Seattle 1/2 Marathon

It's done. Done in 2:26, to be exact.  I have no idea if that is considered "good" for a 1/2 marathon time or not, but since I crossed the finish line in one piece and did not die out on the course, I consider it to be a success.

I really enjoyed the course, which I realize makes me a sick, sick person - it was hilly and challenging, but that also kept things interesting.  There was alot to look at along the course: downtown shops, Christmas lights, million dollar homes, the waterfront, so at least I was never bored on this run. (can't say the same for running at home on the canal bank gazing at the same stand of sagebrush.  Ooooohhhh, Ahhhhhh.)

The hardest part of the race was the last 3 miles.  You run through the Arboretum and it never seems to end.  It keeps going, and going and going and going and....oh, sorry, got carried away.  Anyways, then in the last mile there's alot of downhill action which at that point was killing my knees.  Felt like my kneecaps were going to pop off sideways and run away. 

I felt really good about this race (does this count as a race or just an "experience"?).  I was able to keep up with Kendra the whole time, and pretty much ran the entire 13.1 miles, with the exception of some hills.  My average mile time was 11:13 (yuck) but that takes into account the time spent walking halfway up the hills, one potty stop, and walking throught the aid stations. My nike+ recorded a pace of around 8:30/9:00 per mile when I was actually running - those potty stops really screw up your overall average.  Would I do this race again?  Not sure, but I had a good time doing this one.

Kendra & I getting ready to cross the finish line

What's next?  Well I've been taking some time off for about the last week, which has felt fantastic!  But I think I'm ready to get back into working out - just maintenance at this point, no actual training.  Training will start once I'm finished coaching basketball (otherwise I stress about not fitting in workouts).  I'm thinking lots of strength training, core work, pilates and some quality time bonding with my bike trainer. And some running as soon as my foot decides to heal itself.  Stupid plantar fasciitis.

Well hmmm....

...now what?

In the last week I have:

1. Gotten a massage - didn't realize that it would make me nauseous.  It was an interesting night.
2. Read Bicycling magazine from cover to cover.
3. Cleaned.  Sort of.  
4. Went for a run.  Okay, a jog.  With alot of walking.  Felt like I had cement legs and was slogging through mud.
5. Made chocolate chip cookies.
6. Soaked my leg in enough Apple Cider vinegar that I think I may have pickled it.
   
7. Gained back any and all weight lost from the last race (see #5).
8. Done Pilates once - enough to make me shriek in pain every time I sneeze and my abs clench.
9. Found my guest bed under a pile of laundry. (Did you know that the quilt in there is green?  I couldn't remember.  it's been covered for too long.)

So.  Now what?  Tri training is officially over for the season, and that's probably a good thing.  As much as I want to keep going, my body is ready for a break. I would really like to keep busy training for something...I tend to slip back into some really bad habits - land me back in therapy habits -  if I don't have a plan to stick to.  I'm ready for the next "thing" and I'm thinking....

....half marathon.

Race Report: The Grand Columbian Olympic Tri

This was my first Olympic distance race, and in the few days leading up to it, I was a mess.  I was all psyched out mentally, and I caught a nasty sinus cold two days before the race, neither of which did anything to help my confidence level.  I started to feel better on Friday and was able to drive to the race site, about an hour away, to rack Honey and go to the athletes meeting with a couple of friends who were doing the half-iron.  It felt good to get checked in, get my swag bag and check out the race site.  We did attend the meeting, but I'm not really sure how much we got out of it.  Of course, it would help if we hadn't been the three annoying ones goofing around in the back row!   After about an hour of not paying attention  listening intently to every word the race director said, it was time to drive home, pack my race bags, and try to get some sleep.

Saturday morning came early, but it wasn't too bad.  Part of the reason for checking in on Friday was so that I could sleep in a little bit longer on race morning - great plan!  Had breakfast, loaded the car, filled Dave with coffee, and we were off.  We got there just in time to say good luck to Scott and Sam before the half-iron race started and then I had about 40 minutes to get myself ready.  Just the way I like it - I hate getting to the site too early because then I just get nervous, and today was all about staying calm, having fun, and sticking to my race plan.

Swim: 0.9 mile / 34:22 / 2:05 pace

I was able to get right into the water and warm up, which was nice since the water temperature was a tad on the chilly side.  It is mid-September after all.  And my wetsuit is sleeveless (mental note to remedy that before next season).  I had a good warm up, found my starting spot, christened my wetsuit (yes, I peed in the lake.  Me and 300 other athletes.  get over it), and before I knew it the horn sounded and we were off....

...and it was FANTASTIC!  I love every minute of the swim. 

Headed in...

The swim course was an out and back with a little loop at the far end to make sure no one cheated.  There were marker buoys the whole way out, and there was even a rope about 6 feet underwater to follow so you didn't really have to sight.  The plan was to just swim from buoy to buoy and count them off as I went, using the rope as my guide.  I wanted to take it easy on the way out since it would be more crowded and I would have to fight for position a little, but also so I could pick it up on the way back in.  All summer long my swims have been faster in the second half, and I was counting on that today.

The swim was pretty uneventful.  I hung at the back of the lead pack and just kept my pace nice and easy, making bubbles, counting off buoys, following the rope, and most of all trying to enjoy it.  At the turn around I was feeling really good and when I popped up to sight this girl in the water next to me started cheering for everyone!  It was nice, but also distracting because she wanted to have a conversation.  The pace picked up right then because I couldn't stand the cheerleader anymore.  I was able to hold a faster pace on the way back in, and actually passed quite a few people, which felt great, but also tells me I probably need to start closer to the front of the group.  Things were going great, and I was almost sad the swim was done.....then I got a cramp with about 75 yards to go.  Not a small cramp, but a knife-through-the-middle-of-your-calf cramp.  WTF?!?  One f'n buoy to go and this happens?  I was able to get it sort of worked out, kicked with one leg, and pulled as hard as I could with my scrawny arms to get to the finish.  I actually came out of the water smiling!

 

pushing to the end of the swim

T1 was uneventful, but this race had bags and changing tents, just like Ironman does, which was a new experience for me - I liked it!  Much more organized that having to sift through a pile of crap under my bike. 

Bike: 40K (24.8miles) / 1:39:23 / avg pace of 15.1mph

Okay, I'm not gonna lie, this bike course was a b!tch. Zero fun, sir.  See the picture?  See the canyon behind me?  Yeah, you climb out of that.  The first climb is about a mile into the course and it's a series of switchbacks that take you up the side of the canyon.  I think it's about 3 miles long, with 1000ft elevation change, and the climb is about a 7% grade, with some of the switchback turns at about 14%.  In other words, it's nasty and not for the faint of heart. 

 

 View from the top of the climb

There wasn't really a big plan for the bike.  Just to put it in my easiest gear right away and spin, spin, spin my way up the hill, which I did.  I passed a woman who was pushing her bike up the hill, and momentarily considered it, but then figured I'd hate myself for it later.  The triathletes "walk of shame" if you will.  The awesome part about the course was that it was open to traffic and people were driving up the switchbacks cheering for their athletes.  Mom and Dad came and found me!  It was great too because I needed a morale boost on that climb (seriously...it took my an hour to do the first 9 miles), and they seemed to show up around every turn.  Thanks guys!

