Today

Tuesday:

• No workouts. Boo! I was scheduled to bike for 24 minutes, which I planned to do on the trainer in the evening after I finished baking cookies. Unfortunately, the mini blizzard made it so that I got home a bit later than planned and around 6:30 or 7, my moderate headache turned into a severe migraine which left me nauseous and put me to bed.

Wednesday:

• Slept off the migraine and felt much better in the morning. I had jury duty, so I headed downtown with Heath. Afterward, we went to the Christmas stuff in Daley Plaza and out to dinner so no workout Wednesday either.

Today:

• Up early-ish, worked out in the gym at work.
  
• Rode the icky stationary bike (no clips/straps and a saddle I kept sliding off) for 25 min
  
• Ran for 25 min immediately after riding the bike. So, I'm getting a bit caught up, which is good.
  
• Hopefully I can get a quick swim in on the way home from work tonight.

Back on the Wagon

By End of December 2008

Phase: School Break & Holidays

Focus: Build Base and Routine!

• No weight gain
  
• 85% Compliance with TP
  
• Run 20 Miles (from 12th)
  
• Bike 265 Minutes (from 12th)
  
• Swim 7250 Yards (from 12th)

Today:

• Swam 700 yds. Felt pretty good. Form should come back alright if I spend enough time in the pool.
• Run 2.5 miles. Going to do this on the dreadmill downstairs. Toooooo cold outside today. I don't care how long it takes me, my goal is just to cover the distance in the proper HR zones.

Tomorrow:

• Bike some piddly amount just to get used to being back in the saddle. Gotta start somewhere!
  

gift idea

Torque Wrench

Dorky? Yes.
Practical? So much so that it completely outweighs the dorkiness.

A good torque wrench is key if you are working on your own bike. Especially with a carbon frame (which i have). If you over tighten parts (which is possible due to having to crank on anything steel or aluminum), you could crack/damage the frame. That means big bucks. It's on sale now at Nashbar, but would make a great Christmas present. :)

Millenium Triathlon Results

Last Saturday, I competed in the inaugural Millenium Triathlon in Grand Rapids, MI.

I got in relatively late Friday night and went to bed immediately after putting my bike together. After some alarm drama (woke up an hour early - ugh!), I got up, got dressed, and tried to eat an uncrustable. No go. Still no appetite in the early morning. Oh well. My dad drove me over to the race site since it was still pretty pitch black out. I picked up my packet and headed over to transition.

My rack was on the far end of the transition area from the bike in/out. This is unfortunate because it meant I would have to run the whole length of transition in my bike shoes both in and out. Not too fun with clunky cleats. Oh well, all the other girls in my age group were in the same situation. Fortunately, I was at the end of the rack, which means more space to spread out. I got set up and called my mom and Mindy to see how close they were. I hit the port-a-potty shortly before transition closed and forced myself to eat a banana. Mindy and my mom showed up as I was grabbing my goggles and swim cap and getting ready to head to the beach.

The water was nice and warm and it was a really small, clean, calm lake. There were a ton of volunteers - scuba divers, kayakers, life guards, sheriff's boat, so they really had this covered. I was in the third wave of four, and ended up seeding myself too far back in the pack. I had to wait to start swimming because of some slower girls in front of me. That was a bit frustrating, but by the first buoy I was able to get out of some of the congestion. My navigation was good and I felt strong and fast. I had no idea what my split was because I forgot to start my watch. Ooops! I got out of the water and jogged the whole way to transition - never felt good enough to do that before, so that was nice.

Got on the bike and felt good pretty much right away. Got into the big ring and was able to push pretty easily without feeling like I was going to blow up. My bike computer is acting up lately, so I knew my cadence, but not my speed. I knew I was pushing a bigger gear than usual, so that was good. I let up a bit on the back stretch to eat a gel, but othewise pushed well for the duration.

I felt terrible in T2. Probably because of the pushing so hard on the bike without doing many (any) bricks lately. I took my time to compose myself, drink, and put shoes on slowly. I kind of felt like quitting in the first quarter mile, but made myself go on. I loosened up at around mile 1 and noticed my pace was good - mid 9's. I felt like I was going at 12 min/mi, so that really perked me up and gave me some energy. I ran the entire rest of the course, and finished with 9:26/mi pace. Not bad for me, but in the grand scheme, I'm a very weak runner. I've got to run more than once a week...

