Before yesterday, I was pretty concerned about my cycling. I'm still nervous about completing the distance for the race, but I'm feeling much better. I spent 1 hr 20 min on my bike indoors on the trainer yesterday. I did my Spinervals DVD, which I really liked. I'll definitely be buying more of them in the future. Even though it was quite a chunk of time, it wasn't horribly painful, despite being on the trainer. My hamstrings started to get a bit tight and my butt started to get sore, but that's to be expected. So basically, I covered not quite half the time I expect to take during the tri. Considering how long I still have to train, I'm confident that I'll be able to cover it. Plus, I'm feeling better about Ireland. I'm going to try to do this DVD a few times a week (three, hopefully) to build up more aerobic base for those long rides. On other days, I'm going to try to incorporate interval workouts to increase my speed. I've got my final indoor time trial on Sunday, and I'm determined to beat my time again.

Week 3 ~ 2:00 ~ $670

Week 3 has come and gone. It was a tough one, since I was sick for a good part of it. I wasn't able to work out on Friday or Saturday and didn't have much energy the rest of the week. I feel better now, and should be able to get back up to speed for Week 4.

No change in my fundraising amount from last week, but I did send out letters to family and friends asking for support. I'm also waiting on the last bit of cash from the Yeti when he gets back into town. I'm sure that the plateus are normal, so I'm not too worried. Yet.

Indoor Time Trial #3 was today. I was out sorta late last night, but still got up and went, and wasn't all that sleepy, so that was good, particularly since I had to race at 9:30, which is significantly earlier than my other two races. This is the most training (all sports) I had done in a week leading up to a race. I definitely felt it, and not in a good way. My goal going in was 18:30 (20.1mph), and I maintained that for about the first 2.5 miles. Then mentally and physically I really started to hurt. My brain was like "this sucks" and my body was feeling very weak, sore, and tired. I came SO close to just quitting, but no WAY was I going to do that.

I tried to focus on my breathing and just making sure I didn't drop below 19mph too often. I knew the girl to my left was going to kick my booty, but I wanted to beat the other two girls in my heat. The one on the other side of "fast girl" was trying to catch me in the last mile and a half, which really pushed me. I was so afraid that she was gonna get me. She was behind distance-wise, but was going faster than me when I started to die and lose speed. All I did was try to stay even with her speed, which was tough. With about .25 miles to go, I decided to just go all out and sprint and get this painful race over with. I was hanging around 22-24mph for that stretch, which was good, but kind of bugged me, since I obviously had something left that I hadn't been able to tap into earlier in the race.

My average speed was19.7, but I was so tired that I forgot to look at my exact time. It was between 18:30 and 19:00. I was happy to break 19, but was a little bummed that I didn't hit my goal. When they post the results later tonight or tomorrow, I'll update this with my time and place. Fast girl had her "best time ever" and broke 17min. Crazy fast. I didn't let her speediness distract me, though. Also, everybody was really nice to me today, which was cool. The girl working the computer was encouraging me, and the girl to my right was friendly, too. Oh, and the guy who had to unhook my bike from my warm up trainer because I wasn't strong enough. :P

Update: My actual time was 18:53.16 (5th place for the day). Unfortunately, I dropped to 6th place in the overall standings (adding together best flat + best rolling time, which will then be added to the outdoor time trial time). I am currently 15.17 seconds behind the 5th place girl and 16.21 seconds behind the 4th place girl. I have one indoor race left (another rolling course) and the outdoor 10 mile time trial to try to bump myself into a top five spot. I think top 5 get plaques, which would be cool. Gives me something to shoot for! Grr, if I had hit my goal of 18:30, I'd be in 4th place overall!

Week 2 ~ 4:55 ~ $670

Week 2 is done. I had a cycling race on Sunday, and I pushed really hard at Spinning class on Thursday, so I cut out a bit of their cycling sessions to give my lower body a bit of a break. It was definitely one of those circumstances where I had to listen to my body and adjust my training accordingly. Things went well overall, still working on increasing volume.

Fundraising is still going strong. I'm up to just under 30% of goal. My friend, the Yeti, ran a 50/50 raffle last week and some of the proceeds from that have been added in. Still another $70 coming when he makes his delivery to me in a week or two ($220 from the raffle total - quite a success!). Thanks to Ed from work who contributed! My dad is running a raffle at work, too, so we'll see a bump up in my amount from that in a few weeks, too. I'd love to hit my $1200 by March 28th incentive. Plus that would put me over halfway to my goal!

Saw this posted somewhere and thought it was cute. Not all of them apply to me, but plenty of them do.

