A Bad Run

We got a nice spoiler this weekend with our weather here in DC. It felt like summer all over again and it was perfect. I wanted to ride my new bike outside, I wanted to go for a nice relaxed run, however I choose to not to take advantage of the perfect weather. Instead I laid around all day watching Dexter and movies and feeling sick to my stomach about the race I had registered for. My laziness continued to spread into Monday as once again I did nothing that even resembled physical activity.

 

Tuesday rolled around and my body felt like blah, so I knew it was time to get my lazy butt in gear again. I rolled out the door for my short 2 mile commute on my bike and I wanted to keep riding to Haines Point because it was so nice out!!! I got mad at myself for doing nothing the last 3 days while it was nice and I was mad I just couldn't go into work late yesterday and ride for awhile. Biking aside, I am running in the Hot Chocolate 15k this weekend and well haven't been doing much running at all. So, I decided the best course of action for the evening was to go for a run.

 

Throughout the day it got colder and the rain started to coming down. Great, the last three days were warm and sunny and now that I decided not to be lazy anymore the weather was sucking. I was still looking forward to my run though and was excited to be running for only about a mile. Then my ears started hurting, then my stomach started giving me issues, blah blah blah ... the run sucked big time!!! I actually really wanted to stop running at only 3 miles because I was hurting so bad. The only thoughts that ran through my head were: "you are in big trouble if you can't run 7 miles without complaining, how are you going to finish and IM?"..."why did you sign up for an IM, you are stupid"..."keep running, you are a baby, your workouts in the future are going to be so much harder than this!"... Needless to say I kept pushing myself and I was so happy to see 7 miles beep on my watch and be done with it. I don't know why yesterday sucked so bad? I know we all have bad running days, but yesterday took the cake for me. I guess not doing anything for 3 day and eating/drinking whatever I wanted didn't add much to this run either.

 

Today is a new day and I plan on running home from my dentist appointment (4 miles). Hopefully I won't droll all over myself with half my mouth still being numb.

 

Happy Wednesday All :)

I'm Offically Crazy!

So, I have been looking at a silly little race for over two months now. I have read race reports, stalked the courses, and gotten nervous of the very thought of it. I have filled out the registration form twice as my stomach was twisting and turning and just couldn't get myself to pull the trigger once I got to the register button. In my option doing this race might be the worst decision ever... why would anyone want to swim 2.4, bike 112, and then run 26.2? But for some reason I am still drawn to the idea...

I don't know what changed over the weekend, if anything changed, but I found myself re-looking at the race website after a little push from a certain chocolate blogger.  I was secretly wishing it was closed out already so I would have an excuse to why I wouldn't be racing it in 2012. Sadly when I got on the page the race was still open and my excuse was gone! I proceeded to the registration form and filled out the questions. When I got the question: "Why do you want to be an Ironman?" I stopped and thought....why did I actually want to be an ironman, why would I want to put my body through this? My first reaction to the question is because I'm stupid crazy, but I certainly couldn't write that down. After some more thought I came up with a much better answer that made sense to me and continued to fill out the form. After I input my CC information I called out to Jason: "Is there any reason that I should not do this?" His simply said: "NO!!!!" and I guess that's all I needed as a shut my eyes and clicked on the finial button.

Umm...with that said I have a very long journey ahead of me before I show up on race day, August 26th in Louisville, KY.  This race by far will be the biggest test of mental and physical toughness that I ever faced, but I think it's a journey that is worth taking as I cross the finish line in 9 months and here: "Sarah Karpinski, you are an Ironman!"

How was your weekend? Did you go and do anything crazy? 


Happy Monday all :)

SOME 5k Turkey Trot Race Report

This is the first year that I have ever done a Turkey Trot and it was a blast. I choose to run the SOME Turkey Trot 5k because it had a start time of 9am and it was nice and close to my house. I wasn't nervous about this race at all because well I wasn't racing it :) It was more or less just something fun to do before heading to my mother -in - laws house in West Virginia.

M and I both had a chocolate chip muffin and a banana before heading out the door. Perfect race food right? And as soon as we headed out the door at 8:15 turkeys were one the loose!

There was even one spotted trying to ride the metro!

We had plenty of time (15 minutes) before the race started once we arrived at Freedom Plaza. There was a ton of people, around 7,000 I believe. It was the perfect temp out for a run, a little chilly with some sun shin.

