2014 Race Schedule

I am almost registered for all my 2014 races!! Woot.

 

Here is my schedule:

 

2/23 ~ Love Rox Half Marathon (still need to register)

3/9 ~ St. Patrick's 8k (still need to register)

3/29 ~ Oceanside 70.3

5/4 ~ Monticelloman Olympic distance

5/18 ~ Cleveland half marathon

6/22 ~ Syracuse 70.3

7/12 ~ Muncie 70.3 (run leg only)

7/27 ~ Cleveland Tri (Olympic)

8/17 ~ Timberman 70.3

9/21 ~ Princeton 70.3

 

The rest of the yr... how knows? Fun local running races. 

Happy New Yrs All :)

Surf-n-Santa 10 mile Race Report

I was registered for this race last year and couldn't do it for one reason or another so deferred my entry to 2013. I of course completely forgot I was even registered for this race but thought it would be a good excuse to visit my good friend Jill and just run it for fun. I had just about 4 weeks to get ready for 10 miles so I wouldn't completely die and be out of breath. I did an 8 miler, a 9 miler, back down to 8 miles, then it was race weekend. Quickest training cycle and tapper wrapped up into one, right?

 

When I woke up on race morning I was less than trilled to run, I mean this was for fun. Running in pouring rain with 30mph winds at about 40 degrees is not my idea of fun. Regardless we all got ready anyhow, got into the car and made our way to the VA Beach Convention center.

 

What's nice about this race is you can wait inside the building before the race start and the finish line and after party are actually inside! We waited as long as possible inside and headed to the start line/bathrooms about 10 minutes before race start. Both the 5k and 10 miler have the same start line so it was a crowded. I made my into the coral and just started a few feet back even though I wasn't planning on being super speedy.

 

Before I knew it I was crossing the timing mat and the race started. I had forgot my garmin at home, which wasn't too big of a deal and just had on my timex. Although it's been awhile since I have ran a race without my garmin and I was scared I would go out way to fast as I always seem too. As we crossed back over by the convention center I was half tempted to just do the 5k. It had just started raining again and it pretty much sucked. I of course kept running and saw the first mile marker of the day, mile 3. I hit this around 23 minutes. The pace felt ok so I just went with it. I was feeling fine but was dreading running back on the boardwalk. Straight on head wind! 

The next mile marker that I saw was mile 6. I hit this at about 46 minutes. However I was feeling like crap at this point. Miles 5-8 are ran on the boardwalk and the wind was kicking my ass. Everyone I was running around just started passing me. I couldn't keep up at all. I tried, I really did. I wanted to draft. The wind was awful, plus I was cold and wet. I thought I might cry. Those 3 miles seemed to take forever plus I saw no other mile marker. If I had to guess I was running an 8 something. Finally the end came. Thank god! As soon as got off the board walk it felt about 10 degrees warmer. I ran the next miles with a girl who said she was running around a 7:20 pace. I couldn't hold onto her the last half mile and saw her speed off.

 

I will say I was so happy when I was rounding the corner to run into the convention center and the finish line! I really wanted to be out of the cold!

 

Official Finish Time - 1:16:33 (7:40 pace) which was good for 4th in my AG.

 

Overall

I was happy with my overall time as I did zero speed work and really didn't put much work into this race at all. So yeah I wasn't expecting much. However I do wish I want just a pinch faster so I could have gotten 3rd. I'm sick of getting 4th. Anyhow, it was fun hanging out afterwards and having a beer :)

Oceanside Training Begins

So, I have decided to crawl out of the wood work today and blog. I know, OMG, how exciting!

 

Anyhow, the 2013 race season is pretty much over for me with just a couple little local 5ks and 8ks left to do as fun races. Or in other words try to run as fast I can without really doing any speed work #goodideas.

 

With that said, I'm really looking onto 2014. My first big race of the season is Oceanside 70.3. I will most likely do some smaller running races leading up to this 70.3 but as of now have not found any that have tickled my fancy in Jan or Feb. This week marks my first week of a 20 week training problem for Oceanside. I am using the same training program I have used in the past for 70.3s. It's a little heavy on the bike, but I still need to improve my bike speed. Well heck I need to improve my speed on all three legs.

 

I have a long season ahead of me and a big goal. I just hope I don't burn myself out before then. Ok I'm rambling now...

 

Happy Wednesday All :) 

Ironman Mont-Tremblant Race Report

Ironman Mont-Tremblant.... where to begin with this report?

This being my second ironman I felt much more relaxed than last year at Louisville. I loved the cute village so much and enjoyed staying somewhat close to it. Close as in 400 meters up a big mountain! The night before the race I had a yummy dinner (steak, baked potato, and broccoli) and made it in bed about 9ish. I basically slept like a log. No dreams, no tossing and turning, no stress. I woke up at 4:45am feeling refreshed and ready to rock it for the day
.

Myself and my wonderful support crew headed down the mountain top at 5:15 and made our way to the transition area. I finished setting up my bike stuff and added some stuff to my swim & bike bags. Once getting down there though I realized that I forgot my frozen snickers for my bike special needs bags. This was not part of my nutrition plan so I would be fine without it but I was disappointed I had nothing to look forward to. Life goes on and I wasn't going to panic over something as yummy as a snickers bar.

Once all my stuff was in place, myself and my crew made our way down to the beach house for the swim start. This was about a mile walk if I had to guess, not really sure? It was about 6:15 at this point and I had plenty of time to use the bathroom, eat some snacks, and hang out with my friends and family before the race. I gave everyone a hug and kiss good bye and headed down to the water.

The Swim (2.4 miles) ~ 1:15:35

This year ironman started with a wave start instead of a mass start like in the years past. There was 8 waves and I was in wave 7. I think I would have been a lot more nervous with a mass start, but since it wasn't I felt calm. I strangely was not nervous for this race at all. It was more like, meh, it's just another race and I'm going to enjoy myself out there as much as I can and do want I can. I rinsed my goggles off in the water and adjusted them on last time on my face and before I knew it I was running into the water to start my second ironman.

I ran for a short amount of time then started swimming. The water felt good at about 66 degrees (I had on a full sleeve suit). And to my surprise I had no panic attacks! This is like the first tri ever that I didn't panic at the swim start so this was big news! I was so happy, I was calm. There was lots and lots of buoys and they were big so sighting wasn't at issue at all. I swam the buoy line and felt like I stayed on course most of the swim. To be honest, I didn't think about much while swimming besides concentrating on my stroke and being a Rumey. If you watch My Gypsy Wedding you know what I'm talking about :) I pretty much had the water to myself for the first half of the swim until the turn around point. It was around here that I caught up to the two waves in front of me and the wave behind me had caught up as well. But still I didn't have much contact so all was good. The water pretty much had no chop and it felt so fresh! It was my favorite swim ever!

As I approached the beach, I was still feeling awesome and checked my watch as I started to run out of the water. 1:14 something! OMG! Last year my swim time was around 1:24 so I was really happy! I ran under the arch and to the wet suit strippers. They had a little bit of a hard time getting my suit off but still probably faster than I could have done myself.