Once I got to the top, where it is gentle rollers, I was able to focus on getting my nutrition eaten and playing with my aerobars - not originally part of the plan, but they got installed on Thursday, so I had to try them.  I was given strict instructions from Sam to stay out of aero on the downhills, lest I end up in the ditch.  I am so glad for that little piece of advice!!  My top speed on the really long downhill was 35 mph, and I can only imagine what asphalt would have felt like at the speed.  Ouch!  Once you hit the bottom of the hill you are back in town with a mile to go till T2 - the only part of the course that's flat, I swear.

T2 was uneventful also, it just felt good to be off the bike eventhough I wasn't hurting anywhere except my calf still.  By now the sun had come out so it was time to switch the arm warmers for the visor and some dry socks and go for a little jog.

Run: 10K (6.2 miles) / 1:10:53 / 11:26 per mile

I wasn't sure how this was going to play out.  I knew that I had to take in all my calories & fluids on the bike to make it through the run, and I had done that.  The plan was to stop and walk through the aid stations, drink one cup of water, dump one on my head, and then run to the next one.  I started the run in pretty good spirits, as you can tell from the photo below, mostly becuase I was still ahead of Sam and Scott.  I figure that Sam would be the first one to catch me, so I made it a game to see how long I could hold him off.

 

 

 I'm still ahead of the guys!

The first three miles weren't too bad.  My legs felt thrashed from the hills, but they didn't hurt all that much.  What really got me was the water I slogged down at the first aid station - I think I swallowed a bunch of air too, because I had this massive burp-hiccup thing that was stuck and it hurt so bad!  And I couldn't get rid of it.  It was there for the whole 6 miles.  Everytime I drank something it made me feel sick, and everytime I started to run it felt like a stabbing pain in my chest.  So frustrating!!  I had the mental game and the legs to do this run.  Argh.

I hit the turn around, and I was ready to be finished.  It was starting to get hot, my chest hurt, and my legs were trashed.  And I still had three miles to go.  Okay, time to call an audible at the line - new plan: walk the aid stations and the uphills, run the rest of it.  "Just keep puttering," is what I kept telling myself.  Everytime I stopped to walk I had to pay attention to who was headed my way - I didn't want Sam or Scott to catch me walking, eventhough I figured they were in just as much pain as I was.  I passed Sam going the other direction with about 1.5 miles left where I got a high-five and some much needed words of encouragement.  One last walk through the aid station, and then I began the 1/2 mile gradual climb back into town.  It was a booger, but I only stopped and walked once.  As I was walking along this guy in a Timex race kit came up long side me and struck up a conversation, asking me how I was doing and offering encouragement.  It turns out he was the winner of the half-iron!  Nice of him to take time out of his busy tri-winning schedule to help me through a crappy hill!  After the crappy hill, it's all downhill to the finish line.  I almost started to cry in the last half mile just because I was so happy to have done this race, and finished - 3rd in my age group no less!

 

Almost there! 

Total Time: 3:33:51 / 19th woman overall / 3rd in age group

All in all it was a fantastic day - I was pleased with how my race went.  No major issues, and the ones I did have I was able to fight through.  Everything seemed to click for me in this race - so much in fact that I almost wish there was another (flat) one to do!  I had so much fun, and that's the important thing - that was one of my goals.

The day ended with a "team" dinner at Tequila's with Kendra, G, Sam, Scottie, Dee Dee and H, and Dave and I - we had a great time!  Thanks you guys for making it such a fun weekend!

What if?

What if.....
...the water is cold?
...I get swam over/punched/kicked?
...the turn buoy looks too far away?
...I panic and hyperventilate?
...I run into the wrong changing tent?
...the hills are just too much?
...the switchbacks are too steep and I fall over?
...I have to get off and push?
...I get a flat?
...I crash on a downhill?
...fall in front of everyone dismounting in T2?
...start off too fast and bonk?
...have tummy troubles on the run?
...have to walk alot?
...cramp up?

sigh.  this is exhausting.

...I relax and enjoy the sport and comeptition?
...I trust in my training and preparation?
...I KNOW that I can swim that distance in 34 minutes?
...I fight for my spot in the water?
...I put my head down and just swim?
...I came out of the water with a smile on my face?
...I KNOW I'm a good climber?
...I practice changing a flat?
...I KNOW I can handle high speed descents?
...I smile and enjoy the ride?
...I eat well prior to the race and stick to my nutrition plan?
...I pace myself off the bike?
...I smile and enjoy the run?
...I KNOW I can finish with a good time?

What if I just stopped getting in my own way?  What would I be capable of?

Bungee Smuggler

Banana Hammock
Speedo

Not to be worn in public by any man, really.  Unless of course you are Michael Phelps, which could really be another post entirely.

The swimwear in question belonged to that of an ambitious swimmer at our local pool yesterday.  Oh, sure, he seemed harmless enough, and definitely knew what he was doing in the pool....but he had an attitude.  Not just a "look at me in my HOT PINK nothingness" attitude, but a "I'm better than you and I'm not going to say anything, I'm just going to showoff to prove it."  

I have very little use for this kind of attitude.  Especially when there are already 5 of us sharing 4 lanes.  Especially when the 6th person opts to do the 100 Individual Medley the whole time.  Especially when it is clad in hot pink.

You know what I mean by IT. *shudder*

I didn't really start to get irritated until I got smacked while he was butterfly-ing past me.  Grrr.  Now, maybe I was a little irritable because I was at the 1 mile mark of my workout, my shoulders were burning, and my arms were going to fall off, but that's beside the point. 

It's my blog.  I'll complain if I want too.

On the next lap we hit the wall at the same time, and frankly, I'd  had enough.  Someone needed to take this guy down a notch.  He switched to freestyle and I decided that it was game on.

He will not beat me to the wall.

With my arms burning I swam my little ass off to beat him the length of the pool.  He flip turned (of course), I pushed off and away we went again.  And I won again. YAY!  This is fun!  I'm pretty sure he had no clue what was going on, but I felt better.  Those two or three sprint laps also made my average pace a little faster, so it was all good in the end.  Unknowingly I had also just proven to myself that after one mile of swimming I had enough left to sprint for a little bit.  Hmmm....

I have discovered that the second half of my swim is always better than the first half.  I'm more focused, faster and just "in the zone"  if you will.  I cannot wait for the swim at the Grand Columbian Olympic in 2 weeks.  As long as there are no hot pink speedos.  Otherwise, it's game on.

100 things about me....