  

lots of people

 

and the turkey had time to stretch...

I had decided the night before that I wasn't going to race race this 5k even though I really wanted. I would have loved to see if I could hold a 7 minute pace for 3 miles, but I had signed M up for this with me and thought what would be the point of doing this as a family if I bolted ahead? 5k PR... another time I suppose. Plus wearing turkey hats was the high light of this race ... not PRing.



I think this is the chicken dance ....not turkey...

When the gun went off it was crowded and we just walked our way to start line trying to get ahead of baby strollers before we crossed the timing matt. With a race this big I really think baby strollers shouldn't be allowed or they need to start in the very back!

When we finally crossed the timing matt we began weaving in and out of people. With-in 2 minutes of the race a guy tripped over another person and wiped out! It looked like it really hurt. Kristine somehow found me and she came running up from behind and we chit chatted bit. I didn't want to hold her back, so off she went.

We hit mile one at a 9:22 pace. Not to bad for M considering he hasn't ran since the Baltimore Half .. tsk tsk!!!! As we continued to run I enjoyed watching the turkey on his head bop up and down as if it was saying "gobble, gobble."

Before we knew the two mile mark came up and we were right at 9:29. Wow I thought: "I really love easy runs and we only have 1 mile left." I tried pulling out my camera to take pictures while we were running, but it didn't seem to work out that great, I wonder why? I don't even know why I thought this was a good idea to begin with?

Once we were running back on Penn the finish line was getting closer and closer. I told M that he should try to negative split his run, but he didn't really know what that meant and we hit the 3 mile mark with a 9:36 split. Close enough I suppose. The last .1 (.16 on my watch) M decided to go balls to the wall and took off like a bat out of hell to make sure he crossed the finish line before me #mean. We finished, I mean I finished in 29:40.

Overall it was such a fun little race and I loved wearing the crazy hats! I think this is something that we will do every year now :)

Did you Turkey Trot yesterday? If so I hope you had as much fun as I did.

2 Things Wednesday

1. Yesterday I complained and complained how I didn't want to go for my 7 mile run in the rain. I really didn't want to skip my run though because I went on a bender last week and really almost did nothing at all. I made sure I complained on twitter because putting something on the internet means that people will know if I don't run, so I guess that was my motivation to get my butt out the door. It was raining and gross out but to my surprise it really wasn't that bad of a run! I only saw two other brave souls out there running and we just smiled at each other as we ran by. The most annoying part of this run was the tourists. Now I figured there really won't be too many out, but there still was and they were out there with their big fat umbrella blocking the entire side walk! Annoying. I was soaked when I got home, but I was happy.

 

 

2. I'm running the SOME Turkey Trot for Hunger 5k tomorrow.

 

 

I can't believe that there is going to be 7,000 runners there tomorrow!!! That is one crowded 5k! As much as I would love to run this 5k as fast as I can, I'm not going too. M and I got awesome turkey hats to wear at the race, so I will be sticking with M and running by his side all while trying to get awesome race photos. I haven't decided if we should run down (3 miles) to the start line or take the metro?

 

Happy Wednesday all and I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

A Great Match: Goals & Motivation

Are working out and training the same thing? For me, I need to be training for something and have goals to stay focused and to give my workouts a propose.

 

After I graduated from college I felt lost for many reasons. One of the reasons, was I was used to structured practices from being a pole vaulter on the track and field team. Practicing (working out) was easy to make myself go to because I was working towards something. And the something was more or less goals that I had set for myself at track meets. Once I joined the real world and was no longer part of a team, I really didn't know who I was if I wasn't an athlete.

 

Shortly after taking my first job, I joined a gym and worked out about 2 hours a day 5 x a week. That was my life: work, workout, eat, sleep then repeat. I was happy to be working out, but there was just something that was missing. I was going through the motions of running on the tread mill and using the stationary bike, but I wasn't happy. It was a struggle to get myself to the gym every day and the thoughts of skipping it crossed my mind all the time. And even though I got myself there most days, I just felt like I was doing this for nothing. Well, nothing other than the fact to stay in shape, but it was hard to make myself go to gym just to go to the gym without any goals in mind.