Below is a table of my results. You can see by the percentiles that running is definitely the weak spot in this race. My shakiness in T2 is also evident. I was in the top 10% overall for T1, but in the bottom 20% for T2. Yikes! (Click for a larger version.)

The race was really well run and the course flat, smooth, and well marked. The weather couldn't have been better and they had watermelon afterwards!! I was happy with my performance. My age group was a tough one, though, with people in my group going 1st & 2nd for female finishers and 7th & 8th place overall!

Muddy Buddy

Sunday morning, Heath and I did the Muddy Buddy, which is a very unique race. Teams of two (competing against other teams with summed ages in the same range - we were 61), trade off biking and running from obstacle to obstacle across a farm and through some woods. It's capped off with a crawl through a big mud pit at the end - super gross. I didn't have a good breakfast (not unlike my race last weekend when I was sick-ish) and thus felt weak throughout. Grr. Heath did great, running fast and getting done with each leg so fast that he was waiting for me to catch up every time.

I did manage to rock the obstacles, which included a short climbing wall, ranger ladder thingy, cargo rope climb up a big inflatable slide, and a balance beam run. I started off running, while Heath was on the bike, then at the first obstacle, you switch, and so on. It was getting pretty hot by the end of the race, so the mud pit felt pretty good. My performance was sub-par, which was frustrating, but I vow to be a stronger teammate next year!

I'll link to or post pictures when they are available!

D to the N to the F

So, last weekend I participated in my first Olympic distance triathlon in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish. I had been kind of sick the few days leading up to the race and so my nutrition was a bit out of whack. I made it through the swim alright, despite it being a traffic nightmare (yes, somehow that IS possible on a swim). I made it through one loop of the bike course, but had started to feel dizzy on a few uphills and I just didn't feel safe continuing. It's disappointing, sure, but it was the best thing to do. I was happy with my performance on the swim, so that's something positive to take away from the whole experience.

Next sunday: the Muddy Buddy in Elgin with Heath. Hopefully the heat wave isn't too bad!

Inaugural Millenium Triathlon

My mom just called to let me know there is a brand new sprint tri in Grand Rapids. It starts and finishes about 1.5 miles from where my parents live, so it would be super easy from a logistics standpoint. I could use a short little tune up race before Chicago, and I like the idea of being able to be one of the people that ran this race every year that it existed. Plus, it would be easy for people to come watch! I'm excited about it. Heath is out of town that weekend, so it will be just me heading up that way, but I'll have plenty of support from the family up there.

Quick Run

One of the nice things about working at the corporate office is that there is a gym downstairs with showers etc. So, I was able to get in a quick 1.7 mi run today. Nothing fantastic, but every little bit helps.

Swim Clinic

So, last night I had my second session of six at UIC with the CES swim class I'm taking. As a bonus, my new XM radio is finally working properly, which makes the commute there and back much nicer.

I really feel like I'm making gains in my swimming for the first time in a long time. I haven't been in the pool much, and until last night, I really felt like no matter what I did, I wasn't getting any faster. I didn't know what to do to improve my technique and form. I am able to build endurance over time, which is great, but it's discouraging to level off at a certain pace and not know where to go from there.

Last night we worked more on balance and rotation, which are critical. That's something that I've always been ok at. We also started counting strokes. My first try was 19 strokes/25yd in the high 20s for time. My second one was 17 strokes and 22 seconds. I think my stroke count is pretty decent so far.

Then we worked on pulling a bit. I feel this is an area where I need some help. I taught myself how to swim, and kind of made my best guess as far as arms were concerned. After just 1 tip from the coach last night, it felt COMPLETELY different. I felt like there was so much more power on every pull. It also worked some new muscles in my back, which is good. I'll need to practice it this week before my race on Sunday. I know my training this week is pretty much too little too late, but every little bit helps, especially with form and technique.

After class, the asst coach said I should join the master's swims at UIC. (Master's swims are where GOOD swimmers go to get better.) I don't know if I'm ready for something like that, yet, but he said I'd fit right in. I think I need to learn how to flip turn before I can join a master's group, but I'll ask him more about it next week.

also

go play on wordle. too cool.

this is the wordle for this blog.