You know you're a triathlete when:

• You have a lifetime supply of water bottles, safety pins, and t-shirts
• You have trouble keeping lunch under 2000 calories
• You usually wake up at 4:00 in the morning but don't get to work until way after 9:00
• You have a $4000 bike strapped on top of your $2000 car
• You're always wet .... sweat, pool, lake, sea water, shower, bath, or rain
• Your car has at least one energy bar wrapper and water bottle on the floor
• You depart in the morning with swim bag, bike, and running shoes in case you can get away at lunch for a workout
• You take triathlon junkets instead of vacations
• Your kitchen cupboards are organized into "protein", "carbs" and "etc"
• You bring bottled water to a party so that you're properly hydrated for the next morning's long run
• Everyone else at the party also brought their own bottled water because you don't have a social life outside of triathlon. Oh yeah, and they all showed up by 7pm and left by 10pm.
• You mention a race and somebody responds "running or biking" and you are again forced to explain...
• You wear your bathing suit under your work clothes to make a fast transition from work to swim on your lunch hour
• You name your two new puppies Kona and Hawi
• Your spouse wants dinner out and a movie, so you agree, but fall asleep during the previews
• Somebody hands you a cup of water and you have to restrain yourself from pouring it over your head
• You feel like you took the day off because all you did was swim 3000 yards
• Cars pass you on the road when you're driving and you either drop back to get out of draft zone or speed up to attack!
• Your bed-time reading on your night stand consists of a pile of: DeSoto catalogs; InsideTri; Triathlete, VeloNews, USMA Swim, etc
• When asked how old you are, you answer 25-29
• Your training is more limited by available time then how far you can run
• Nobody believes you when you say 'Never again'
• You need a picture for a job application and you only have race pictures.
• You use running T-shirts to clean your bike
• You think there are only two seasons during the year, racing and off
• You clean your bike more often than your car
• You tell your co-workers that you are going to "do a long brick" on saturday and just expect that they know what you are talking about
• You are convinced that if you rest more than one day, your muscles will atrophy, your ultra-fit body will turn into a pile of goo and everyone in your age group will beat you

How can three bikes possibly be enough? I need at least two more - at LEAST. :) Yes, I have managed to collect three bikes in the past year, and yes, I still feel that I need more. I can justify all this, really. Honest, I can.

First I got my hybrid/comfort bike, which is great for fitness and recreational riding on the limestone paths, etc. It even carried me through my first triathlon, so I love it for that reason. However, as people flew past me on road bikes, tri-bikes, in aero position, I felt like a gigantic sail and was ready to upgrade.

So, I got myself a road bike. I got a deal on a quite nice road bike, a Kestrel Talon. Full carbon frame, with Ultegra 10-Speed components, aero tubing, internal cabling. Very nice. I adore it and am able to slap some Carbon Stryke's on there and get into aero to reduce that whole frontal surface area wind drag thing.

But, seeing as how that is such a nice bike, I was quite scared at the prospect of taking it to Ireland with me (and to and from there), where it might be left outside, be in the elements a lot, etc. So, I remembered a friend of mine was looking to sell his road bike since it was too small for him. Turns out it fits me just fine and is a perfect "beater" bike for Ireland, bad weather rides, the trainer, etc. It needs to be cleaned up a bit, but is nice (aluminum with carbon fork and stays, carbon seatpost, 105 components, some cool looking wheels).

So here's where I'm at now. I'm sure all of you (whoever you are) are VERY aware (/sarcasm) that road bikes are not the ideal mode of transport for multisport athletes. The seat tube angles, aero position, and how that impacts the muscle groups, which then impacts the muscles for the run, etc etc. Thus, I need a Tri-Bike or Time Trial (TT) bike. These have a steeper seat tube angle, bar end shifters at the ends of the aerobars (so you don't have to go un-aero to shift), and well I think those are the main differences. The one pictured below is the Cervelo Dual, which consistently pops up as a favorite of mine with glowing reviews, good looks, great components, and a decent price point. At $1800 with Dura-Ace components, this bike is practically a steal. That may seem like a ton of money to some, but, trust me, I can find bikes that cost more than my car (and I don't drive too bad a car). I'm pretty sure my budget will require me to wait until next season for a tri bike, but I had a little down time this afternoon and felt like posting this. And wow did it get long!


(p.s. Isn't it pretty? /drooooool)
(p.p.s. I also "need" a mountain bike, but hopefully my old Trek back in Michigan is salvageable! Hmm that actually means I own four bikes...)

I completely wimped out this morning. I intended to go to the 5:30 am spinning class this morning, then hop in the pool for a bit, but I hit the snooze button and reset my alarm instead. Oh well, it's ok since my body needs a bit of a rest after my circuit from yesterday. That thing usually kicks my butt. I have a late meeting today, so I don't think I'll be able to make my normal 4:30-5:30 class (grr). It really would have been good to get to spin class this week since I've got that race Sunday and the fitter the better.

I found out I'm racing at 9:30 and am next to one of the fastest girls. Awesome. Hopefully I can balance keeping my own pace and being motivated to go faster by being next to her. I'm not sure I could keep up with her, but who knows? My goal would be 18:30 (20.1mph) which is slightly less than a mph faster than my previous races. I'd really like to bump myself up a place or two in the overall standings, and hitting that mark would certainly help. Of course, I can't control how much the other girls ahead of me have been working out or improving. Shoot, I should've gotten up and spun this morning!