 

About a year later, I did something crazy and signed up for my very first running race. It wasn't a 5k or a 10k, it was a marathon. What is that saying.. go big or go home... well that's what I was attempting to do! And with registering for this one little race, I all of a sudden felt like an athlete again and I had propose to my running ... I was training for a race and  I was no longer just working out to work out. Having a goal in mind motivated me in a way that just going to go gym to stay in shape couldn't. It was easier to get myself out the door to run 3, 5, 13, 20 whatever miles because if I skipped them, I might have a really bad time or worse yet, not be able to the finish the race at all.

 

After finishing my first marathon I never looked back and continued to sign up for a hand full of races each year. By registering for the races, I was committing myself to a goal and having a goal for me gives me a reason to why I do crazy things like waking up at 5am to run 13 miles before going into work. I am not sure how people go to gym every day to just go to the gym. I give people a ton of credit because it takes a lot of motivation to get yourself there, especially if you aren't working towards a race in my option. If I didn't continue to race through out the years I would have allowed myself to skip oh I don't know how many days at gym because who would really know if I didn't go? Sure I would know and feel bad about myself, but... 

 

Now I realize not everyone's motivation comes from racing like mine does. We are different and therefore have different motivation factors like losing weight or staying heathy. Either way I think the best way to stick to something is having a goal in mind. Without goals or bench marks I feel like it's hard to stay on track.

 

What motivates you to workout?

 

Happy Tuesday All :)

Weekend with the Fam

This weekend I gave up racing at Philly to spend time with my wonderful family!! I had registered for Philly back in the Spring and didn't realize that it fell on the same weekend. It seems like everyone had a really good time while they were there and raced well. And as much as I wished I was there racing, in my option I always think that family is more important than a race so it was an easy choice for me to make. Plus, I had found a make up race the weekend before that went more than just awesome!

 

Anyhow, my parents and aunt/uncles came down from Ohio to visit their sister (my aunt obviously) in Fredericksburg for her birthday. It was a short visit of just Saturday and Sunday, but it was so nice to see everyone!!! I wish I could transplant everyone to this area so I could see them all the time :) I didn't have a chance to upload any my pictures from the weekend, so no pictures for the post.

 

We got home around 1ish yesterday and as much as I would have loved to take my new baby for a spin I had a bigger task at hand....cleaning out our shed to make room to fit 5 bikes in it!!! Mission accomplished!!! Now I just need a security camera with an alarm on our shed. Or I just really wish our house had a basement to store our bikes in.

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend :)

Random Friday Facts

1. My pants are starting to get tighter, so I need to stop stuffing so much junk food into my mouth.

 

2. When I was young, I hugged my uncle's cat so tight I made her pee :(

 

3. I ate frog legs when I was 10 because my brother tricked me and said they were chicken fingers. And yeah they tasted just like chicken.

 

4. Our electric meter is in the inside of our house. I have no clue how pepco bills us every month since they never read the meter.

 

5. I haven't actually road my bike in a month and half. I am probably so out of shape it's not even funny.

 

6. I still have gymnastics dreams all the time, I'm guessing I will have them all my life.

 

7. I am scared of change

 

8. People used to ask me for my notes in college. But I'm such a bad speller that it would be like reading a different language for anyone else.

 

9. I took 5 years of french and could read, write, and speak it at an ok level. Now I can only say I don't speak french very well. So sad.

 

10. I cried a lot when I first moved to the DC area. I missed my friends and family.

 

11. I don't like painting my nails because I never remove the polish once it starts chipping which results in my fingers looking horrible.

 

12. My recent running shoes are a half size too small and are giving my blisters. I'm wearing them anyhow because they were expensive. Bad idea I know.

 

13. I never thought I would get married because I never thought anyone would actually fall in love with me.

 

14. I don't like thanksgiving day food and usually just eat all the rolls instead of the food.

 

15. I broke my baby toe while doing an in-turn on floor. The Dr. just but a pencil in-between my toes to put it back in back. It hurt like hell!

 

16. I don't decorate my house for the holidays, but I do put x-mas lights outside.

 

17. I wish I could bring Kiwi to work with me everyday. Work would be so much better with a cat in the office.

 

18. I need a new cell phone really bad. Mine always freezes and I can't answer the phone have the time.

 

19. My hand writing is a mix between printing and cursive.

 

20. I kept my last name when I got married.

 

Happy Friday All. The weekend is here! Good luck to everyone racing Philly this weekend. Wish I could be there.

Three Things Thurs: Change is good

1. I used my tri bike in the trainer for the first time last night and it feels a lot different to ride in aero. I think it's going to take some time to get used too. I am hoping that on Sunday I can take her for a spin outside and see how I like it. I'm also hoping I don't crash.