T1: 6:43

The run from the water into the changing tent is not close! A lot of people were walking this, but I ran as I didn't want to waste any time. As I ran I passed the crowds and saw my family! I was so happy and gave them a big wave to let them know I was feeling good! Once in the changing tent I dumped my bag out and quickly got my bike shoes on and ate a snickers. I ran over to my bike as putting my gloves on and was ready to roll

The Bike (112 miles) ~ 6:37:13  (click here for garmin profile if you are interested)

My garmin didn't find service right away so my miles were off by a little, but no big deal. I rode out of town and made my way to route 117. This section of the course is somewhat flat and fast! I was going 20mph and just went with it because it didn't feel hard. There was a tight U turn around mile 25 and a girl took a hard crash in front of me. I ended up going into the gravel to avoid crashing myself. I saw Victoria at some point on 117 and we chit chatted for a little. My favorite part of the course was going into a little town where lots of music was playing and people were cheering. Shortly afterwards we saw more crowds and I saw my family again. This is around the point that we start the section with all the hills. Basically for those of you who live in DC, it felt like it was River road on crack. I changed over to my small ring and just pedaled slowly up those hills. Some of the down hills were really scary. My max speed for the day ended up being 40mph. Ekk! I was taking a water bottle or IM perform at every aid station and had to go pee pretty badly by the time I hit special needs. I of course stopped and low and behold my snickers was in there! Joe had snuck it into my bag in the morning before the volunteers had taken our special needs. I was happy and thankful to him! My life saver! So anyhow I ate my snickers and made a bathroom stop.

I hit my first loop around 3:10 I would guess. I was still feeling really good and was like "yes, I'm having the perfect day." I was taking in around 200 calories an hour between chews & PJ sandwiches. My stomach felt great and I was drinking plenty. Once back onto 117 the wind really seemed to pick up. I thought...wind...so much fun! And it seemed like we had a head wind and cross wind no matter what direction you were going. I wasn't as brave the second loop because of the wind and didn't take all the down hills in aero, too scary! The sun had also came out in full force and I could feel it blazing on my back. I had to make another bathroom stop around mile 75/80 because my bladder felt like it was going to burst and I just can't bring myself to pee on the bike. It was also around this point that an official on a motorcycle was yelling at me as I was making a pass. I had no clue what he said and thought I got a blocking penalty. From this point on I had no more songs in my head and was so worried about the official said. Did I have a penalty, didn't I? Ugh.

I was still feeling good around mile 100 and knew I just had another set of hills then I would be done. The hills were defiantly harder the second time around but I just pedaled slow again in my lowest gear. I felt like I had a little gas around mile 106 and no one was around so I thought what the hey I'm going to fart. Umm...shit...literally! I thought I shit myself. I spent the next 4/5 miles wondering if I was riding with poo in my shorts, ha! I didn't want to stop again, but I had to check my butt. Porta potties at mile 110, thank god!!! Ok, no poo, keep riding. But, ugh, one more stop at the penalty tent to check to see if I actually had one. I didn't want to get DQed for not stopping. They checked the paper and I didn't have one so I wasted some more time there, but better safe than sorry I guess.  I had a total of 4 stops on the bike which only totaled 5 minutes so I guess that's not too bad. My goal was a 6:30 split. So I just about made it and was happy with my over time on the bike. I actually thought I was going to be slower.

I finally made it to T2 and handed off my bike. I was ready for this run!

T2: 2:43

I really zipped in and out of here because I was already mad about wasting time with extra stops on the bike.

The Run (26.2 miles) ~ 4:50:12

I haven't even bothered to upload my garmin data yet, but anyhow... I ran out of T2 and realized I forgot to take off my bike gloves. I saw my sis and Joe and threw them my gloves and gave them a wave. My goal was to run this marathon with walk breaks of course at the aid stations. I might of went off too fast when my first mile was a 8:45. I slowed it down and my next 2 miles were around 9:30 which is right around where I wanted to be. It was really hot at this point and the sun was killer! The first three miles are very hilly then you make your way over to the point du nord running trail that is flat and shaded. It's an out and back that totals around 6 miles, then you make your way back to town on the unshaded hilly road for 3 miles. I was still feeling good when I hit the trail but my pace had slowed to between a 10 - 10:30. I was still ok with this pace though and wasn't upset about it. I was still running and feeling good. I was mixing it up by taking water, perform, pretzels & oranges and the aid stations.  I saw Rachel at one of the aid stations and it was nice see a friend out there on the trail :) Once off the trail my wheels started to come off. My stomach felt a little off and I made a bathroom stop. But, each mile got slower and by the time I hit the end of the first loop (2:13ish) I felt terrible. I saw my family and burst into tears when they asked how I was feeling.

I seriously didn't know how I was going to finish another loop. Another 13 miles! I felt light headed and dizzy like I was going to pass out. I knew I need food/sugar but the next aid station only had water. I spent the next 3 miles walking without even attempting to run. The next two aid stations I did drink coke and ate cookies. But my time got slower and slower. 16 minute mile, 20 minute mile and so on! OMG I felt like death. I was zig zagging as I was walking and was scared medical was going to scoop me up. I threw up along the side of the road and still wasn't feeling better. I threw my 12:30 & 4:30 marathon goal out the window. I didn't care what time I finished in at this point and told myself I just want my T-shirt and hat. But I knew I would be mad at myself later for giving up. I finally hit the running trail again and told myself it's flat and shaded and I have to attempt to run. So I ran. and I ran then next 10 miles and felt awesome. I kept my pace between 9:30 - 10:00 minute miles and couldn't have felt better! My 3 mile picnic break I guess is what my body needed. I felt like I was flying, I felt great! It's just sad I didn't feel like this the entire run. Before I knew it I only had a 5k left and I pushed myself those last 3 miles as I wanted to go sub 13. I made it back to the village and was running down the finishers shoot. I gave Karen a high five, I waved to my family as my sister screamed my name (I think I surprised her) and I held my arms up with a smile as I crossed under the finish line arch! I was done, I made it. I was an ironman :)

Total time: 12:52:26

Thoughts:

I almost had a perfect day, almost! I PRed on every leg of the race and beat my Louiseville time by over an hour! Afterwards I said I was going into retirement and just sticking to 70.3s. But damn it, I want to have a better run, I can run faster than this, I know I can. Which just means I have to do another ironman :)

Also a big thank you to Jason, my family, and my friends. Your support and love mean the world to me. I loved everything time I saw you guys and it really helped get me through the long day. love you guys! 

Look... I blogged!

So I am coming out of hiding today and actually blogging. I know. OMG. How exciting!

 

I have been pretty lazy and still have two 70.3 race recaps to write which I will hopefully do soon.

 

Anyhow, since Rev3 70.3 Williamsburg which was a little less than two weeks ago, I have been trying to fight my way out of a fatigue hole. I guess this is the one bad thing about coaching yourself. I really didn't allow myself any taper/recovery from this race and went right on with Ironman training. Unfortunately for me the two weeks following the race have been peak build weeks. Joy.  

 

Last week went ok I suppose and I'm surprised I made it through the weekend. I rode 96 miles/bricked 4 miles on Saturday than ran 16 miles on Sunday.  I did however miss one of my shorter swims as I just couldn't will myself to the pool. Not a big deal I suppose.

 

This week I started off tired. Monday was a rest day, but not really since I have to work over 12 hours with 4 of those hours being on my feet coaching. It's a long day and I really wish I could have an actual rest day where I come home from work and do nothing! I came close to that yesterday since I bricked in the morning. It almost felt like I didn't work out for the day and coming home and flopping on the couch with Kiwi was the best thing ever. Today though, you guessed it, I'm tired again. I ran this morning and I am not sure how I am going to make it to the pool later. I want sleep!

 

Anyhow, with about 7 weeks till Mount Tremblant, I feel like I did at the same point last year. That I am ready and I wish the race was in a few weeks, not 7 weeks. My body is tired and ready for a break! But I am in the final home stretch of training before taper begins. Well, ok, I still have 3 more super long rides of 100 miles and a big 20 mile run (ouch my hip hurts already) before taper-ish distances begin.

 

I am really looking forward to recovery week next week and visiting my family in Ohio. I think it's just the break my body is begging for.

 

Ok I'm rambling on now.