1.  I'm bored at work. And very good at procrastinating.
2.  I'm a sarcastic, smart-ass, who tends to always look for the worst case scenario.
3.  I've been to the emergency room twice, and the therapist once.
4.  I had an eating disorder and beat it (see therapist)
5.  I used to think that triathlon was cheaper than therapy.  Not so much anymore.  However, I do believe it has been instrumental in helping me recover.
6.  I. Love. Cookies. and Cake.
7.  I'm one of the most high-strung people I know.  I can't sit still and have a hard time relaxing.
8.  I have 1 younger (not smaller) brother.  1 is enough.
9.  He lives in Spokane.
10. I miss him lots.
11. I have the coolest in-laws in the world.
12. I love wine tasting trips with my husband.
13. My black lab is my baby.  My 70-lb, drooling, farting baby.
14. I bought my dream car when I was 24.  I love it.
15. It's a Mustang and her name is Penny.
16. My road bike cost as much as the down payment on my car.
17. Her name is Honey Ryder.
18. I love James Bond movies.  Except for the ones with Timothy Dalton, and that one random guy.
19. I took piano lessons for 12 years.
20. I want kids.  Just not now. Or next year. Or even the year after that.
21. I coach freshman basketball at the local high school.
22. I get in trouble alot for mouthing off to parents and bus drivers. Apparently, my mouth has no filter.
23. My sister-in-law is the only one in the family who gets my 'Friends' references.
24. I love Starbucks.
25. But my favorite coffee is Jamaican Blue Mountain.
26.  I do not understand the fascination with Twilight. 
27.  I have the most understanding husband in the world.
28.  In addition to coaching, I am also a coaches wife. 
29.  I like farmer's markets in the summer, football on a chilly night in the fall, and the smell of a basketball court on a saturday morning.
30.  I would like to redo my first two years of college - they were rough.
31.  Most people gain the "Freshman 15" - I lost 20.  (not good when you're 5'10" and weigh 120)
32.  That wasn't my eating disorder though.
33.  I work for my Dad.
34.  I can sing along to just about every Beach Boys song, but can't remember to put the new tabs on my car.
35.  I like to cook. 
36.  I collect cookbooks and recipes.  I say "collect" because I have them, but rarely use them.
37.  I find the news to be depressing and rarely watch it.
38.  I voted for our current president.
39.  Stupid people irritate me.
40.  I'm impatient.
41.  I H.A.T.E. Wal-mart, but can't seem to live without it.
42.  I like calendars and lists.  My house is full of lists.  Lists of lists.
43.  I like to garden, but have a hard time keeping up with it.
44.  I'm not a very good housekeeper.
45.  I make killer homemade brownies.  Hubby likes the ones out of the box.
46.  That's probably been the biggest argument of our 4 year marriage.
47.  We've been together for 9 years.
48.  I quilt occasionally.
49.  I recently discovered that there are alot of really cool, strong women in my family.  I aspire to be one of them.
50.  I'm scared of spiders.  And thunderstorms.  And occaisionally my own shadow.
51.  When my brother and I were little, Dad used to hide in the bedroom doorways at the end of the dark hallway and jump out and scare us.  I now have to turn on lights whenever I go down a hallway.
52.  I have always gotten along better with guys than girls.  From grade school all the way through college, and even now.
53.  I would rather watch the NCAA finals and drink beer with the guys than be in the kitchen with the wives and children discussing labor.
54.  When put in that situation, all I am able to think about is how my dog behaves better than some peoples children.  And he does cool tricks too.
55.  I'm slightly addicted to facebook and blogs.
56.  My last "real" job sucked.  Which is why I now work for my Dad.
57.  Retail therapy helps everytihng.  Any woman who tells you different is lying.
58.  I like fast cars and motorcycles.  I have one.  I have been informed that I will never have the other.
59.  Eventhough I might look confident on the outside, I'm usually freaking out on the inside.
60.  I kick-A at Guitar Hero.
61.  My TV is usually on Food Network or ESPN.  Or VERSUS for Tri's and Cycling.
62.  I watched this year's Tour de France from start to finish - and found it fascinating.
63.  I have enough underwear to go 3 weeks without doing laundry.
64.  I would rather be sitting at the lake than anywhere else.
65.  My Grandpa Youngers taught my brother and I how to play poker when we were little.
66.  I miss Grandpa Youngers more than any of my other relatives who have passed away.
67.  I've never been to his gravesite.  I don't think I could handle it.
68.  I am addicted to reality television - especially Bravo.
69.  Twilight, Taylor Swift and Paris Hilton drive me nuts.
70.  My favorite food groups are Carbs and Sugar.
71.  I've never broken any major bones - just a pinky toe.  I tripped over a cart at Costco
72.  I dislocated my shoulder in high school during a district basketball game.  To this day it still pops out occasionally.
73.  There are currently 5 whitewall tires with 4.5inch tread sitting in my office.
74.  Dad and I are restoring a 1941 Pontiac Businessman's Coupe and a 1957 Chevy pickup.
75.  I'm very competitive.  So is Dave.
76.  During pre-marital counseling, our pastor told us we weren't allowed to compete against each other.
77.  To this day, our biggest fight has been about who really won that raquetball game in college.
78.  It was me.
79.  I like Chick-Lit books.
80.  I will pester my husband about what my Christmas/Birthday presents are and where they are stashed until he breaks.
81.  He never breaks, but the dog did sniff them out once.
82.  For the first time ever, I have tan lines this summer!
83.  I like Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble.
84.  I see myself being an Ephrata-ite for life.
85.  I'm okay with that.  I think.
86.  I don't eat storebought bakery cookies - they never taste as good as they look, and I can make better.
87.  Crap, this is a long list.
88.  I have a peanut allergy, which sucks when I'm trying to take in calories on the bike - do you know how many granola/energy bars have peanuts in them?  All of them!
89.  I own the entire set of Sex and The City episodes and have watched it from start to finish multiple times.
90.  After all, multiple is better, right?  ;)
91.  I'm a Girl Scout drop-out who managed to marry an Eagle Scout.
92.  I have golf clubs, but rarely play.  Not that I don't enjoy it, I just find it frustrating with no physical contact to relase the frustration!
93.  Santa Claus scares me.  Especially the ones at the mall. 
94.  I'm really good at talking myself out of stuff.  I need to get better at talking myself into things.
95.  The last 2 movies I saw were "the Hangover" and "Julie and Julia".  I loved them both!
96.  My current favorite movie is "Superbad"
97.  I'm scared of my next race, but I think that's because it's way out of my comfort zone.
98.  I hate being out of my comfort zone, but I'm pretty sure it makes me a stronger person in the end, so here we go.
99.  I like 16 oz., triple, skinny, sugar free vanilla lattes. A barista called me high maintenance once.
100. I can't believe you read this whole list.

WTF was I thinking?

...ever have one of those moments?  Welcome to my world.

The decision was made, mostly by me, to make the jump up to the Olympic distance.  Why? 

ummm.....

Sprints have become to easy, and just aren't enough of a challenge anymore.  I wasn't even sore after Saturday's race.  I feel ready to move up...I thnk...as I say this my stomach jumps into my throat.  Lovely.

Lately I have been asking others about different races they have done that I am now considering doing, just to see what their opinion was of that particular race.  Want to know what the responses were?

No.
It sucked.
Hills.  Lots of hills.
It's hard.
I got heat exhaustion.
It rained.


WTF people?!?  This is not helping!  Fine.  So what if it's hard - if it were easy everyone would do it right?  To me hard should mean that it's a challenge, which means you should be a tougher athlete and competitor, both physically and mentally, at the end of that race.  Hills?  Not my favorite, but I get the feeling we're about to become close friends.  There will be no more riding flats - all hills from here till the race.  Heat?  Welcome to eastern washington.  It's the desert. Rain?  "Let it roll in and rain down, and I will ride through it."

Dave made the point that everyone believes I can do this except me.  Pretty sure we need to change that over the next 4 weeks too. 

So, in an attempt to muster some courage, confidence and a little bit of cockiness: 1 mile swim, 26 mile bike, 10K run - Bring. It. On.

pray people.  pray hard.

On a side note, my sneaky husband ordered me a set of these for my birthday, which is still 3 weeks away.  I was making comments about talking to my bike guy this weekend about what kind to get, etc....so Dave spilled the beans!!  HA!  Hopefully they make it here (and are comfortable) before the race.