2. A swim coach fixed my stroke last week. So, yesterday that's all I could think about while I was swimming and I felt like I was going to sink. I know it's going to take me awhile to actually swim correctly since I have been doing it wrong for so long. It feels weird and I want to go back to my old way so badly, but I know this is for the better.

3. M signed for swim lessons! Does this mean there may be two triathletes living under the same roof? I sure hope so :)

Wordless Wed ~ The Perfect Match

Loving my M on our wedding day...

And now our bikes can love each other too....


Black and White = bike wedding


On a side note: I went in for my fitting yesterday and when I got home to jump on my bike I couldn't even mount it. The seat is so high! It's actually the same height as M's and he's 6'4. I don't know how I will even get on my bike, let alone clip out without totally killing myself. Is this normal? Am I not suppose to be able to touch the ground at all, not even with my tippy toe? Advice? I'm thinking about just lowering it a bit even though that will screw with my leg postion.

Happy Wednesday All  :)

Freedom Half Marathon Race Report

Before the Race -

I have wanted a sub 1:50 since last spring when my knee gave me issues and my goal slipped out of my hands at the National Half as a hobbled across the finish line in pain. I felt like I missed my chance again this fall when I messed up at the San Jose RnR half. Going into this race I didn't feel like I was prepared or trained to run a sub 1:50 and wasn't expecting much other than a fun run.

When the alarm went off at 5:10 I hurried up and got dressed and we were out the door by 5:30. I went with classic USA colors as this was the Freedom Half to support wounded soldiers. And I am happy to say my sparkle skirt was the perfect for this outfit! GO USA!



red, white, & blue + some water

I ate my bagel as soon as I got in the car to give my belly a full hour and half to let my food digest. I was not going to let my stomach be the reason I failed and suffered through yet another race.

We had given ourselves an hour to get up to Norfolk, but it ended up only taking a half hour with no traffic, better safe than sorry, right? So, we just chilled out in the warm car for a half hour then made our way to the start line at 6:30. I really just had enough time to wait in line for the bathrooms and then make my way to the corrals.



Umm...why didn't I get out the car sooner?

It was pretty start line and right on the water. It was a smaller race of about 1200 runners and we weren't assigned corrals so I just put myself in corral 5.

I went to start up my garmin 405 and it was frozen with 5:42 on it. The exact time I had locked the bezel in the morning. WTF.THIS.IS.NOT.HAPPENING!!! But, yeah it was! Yet another race without a watch!! This stupid 405 is the worst watch in the world!!! The last 5 races it has failed me! I would have been nice to know my splits, etc, etc, etc. I was in panic mode, but really there was nothing I could do about it and the gun had just went off.

all I want for x-mas is a garmin that works!

 

The Race -

Once we were all running, I remembered that this was just a fun race and that I didn't care about my time anyhow and told myself to just relax. There are worst things in the world than running a race without a watch on. But, within seconds after crossing the timing matt I called BS on myself: "I don't want to run this just to run another 13.1 miles, I want to run this under 1:50."

Mile 1 - 2.5
All mile markers were only spray painted on the road, I actually didn't see any of them the entire race.

I knew I couldn't really pace myself without my watch, so in a split decision as weeding through people (why did I put myself in corral 5?) I was on a mission to find the 1:50 pace group. I was sucking wind hard as I passed the 2:15 group. I continued to run which felt like a 7:00 minute pace and caught up the 2:00 hour pace group. I knew I was running too fast and would burn out soon. Where the heck was the 1:50 group??? Oh yeah there wasn't one. I continued to hall ass until I finally saw the 1:45 pace group! Thank god! Once I met up with them I slowed my pace way down and holding a 8 minute pace felt easy. My heart was much happier with me.

Miles 3 - 7

The pace felt great and even though I was over heating a bit (long pants, why?) I wasn't too bad. I kept thinking in my head that I could run a 1:43 because I started the race before the 1:45 pace group and had caught up to them. I don't know where I came up with 1:43 as my new goal instead of simply wanting to run 1:49, but I loved the idea and started writing my blog post in my head. It was also great to run in the group and chit chat and make new race besties that made the time fly by. It actually didn't feel like I was running a race at all, it felt like I was on a Saturday group run or something. Plus I was feeling really good, no stomach issues and my legs were happy. The guy leading the group - thank you so much - called out our split at the 7 mile mark - 58 minutes I believe. I got excited and knew this was totally doable with only 6 miles left.