It's Been Awhile

Yeah, so I've obviously neglected this blog for quite some time. Partly a function of being busy, mostly a function of being lazy.

I've run a few races - Shamrock Shuffle with Heath in March, a 5K in Glenview in June (which I PR'd and PLACED in my age group - how crazy is that?!), and another 5K in Grandville over 4th of July weekend. I made it through the Galena triathlon, which I blogged about on my other blog, but of course, not here on my TRIATHLON blog. Yeah. I also did the Quad Cities triathlon again, which was a lot of fun and very muddy. I beat my time from last year by quite a bit, but am still pretty slow.

That is because I don't train enough. Yep. I admit it. I could probably be pretty decent if I actually put effort in. I have a race this weekend (Tri'ing for Children's) in Wisconsin, that I'm horribly undertrained for. Then I have Chicago a mere 4 weeks later. I've been trying to run more, but have to be careful to not injure myself by doing too much too fast. I have also signed up for a swim clinic, in which I shall learn excellent form and technique. That, should, in time make me a faster swimmer. I have the 2nd session of 6 tonight. I'm looking forward to it.

Also, I got accepted into Kellogg, and if I end up going there, I could potentially join the triathlon club. It would be cool to have people to train and race with, and I'm so shy/lazy that it's hard for me to get out there and find it on my own.

Anyway, I'm going to try to be better about posting on here. I really do enjoy tri's and need to see about pushing myself to improve.

tax refund = races

i already got my tax refund! i already spent my tax refund! it went to a good purpose, though: my race entry fees for the year. (i have an expensive hobby...)

so here is my race calendar so far.

• Shamrock Shuffle March 30 in Chicago, IL: 8k run = 5 miles
• Galena Triathlon May 17 in Galena, IL: Sprint Triathlon: 660 yd swim, 16.8 mile bike, 4.3 mile run - hilly!
• Quad Cities Triathlon June 14 in Davenport, IA: Sprint Triathlon: 600yd swim, 15 mile bike, 5k/3.1mile run
• Tri-ing For Children's Triathlon July 27 at Kettle Moraine State Park, WI: Olympic Distance Triathlon: 1.5k swim, 40k bike (approx 25 miles), 10k run (6.2 miles)
• Accenture Chicago Triathlon August 24 in Chicago, IL: The biggest triathlon in the world!: Olympic Distance Triathlon (same distances as the WI race above)
  

i might also do the following races, depending on scheduling, etc:

• Race to Wrigley April 13 in Chicago, IL (5k run that ends inside Wrigley Field - Fun!)
• Run for the Zoo June 1 (?) in Chicago, IL (10k run that goes through Lincoln Park Zoo and along the Lakeshore)
• Lifetime Fitness Triathlon July 12 in Minneapolis, MN (Olympic Distance Triathlon)
• Muddy Buddy August 3 in Elgin, IL (Fun race that Heath did last year - we might do it together this year)

i finally made it back to the gym today after a week of being sick with a horrible cold. i struggled on the treadmill, but expect to be back on track shortly. this will be the most triathlons i've done in a season, so i'm really excited to see how much i can improve over my previous races!

Week 3 Recap

None, nada, nothing. I just flat out didn't feel like working out this week. I intended to several evenings, but just couldn't make it. Part of it was that I had some really long days at work last week, and was completely wiped out by the time I even got in my car to head home. Yeah, I probably would've felt more energized if I exercised, but I didn't. And I'm okay with that. I'm headed to the gym tonight to run and swim. Back on the horse.

Week 2 Recap

I've completed week 2 of my 20 week winter maintenance/base program. I did 7 of the 9 workouts and feel quite good about that, especially considering that we went to a snowboarding clinic on Thursday night and left town right after work Friday to spend the weekend in Wisconsin. I missed 2 of my 3 swim workouts, but will try extra hard to get all three of them in this week. I was very proud of myself for getting up both Saturday and Sunday to workout in the hotel "fitness center." I didn't have a very good workout yesterday because of too much beer and fried foods on Saturday, but I still stuck it out for the whole time.