 

Happy Wenesday All :)

National Harbor OWS

I didn't have to coach gymnastics this week, so I took full advantage of it and decided to test out swimming at the National Harbor. These open water swims are put on by Wave One swimming and are held every Thursday. Of course I coach every Thursday so I was excited that I could actually go to one!

We (Jason and I) arrived with plenty of time before the swim start. It was a super relaxed set up and they just gave a short and sweet overview before we could get in the water.

 

The course was set up at a 300 meter triangle and you could swim much as you wanted for an hour or until the sun went down. The water felt clean and was the perfect temp at 74 degrees. I was glad I decided not to wear my wetsuit and get in some last minute open water training in before Raleigh. I swam 8 loops in who knows how long?? I always forget to wear a watch to these things. The buoys were a little hard to sight as they were small, but you can't really get lost when you are swimming in a circle.

 

Overall it was a great experience and I am sad I can't make it to any more of these as my open water swimming and my swimming in general is not the best.

 

Happy Friday and have a great weekend! 

Raleigh 70.3 Goals

IM Raleigh 70.3 is this weekend and I am getting excited!

 

I used the same 20 week training plan that I used last year, which is from trifuel.com. I know this is just a generic plan and is not catered toward individual athletes, but it seems to work out ok for me and it's free! True specific workouts are not given, only time, but it wasn't too hard to know some of these workouts needed to be interval, hill, or speed work days. Overall I think training went well, even though my motivation was pretty low in Jan and Feb. Slowly but surely I got more into training and am excited to race this weekend :)

 

I registered for this race the same day it opened and am looking forward to hopefully a traffic free 4 hour drive to Raleigh. I don't know why though that I didn't think there going to be a heat wave in NC in June. I don't race well in heat. Actually I am horrible runner in the heat. We have had a cold spring this year and I was hoping it would continue through the first weekend in June, but no so such luck. Race day weather as of today: 89! But I am trying to stay positive here - we can not control the weather, so I just have to make the most of it - it could be worse - like rain and high winds. So I will not complain.

 

I started to get nervous thinking about the goals I have set for myself and how the heat might be in the way of my goals...ie death march on the run...

 

swim: around 35-37 minutes.

Not sure how much a wetsuit actually helps you, but my time at kinetic last yr was 36 minutes, so just hoping to do the same. Also hoping I don't panic in the damn water. I always seem to do this. I would also like to put forth an effort on the swim instead of just floating along at a comfy zone 1 pace. 

 

Bike: around 2:55 (give or take)

The bike course looks to be rolling hills with an adorable 1200 ft of climbing over the 56 miles. This seems like it should be a fast course? I really have no clue. I just want to ride smart, take in my calories, and save some of my legs for the run. As Karen says, "drink your drink, eat your snacks."

 

Run: ??? wildcard

Umm...usually the run is my strongest leg, but this is the leg that I am really nervous about. Like I mentioned I don't run well in the heat and my body really hasn't had a chance to get to used to running in the heat since it's been cooler. I have been running high 7s to low 8s off the bike and my original goal was around a 1:45 half. I don't know if this is reasonable anymore or if I am just being a wimp. I guess I really will not know until I'm running out of T2 as to how the day will go. I need to stop working myself up about this stupid run.

 

Transitions:

Get the hell out there as fast as I can and don't BS around like I usually do.

 

Hmm...lets see...other than being a little nervous I think I am ready to go :)

 

Happy Wednesday all :)

Capitol Hill Classic 10k Race Report

I have always wanted to run the Capitol Hill Classic, but this is the first year I was actually free the weekend of the race and could run it. The course itself is just an out and back with a little running around RFK.

When I first registered I thought it might be a stupid idea to do a race after riding the Casa River Century the day before. But as it turns out, it was a good idea!

I have never really raced raced a 10k and didn't really have any goals going into this race besides run and have fun. The race starts at Stanton Park which is just a short walk from our house over by Lincoln Park. Walking to a race = the best thing ever! We left our house at 8 and met up with Rachel around 8:15 for a 8:30 start time.

The race was delayed 15 minutes which wasn't too big of a deal and we squeezed our way near the front as no one was seeded correctly.  So we knew there was going to be rage rolling right at the start line.

Mile 1 : 6:50

As soon as I crossed the start line my goal was to find some free space and get around the slow people who should have not been at the front of the line. I didn't want all the zig zagging around people to slow me down and didn't realize how fast I actually ran the fist mile in. My watch beeped: 6:50. Um. I just did a 6:50 mile but hey it didn't feel all that bad. So for whatever reason my new goal became to finish the 10k with a 6:xx overall pace. I don't know I always just make up goals in the middle of my races, but every time I do I am just let down.

Mile 2 & 3: 6:56 - 6:53

As I was trotting along down East Capitol Street I spotted a guy that was running about the same pace as me and decided I wanted to keep up with him. As my watched beeped after each mile I looked down and thought wow I am actually going to do this. I am going sub 7. I only have 3 more miles.... how hard can it be to run 3 more miles at this pace......

Mile 4: 7:05

By this time in the course we were running what seemed like zig zag circles in the RFK parking lot. Even though it was boring, it was flat. My pace slowed down a little and my pacer was slipping away from me. I wasn't too worried about the 7:05 and thought I could pick it back up the last two miles.

Mile 5: 7:36

WTF Hill and WTF legs. My legs felt like death as I struggled to maintain a faster pace. My brain really wanted to run faster, but my legs did not. Ugh. There goes my made up goal.

Mile 6: 7:16

I was really struggling the last mile and as you can see I ran this race way to fast the first three miles. I tried my best to bring my pace back down but just couldn't do it.

Mile .3: 2:02

My watched ended being ahead just a little bit but I tried to kick it into high gear for the last .3 (6:46 pace). I was happy to be finished and cross the finish line.

Total Time: 44:38  which landed me 18th out of 1288 women and 8th in my AG.

Thoughts ~ I couldn't be happier. I ran this race on tired legs from the day before and still had a great day. I wasn't expecting much coming into the race and ran way faster than I thought I would. I don't even know what my other 10k times are? Maybe 52 minutes. So I got a big PR. True I didn't go sub 7 but I don't even know where that goal came from. I certainly wasn't training to do that so I can't be upset. Overall it was a great day and brunch afterwards was so much fun.

Happy Tues All :)

Kinetic Race Report

I'm a little behind on race reports....

 

I was using this race as a great way for training. We (M and I) drove down to my cousin's house who lives in the area the night before. It was nice to sleep in till 5 instead of driving down the 90 miles the day of. We left her house at 5:30 and were at Lake Anna by 6am. I guess we should have given ourselves a little more time because we were in transition setting up until it about closed. We also found out that Setup Events had a little snag with there timing chips and "lost" everyone's timing chips who's bib was higher than 400. So yeah raced without a timing chip. Not really a big deal, but not really sure how they got accurate swim times.

 

Swim: 1.2 miles - 43:39 (swim + T1 time)

We were in the last wave that went off at 7:20. The water was about 68 I think so I wore a sleeveless wet suit. As soon as our wave went off I panicked. I seriously am getting sick of panicking in the water. I have done this enough. This should not be happening, but it was. After about 100 I stopped and treated water for a little to bring my heart rate back down and relax. I don't know why this is happening? I really flustered with my open water swimming and these stupid panic attacks at the start of the swim. At any rate I continued to swim and felt fine. I even was sighting ok since it was over cast. I thought I felt fast (for me) in the water but as I ran out on the beach and looked down at my watch I saw 40 minutes. WTF. 40 minutes. This is 4 minutes slower than my 70.3 swim on the same course last year. How could I have swam 4 minutes slower? I only treated water for maybe 10 seconds. I was very flustered and mad as I made my way into T1

 

T1: Nothing special here. I decided to put on cycling gloves because it was raining when I got out of the water and didn't know if it would continue to rain during the bike. I just feel more comfy with gloves on if it's raining. Once I got to the bike mount line I realized my shoes were completely lose and had to re-tighten my dails. I guess I was out of it.