Miles 7 - 11

I stuck up a conversation with a guy in the pace group who was wearing a Conte's shirt. We talked about all things triathlons. He had done 3 Ironmans and was giving me all kinds of good advice. Before I knew it, we were at the 10 mile mark! I had missed our pacer yell out the splits at miles 8 and 9 so I was pretty excited to find out another 2 miles had gone by. Now usually the 10 mile mark is were I start to fall apart in a race, but I was still feeling great!!! OMG ..1:43 you are so mine! The group at this point started to break up as some people sprinted ahead. I had thought about trying to negative split, but really wanted to wait until I was two miles out. Then something happened at mile 11... a hill... not even that big of a hill, but never the less I lost the pacer ... and I couldn't catch back up to him. NO!!! This is not happening!!

Miles 11 - 13.1

Yep. It was happening. This race was no longer rainbows and kitty cats ... I was no longer feeling strong and the group was gone. WTF, I had stayed with them the entire race and now I couldn't hold an 8 minute pace for 2 crappy miles. I started to get mad at myself, I started wishing I had my watch for the first time that I started so I could push myself when I looked down and saw a slow pace. I think I pretty much had a pity party for myself all of mile 11 and every time I tried to pick the pace back up my stomach started to turn and twist. Actually I had no clue when mile 11 ended and mile 12 started, but I stopped feeling sorry for myself and kept pushing myself as I could see the 1:45 pacer in the distance. Then, I rounded a corner and could see the finish line!!!!

Thank goodness, I was almost there. I saw Jason and Jill cheering for me and found my last bit of energy to sprint to the finish line and smile like I was having the best time in the world. I looked up and saw 1:45:53 as I crossed under the arch.

I was happy because I knew I didn't start at the same time as the clock and knew my time would be faster than that. A PR and under 1:50 !!!! finally after almost a year and 5 half marathons later!! I guess the new saying should be the fifth one is the charm, not the third one.

 

After the race -

I wanted to jump up and down because I was so excited, but the only thing I could do was look for a trash can... great... I couldn't find one and just leaned over the gate and puked! I guess PRing by 6 minutes makes you puke? One of the volunteers asked if I was ok and I said I just needed some water than I made my way over to my cheering section and cheered on some of the other runners as they made their way to the finish line.

 

This is also the nicest looking medal I have ever gotten at a race :)

 Official time: 1:44:55 which got me this: overall 142/1204, division: 5/80

Thoughts -

Since I thought this race was going to be a joke, I didn't stress for weeks over what the time on the clock might read. I loved this course and the weather! I think the two combined together is really the reason I did so well. Plus, lets not forget about the pacer. I had never ran with the pace group at races before but it was the best experience ever! It was nice to run with a group and it really helped to pace and motivate me. I think I will always find the pace group now to run with during races. It was so much fun. It also helps that I had a great support group! It really means a lot to me to have my friends out there and my M cheering for me!

I am so excited that I PRed, but at the same time I feel like I could have pushed myself harder those last two miles and had an even better time. Which leads me with one question: "Are we every happy with ourselves or do we always want more?" My goal was to run a 1:49 and I ran that with minutes to spare. Why in the world am I also disappointed? I shouldn't be and I'm not really, but I still just am not satisfied with myself. Never the less I am excited to end my half marathon season with a great race!

Weekend Recap - VA Beach

Friday Morning I started my day off with a nice 3.5 mile run before heading out the door to visit my good friend, Jill in VA Beach. We drove straight to the Freedom Half Expo in Norfolk since it was on the way to her house.

The Expo was on the smallish side which I actually didn't mind. I was a dumb ass forgetful and had left my ID in DC. I was stressing big time and thought that they might not let me pick up my bib without it, but the volunteer simply said: "I'm going to beat you with a wet noodle" then handed me over my bib. Thank goodness! We got a sweet shirt and a little bag. I love little bags!

yippy, they let my get my bib!

Once I got to my friends, I was greated by an actual noodle doodle...

We pretty much took it easy on Saturday and I got my first hair cut in a year!!! Then we went shopping...

because trying on clothes in the middle of the store makes us cool

And what day wouldn't be complete without ice cream...

