Ali Senz - Swim, Bike, Run, Smile!

Saturday, June 18th was Lookout Mountain Triathlon. A short lung-buster of a triathlon that I’ve competed in twice before and enjoy simply because it’s different, challenging, and allows me to push myself in a short amount of time. The swim occurs at Mount Vernon Country Club in the outdoor pool. From there, the bike screams down to highway 40, where there’s a small climb and descent, followed by a very steep climb up Paradise Hill. Climb, climb, climb back to Mount Vernon, and attempt to get the legs moving through a 5k run that climbs trails into the backwoods neighborhoods. It’s a lot of uphill, but I strangely like uphill quite a bit. The morning was freezing, despite projected temps in the high 90s. A cold canyon wind was rolling over the top of Lookout, and I spent the majority of my time waiting in a blanket burrito. Prior to the swim, I hopped in the heated pool to warm up, but only ended up shivering while I waited to be staged in my wave. The swim was incredibly quick. I ...

First race recap of the season! I want to start by thanking everyone who has donated to my page in the past month or so. I’ve written many thank you cards and I’ve gone on a couple of bike rides as well, but I’m not tired yet! I’m still raising money and can still use your help! The link to donate is in the top right of the blog. To everyone who already donated, I want to let you know that the night before the race, I was glowing with excitement. I knew that no matter what happened, you all had already given your support and would continue to cheer me on in my endeavors. I was, however, determined to provide some solid evidence of my hard work this season by getting a PR and hopefully catching the podium. Recently, I have been training even more fervently than usual. My mom switched cancer drugs a couple of weeks ago and they have left her utterly drained. We hope that this side effect goes away with time (along with a terrible metallic taste in her mouth that renders any food, even ...

Well. 2015 has come and gone. And a lot of things in my life have changed. After the euphoric high of finishing my first marathon, I took a well-deserved break from intense training and focused on a few other aspects of my life. I graduated with my Master’s in Biomedical Engineering from CSU in December, enjoyed a holiday season with family, and landed a job at a biotech company that I love. As my career has begun to pick up speed, I definitely felt the itch to do something on the side and to start training again. I wanted to pull away from the long distance endurance sports and focus once again on becoming fast and strong at the shorter distance triathlons. In February, I started to add structure to my training with purpose other than to “keep that holiday weight at bay”. For a while, I’ve been thinking about whether to race for Epic Experience for another season. I am so grateful for all the generous donations made by my friends and family in the past year. Together, we almost ...

In the bright sunlight and crisp air of Moab, Utah, my calf starts to cramp up. I yelp in surprise, and pause for a second during my unrelenting climb. I’ve been hiking up the “Scorched Earth Wall” for about forty minutes now, and the steep ascent up the cliff isn’t ending anytime soon. My muscles are tired and I’ve already run 14 miles by this point. Somehow, I’ve still got a big grin on my face, especially when I turn to look around. The La Sal Mountains are capped with snow, and below them is an endless stretch of brilliant red rock, cliffs, and plateaus sprinkled with bright yellow aspen trees. I take a deep breath. God, I’m so lucky to be up here. This weekend I raced the Moab Trail Marathon to close out a year of racing for Epic Experience. I use the word “race” loosely, because that really wasn’t the point of this final training milestone. Since becoming a triathlete, I’ve focused heavily on the aspects of becoming as fast and as strong as I could be. This time around, I wa...

It's amazing how posting regularly to a blog can get away from you, especially when you're new at it! It's been more than 4 months since I've posted, and A LOT has happened. I wanted to write a (hopefully) brief update of some of the Senz Family Adventures and my own personal experiences this fall. First and foremost, my mom, dad, sister and I took two weeks to raft the entire Grand Canyon. I have to say, if you have the money, do it!! This experience is so life changing, and I probably should have devoted a whole blog post to it, but I want to keep it brief. If you ever want to know more, come find me and ask about my epic run down Lava, a scary swim in Walthenberg Rapid when my ducky flipped, the coldest baths of my life, and about sand in just about every place imaginable. Here's the take home message from our two week expedition. We spent the entire time together, bonding as a family, and sharing more laughs than we had in years. Without the distraction of...

Summer is officially upon us! I'd like to start this post with an official and very heartfelt thank you to the people who have helped me to reach my fundraising goal! Brian Reed, Jenna Monaster, Linda Gruzinski, Hope Bruggink, Stephanie Bruggink, and Aunt Sue, your generous donations will go toward sending a cancer survivor to Epic Experience for a life changing week. Let me emphasize the "life changing" part. So many of these campers enter feeling lost, hopeless, and afraid, and leave feeling supported, positive about life, and determined to do anything they set their mind to. My mom can attest to the change in attitude made after a week with Epic. It's an amazing cause and I firmly believe that more than half the battle with something as life changing as cancer is attitude. I'm so thankful for the donations and support I've received from friends and family, but I want to state that my goal was modest. It costs about $2,500 to send one camper to the mountai...

April 25, 2015. It was a date that had been etched in my mind for an entire semester. I had planned my schoolwork to avoid having any tests or final projects during that week, as I would be traveling for four days to Clemson, South Carolina for USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships. This race was my “A” race, a culmination of eight hard months of training. Endless hours spent in a hot, damp garage for trainer rides, going to morning swim practices at 6:15 a.m., and running speed intervals on a chilly track were about to pay off for me and the rest of the CSU Triathlon Team. Coach had us working hard until the last moment; our bodies were begging for a break from hill repeats and race pace bricks, and the taper was much deserved. I was finally beginning to feel relaxed and ready for my last big collegiate race. Certainly there were some pitfalls along the way, being in grad school makes skipping practice and unwanted stress weight almost inevitable. Despite this, I felt stron...