 

Bike: 56 miles - 2:55:24

Like I said it was lightly raining as I started the bike leg but it wasn't too bad. My heart rate was pretty high and took it took awhile to calm down. My big issue for the first 20 miles was my hip flexor. It was killing me. I wanted to cry it hurt that bad. But I didn't want to slow down and I wanted to try my best so I kept pedaling. Eventually it felt a little better around mile 25. I told myself over and over drink my drink, eat my snacks, I hope M made it out of the water. This is actually the only thing that went through my mind on the ride. No songs, no talking to myself. Just this same phrase over and over again. The course this year was a single loop instead of two loops. I liked to course. It's a fast course with some rolling hills for the first half then it picked up the old course around mile 30ish or so. My goal was around a 2:50 - 2:55ish. I was on target but we really hit some nasty head winds around mile 30 - 45 or so. Ugh. Wind. Why is it always windy? Oh well, kept pedaling. I was pretty happy when we turned back into the park and I knew I was done for the day. No running 13 miles for the win. Although I felt like I could have ran. My legs and stomach felt great.

 

Overall Time: 3:39:03

 

Brick: 2 miles

M and I finished within a couple minutes of each other and did a short brick along some of the run course.

It was a good day and lots of fun. Also so proud of M for finishing his first 1.2 mile swim! I think we are both ready for Raleigh. 2 more weeks! woot!

 

Happy Monday All :)

Racing Weekend

It's Race Day tomorrow!

What race you ask? Kinetic 70.3 - Well I'm only doing the aqua-velo as a training day for Raleigh 70.3

I have actually never done an aqua-velo so it should be fun :) I plan on taking off my timing chip and doing a short brick run when finished. I think it will be a great chance to test out my nutrition plan and work on getting my T1 time down. I always suck in T1.

Hopefully the rain holds off for us. As of now it's a 60% chance of rain. Ugh. Biking in the rain. Not my favorite thing to do. At least on the bright side of things it will be about 70 when we start the ride, so I won't be freezing.

Regardless I am excited about this race as it was my first ever 70.3 last year. 

I think the course is great! But I will be honest I'm not shedding over tears about not running 3 hill filled loops. I'll let everyone else have fun with that.

Happy Friday All and good luck to everyone racing this weekend :)

Weekend Recap

This weekend was filled with sports, traffic, and rage....

Saturday:

I set my alarm for 7am, but was up by 6:30.  I had some oatmeal and was out the door running by 7:30. I had a 105 minute run on my schedule. Sometimes it's hard for me to guess my mileage based on time, but I was guessing this would be around a 12 - 13 mile run. So I did a simple out and back up to the Zoo (6 miles one way). The first half of the run is mostly uphill. My splits: 8:11, 7:59, 8:24, 8:13, 8:39, 8:30. I was hungry by the 6 mile mark and ate half of my honey stinger chews. I normally don't have to take anything in during a run this distance, but I guess I was just hungry that day. But onto the second half which is mostly downhill: 7:56, 8:00, 8:10, 7:56, 8:20, 8:09, 7:35.  As you can see my splits are really all over the place. I really wasn't looking at my watch much and over all the run was uneventful. My overall pace was 8:06 which is right around where I want it to be at Raleigh. Oh course the challenge is keeping that pace after swimming and biking. Also I slow down a lot in the heat. So even though I hate that it's still been in the 60s. I would love it to be that temp come race day. One can only wish.

Soon after my run, we (Rachel, M, and myself) were on our way down to Lake Anna for an open water swim clinic. Lake Anna is about an 1:30 drive from DC so we gave ourselves a little over 2 hours to get there since traffic on 95 always sucks. And sure enough it sucked but we still managed to get to the lake right at 1 o'clock which is when the event was suppose to start. But to our surprise they changed the start time till 2 then delayed it a little more. So it was a lot of sitting around which was irritating. Finally Rachel and myself just got in the water and started swimming. The water felt ok at about 63 degrees. Originally a 500 meter course was suppose to be set up but after swimming 6 loops I realized it was not that long. We are guessing it was around 250 - 300 yards. Not really sure? I ended up doing 9 laps and it was great practice. It was really nice to get some open water swimming in since we never really get a chance to do so. Afterwards we stopped at Chick-fila which might have been the highlight of my day. Oh so good! Then it was onto more rage inducing traffic on 95.

Sunday:

Sportz take two: Bikes!

I will be honest here, I woke up with a running nose and I felt so tired! I did not want to do this ride at all and neither did M. We finally got ourselves out the door at 9:30 to start our ride. The schedule had us doing a 3-4 hour ride. I wanted to go on the longer side of the ride since we missed the last two weeks. I was freezing cold all the way up to the BP and the stupid wind. Ugh. With my race wheels on I feel like I am getting blown all the place. It's scarey. When will I get used to these things? I went out a little past the T down river then turned around to go back home. Once I made it back to the T my legs were trashed. I took a quick break and almost bit the dust trying to clip back in. Then I had a serious laugh attack after telling M I was done and there was no way I was making it back home. I don't know why this was so funny but I have never really laughed so hard on my bike. I was going so slow up hill (5mph) and had to unclip to finish my laugh attack before I fell off my bike. The rest of the ride sucked. Then it sucked some more ounce we hit Georgetown and had to ride back to the city to get over to the Hill. Worst 62 miles ever.

Once home I thought about skipping my brick run but forced myself to do it since it was only 20 minutes. My legs felt like crap but started to warm up but by that time I was done. I was happy with my pace on the run but the thought of running about 10 more miles in 4 weeks, ugh. Can I do it at this pace?

The rest of the day turned into napping :) Oh how I love sleep!

What was the favorite part of your weekend?

Happy Monday All :)

Training Update

Just checking in as I seem to keep forgetting about my little blog.

 

Last week I was sick basically the entire week. I struggled through my workouts Tues - Thurs and finally just couldn't force myself out the door last Friday as I felt like death. I still felt like death on Sat and missed around a 60 mile ride/brick run. I didn't want to not do anything so I dragged myself to the pool and managed to swim 3000 yards. Sunday and Monday though - more rest days as my body got over this stupid sickness.

 

I basically panicked and had a breakdown about missing 4 days in a row of workouts. I especially panicked about missing my long ride as I had missed my long ride the weekend before due to visiting family/friends in VA Beach. That's two long rides missed back to back. I was almost in tears. Will I be able to finish Mount Tremblant? Do I have enough bike training for Raleigh? Have I ruined my training? It's hard for me to deal with missing workouts. I see the workout on the training schedule and I want to do it. It's there for a reason. But, in the end, I am sure I will be fine. I think we have 18 weeks left before MTB and I'm sure I'll have a chance for lots of fun rides. I know working out while sick doesn't really make sense and hopefully I don't get sick again.

 

This week I feel 100% again and my training has been going well. No missed workouts :)

 

I am looking forward to the weekend as we are heading down to Lake Anna for some open water swimming tomorrow. As you guys know, my swimming sucks so this should be helpful. Then on Sunday - Long Ride - woot!

 

Happy Friday All and have a great weekend :)

White Lake Sprint Race Report

We (being M and I) decided to make White Lake Sprint our first tri of the season. Sure it was a long drive, but I think it was worth it to make M feel more comfy in the water as this was his first open water swim race!