And bread baskets from Carrabba's.... what a girl has to carb load :)

Sunday we were all up bright at early and making our way to the start line of  the Freedom Half Marathon in Norfolk. 

And not long after I got there...off the gun went.... without the aid of my Garmin....again!!!

happy ... but WTF Garmin!

 It was a great race .... 

And the medals were so pretty ... 

 

Plus I couldn't have asked for a better cheering team! Thanks for supporting me guys! 

Overall it was a great weekend, but Kiwi didn't think so since she was by herself :( 

What was your favorite thing you did this weekend? 


My full race report will be on Tuesday and I can't wait to share it!!! OMG I'm so excited about it :) 


Happy Monday All

Freedom Half Marathon Goals

A couple of weeks ago I was scrambling to find another half marathon since I could no longer run Philly. I found the perfect replacement and registered for the Freedom Marathon in Norfolk, VA. 

 

 

 Well, over the past couple of weeks I somewhat lost my motivation and thought I had longer than I did to train for this half. This might be the most under trained race I am doing in a long time with only 2 long runs: a 10 miler and a 12 miler. With that said I have no idea what time I will finish in and I'm not sure what my goals should be ?

 

But here goes nothing:

 

1. I'm leaving tomorrow morning for VA Beach and staying with one of my good friends, Jill! I haven't seen her in forever, so I'm really excited to spend the weekend with her. With that said, my heart is not into this half and I actually wish I wasn't running it on Sunday so I could just have fun while I'm down there and stay up till whenever I wanted to and not worry about running. 

 

 

2. Since my heart really isn't to this race. I just want to have fun with it and not worry about my time. It's a Veterans Day race, so I'll be wearing my blue sparkle skirt and a red running top to sport USA colors.

 

 

3. Wave and smile at my cheering team - Jason and Jill - and smile for the cameras (isn't this an important goal at every race? )

 

 

4. Ok, I still want to run under a 1:50, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Poor training and no race heart will make this one difficult.

 

5. I have no race plan ...

 

Have you ever ran a race that your heart wasn't in to? Happy Thursday All :)

The Evolution of Bikes

1990: I always ran around outside without shoes and when I jumped onto my bike my feet would dig into the pedals and it hurt. So I duck taped my sisters feet to her bike pedals in hopes of inviting a shoe that was already attached to the pedal. The idea was a bust when she crashed. But, little did I know that's how triathletes mount their bikes (at least the pros). 

2008: I decide that I wanted to switch up my run commute with bike commuting. I was too cheap to buy my own bike and I got a hand-me down Walmart bike from my sister. Thanks sista! However, I got in a car accident after owning it a few months and it was totaled. I somehow managed not to take a single picture of this getto walmart bike. It was red and wasn't the right frame size, so I looked silly riding it.

2009: I was scared to death to get on a bike after getting hit by a car and I took my time getting a new one. I was still doing only running races and tri's weren't on my mind. So, since I would be using this bike for commuting only and some fun weekend rides I went with a Specialized Hybrid bike. I couldn't believe the difference in feel from the walmart bike to the hybrid bike. It felt like I was riding on feathers and I couldn't be happier.

2010: I was still riding my hybrid for commuting and weekend rides with M. But, M had a Giant Defy and I couldn't keep up with him at all! Plus, I was dreaming about doing a triathlon and this bike just wasn't going to cut it for me. Grandit, I could have used it for a sprint or oly distance race, to see if I liked the sport, but I just wanted a better bike. I signed up for my first tri in Dec. and started researching different bikes.

Feb 2011: I went to City Bikes in Adams Morgan and got my first road bike, the 2011 Giant Avail 1. I couldn't believe the difference in feel from the hybrid to the road bike. It felt like I was riding on feathers and I couldn't be happier!



Happy, but I'm scared of big girl shoes



May 2011: I finally got big girl pedals (keo classics) and shoes! Now I don't look like a fool at Haines Point and OMG I can actually ride a lot faster.


new pedals = fast

and fancy shoes to match

Sept 2011: I absoulty love triathlons and know it will be a good investment to get a tri-bike as well.

Nov 2011: I got my very first tri bike, the 2011 Cervelo P3. I couldn't believe the difference in feel from the road bike (aluminum frame) to the tri bike (carbon frame). It felt like I was riding on feathers and I couldn't be happier! Are you seeing a theme here? The more expensive the bike is, the dreamer it rides! Go figure. I go in for my fitting on the 15th and can't wait!