Getting Better

I'm getting better as far as sticking to my training. I finally exercised in the morning today! Went for 35 minutes on my bike on the trainer. Wasn't going very fast, but that's okay. I have to cut myself some slack since I've been off the bike for so long. My butt needs to get used to the saddle again. Last night I went to the gym after work and ran 30 minutes and biked 15. Again, did the "slave to the HR monitor" thing. I felt pretty good, but it started to drift especially in the last 10 minutes. I just have to continue to be patient with this and remind myself that my fitness levels will come back and improve in time. I just have to stay focused on the right goals and not worry about pace/speed on the run at this point. I intended to swim last night, too, but wasn't feeling great on the bike (even cut that short due to not feeling well), and it was getting late and I had some things I needed to get done at home. So, I missed that 800 yard swim workout. I'm not going to try to make it up, I'm just going to accept that I wasn't able to get to it and be okay with it. Goal for tomorrow is to get up early early and run and swim before work. The catch is I want to be into work super early so I can leave work early and head out of town as soon as possible... that mean's getting to the gym super super early!

Late Riser

Ok, getting up to exercise in the morning is still not happening. I didn't even bother trying to today. Monday, I made it over to the gym after work and ran 20 minutes (went farther in the same amount of time while keeping my HR in check = improving my fitness!), then swam 400. I really focused on my swim form and felt quite good in the water. I rushed my butt off in "transition" so that I could get the whole thing done (parking, changing, running, changing, swimming, showering, dressing, validating my parking ticket) in under 60 minutes so I wouldn't have to pay to park. I'm cheap, I know. But I made it, with three minutes to spare. Whoo hoo me!

I got my bike set up with the special training tire (that thing is a PAIN to install), so I can ride on the trainer at home. I meant to last night, but was cold and tired and didn't do it. Tonight, I'm going back to the gym to run for 30 minutes, bike for 25 minutes, and swim 800. I will end up paying to park, but it's my punishment for not dragging my booty out of bed and exercising in the morning. My goal is to ride my bike on the trainer tomorrow morning, and then swim and run on Friday morning, since Heath and I are going out of town this weekend and I won't be able to work out after work on Friday. We'll see how well I stick to my goals!

Progress

I did end up going to the gym on Friday after work and doing the following: Run 20 minutes, Bike 20 minutes, Swim 400 yards. I was pretty pleased with how much I got done and wasn't too tired. I did notice that my back isn't as strong as it used to be, as it started to get very tired during the last part of my swim. For the week's training, I was under my planned training by 50 min for biking and 800 yards for swimming, but was over my planned running by a whopping 2 minutes. Given that I'm just getting back into training, I'm not going to be too hard on myself. I did an hour of pilates (plus running to and from the gym) on Saturday. Friday night, I also rode the mountain bike alongside Heath while he ran for about 2 miles.

My struggle right now is admitting how poor my cardiovascular health is for running. I can keep up a really good speed on the bike while maintaining an aerobic heart rate, but when I run, my heart rate spikes up really high. I am forcing myself to be a slave to my HR Monitor for this winter training. I have it set such that the treadmill will adjust in speed and incline to make sure my heart rate stays in an aerobic zone. This means (ugh) that by the end of my 20 minute run, I was going super duper slow. This is frustrating to say the least, but I'm hoping that if I train right and make sure I'm training aerobically, I'll get to a point where I can go quite a bit faster and still keep my HR in check. This will help me considerably going forward. I've been running my 5Ks at an anaerobic rate, which means I can't keep it up much longer than 30-45 minutes. I've never taken the time to make sure I'm aerobically fit for running. My legs and joints and everything are fine with me going faster than my heart wants to. I need to be okay with slowing down, so I'm going to suck it up and do that for the next while and hope that it pays off in the long run.

Today, I'm headed back to the gym for 20 minutes of running and another 400 yards of swimming. My overall goals for this week is to stick to the training plan volume and stay in the proper heart rate zones.