 

Anyhow, we drove down on Saturday after biking out to the BP and back (38 miles). We scrambled to get our stuff together and I think were out of the house by 11:30. The drive itself wasn't too bad and we made it down to White Lake, NC in no time. Packet Pick up started at 7pm so after eating at the mom and pops restaurant, Front Porch, we made our way over to the lake.

The lake itself was beautiful and I'm glad we had a chance to check it out before race day. I dipped my feet in and it felt cold because well it was cold. Some people were swimming in it. I had wished we would have known we could have done this, but we didn't have our stuff with us. Oh well.

 

Pre - Race

We got a good nights sleep or at least I did since I was not nervous. The race didn't start till 9am so we slept in till 6:30 and left the hotel at 7:30. We were only 8 minutes from the race site. I had two hard boiled eggs and a muffin at the hotel, then a banana at the race site. Seemed to be the prefect breakfast. Once there, I set up my transition area, put on my wetsuit and was ready to race and cross this finish line!

 

Swim - 750 meters - 13:58

M's wave was before mine and I watched him swim off until I couldn't tell who was who anymore. I was wave 6 and I will admit I was nervous for this swim, mainly due to the water temp. It ended up being 56 degrees which was warmer than the 52 degrees the 70.3 ers swam in the day before. I wore my full sleeved wetsuit and doubled capped my swim caps. I got in the water 5 minutes before my wave started and got used to the water before the horn went off. As soon as we started I was a mess out there. I couldn't control my breathing, I was panicking, I couldn't site, I was stopping and treading water here and there. It really didn't get better until maybe the turn around point were I learned to swim in open water again. So by the time I got in the grove it was time to get out of the water. 

 

T1 - 2:55

Meh, could barley get the top off my wet suit off while running. Once at my spot I struggled to get my wetsuit off my ankles. I looked at M's rack and his bike was gone. He survived the water, I could relax. But for whatever reason I decided to put on gloves because my hands felt cold. I struggled with putting my gloves on big time. So I didn't mess with arm warmers or anything else. I felt like I was in here forever! Then the bike out was narrow and I got stuck behind girls just maundering around and taking their time. I need to work on getting my T1 time down!

 

Bike - 14 miles - 41:16 (20.4 mph)

Clipping in always sucks for me, but then I was off. My goal was really just to pedal hard and not let any girls pass me since I had my race wheels on. I didn't want to look like that person who is riding slow with fancy wheels. There seemed to be a head wind no matter what direction we were riding and my legs were on fire. It felt like I was at Haines Point. I keep telling myself not the slow down that I already messed up the swim and I couldn't afford to ride slow or give up on the bike. The course was just two flat loops around the lake. I was going to eat some chews, but ended up just drinking most of my water in my aero bottle. I was getting worried because I saw no girls in my AG and I thought I must had been the last person out the water. Crap. Ride faster. Must catch girls in my AG. I finally caught two girls at mile 12. Those are the only two, but I did not let anyone pass me except for some guys. At the dismount line some girl in front of my wiped out bad tiring to take her feet out beforehand. Which almost made me fall as well. Then I was stuck behind her in the narrow path to the bike in. I felt bad for her, but she was in my way, so I was irritated.

 

T2: 1:18

M's bike was back on the rack. Good. Anyhow, this transition went a little better but I grabbed my garmin - why - I don't know. I could never get the stupid thing to work and was stuck running with it in my hand. I just restarted my timex watch instead since it had got kicked in the water and wasn't holding my total time anyhow.

 

Run - 5k - 21:40 (6:59 pace)

The run course was a simple out and back. Goal: pick off as many people as I could and see what place I finish in. I caught up to and passed two girls in my AG in the first half of mile. I really had no idea how fast I was running but I was breathing super hard and I think the other runners could hear me for sure behind them. I finally saw M for the first time all day at the one mile mark. Neither one of us said anything to each other and just high fived each other as he was running back in. I grabbed a cup of water and most of it just went down the front of me. The turn around point was a super tight turn and I think I just stopped to make the turn. I just kept telling myself not to slow down that's its only 3 miles. It is suppose to hurt. I was dying though. I passed no other people in my AG so I figured I had to be near the top or the bottom. It didn't matter. I gave it my all down the finish line shut.

 

Total time: 1:21:05 ~ which was good enough for 3rd in my AG and 14/108 women.

Thoughts: I thought my swim sucked big time and thought my time was like 18 minutes or something in the water. So I was surprised when I looked at the results and saw my time wasn't so bad and I was actually the 5th person out the water in my AG. This could explain why I really didn't pass too many people in my AG. I really thought I was dead last out of the water. It felt that bad. But overall the race went great. I am happy with my bike and run times. Actually I have no clue how in hells bells I ran that fast! This is the first time I have placed in a triathlon, so I was/am super excited! I am also super proud of M for finishing his first open water tri!!! He will tell you all about it in his own race report.

 

Happy Monday All :)

Cold water swimming

Guys we finally got the water temp read out yesterday....

 

52 - 53 Degrees!!!!

 

Cold. Cold. Cold. and some more Cold.

 

Am I freaking out. Yes. Is this swim only 750 meters. Yes. Will I live. Yes. Will I be cold. Yes.

 

Plan of attack here ---- swim fast ---- and get the hell out of the water as fast as I can!!

 

Things I plan to do:

1. Wear my full sleeve wet suit

2. Crap I no other cold weather swimming gear

3. Scramble around town looking for a neoprene swim cap and maybe booties

4. Cry about how cold the water is going to be

5. Cry some more about it and swim in it anyhow

6. Get some ear plugs

7. Complain some more

8. Wear a cycling jacket and gloves on the bike so I can try to warm up

9. Keep a positive attitude - or at least try too

10. Oh yeah have fun in the cold water :)

 

Ok - done with my little rant - I am ready to swim and race!!

 

NC here comes to the M's - cold water and all. Oh yeah this is M's first ows, lucky him! He will do great though, I know it!

 

Happy Friday All and have a great weekend!  

First Tri of the Season!

Guess What... It's Race Week!!! Yippy!

 

My first tri of the season is this Sunday - White Lake Sprint - and I'm super excited to race.

 

Half of me kind of wishes I was doing the 70.3 on Sat but the other half is glad I'm doing the sprint. Either way, it feels like it's been forever since I have actually done a tri. Oh wait it has. My last tri was at IM Louisville.

 

I just put on my race wheels over the weekend :)

They feel great, although I got freaked out in the wind with them yesterday. To be fair we had 18-20mph winds and I just felt like I was getting blown around and felt as if I might get knocked over. Don't know if it's the wheels fault or not but my bike handling skills get a big fail with a capital F. I only did one lap at Haines and then rode home. Stupid. I know. So hopefully they will feel more comfy when I ride on Sat before driving down to NC for the race.

 

Anyhow, this is not an A race or anything and is more a less a fun little race but I still want to do ok. Maybe riding 2.5 hrs the day before is not the smartest but yeah I'm sure my legs will be fine.

 

Some little goals:

 

Swim ~

The water, well I'm not really sure what the water temp is suppose to be? My guess is low to mid 60s. I plan on wearing my full sleeved wet suit and getting out of the water as fast as possible. What's fast for me for 750 meters. I have no clue, ha. I really am clueless about swim times. I just know I will actually put forth an effort on the swim instead of just swimming to swim like I usually do during a race. I haven't been in open water in so long that I hope not to panic when the gun goes off. Also get my wet suit off my ankles fast in T1. I suck at this!

 

Bike ~

My bike times have been so slow in training. Every day it's windy. Maybe it won't be windy on Sunday, that would be so nice! I really don't have a clue what to expect out of myself. The course is two 7 mile flat loops that go around the lake. This sounds like a fast course. Hoping for 19mph but we shall see.

