincidence, since usually this race site brings the most competitive characters to the start line.

So besides all the suffering with the flu it was a good weekend for me after all.








Video of Time Trial and Race




XC Race - 1st Place.

Another awesome picture by Humberto Maquilon!






Thursday, January 17, 2013

Tribute to my Sponsors in HDR

Sponsors in HDR






B + W
 





















I wanted to welcome my new Sponsor Syntace...


If you want the strongest, lightest, smartest components no need to look any further than Syntace.


Send me an email at Beata@BeataWronska.com if you want a great deal on any Syntace Products or if you want to be a Dealer.

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Sunday, January 6, 2013

6 Hours of Amelia - Hialeah, FL







Endurance racing is not easy.

It suits some better than others, but after all we all are going to suffer, it is just a matter of time.

I was strongly considering not racing this time, even with having this event on my permanent calendar.

Racing is fun, challenging and inspiring at the same time; but also very draining on the body and the soul.




6 Hours of Markham took a toll on my body and I was not completely healed. Of course my mind always wins over my bodily needs and I wrapped myself up as well as I could (KT Tape to the rescue!) and marched to the start line.

We had a running start and oh boy, this run was long and it can take the wind out of you…

I was glad to finally get to my bike and hopped right on it. Thankfully I ended up in the single track in the great company of the Bicycle Generation crew, Casey and Chris, and also next to my friend Jen and main rival for the day Kathy. Since we were all together stuck in the easy moving what seemed like “tour de forest” ride, there was no need to rush. We enjoyed each other’s company and even were able to chat some.



 

It seemed like we were in almost identical order for first lap and a half; and then things started to change.

Kathy stepped on the gas and I had to go around Casey to stay close. I was on her wheel for a long while.

Everything seemed just in order until my knee pain kicked in way earlier than expected. I was wondering now how much longer I will be able to go and if I will even finish the race. I backed off and allowed Kathy to get away. I decided it was time to just ride my own race and see how things unfold.

Not that much later I realized I forgot about the pain and just started counting the passing laps.





After three laps which is what I normally race in the regular races things always start to get tricky.

You are used to the distance and everything beyond it seems just plain weird and wrong. But I pushed and I was fine. Four laps and you definitely start feeling fatigued. I’m not even sure how I or anyone goes mentally beyond that point. Everything becomes blurry in the way. You just stare at the path ahead of you and have a cocktail of thoughts running through you head. You are definitely not in the normal state anymore; it seems more like being in a trance. All your body knows is to pedal, and pedal and pedal some more, and nothing else really matters. Once in a while you get a nice break from someone that exchanges a few words with you. Otherwise you are on your own on this very self-discovering journey. And you count; lap 5, lap 6 and all those numbers don’t make sense anymore. All you feel is pain and discomfort, but you refuse to stop. The most memorable, and not for a good reason, was for me lap 7 when I failed to take the proper nutrition. While on the single track it suddenly hit me.





I was depleted and there was nowhere to charge energy from. Suddenly I felt incredible hunger and emptiness; my body became weak in matter of minutes. I was at the point where hills that normally during training rides are complete fun and a piece of cake, suddenly become as scary and high as Mt. Everest and you can’t even be sure if you will get to the top. It was a long time of being very weak, slow and light-headed before I got to the spot when I was able to get my Clif nutrition. When I was very close to the transition zone there was a big cheering group with cowbells that I was so thankful for, their enthusiasm gave me some extra boost that I needed at that moment so badly...






After finishing the 7th lap I was at the point where I could have ended my race or risk going for another lap. The last lap would only count however if I finished it by the 6 hour mark, and I was already on 5 hours and 10 minutes. I knew it was going to be tough, but I didn’t hesitate even for a second, I geared up and went away as fast as I could for my final lap. I knew here every second did count, every turn, every hill, every possible mistake. I didn’t want to make any and stayed as focused as I could. I didn’t want my hard work to go to waste. In this tired state that you are after that many hours of biking it seemed like I was flying, however I knew that my time will be very close. My previous lap was 47 minutes long and I could only hope to finish the 8th one at least at the same time.








I pushed and pushed and pushed and could just see my husband cheering me on and hoping I will make it. I felt better now after I got my Clif nutrition and was giving everything that was there to give. When I got out of the single track I had fellow female racers cheering me on. Now all I had left was the final gravel road to the finish with a quite strong headwind.










I was so close but so far away and time kept ticking…

When finally I reached the finish line my GPS showed that I still had two minutes to spare and that was confirmed by the race organizers…








Overall I finished 2nd and covered 65 miles in 5:58 hrs…




Team Bicycle Generation