Slow Start

So, yeah. I didn't get any workouts in. I have a million excuses and none of them good enough. I knew it was going to be a challenge to get going again. I'm motivated, but haven't been good about making myself do what I need to do. I brought my gym bag to work with me. I have to make sure I go straight to the gym right after work and get my exercise in. I know I'll feel better if I just go and do it. Once I get into the habit, it will be easier, but I'm having a hard time right now because I've let it slide so much. Fortunately, I'm still in decent shape so it won't be too bad to get back into it. I have to remember how much it will pay off next summer in making me faster and better in my races. I think that if I work hard and stick with the training, I could potentially place in the Time Trial Series that ABD puts on. I was close to doing it last year without having really a clue of what I was doing. This year, I might be in a really good position to place. Most important to me is beating my times from last year. That is a good motivation for me. I'll post an update after I go to the gym tonight!

1 Nov

Today's workout: 20 minutes on the bike. I'll do this on the trainer at home tonight, since I didn't get up and get to the gym this morning. My sleep schedule is off. Early to bed tonight because...

Tomorrow's workout: 10 minutes running and 400 yards swimming (but I may bump that up to 600 to make up for not swimming on Monday or Wednesday).

I'll check in tomorrow to update my progress.

It's Alive!

Time to raise this blog from the dead... Okay. It's been about two and a half months since I've posted here. That was my post-season break. It's November 1 and I wanted to look back on last season's races and training and think about where I want to go from here.

Triathlons

I only did two triathlons this year: Quad Cities and Steelhead. I definitely would like to do more races than that next year. I think the pressure of the 70.3 made it hard for me to enjoy my training as much. I'd like to avoid that going forward, so I want to focus on shorter races in 2008.

As of right now, I'm planning on Accenture Chicago being my "A" race. It's the biggest triathlon in the world and since I live right here, how can I NOT do it at some point. It's likely one of the best chances I'll have to race alongside (okay, behind) professionals, so I'm excited about giving it a shot. It's olympic distance (1500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run), so it's a reasonable distance to train for, but will still be a good challenge.

Other races I'm considering are Galena (May), which is hilly and challenging, a long sprint distance, and a good early season race. I'd like to try to do the Quad Cities Tri again to beat my pretty awful performance from last year. There is also a triathlon in Waukegan that would be good since it's so close to home.

Running

I did a few running races this year including the Shamrock Shuffle, the Corporate Challenge, the Race Against Hate, and just recently the Trick or Treat Trot. I plan on doing the 8k Rudolph Ramble the second weekend in December, and possibly a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot. I'd like to do more running again next year, possibly working up to a half marathon. I'll certainly do the Shamrock Shuffle and a few others again next year. I'll have to see if Heath is up for a New Year's Day run, like I did last Jan 1st. The running races I haven't thought out as much as the triathlons, so I'll be doing more researching on those coming up. I'd also like to do the Muddy Buddy, which isn't a tri, but a sort of adventure race.

Cycling

Last year I did the Indoor Time Trial series, and was very pleased with my results, especially since I was (and still am) such a cycling newbie. It makes me excited to think about how well I could do if I really turn on the training this off-season. I'd like to do that series again (though it's a bit farther away now that I live in Evanston - probably worth the drive, though). I'd also like to a few more outdoor time trial races as these will help with my triathlon cycling. The races range from the 10k indoor races, to 16k to 40k outdoor races. They're not very expensive, but they tend to be kind of far away.

My big challenge will be to schedule my races such that I don't feel like I have an obligation every weekend. I want to have a good balance so that I feel like I can relax and/or go camping or visit friends and family without feeling like I'm constantly on the go.

Overall, I'm really excited to think about how much I can improve for next year. I figure if I can do as well as I did this year on really inadequate training (have to be honest with myself here - there is no way I should have been able to finish Steelhead like I did.), just imagine how fast and fit I could be if I put in a more solid commitment. My new training plan starts today. I signed up for a winter maintenance/base building training program through beginnertriathlete.com, which is a great resource for triathletes of all levels. They have forums, training programs, training logs, articles, and all sorts of features that build a kind of DYI triathlon community. I don't have the $ to plunk down on a personal coach, so the online resources are great. Once I get my online training log set up, I'll link to it, so I can be accountable for sticking with my program.

My main initial goal is to get into a routine where I exercise in the mornings before work, rather than after work, when I'm burned out from the day and my commute and don't have the energy to exercise. Once I get into that habit, I should be able to manage the training quite well.