 

Run ~

I really don't get the run course and it kind of sounds more or less like a cross country course. Anyhow I have been having good runs off the bike. 7:xx miles for the win! Now to actually achieve this pace during the race :)

 

Nutrition ~ It's a sprint, but I plan on eating some honey stinger chews on the bike and make sure I drink.  

 

Happy Wednesday All :)

Training Update...

How has my training been going? Hmm... it's been going ok I guess. I am in week 11 of a 20 week 70.3 training program. Which puts me at week 4 of a 24 week 140.6 training program. Like last year I am not using a coach and using training programs I found online or in books. I am kind of blending the two programs together which seems to work out fine since the big IM training block doesn't start till around June anyhow. If anyone is interested in my training spread sheet just let me know and I am happy to share it.

 

Anyhow, like I said training has been going ok. I missed 2 key (longer) bike rides due to being in NYC one weekend and racing in RnR USA half the next. I think not doing the ride after my half was key to recovery (my legs were shot) so I don't feel bad missing that ride at all. The NYC on the other hand I do feel bad about. Regardless I don't plan on missing any more, but I do understand that life just gets in the way sometimes. Also with competition season winding down for my gymnasts  - we only have one meet left at the end of April - it will make my training schedule a little easier. Trying to squeeze training in while working 12 + hours coaching on the weekends is hard.

 

The big thing for me right now is to get the most out of my workouts instead of just going through the motions. Really looking at quality here. I would like to improve both my 70.3 (at IM Raleigh) and IM (at IM Mount Tremblant) times this year and I know that involves a lot of hard work. The biggest area I feel like I slack at is swimming. I kind of always just swim at whatever pace feels comfy to me. I don't time myself on sets and just look at the clock when I get in the water and when I get out. This has to change. Swimming is by far my weakest. I need to push myself more.

 

Also this weather! OMG is it ever going to get warm out? And will the wind ever stop blowing. The weather is just killing my motivation. Especially on the bike and my morning runs. I complained all day that I didn't want to ride yesterday but I still got my butt out there. 9 laps at Haines Point was sole sucking and the wind, ugh the wind, it never seems to disappoint. Although I feel like I am getting stronger and instead of riding 13 - 14mph into the nasty headwinds I can now hit 16-17. Improvement. Yippy. My morning runs are a different story. Every Wednesday I set my alarm for 5:40 and every Wednesday I re-set it till 6:40. Sleep! But it's not so much about the sleep or feeling tired, it's more about it being pitch black outside and cold. Once again no motivation to run in that. Most days I put it off till lunch time. Today is no different. But I hate running during the day because I always look like a mess at work when I come back. Oh well I suppose, such is life.

 

Next week is a recovery week aka taper week which I am looking forward to. My first tri of the season is White Lake Sprint, April 7th. I want to do well, but it's not a A race or anything so yeah not really tapering for it. Recovery week just happens to fall next week which works out perfect. The race itself should be fun, but I am a little sacred that I am going to be cold. Looks like it might be a high of 65 in NC next weekend although it's too early to tell. How hard are arms warms to put on soaking wet? Or maybe just a jacket on the bike? Blah I have little bit more time to worry about it.

 

Ok I have done enough rambling for today.

 

Happy Wednesday All :)

RnR USA Race Report

Rock n Roll USA - You were kind to me!

 

This race has always been one of my favorites as I love not having to really travel or drive my car to a race. This year they had a new course with that start line starting by the Washington Monument and ending at RFK stadium. I thought this would be a hassle, but it really worked out perfect. And walking home from the finish line was the best. 

We took the metro from Eastern Market and were by the start line in no time. I wanted to try to go to the bathroom one last time before starting, but the lines were impassably long, so not bathroom breaks, we just made our way to the start. I gave M a kiss and wished him good luck as we were starting in different corrals. I was in 3, he was in 10. I actually really liked how they started the corrals with a minute or so in-between. Made for no running into people and bumping elbows. I was happy.

 

My goal going into this race was a 1:40:xx - which would be a 4 minute PR for me. I didn't have high hopes for myself and decided I was just going to run at whatever pace.

 

Miles 1 - 3: 7:20 - 7:06 - 7:24

Weeee.... this is fun and I'm feeling good. I wasn't really paying much attention to my pace until I ran over the 5k timing mat. I thought I should maybe slow down, as may pace should be around 7:40 but I was feeling good and I knew the big Calvert hill would kill my pace anyhow and I needed to make up the time somewhere.

 

Miles 4 - 6: 7:23 - 7:35 - 7:30

This is the new section of the course that runs on Rock Creek Parkway. I thought it would be boring, but it really didn't bother my much. I found a guy running in a bright yellow shirt and decided he was running a nice comfy pace and that I would stick right behind him. I no longer wanted just a 1:40, I wanted a sub 1:40 and I was feeling so good I thought for sure I could do it.

 

Miles 7 - 9: 8:33 - 7:46 - 7:31

Calvert Hill - Aka Death Hill. Just as suspected this hill was a beast! I was really looking forward to seeing team rage as they were standing near the top cheering everyone on. It put a small smile on my face when I saw them. Best cheering squad ever :) I actually don't know what mile the hill as at though? I feel like the 10k timing mat might have been at the top of hill, which means I actually still held a 7:30 minute mile going up the thing. Which would also explain  why I felt like I might die when I got to the top. My next mile I could barely move my legs and I was breathing hard. I tried to keep up with yellow shirt but he kept getting farther and farther away from me. Watched beeped: 8:33. WTF. I thought about giving up. Could I still get a sub 1:40 with this stupid 8:33 mile? I didn't want to give up. I wanted to try so I kept running. Next mile was a little better at a 7:46 and then a 7:31. I can do this!

 

Miles 10 - 13: 7:27 - 7:46 - 8:06 - 7:23

Once I crossed the 10 mile mark I started during the math in by head. I can get 1:39, but then I start slowing down..... whomp whomp whomp! I don't know why but mile 12 up the small hill on 13th street really killed me. I thought I was going faster than what I was and was really upset when I saw my watch beep at an 8:06. I knew this was going to be near to impossible now because I had no seconds to spare on my watch. I gave it my all the last mile for a 7:23 pace but it wasn't good enough.

 

On my watch: 13.23 mile = 1:40:46 for a 7:37 pace

 

Official time: 13.1 miles = 1:40:47 for a 7:42 pace.

 

Thoughts 

I got a PR! I made my goal! But, I was still disappointed. I felt so strong most of the run and just let it slide away from me in the last couple of miles. A couple seconds here or there and I would have an a 1:39. I guess better luck next time and I know I should still be happy.

 

Side note: Jason also got a PR by 7 minutes and went a sub 2 hrs with a 1:59 :)

 

Happy Monday All and I hope everyone is enjoying the snow

HM Coming Up...

So I am about two weeks out form my half marathon on Sat the 16th. I am getting excited, but I am also doubting myself.

 

I really really want to PR at this race and I would be really happy if I could finish with a 1:40xx something. I hope this is not a far fetched goal.

 

I have been putting in the track workouts and doing hill repeats up and down Capitol Hill every week. But I guess the one thing I have been lacking is doing tempo runs. I kind of try to mix these into my long runs but haven't been doing that great with it.

 

Last week I ran 12 miles at an 8:00 min pace - but I probably only ran 6 miles hitting a 7:50 pace. My half marathon goal pace is a 7:40 and it just seems like it is going to very hard or near to impossible to do.

 

True I ran a 14k at this pace a few weeks ago, but could I hold that pace for another 4.5 miles? I don't know? Then there is the issue of running up that big stupid Calvert hill. I haven't ran that hill at all during training and during Capitol Hill repeats I can usually only hold a 8:30 pace running up that stupid thing. I plan on running most of the course this weekend as my final long run to include the fun hill. Maybe this will give me a better gage to were I am at? Or at the very least make me feel more confident going into the race.