 

Apple Capital Sprint

Once again, a little slow on the posting.  Sorry.  (for the 1 person who actually reads this little blog)

So. Last Saturday was the Apple Capital Sprint Tri in Wenatchee.  This has to be my favorite race to do, and this year was no exception.  There were 8 members of our "unofficial" Ephrata Tri Club who participated, 5 of which raced the sprint.  It was fun to have so many people I knew there - it gave me people to cheer for out on the course.

Ephrata Tri Team: Sam, Gavin, Taylor, me, Dee Dee

I have been working on my training/race nutrition lately and it completely paid off on Saturday.  Usually I have trouble eating enough calories, but it was not the case this weekend.  This awesome book I bought Nutrition for Endurance Athletes has guidelines for every intensity & training pace imaginable.  Dave and I discovered that on race morning I was starting out with a major calorie deficit.  Not good.  Normally I'd just have a bagel and some juice - apparently not enough carbs for what I was about to put my body through.  Saturday I had a bagel with jam, 8 oz of fruit juice, a bowl of oatmeal, a banana, HEED and a gel.  Count it up people - that's about 250 grams of carbs.  For breakfast.  I *heart* carbs.

Swim: 500yds / 12:32 / 2:30 per 100 - 3 minutes better that last year



Ok, so not my fastest quarter-mile swim ever, but probably my best race swim ever.  I didn't freak out about the abundance of seaweed (seriously, they swathe a channel through it for the race.  gross.), I did not hyperventilate, and I swam as part of the pack the whole time - as noted by the photo below.  I was so mad when I came out of the water because I was never able to break free of everyone.  It seemed like I was always sandwiched between people or had someone criss-crossing in front of me.  Other than that, I have no complaints!!

that's me in the middle, #25, with someone trying to mount me

Bike: 13.1 miles / 43:04 - 6 minutes better than last year

Not much to say here.  It went well.  I had forgotton how hilly this course was - there's the monster climb right out of transition and then you get rolling hills the rest of the way.  Nothing too exciting happened - I think I passed one girl in my age group and nobody passed me, so that's always a plus!

 

Headed down the big hill into T2

Run: 5K / 26:30 / 8:32 per mile

I felt great for this entire run, probably because of my big breakfast (thanks for force-feeding me Dave!) and I was actually able to run up the monster hill out of T2.  Yeah, they make you bike & run the hill.  Stupid race director. I don't see him out there. (Oh, wait - he's a pro & he's awesome!)  Anyways, the run was also pretty uneventful - I was able to pass quite a few people, but also got passed once or twice.  This race is so small that I was pretty much by myself for the whole run which was kind of nice!  My one complaint is that I had the Kenny Loggins song Playing with the Boys stuck in my head for the entire run.  Yes, ladies, Tom Cruise shirtless and sweaty was with me saturday morning - it made for a nice distraction.   

 

Getting ready to climb the hill

Total time:  1:27:22 - PR!  (but also the shortest swim of the year)

2nd in my age group - girl who got 1st beat me by 7 minutes

7th woman overall

 Felt great the whole way through this race.  From start to finish I feel like I did the best I could under the given circumstances (like people who don't sight on the swim! argh!!)  After the race I didn't get the headache/queasy feeling like I usually do, but I was also shoveling water and food down as soon as I crossed the finish line, so once again, yay for nutrition!! 

 

Done!!

Pick a Number...

hmmm...I'll take:

...9...
...45...
...30...

for a PR, Alex.

Normally when I race I don't like to play the numbers game. I just like to go out and have a good time, focus on the process not the outcome, and let the numbers fall where they may. Sometimes I place, sometimes I don't.

*yawn*

I'm tire of this game. It's boring. Where is the challenge? So this time around I've decided it's going to be a little different. I've picked my numbers, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get them. It's going to be uncomfortable, hell, it's probably going to hurt, but I WANT THOSE NUMBERS.

Nine minutes for the swim is the freakin' overstatement of the century. I did a quarter-mile swim in 6:51 the other day. Nine is my safety number, but would still be a PR. Heck, let's make it 8 while we're feeling a little cocky.

45 minutes for the bike. Totally doable, but I'm going to have to push. 13 miles in 45 minutes is about an 18 mph average - I can do that no problem on a flat course, but this course isn't exactly flat.

30 minutes on the run should really be more like 28. My last brick was a hilly bike with a 30 minute run afterwards, where I proceeded to sqeeze 3.5 hilly miles into said 30 minutes. This run has one nasty climb up out of the park, but considering how I have been running 1 mile hills all summer I don't see this to be a problem. I'm thinking it might even be my chance to make up some time and catch people.

The last number is 1:27:45. That's my final time from Valley Girl a month ago. Any time faster than that and I'll be a happy camper.

You can DO it!

This was the view from my office yesterday afternoon.....

Blue Lake

Not too shabby if you ask me!

It was time for yet another mile swim. Dave and I went out on Monday and I had a less than stellar performance. I jumped and reacted to every little thing in the lake, I was timid in the water, I was terrifed when I could see the bottom and when I couldn't.

Let me just say that nothing lives in this lake except for fishies and some moss-like seaweed. Apparently I thought there were king crabs and the screeching eels from the Princess Bride.

*sigh* I know.

However, I made it through Monday's Mile in 41:00 and did better on the second half-mile than the first, so at least it wasn't a complete waste.

So let us skip ahead to Wednesday. And the predicted thunderstorms that didn't happen (dang it), and me being freaked out, and the mental breakdown that ensued. It was not pretty. I was in tears at lunch because I didn't want to go back out into the lake, that's how scared I was. I have never been afraid of water in my life!! So Dave asked me questions and we tried to figure out what exactly I was scared of...

....water? No.
....fishies? No, not really. They swim away when you move.
....seaweed? Ewww. But, no.
....irrational monsters like king crab & screeching eels? NO. And I need to quit watching 'Deadliest Catch'.
....the distance? It's intimidating, but no.
....then what? Miserable failure.

Get over it. We're going. fine.

This is the point in the conversation where he gives me his best exasperated look and begins a coaching lecture. It's interesting how being scared of one thing, like failing, can lead you to believe that you're actually scared of another, like irrational lake-creatures.

All afternoon I tried not to think about it, but every tri blog I read seemed to be talking about being scared and trying to be fearless. I didn't feel fearless by the time we headed to the lake. One quote did stick out in my mind though:

"Fear is probably the thing that limits performance more than anything - fear of not doing well, of what people will say. You've got to acknowledge those fears, then release them."

Hmmm. You mean fear is what has been holding me back? You mean if I release that fear I will be able to have a great swim? I'm game, lets give it a try.

We got to the lake and unloaded, got warmed up and were ready to go. I was feeling a little better by then. Somewhere in the middle of my afternoon I decide that it was time to ante up. Put up or shut up. Sh!t or get off the pot. You get the idea. Swim or find another sport. Dave gave me a countdown, just like at a race, and I was off!

Almost immediately two things were apparent 1) I didn't warm up enough because I was fatigued 200m in and 2) I should lift weights AFTER my swim, not before. Oh well, keep moving. For the first 1/4 mile you can actually see the bottom - it's about 6 feet deep. R.O.U.S's covered in fuzzy moss, the leggy seaweed that looks like a crab.....and then all of a sudden nothing. Dark. Deep. Cold. .....panic......NO! I REFUSE TO PANIC. I just focused on my form, tried to think about something else and before I knew it 19 minutes later I had hit the halfway point.