What was your first bike? Happy Wednesday All :)

3 Things Tuesday

1. I finally got my gymnastics competition schedule!!! So what's that mean? It means I can start planning out my spring race schedule :) Although I am already bummed because I will not be able to race in National Half (now RocknRoll USA). This makes me sad because this is one of my favorite halves to run and the start line is walking distance from my house. I have almost ran this race every year since they started it. Yep. I'm disappointed. Which means I would like to find another half to run in March. I would like to do one race a month. I'll have to do my research and try not to spend too much money on entry fees. As of now I'm looking at doing:

 

Jan - March - I need to find some running races :( ...suggestions?

Rumpus in Bumpuss (oly) - 4/14

Six Pillars Century - 5/6

Kinetic Half - 5/12 - I would like to do the swim leg only. Anyone want to join me in doing a relay team?  

Columbia Tri (oly) - 5/20 - I'm not sure about this one? My not work with my training schedule

Mooseman 70.3 - 6/2

DC Tri (sprint) - 6/17

 

2. I have been lacking in the motivation department the last few weeks. Then I saw this fun little challenge yesterday that I thought just might do the trick to get my butt in gear during the off season. The USAT National Challenge Competition.

 

Tri Clubs across the country go head-to-head to see who can log the most training miles. Each month will be highlighted for a sport (Dec - swim, Jan - bike, Feb - run). Who wants to join me in the pool next month?

Plus on top of this I have realized that I'm at 2500 miles for the year so far on Daily Mile. I would love to have 3,000 miles by the end of the year, but I don't know if that will happen or not? Time to start cycling....

 

3. I have no number three really. So I guess I will just complain about going to the dentist today. I hope they don't yell at me for eating too many gummy bears.

 

Happy Tuesday All :)

 

Weekend Recap - Running & Something Shiny

Happy Monday everyone! I will start off saying I had a great weekend :)

 

Friday seems so long ago that I can barley remember what I even did? I think the most exciting part of my day was finally going to get my eyes checked since I have ran out of contacts and haven't gone in three years. Plus I managed to fit in lots of walking on my rest days. 5.3 walking miles total. Not bad for just running errands.

 

Saturday I woke up dreading my longish run of 12 miles. I stepped out the door and it seemed freezing at 32 degrees. Luckily I was meeting up with Erin at Gravely Point to run on the Mt. Vernon Trail. If I wasn't meeting her, I think my bed would have been to warm and snugly to get out of. I started off with a hat and gloves and never got hot enough to take them off. This run was pretty much like cramming for an exam you didn't study for. I have been slacking big time on my training and somehow my half marathon this Sunday just snuck right up on me. I know I really should have started to taper, but like I said I had to cram in this long run. My longest two runs since my half marathon on 10/15 have been a 10 miler and this 12 miler.  And I was actually struggling a bit on the run due to stomach issues. I had an English muffin with peanut butter a half hour before we started the run. I guess, ok I already knew that this was not a enough time for my stomach to digest. I was so thankful to have Erin with me because I'm not sure if I would have finished without her. Plus having someone to chit chat with during your run really makes the time fly by.

 

During the afternoon, M and I headed down to the Annapolis mall were Tim Gun was hosting a fashion show for Lucky Jeans. It was pretty crowded, but we found an ok spot to stand. It was a fun little show and Tim did an open question thing afterwards. I would have loved to get my picture taken with him, but the line was over an hour long and well I guess I just didn't feel like waiting that long.

 

 

Sunday, we had all this stuff planned, but only managed to do one thing... go bike shopping! My M said he was getting me a tri-bike for my b-day and even though my birthday has come and gone, this is the first weekend we had a chance to go to Bonzai to check things out. I somehow fell in love with a Cervelo P3 because well it was super shiny and so pretty! Plus it felt like feathers when I test rode it. SOLD! I had originally wanted the P2, but they didn't have any of the 2011 models left and the 2012 was about the same price as the 2011 P3 on sale. So yeah, I will officially be the slow girl on the fancy bike and I'm ok with that. Or maybe that means I just need to become faster :)

 

 

Overall, I had a great weekend and an ok week mileage wise:

 

Running: 30.6 miles

Swimming: 1.28 miles

Cycling: 8 miles (yes I need to be getting my butt back on the bike)

Walking: 7.3 miles

 

What was your favorite part of your weekend? Great job to everyone who raced!