 

Happy Thurs. All :)

Missing a Workout...

Do you ever have one of those days you just don't feel like doing anything?

I had one of those days last Saturday, although my day did not start off like that. I guess the fatal mistake I made was going to do errands first before doing my 2 hour trainer ride. By the time I got home from running around VA it was about 2 o'clock. I was hungry as I didn't really eat lunch but I tried getting on the trainer anyhow. 5 minutes into the spin I was hungry. surprise. So I got off and ate a little snack. I tried getting back on about a half hour later and lasted only 5 minutes again. I just didn't feel into it and knew I would get nothing out of the workout.

About an hour later - I was mad at myself and knew I would be mad at myself for skipping the workout. I had no time to do it the next day as I would be coaching for 12 hours. So attempt number 3 on the trainer came and went. Once again I only lasted 5 minutes and got off the thing.

For the next two hours I watched M take his turn on the trainer and I wasn't jealous and I wasn't upset. Yes I completely missed my workout for no good reason other than being lazy. Yes I know it's bad to skip workouts. Yes I know that this workout leads up to another workout. But I skipped it anyhow.

I do not miss workouts very often and I def am not making a habit out of this! I had the day off of work on Monday and thought about squeezing this ride in with my long run & swim that were moved from Sunday. But then I thought I would just make myself super fatigued for the rest of the week doing all 3 sports on the same day. Not worth it.

Anyhow, if you miss a workout - do you try to make it up or just let it be?

Happy Wednesday All :)

VA is for Lovers 14k Race Report

Ok, so I'm finally writing my race report for the VA is for the Lovers 14k.

 

We (being M and I) drove down to VA Beach on Friday night and stayed with our friends Jill and Mike. They were also racing :)

 

Race morning I had a bagel and banana then the 4 of us headed to the field house. Parking was a little bit of a mess and we had to park farther away than expected. Not too big of a deal and we just gear checked our coats.

 

The nice thing about this race is that the start line is right outside the field house and the finish line is actually inside the field house. We got there about an hour before the 9am start time and it was so nice to hang out somewhere warm and pretend to stretch.

 

It was a super cold and windy morning (maybe 35 with at least 20mph winds) so we only gave ourselves about 15 minutes of standing outside before the race started. M and I had entered the couple challenge, but you actually don't have to run together. They just add your times together for your score. So I started in coral 2 with my M so he could hug and cuddle me to keep me warm even though I was suppose to be in number 1. Not really a big deal, but it was a little annoying weaving in and out of the runners at the start.

Miles 1 - 3: 7:19 - 7:39 - 7:46

I always always go out fast at the beginning. But I was really just trying to get around some of the slower runners and find my comfy zone. I really wasn't paying any attention to my watch until it beeped at mile 1 and I saw I was running to fast. My goal was to run a 7:45 pace so during miles 2 and 3, I got my pace to where I wanted it.

 

Miles 4 - 6: 7:45 - 7:44 - 7:40

I was feeling pretty good even though the wind was being a bitch. I actually probably shouldn't have bothered looking at my watch because this pace felt comfortable. I guess that is the weird thing about wearing a garmin though, you think you have to run a certain pace even though you don't. Maybe I could have ran a little faster if I just ran by feel instead of looking at my watch every time it beeped. During these miles I was also thinking "I have to keep up this pace, I can do it, I want to post on twitter that I got my legs back. I ran fast (for me)." I know.... the little things that keep us motivated during a race.

 

Miles 7-8.66: 7:51 - 7:56 - 4:57

Whomp Whomp Whomp. I was starting to get tired and we were really running into a head wind. I felt like I wasn't moving. I was pissed with the 7:51 mile and I was even more pissed at the 7:56 mile. It wasn't that I was giving up, it just felt like I wasn't moving. My plan was to run the last two miles a 7:30 pace, but I guess I just couldn't do it? I certainly did not give up though like the last couple of races. I kept pushing myself and brought my pace back down to a 7:30 for the last .66 of a mile.

 

Here are my final results:

Overall: I am pretty happy with this race and I am glad I finally had a good race. My goal was a 7:45 and I did that, I ran a 7:40 pace. Yet I am still nit picking my race apart and wishing I ran faster. I guess I will never be happy? I guess I will always want and expect more. Anyhow, it was a fun race and it was fun to hang out with my friends after wards in the nice warm field house and have a beer. M and I did great as a couple (Team MCKIWI) and placed 24th out of 185 couples! 

Happy Friday All and good luck to all marathoners this weekend! 

Prince William Forest Park

Happy Tues everyone. I ended up having not only a great race, but an overall great weekend while visiting my friend in VA Beach.

While I am still super excited about my race time - I'm going to skip over writing a race report today and talk about Ms and I lovely bike ride on Sunday.

We had brought our bikes with us to the beach and our original plan was to meet up with a local bike shop and go for a ride. However it still seemed super cold in the morning, so we decided it would just be smarter to go later in the day. Stopping at Prince William Forest Park off 95 on our way home made perfect sense and we got there around 11ish. Perfect! Plus the park is only about 35 minutes outside of DC.

I have only rode here once and it was a big fail last yr. I had to walk my bike uphill. ha. I was scared the same thing was going to happen to me this year, because well I suck at hills and I haven't rode on any really since the fall. But nope. Didn't have to walk at all this time.

What is nice about the PWF Park is it's about a 11.5 mile loop that basically no cars drive on. I liked looped courses early season because it's nice to know you are always close to your car if your feet happen to freeze off. Plus there is a visitors center with a restroom you can use which is a big plus for me.

The loop has about 912 feet of climbing - and most of the hills seem to be in one section so your legs are really working. And by working I mean I was going 4mph up hill. Slow Slow Slow. And the down hills - fun but scary. Going 36mph weeee.

Overall it was a good ride and we just did two loops for 24 miles with 1,824 ft of climbing. I will def. be coming back here because it's a great area to ride plus I need hills, hills, hills this year and these ones are nice and close.

Have a great Tues :)

Winter Cycling

Last year I wouldn't, I mean I didn't, even think of riding outside this time of year. It was the trainer without question every time I had cycling on my schedule.

This year I am changing my tune a bit and went out and bought winter cycling gear and have been riding outside on some of the days. Sure it's cold out there, but I loaf the trainer! I know you can and do get good workouts in on your trainer but... it's just so boring to me! I can't watch tv as it doesn't motivate me so it's just me, my bike, and pandora. I actually dread the time on my trainer even though it's never too bad once I get started.

Anyhow, I have been trying to get out there and ride if the weather is at least 35/40 degrees and the wind isn't something ridiculous. Yesterday I headed out after work at about 3:50pm to get in an 1:45 worth of riding. It was about 40 out when I left and I don't think it got any warmer while I was trying to out ride the sun set. My feet for me have been a big issue while riding in the cold so I have made some changes to keep them warmer. Instead of just toe covers I went out and bought full shoe covers. This made a big difference. I also have been using Heat Max foot warmers. These are kind of neat and just stick on the bottom of your socks and help keep your feet warm. As for my cycling jacket I went with a little bit of a warmer jacket (that has fleece on the inside) & has wind stopping material on the outside - the Castelli Viziata jacket. I love it and it keeps me warm, but sometimes I get a little too toasty in it. Strangely my hands don't get too cold while riding in aero and I use middle thickness cycling gloves. Now my commute is a different story - my hands are always cold on my commute to work and I'm currently on the search for warmer gloves. Lastly, I always have to keep my ears covered and just put on any hat that I have handy.