Now, before I discuss the return trip, let me just say that I have never swam that slow of a 1/2 mile - Moses Lake Tri was a terrible swim and that took 17 minutes. So, Dave and I agree that our 1/2 mile estimating abilities might be a little on the long side. Oh well....I'll be that much more prepare for my half-irons next summer!

After a minute or two of rest Dave started the clock and we headed back the other way. For a couple of minutes at the very beginning I had to flip over on my back to rest my arms - it felt like they were on fire. Once I recovered, I flipped back over and away we went! This time it was head down, balls to the wall, no fear swimming.

It was fantastic.

I have never felt that good in the lake - I was holding a decent pace, breathing well, and fighting through the pain in my arms. With every stroke I kept repeating to myself, "you can do it, you can do it" At one point I even had a huge smile on my face! I was singing the Beach Boys song 'Catch a Wave' and having a wonderful time! Then with about 400m left, I noticed that my left arm was kind of tingly and I couldn't feel my fingers. Ummmm....bad? Instead of panicking I flipped onto my back and assessed the situation.

Can I wiggle my fingers? yes. but they are tingly.
Does the elbow work? yup. we're good there.
Can I rotate my shoulder, or did it dislocate (again)? shoulder rotates but is uncomfortable.

hmmm....seemed okay, so back to swimming I went, this time adjusting my stroke so that my core and hips helped pull my left arm through, thus taking some of the strain off my shoulder. It worked! I finished in 22 minutes (that includes the rest at the halfway point), and swam the whole way back!!!!! WOOHOO! GO ME!

I was kind of hoping for a negative split but with the longer rest interval and stopping to check my shoulder, that didn't happen. However, my pace was actually faster on the way back and I swam stronger than I did on the first leg, and I wasn't scared!! I'm am thrilled with this swim and if I thought my arms could handle it, I'd go out again. But then, I suppose I get rest days for a reason! :)

Whew! Long post! Now that it's done, I think I'll go watch Deadliest Catch. Bring on the crab!

Loading up to head home

Long workouts, short-ish summary

So I've started training for an Olympic distance race that takes place at the end of the summer and I had my first two long distance workouts this weekend. Saturday was a run and Sunday was a bike. After the swim workout I had on Thursday I needed these to be good workouts.

What happened on during Thursdays swim you ask?

I swam into a rock. I kid you not. It was a R.O.U.S. - Rock of Unusual Size. Apparently the lake is a little low due to the TWO WEEKS of 100 degree weather we've been having around here, so the rocks that you didn't notice last time, you swim into this time. Lovely. It scared the crap out of me too because, really, you don't expect to hit anything in the middle of the f'ing lake.

You know that scene from the cartoon version of The Grinch where the Grinch and Max are sledding down the hill and Max is wrapped around the Grinch's head, clinging for dear life? Picture me in my wetsuit, cursing & clinging to the front of the kayak. Yeah.

At least I got my 2/3 mile in. Hopefully a whole mile next time!

Saturday was the first long run & I was shooting for about 6 miles. (In an Olympic distance you run 6.2, so this was right on target). Thankfully the weather broke and it was a glorious 70 degrees first thing in the morning. I fueled up, grabbed my trusty iPod and water bottle, and headed out to Shady Acres, which would be my turn around point. It's a specially chosen turn around because my in-laws live out there. This means that if I'm dying half way through, at least I know whose front lawn I'm dying on.

It's all about strategy.

The goal was to keep the pace around 10:00min/mile on the way out so I'd have enough legs to make it all the way back and maybe pick up speed. I was able to do both, but keeping that 10:00 pace gets to be a challenge! Overall I averaged 9:34 per mile, ran 7 miles and passed another runner on the hill at the very end. WooHoo!!

Today was my long bike - supposed to be between 1:30 - 2:30. Oh goodness. My longest bike till now has been 1:30, so I figured I'd shoot for 2:00. It was another cool morning with NO wind (I hate wind on the bike), so I had breakfast, loaded the gear on the Tri-Mobile and headed out.

Today's goals were to enjoy the ride, figure out a nutrition plan that works and to be able to make it back home. Managed to do all three. I've been doing some research into race nutrition lately because I have a serious problem taking in all the calories I need to get me through these workouts and races. The plan for today was at the top of the hour gel, electrolytes, water; at the :15 HEED; at :30 2 Fig Newtons and water; and the :45 HEED. It seemed to work ok - I was supposed to be taking in somewhere between 180-200 calories per hour and I'm pretty sure I got there. Next time I'll have to see if I can run afterward with that much stuff in my tummy!

It was a perfect morning to ride & I was actually a little chilly to start out with. I got to try out my new bike shorts and spiffy Livestrong jersey. Love the jersey, the bike shorts are going to take some getting used to - the kind of feel like someone took a superplus maxi pad and shoved it in my tri shorts. Not pleasant.

My ride took me out Dodson, Road 5, Road A, Road 3 and back in. I averaged about 18 mph on the way out, and 15/16mph on the way in. Freaking headwind. Technically I don't think you could even call it wind. More like a breeze. Just enough that I felt it - so the way back was about 15 miles of resistance training. FUN! But it makes me better, so I suppose it's ok.

Overall, I'm very happy with this week of training! The goal for this week is to work on some speedy 400's in the pool for the next race (Aug. 22, Daroga State Park in wenatchee if anyone is interested) and to get a mile swim done in the lake.

Valley Girl Sprint Tri

Long time, no post....sorry! July has been such a busy month - Hoopfest, major yard projects, hubby left for a foreign country for 2 weeks, one race and a whole lot of training. Whew! And let's not forget the amount of time glued to the TV rooting for the cyclists in the TdF. Seriously, when Dave was in Australia that's all I watched - grown men in spandex. Apparently I need to get out more.

First, just let me say THANK YOU to the bestest friend in the whole world, Sherpa Katy. Since Dave was gone for the weekend Katy tagged along and we had a blast. She may have even convinced herself to do a tri next summer. I had nothing to do with it, I swear *evilgrin*

Ok, race report:

Overall I had a good time at this race. It was well supported, there were lots of spectators, the volunteers were awesome, and there was an espresso stand at the race expo.

Swim: 1/3 mile, 12:56, 2:13/100yd

Ugh. Still not thrilled. I hyperventilated at the very beginning (again) and had issues the whole way (again). Fortunately since then, with the help of Scott & Sam, I have figured my breathing issues out. I also got kicked, grabbed and generally smacked around more in this swim than any other. An all womens race - the claws were out!! One of my goals for this race was to have a great swim, and that didn't happen, but I tried to push that out of my mind as soon as I was out of the lake.

That being said, Liberty Lake is a fantastic lake to swim in. Fairly clean water, despite the fact that you swim through the marina, very little seaweed (which I swam through without panicking -wooho! ) and the water was really warm.

Coming out of the swim. 3rd from the right, black wetsuit.

T1: 3:05

Not thrilled with the transition location at this race. Had to run out of the water, up and across the beach, around the arbivitae, and then all the way across transition to find Honey, who I completely ran past. Oops.

Bike: 13 miles, 41:57

Very pretty bike course! It takes you on a complete tour of the Liberty Lake community - residential areas, business park, pine trees & farms. I saw buffalo. Seriously! I was riding along and thought to myself, "Damn. Big cow." Nope - buffalo. Which then made me hungry for DK's beeffalo burgers, but I digress.

I did pretty well on the bike, I thought. I can tell that my training has involved a HUGE swim focus and not much else, which is reflected in my bike time I think. It was nice to be able to get that swim out of my head and push on the bike. That was my second goal for this race - push as hard as I could on the bike (avg. speed was about 17mph) and see if I had any legs to run on.