Update: Meeting cancelled, I can go to my beloved 4:30 session after all! I'll have to take it sort of easy since my legs are a bit achy from yesterday, but it'll still be a great workout. Pam is the best spin instructor over there. :)

The blizzard-like conditions here led to a cancellation of the group swim practice last night. I'm glad because I wasn't going to go anyhow. Once I got home from work last night, that was it - I wasn't going out again. So tonight (which was originally slated as a rest day) has turned into: doing the circuit that I didn't feel up to on Monday, followed by swimming for 20 min or so. Shouldn't be too bad. I kind of like swimming after doing another workout since then I'm not freezing as I get in the pool. Plus, it's a much more soothing and graceful activity, so while my heart rate is still elevated and I'm getting a good workout, my joints and muscles aren't taking the same pounding they get on the treadmill or straining like they sometimes do when I'm on the bike.

Also, Indoor Time Trial #3 is this weekend. I'm hoping to improve my time from the previous flat course by 45 seconds, which would put me at about 18:30. I think it's very doable - my strength and fitness have improved considerably since the beginning of January. Plus I'll have my tunes, which I know helped a ton on the rolling course a few weeks ago. Hopefully I can con somebody into coming along for moral support (and to hold my backpack while I race.)

Week 1 ~ 4:10 ~ $310

Every week I'm going to post my progress, including the total training time and how much money I've raised so far. I completed the week 1 training schedule for TnT. Not anything crazy, fairly light running and biking on their schedule, supplemented with my circuit (45 min), a yoga session (60 min) and a spinning class (60 min), for a grand total of 4 hours and 10 minutes. I feel pretty good overall, but was really fatigued on Sunday. I think my calories aren't keeping up with my training, so I should make sure I watch that a bit more closely in the coming week. Riding the trainer at home stinks, so I'm already looking forward to better weather so I can ride outside. For Week 2, the volume isn't going up too much, so I'm sure it will be very managable.

I was at 13% of my fundraising goal at week's end. Not too bad so far. A big thanks to my (anonymous) very generous friend! This week, there are a few 50/50 Raffles underway, which should bump me up even more. I'm also going to get printing/stuffing/mailing out my initial letter campaign. Time to hit up the extended family!

It's Alive! My fundraising webpage is finally up and running. Please donate and pass the info along to your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, dentist, hair dresser.... so they can donate, too. I've got a long way to go before I meet my goal, so I need all the help I can get!

Did the circuit that Aubrie (my trainer) put together for me. I feel like such a doofus pulling a mat and dumbbells over by the treadmills and doing the workout. The girl getting her hair done in the salon was giving me weird looks. The circuit is tough, but it is a good workout and I'm going to try to do it every Monday. Last time I was doing the run portions of the circuit (1/4 mile x 5 with exercises between) at about 6mph (10 min miles) but this time I ran all of them at 7mph, which is closer to an 8.5 min mile. I'd like to be at 8.5 min miles for my race pace, but I'm far from it. I can run the quarter miles that fast, but I don't know how long I could maintain it for. I also seriously suck at pushups.

Still no website. ARGH! We were told there was a good chance that we would be able to set them up by yesterday and still no word. I'm getting very frustrated.

I was checking out the website for the Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon again today as I was trying to convince my friend to sign up for it with me through TnT. While checking out the site, he pointed out what a pretty image they are using for the race, so I thought I would post it here. I think he's interested in signing up, but he is hesitant (with reason). He said he'd let me know later today.

TnT Kickoff Event was Saturday, and training began yesterday. I'm still pestering them about getting it so that I can set up my webpage. I'm frustrated that my fundraising is being held up so much by that simple fact. Hopefully I can get it going soon and get a bit of money in. I am trying to come up with some fundraising ideas and have a few so far. Hopefully they work and I'm able to get some money fairly quickly here. Training starts off nice and slowly, so hopefully I'll be able to manage alright. I have to bike tonight and am going to try to do my circuit from my trainer tonight as well.

I may be getting a bike from my friend, so I'll have a bad weather/trip to Ireland/Mindy can borrow/beater bike. I'm getting a great (and by great I mean phenomenal) deal on it, and it has all the features (materials, components, etc) that I was hoping against hope that I could get. I just will have to lean it against the wall in my apartment unless I feel like investing in a rack that holds two bikes. I'm excited though, since I was in need of a bike for Ireland, and this will be great to have even beyond that trip.

My new personal trainer kicked my butt this week. I think I like what she has me doing better than what my old trainer had me doing. She is also going to break down my running form to help me run more efficiently, which should help considerably. I've been seriously slacking on the running lately. I tried to run Wednesday night and just couldn't get going. Not sure why that was, but I'm going to try again tonight. I'm also going to head to an abs class at 6:30. I'm kind of scared of it, but hopefully it will be fun and start getting my abs in great shape.

I'm still waiting to set up my website for TnT. For whatever reason, my event isn't available on the drop-down menu for the setup page. They have been trying to fix it for some time now. Hopefully it will be done soon so I can start raising money. I feel like I had all this momentum last week and it was all for nothing since I couldn't get things set up. Hopefully that will change since, we have our kick-off meeting tomorrow. I feel like I have next to no info about this whole thing. I got an email from my mentor so I maybe I will contact her to see if I was supposed to get some packet of some sort, since she mentioned it in the email. Oh well.