But even with all this stuff on I think my max ride time in the cold is about 2 hours. Yesterday for whatever reason my feet were still cold and turning into ice blocks. I thought about calling it quits an hour in but stuck it out. A warm shower never felt so good once I made it home and I just melted into the couch the rest of the night.

So winter cycling - Do you stay on your trainer or do you brave the cold?

I think for me I will continue to do some of my rides on the trainer and some outside.

Happy Wednesday All :)

Upcoming Race ~ VA is for Lovers 14k

So this weekend is my second race of the year, the Virginia is for Lovers 14k down in VA Beach. Actually M and I signed up for the couples challenge where they combine our times for ranking. Fun right :)

I ran this race last year with my good friend Jill - as it was her very first race! She has came a long way in a year and will be running this race again this year as a marathoner and a newly wed! Jill just got married at the end of Jan and her and her new hubby will also be running in the couples challenge.  

 

What is nice about the couple challenge though is that you actually don't have to run together. I know this sounds horrible since it's a Valentines Day theme race and no offence to my one and only but I want to try to see if I can go somewhat fast for me.

 

My last few races have well not gone well. I ran slow, gave up in the middle, then went home and pouted about my race times. Now, I'm not expecting a miracle here at this race but I have been putting in track workouts and tempos into my running. I guess what I hope to accomplish this weekend is not giving up 4 miles into the race because my legs aren't working or my head hurts or something. I want to give this a 100% effort. What that means is I would like to try for a 7:45 - 7:55 minute miles. Can I do this? I should be able to. I guess the real challenge for me will be to keep a positive mind set while running and not to think this is a stupid race and it doesn't really matter when I finish. I mostly say this because I always care about my time after I finish.

 

Anyhow, it should be a fun weekend and I am looking forward to visiting Jill and racing :)

 

Happy Tues All :)

Training - Week 3

I am slowly working my way out of my motivation slump one week at a time and week 3 of lots & lots of weeks of training went well. Now lets hope I can keep the ball rolling and have another good week this week! Oh and plus I get to race this sat :)

 

Anyhow, here's how last week went:

 

Monday - Rest day with 4 mile bike commute

 

Tuesday - Bike: (1:44) - 30.5 miles: The weather was nice so I went down to Haines Point after work. I did  6 x short loops with one long loop working on intervals. I managed to hold 23mph on the interval sets but I think the tail wind was really helping me there.

 

2 mile bike commute

 

Wednesday - Run am (:44) - 5 miles: Woke up bright and early and was out the door by 6am with my M. We did a mile warm up then headed to Lincoln Park for our track practice. Maybe because I was half sleep my legs didn't want to turn over and I felt like I was extra slow. Did 1 x 1600 - 2 x 800 - 2 x 400. Then a mile cool down by to our house.

 

Swim pm (:49) - 2500 yards: Nothing to special here. Did a ladder that started and 100 and worked its way up to 500, then back down.

 

4 mile bike commute

 

Thursday - Bike (1:00) - 15 miles: Another early morning. This time fitting in my trainer session before having to be at my desk at 7:30. I hate the trainer and this ride was no different.

 

2 mile walk commute

 

Friday - Run - (:40) - 4.7 miles: It was cold and really windy (30mph gusts). I couldn't make myself go in the dark and the cold so I went during my lunch break. It was still cold and windy and I was hoping the wind would help push me up the hill during my hill repeats. I didn't think the wind did jack sh*t but I did 7 x Cap Hill repeats and froze my butt off. Once back at work I couldn't get warm for the life of me.

 

Swim - (:49) - 2500 yards: Sick of swimming slow. My main set was 10 x 100 at about 1:40 with 10 second rest between sets. This was hard for me.

 

4 mile bike commute

 

Saturday - Bike - (2:00) - 30 miles: Way to cold out to think about riding outside, so the trainer it was :( But as much as I loaf the trainer I got a good workout in.

 

Swim - (:50) - 2500 yards - Went to the pool with my M. It was crowded and I ended up sharing a lane with some stupid people with no swim etiquette. Anyhow more speed work with 10 x (50 - 100).

 

Sunday - Run (1:19) 10 miles: I put off my run all day! I woke up with a headache that just wouldn't go away. I laid back down for a nap in hopes I would feel better and two hours later, yes a two hour nap, my head did feel better. I was stupid though and wanted junk food when I woke up and had skittles and a coke. Finally at 3 I got myself out the door for my run knowing it had only been a half hour since I ate all that junk. And guess what - my stomach hurt- no surprise there. Despite my stomach slushing around with coke in it, I had a good run. I finished up my run with a 7:45 minute mile. Which is right around were I want to be this weekend during my 14k race.

 

Happy Monday All and have a great week :)

Training Blues...

Ok, so I decided to come out of hiding and blog. I know everyone missed me. I basically just am doing a lot of rambling here, but here goes nothing: 

Somewhere between last year and this year I feel like I have lost myself. Or maybe not lost myself but lost my will to train.

 

I thought and I hoped I would feel differently once 70.3 training for Raleigh started the week of January 14th. I thought maybe I just needed structure and a pretty spread sheets to make myself excited about training again. Unfortunately my feelings didn't change and just two weeks into training I was just slugging through the workouts and missed 2 bike sessions and a swim session due to a weekend wedding in Ohio. Normally I would be upset and or mad at myself, but I enjoyed myself over the weekend and I don't regret for a second missing those workouts to see one of my best friends get married and spend time with my family.

 

Anyhow, I have really been second guessing myself as to what I really want to do and what I really want out of this sport. Yes I still love swim - biking - and running. I just feel like something is missing? Maybe that something is a goal? Last year everything was a first for me. My first olympic distance, my first 70.3, my first ironman. It was new, it was exciting! I had my eyes on the finish line and my was goal was just to finish. And all the training I put in felt amazing when I crossed those finish lines. Now, I almost feel like well I have done those things, I reached my goal, what is next? Do I really like the ironman distance, do I really care about my time, what should my goals be???

 

I have been frustrated with my running times and my swim never seems to improve. I know there is a part of me that cares because well it makes me upset and it makes me upset when I do poorly at a race. Hmm, I really don't know where I am going with all this? I know it's only Wednesday but things seem to be going better this week and I seem to be more motivated. I just hope and pray that I can find what is missing and get myself out of this slump that has been ongoing since Oct.  

 

Happy Wen All and I hope everyone is enjoying the 70 degree Jan weather :)

Starting off the New Year

Happy New Year All!!!!

 

It's been awhile since I have blogged, but I decided today to come out of hiding.

 

I started 2013 with a fun 5k yesterday and a bike ride around Hains Point.

 

The 5k was a small race and only cost $5 to get into! I loved the cost and the low key race. I actually wish more races were like this. At any rate though my running was less than exciting. I have been struggling big time lately with it. I keep getting slower rather than faster and can't seem to get it together during a race, which sucks. Even though I had fun I was still flustered at the end of day and talked poor M's ear off about it.

 

Maybe I will be able to get it together by Feb 9th for my 14k or by March 16th for my half. I would really hate to have two more races were I am no where even close to my PR. But then again all running is good running and I always need to remember that.

 

Anyhow, 2013 will be well about the same as 2012. ha. My main focus will be on getting myself across the finish line at IM Mount Tremblant along with learning how to spell it so I don't have to look it up every time :) This year though I would like to improve on my IM time instead of just worrying about trying not to die. In addition, I would like to keep a positive outlook about training and not let a bad training day or race get me down. There are worse things in the world besides having a bad day. So yeah. Stay positive.

 

Well I hope everyone had a great 2012 and started off the new year with a smile.

 

Happy Wednesday All :)