Most people to that for fun, right? Kill your legs on a bike ride and then, just for fun, try to run? No?

oh.

I do have ONE tiny complaint. I almost got hit by a pickup. A note to boys in their big trucks who drive with something other than their brain - DO NOT CUT ME OFF when I'm taking a sharp corner at 20 mph. I pretty much had to powerslide around to corner to not get hit, and then I gave the driver the dirtiest look I could muster through my sunglasses while holding a gel pack in my mouth.

I'm sure he was terrified.

Climbing the incline out of T1

T2: 1:42

Nothing spectacular. Lots of people cheering when I left on the run - kinda cool when people you don't know are screaming their heads off for you.

Run: 2.9 miles, 28:03, 9:21/mile

Overall, very satisfied with the run. I had legs the entire time, which makes me think I probably could have pushed harder on the bike. The run course was nice, but HOT, and there was something in the bushes making hissing/buzzing noises, which made me nervous. Got to run past 3 of the million golf courses on a paved trail, which was nice. They also had water stands set up at every mile, which seemed to make the run go faster, and since we were running through a residential area people were out in their frontyards with hoses offering to spray us down as we ran by. Very nice.

I managed to pass quite a few people in my age group, and even held off two of them for the last mile which was quite a challenge. Not because they were fast, but because I was starting to hurt. Apparently I had more left in the tank because I had a really good sprint through the finish chute which was about a block long.

YAY! Done!

Total Time: 1:27:45 - a new Sprint Distance PR! YAY me!

Glad to be done. My brother calls this my "One time, the car broke down 12 miles from home, so my Mom gave me a Dr. Pepper and a Snickers bar, and I pulled the car home...I was TIRED!" picture.

If you're not the lead dog...

...the scenery never changes.


Pretty sure I'm okay with that.

I love this man.

Masters Swim

Today was the first day of Master's Swim "Team". I use the term team loosely, only because there were 5 of us ranging in age from 27 (me) to 50-somethings. Some people have swam all their lives, and for others this was practically their first time in the pool.

We're like the Average Joe's swim team.

It's all good though because it turned out that it's pretty much just lap swim, with a coach there to answer questions and help out in any way you see fit. She told us that we can set our own workouts and leave whenever we're done - -nice! I had something quite different pictured in my head: a drill sergeant of a coach standing on the diving board, whip in hand, yelling "stroke! breathe! stroke! breathe! for a grueling 3000m main set, while something like "Kill the Wabbit" played menacingly in the background. While we're at it, let's give the fictional coach a viking helmet & metal bra, just to complete the picture.

Thank goodness, this was not the case!

It turned out to be a fantastic (albeit, early) way to start the day - perfectly calm morning, that temperature that is still cool & refreshing but right at the edge of warm, a completely still pool....and the only thing playing in the background was the birds chirping. AND I got to see the sun come up over the hill....all while playing in the pool on a Monday morning.

I cannot think of a better way to start my week.

Moses Lake Family Sprint Tri

This was a good race. It was nice to finally race and be able to see if all of my training has paid off & find out what I need to work on and where my strengths and weaknesses are.

On with the race report!

Swim: .5 mile / 15:24 (longest race swim so far) / 1:45 per 100yds

To quote Dave, "for having a crappy swim, you had a really good swim!" He's right - my time was great, but that's about it! I started myself right in the middle of the pack, which was probably not the best idea because I got caught up in all the adrenaline and ended up starting waayyyy faster than I should have. Next time I'll be starting on the far outside, away from everyone, in my own personal bubble. Please don't touch me.

a mass swim start with 70 of my closest friends

Now, for those of you who don't speak tri, the problem with getting caught in a fast swim start is that I tend to kick my legs really shallow and fast, which in turn increases my heart rate, which makes it harder and harder to catch my breath. So then I was stuck in the middle of the lake, gasping like a fish out of water, fighting off the b!tch in my head who was whispering "call for a boat" & praying to God to get me back to dry land.

And yes, not only do I pay to do this, but it's also fun.

I finally made the turn & sidestroked, backstroked & probably doggie-paddled my way back to the boat launch. Climbing out of the water I almost fell over when I saw my time - it was that good and I had barely even used my freestyle stroke (I hate putting my face in the water when I can't catch my breath, so I do everything but freestyle) - imagine how much faster it would have been if I did!!

T1: 2:30

I'm not mad, I just don't believe Dave
when he tells me my swim time. I thought
my watch was wrong!

Wetsuit off, socks, bike shoes, race number, sunglasses & helmet on. Bike shoes are not the easiest thing to run in.

Bike: 13 miles / 42:40 / avg speed 18.28 mph

The bike leg was dry when I started! There had been thunderstorms for the last few days, but they were holding off for the moment - this was not to last. The first half of the bike my legs were absolutely dead - another side effect of kicking too fast while swimming. Somehow I managed to average 18 mph, which is a personal best for me! I figured that I had some catching up to do with the rest of the pack, so I played Close the Gap and managed to chase down 2 or 3 girls in my age group, which felt really good!

Right before I hit the turnaround it started to sprinkle just a little. A few miles later the clouds opened up and it poured. Cats & dogs people. Seriously. I was just as wet coming off the bike as I was coming out of the swim. It was just rain though. No hail, no wind, no cold, so I can't really complain much. It was actually kind of fun - although rain at 20 mph stings!! The rain didn't cause my any issues except for coming around an 's' curve at the very end when my back tire kind of slid out from behind me. Nothing like a fish tail with your feet clipped into pedals to get your adrenaline going!

T2: 1:36

I didn't fall dismounting Honey or running on wet pavement in bike shoes! Yay!! Switch to running shoes...wish I had extra socks - mine were soaked. ick. And we're off!

Run: 3.1 miles / 27:30 / 8:52 min per mile

I met my goals for this run: sub 9:00 miles & a negative split (second have was faster than the first half). Would you like to know why I managed a negative split? I had the choice to participate in the run or compete in it & I chose to compete. Never underestimate the power of competitiveness, people.

The first half of the run was uneventful. We went through the park and up a very narrow paved community trail. My legs were still hurting pretty badly, but I managed to pass a few people, one who was even in my age group. I made it to the half way point and only stopped to walk at the top of a hill and through the aid station (I always walk through the aid station. I can't drink & run.)

Right after the aid station a girl in my age group caught up to and passed me. ahh crap.

Option #1: Let her go. But what happens if you end up getting 4th & she got 3rd? Then how will you feel?

Option #2: Her pace isn't that much faster than yours. Compete a little bit. Suck it up. Hurt.

I decided that Option #2 was probably the best course of action, and ohhhhhh was I a little bit dirty about it. Some might even say slightly evil. I call it competitive. I caught up to her and we ran side by side for awhile and even chatted a little bit. Okay, I admit that I struck up a conversation hoping she would run out of breath and walk. No such luck.

Right before we got to the very narrow community trail I managed to pull a few steps ahead of her. I knew I could pass her and was actually waiting until we hit the trail to make this move, because I knew that as soon as she saw that I was in her age group she was going to step it up. We made it to the trail with me in front by about 2 steps & for the next 100 yards I took my share out of the middle of the path and made myself as WIDE as possible so that she couldn't get around me. (I know, I know, but I was not about to lose).

When we hit the grass it was about another 100 yards to the finish line - uphill. (as a side note, why does every race insist on putting the finish line at the top of a freakin' hill!!) I was hurting and wanted to stop so badly, but I could hear her right behind me and I was not about to give up. As soon as I was at the bottom of the hill I knew I had her - I run hills all the time. I pumped my arms & got my legs moving as fast as I could and managed to hold her off till the end. I beat her by 2 seconds!

..just barely in front of her...

...and now you can't even see her....

ohmyholycrap! why is there always a hill at the end?!?

I finished the race in 1:29:00 which is a 6 minute PR for me! Woohoo!! And yes, I shook her hand after the race. It was her first one & she did great!!

In addition to surviving the race, I also endured 2 graduations (congrats Matt & Chelsea) and 9 graduation parties.

Thank goodness there was a keg at the last one.

Just a small town girl...

...livin' in a looooonely wooorrlld.

That's my Journey tribute for the week. What can I say, my husband would be so proud. Actually, I've heard that song a bajillion times this week, so we're making it the weekend theme song. Appropriate with the race and all, no?

as a side not, Pandora just switched from 'Don't Stop Believin' to ' Won't Back Down'. Scary - like it knows.

I can actually say that I'm not nervous for tomorrow at all, which is a first. It might sound corny, but I've been working on some relaxation & deep breathing techniques to use when I feel myself getting too amped up about the race, and they seem to be working in practice - let's hope the work tomorrow!!

Also different for this race, is that I don't really have an outcome goal. (Although I'd really like to place in my age group). My goals are more process oriented this time, which has actually helped me enjoy the training & preparation more - yes, training is fun.

new song - 'Here I Go Again on my own.' Pandora is psychic, I tell you.

I'm ready for tomorrow! I'll be back later in the weekend (assuming I survive 1 triathlon, 2 graduations, 10 graduation parties & alot of alcohol Sunday night) with pictures!

1600 = 1

...as in 1600 meters swam = 1 mile....


I did 1 mile in the pool!

My arms are exhausted.

It was crazy kid night at the pool yesterday, I swear! Swim lessons, swim team practice & stupid boys who couldn't keep their basketball out of my lane. Next time I'm just going to chuck it at one of their heads. I might get kicked out of the pool, but at least I'll feel better.

The goal for the swim was 800m (4 x 200m), keeping a steady pace, and keeping good form - all while dodging basketballs. Oooooh, obstacle course! Fun!Overall the first 800 felt pretty good and I really started to find a rhythm towards the end, which was nice.

…pull, roll, breathe…pull, roll, breathe…..repeat as needed.

Even though I wasn’t shooting for a specific time, I still managed a 2:01/100yd pace, which is pretty much right where I want to be. After the first 80om, I still wasn’t all that satisfied with my form, so I took a little break & got ready to go again.

By this time the basketball game had finished, thank goodness, and a father/daughter duo had moved in next door. Now, usually when I swim, I try to ignore what is going on around me, but these two were pretty entertaining. He was trying to teach her to swim, and she wanted no part of it. For every 50 that she swam, I did 100, so I got to hear the conversations whenever she was done with a lap. They got to be pretty entertaining.

Dad: “One more freestyle lap with good form and without stopping and you can be finished.”
Daughter: “Why can’t I be done nooowwwww??”

(yeah, she sounded like Veruca Salt to me too)

This was beginning to sound like the arguments I have in my head. Next lap:

Dad: “You didn’t finish that lap, you stopped halfway through, so now you have to do another one
Daughter: “I don’t want to. I want to be done.”

This is beginning to sound familiar….

Dad: “If you do one more good lap without stopping, you can be done and I’ll buy you a latte.”

Ah. There. NOW it’s the same argument I had with myself last weekend regarding getting up and running. Bribery – works everytime. She swam the lap and was done.

After I was done snorting chlorine because I was snickering to myself I continued on my merry way. I was in such a good mood that I finished up my last 400m without even thinking about it, and I’m pretty sure I had a negative split for the second 800m! Whohoo! Go Me!! I still felt strong at the end, so that’s encouraging.

On the downside, my arms are so fatigued today (the day after) that I could barely lift them to wash my hair this morning! Oh well!

Going Long

Here's a quote that pretty much sums up everything leading up to the ride:

"It takes far more effort to compose a rationale for not doing that it does to actually do. By the time you've sorted all of the reasons to stay in bed, invented just the right excuse that facilitates the injection of your perfectly prescribed justification, you'd be halfway out the door. Ironically, the easiest way around is through."

Let us take a step backwards to Saturday's long run. The run where 45 minutes = 5 miles (woohoo!). The run where Sara wasn't quite prepared for the first warm day, didn't have her fuel pack and as a result became seriously dehydrated.

I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to make it home. It's one mile from the bottom of our hill to our house at the top, and about halfway home I just wanted to sit down on the curb and give up. I couldn't think straight, I felt nauseous & had the chills. Apparently, this is what dehydration feels like. Peachy.

Lessons learned: I can hold an 8:30 pace for 5 miles; water is good; if you're dehydrated, DON'T go sit at a baseball game in the sun. Duh.
Result: hydration pack is on it's way courtesy of amazon.com & will be here in time for Thursday's long run. Yipee!

Sunday was supposed to be a 90 minute bike, but I still wasn't feeling well, and even though conditions were perfect for an early morning ride on Sunday, I talked myself out of it. "I still don't feel well from yesterday", "I'm too tired", " My legs hurt", "I'm a weenie." Whatever. I pretty much came up with every excuse known to man to try and justify to myself that it was okay to skip the ride.

It didn't quite work. As the day wore on and I started to feel better, I also started to get cranky. Downright bitchy at one point. This is my process. I talk myself out of it, get all mad at myself because I talked myself out of it, and then I finally go do it. (As a side note, this behavioral pattern really needs to change.)

Finally I decided to go, and it actually wasn't too bad. I did 22 miles in 90 minutes - both the longest & farthest I've ever gone. I rode out Dodson fighting a headwind (but keeping it above 15 mph) & when I got tired of that I hung a right on Road 9 & road all the way to Highway 283 - I just kind of crisscrossed my way around. It was fun! The only scary part was having to cross a main intersection with lots of traffic where there is no stoplight. I'm always afraid I'm going to fall over because I can't clip out in time!!

I have found that long bikes are a great time to think. I ended up doing alot of praying on this one, so that was a nice bonus!! I'll have to take my camera on the next one - the mountains were out yesterday & it was gorgeous!

Lessons learned: get over it and go train - you'll be fine once you get out there.
Goal for next time: need to work on building speed on the bike - I'm tired of being stuck at 15 mph.

Ponderings from a Morning Run

First, let's discuss last night's swim. Let me try to sum it up in one word: ugh. I really didn't want to go - thank goodness for Katy and her girls, because if it wasn't for our weekly swim date, I would have just gone to bed.

I don't know if it was the fact that it was freezing outside, my leaky goggles, or the tidal waves from the guy showing off doing swim sprints in the next lane but I was not feeling it. I tried to have an open mind, be confident, and be f*cking fearless like Coach ELF suggests, but all I felt was akward and, ironically, like a fish out of water. After the first 500m I just about got out of the pool, but what good would that have done? Does it make you mentally tougher if you just stop? Um, no. Besides, who DNFs on a workout? WTF???

Fine. I'll finish. It's just 75 m sprints, how bad can it be, right?

I looked over at tidal-wave boy and said "Bring it, b*tch." (in my head, of course) And you know what? I kept up with him for all 4 of my 75m sprints. I forgot my watch again, so I'm not sure what my overall pace was for the day, but I'm going to guess about 18 minutes. That's 2:00ish/100, which works for me! I might not have started this workout fearless & confident, but it sure ended that way.

Mental Challenge: 0 Sara: 1 woohooo!! Moving on!

This mornings run was freakin' fantastic! For some reason I was up at o'dark hundred this morning, and the first word to pop into my head. Run.

ha ha. very funny. I'm laughing my ass off.
Run.
No. Go away. My bed is warm.
Run.
B*tch, shut up.
Run.
No.
Run.
No.
RUN!!
Fine! b*tch.

Sometimes I have to argue with myself to get myself out of bed. It's my process.

But what a great run. I got to wear my spiffy new Nike jacket (yay for clearance sales!) and I just ran. Didn't have to think about anything, just ran. In the zone, if you will. It was great. Fast too - 3.3 miles in 28 minutes! I'll take that anyday!

You Can Call Me Dennis...

....yes. That Dennis.

Why you ask? First of all, if you have not seen Run, Fat Boy, Run stop reading this post and go watch it. Immediately.

You're back? Oh good. Moving on!

So, it SNOWED here today. Seventy degrees yesterday, snow today. It was also my first brick (bike/run) workout. Since I'm not all about biking in the snow, I hooked Honey up to the trainer & let Coach Troy yell at me for the duration of his "Suffer-o-Rama" DVD. Sounds like fun, no? It actually wasn't so bad. Really. The point of a brick workout is to get your legs used to running when they're tired, so after 45 minutes of suffering, I threw on my tights and sleeves, grabbed the dog and headed outside.

And immediately fell off the first step coming out of my front door. Smooth Dennis, very smooth.

Frick. I should have seen that one coming. After all, God does have a sense of humor.

After recovering, Champ and I hopped in the Exploder and drove down to the canal bank so we could run somewhere flat. Don't judge me - if I were to run from my front step, it would be a half mile uphill climb to get home. The goal for today's run was 15 minutes with negative splits, keeping the heart rate low. I am always amazed at how my legs function after biking. I feel like I felt like I was moving in slow motion, but when I check my time I was running at a 7:40 pace! My first mile was 7:54!! For the first brick of the season? That's a very good sign in my book. I had to walk a little bit at the halfway point, but for the most part was able to run the whole thing. Ended up doing 1.93 miles in 15:58. If I can keep that pace for 3.1 miles, that puts me at around 24:00 for a 5K. That's a whole 6 minutes faster than last year! Wohoo!

The exciting part, is that I PR'd in the first week of training (in running and swimming). The even better part is that I'm not supposed to peak for another 8 weeks - I wonder what I can do in that amount of time!

I'm going to go stretch and have a piece of carrot cake to celebrate. I can't wait to swim tomorrow!

Are we there yet?

...as you can see, it's bound to be a productive day....

Mmmm....granola

It is probably the best tasting, most unhealthy cereal out there. Oh sure, it's advertised as healthy, but have you ever actually read what's in it? Ingredients? Sugar? Fat? Yuck. I am also at the disadvantage of having a peanut allergy, so most of the commercially produced granolas, I tend to avoid like the plague.

When I came across this recipe (originally from Gluten-Free Girl) I was after a granola that was peanut-free, had minimal fat and sugar and was easy to make. This is what I came up with. My husband, who's not much of a granola eater, even likes it. As an added plus, it is soooooo much cheaper to make your own, and at the moment, I'm totally into hand making everything. I pretty much make granola & bread every week. But that's another post.

The trick to making granola "healthy" is to not necessarily avoid sugar & fat, but to put in the right healthy sugars & healthy fats. I try to use whole grains whenever possible and I would like to say that I use the purest, most organic ingredients I can find, but seriously people, this is rural-town Walmart we're dealing with here, so let's be realistic, shall we?

Good Granola
adapted from Gluten-Free Girl, who adapted in from someone else, I'm sure

3 cups Old Fashioned oats
1/2 cup almonds, chopped
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 T. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. ginger
3/4 cup pure honey
1/2 cup cranberry juice
1 T. vanilla extract
2 tsp. canola oil

Preheat your oven to 250 & coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, flour, cinnamon, allspice and ginger and mix them together with a wooden spoon until everything is well combined.

In a glass liquid measuring cup combine the honey, cranberry juice, vanilla and oil and whisk until thoroughly combined & it looks like one, cohesive liquid.

Pour your liquid ingredients into the dry, and stir until all of the oats are moist. You don't want there to be any liquid pooling in the bottom of the bowl - make sure you get it all mixed. Dump the raw granola out onto the prepared baking sheet and spread out into one even layer.

Place the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Take it out of the oven, stir it up and put it back for another 20 minutes. Continue this process for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, depending on how crunchy you like your granola. I usually pull mine out after 1 1/2 hours, mostly due to impatience more than anything else.

When the granola is done, it should be dry to the touch. Let it sit and cool for 15 minutes, and then put it in an air-tight container with a lid (I use a mason jar). It will keep for 7-10 days in the refrigerator, if it lasts that long.

Makes about 4 cups of granola, depending on how much you eat during the cooking process.

Why You Should NOT Taunt the Sports Writer...

....he will put you on the front page.


Yes, that would be Alain & I laughing because we were just yelling and Mr. Sports Writer, "Hey!! Take our picture!! Put us on the front page!!". Hmm. Be careful what you wish for! At least I don't look like Phoebe running through Central Park.

Race results came out in the paper today.......((drumroll please))..... 65:45! Alain & I tied for 74th place. woohoo! The part that gets me is that the girl who won our age group only beat us by 3 minutes. Definitely something to shoot for next year.

In other running news, I had an ok 1.5 mile run today. I say ok because today I did feel like Phoebe in Central Park. I have forgotten how much nutrition plays a part in exercise (oh, so you mean I shouldn't have had that hot chocolate and hour before my run?) - it's important to remember you need the proper fuel for what you're doing. Save the chocolate for after the run, and then I prefer my after-workout-reward in the form of a cookie. Or fudge. Or cake. I'm not really too picky. The few redeeming factors of the run was that it was finally sunny, and that I held a 7:50 pace for 1.5 miles - now the goal is to be able to do it for 3.

After biking 13 miles.

Bring it on.

The First 10K...

...that would be 6.2 miles, for those of you counting.

I needed something to help get my training moving for the  year, so I signed up for the Canal Caper, a local 10K, plus I could walk to the starting line in 5 minutes from my house.  Seriously.  It's a small town.  

I hadn't planned on running with anyone - but one of my girlfriends was there, so we decided to putter along at a 10 minute pace together, thinking "we'll run to the halfway point and then see how we feel."  The halfway point goal then became 4 miles, then 4.5 miles - the goal kept on moving, which was great!!  We probably ended up running somewhere around 5 miles, maybe more, & only stopped to walk twice, just for a minute or two.

Now, I was all set to run this thing on my own, but it would have sucked.  Running with Alain was so much fun, we had a blast!  We were teammates in high school, and coach together now, and (not to get all mushy) but we fell right back into "teammate mode" - encouraging each other, checking to see how the other was doing, and just having a good time.  I know that if I had done it alone, I would not have done that well, so thank you Alain!!

The other reason to be excited:  at this time last year, I could barely run 1 mile - and I just ran 6!!  HA!