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.

United Run for the Zoo 10K

I ran in my first 10K race yesterday. I was pleased to run the whole thing. I need to work on my willpower for training. I think that if I had been running by myself, I would've probably walked at a point or two. There was a spot around 4.5 miles that I had to really push through, but was happy I did it. The only walking I did was through the water stations, which, well, I have a hard time drinking while running, so I'm okay with that. I wasn't anywhere near the top of my age group (results here), but maintained my pace throughout: 10.5 minutes per mile. It was a lot of fun, and Heath and I spent a lot of time walking around the zoo since we had never been there. I highly recommend it to Chicago visitors. It's free and there is a lot to see. It's really quite nice and most of the animals were out. The only trick is getting down there - parking can be $$$. We had no sense of time, however, and ended up eating lunch at about 10:15. Whoops!! I'll have pics to post fairly soon (including one of me DURING the race right before the finish line - nicely done, Heath) and will add the link when they're up. Also, BEST RACE T-SHIRTS EVER! Nike Dri-Fit (retail for $40 - race entry was $25 booyah!), stretchy, slight camo pattern to the fabric, cool design, will definitely wear it often!

Link to Pictures

JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge

Last night, I ran this in downtown Chicago with Heath. About 23,000 people participated in the 3.5 mile run, so it was pretty packed. I was a bit worried about how I'd do since I've been fighting this awful cold for the past week (ugh a WEEK, get gone already cold), but Heath and I were able to run the whole thing in about 37 min, which is just under 11 min/mile. I'm very happy with that, and Heath met his goal of beating his time from last year (by 8 minutes, how great is that?!).

After the race, the companies had tents set up with food and stuff, so I hung out with Heath at the gigantic BCBS tent (complete with Christmast lights strung around it) for a bit (mooching one of their hot dogs and a beer) before heading over to the relatively quaint Joint Commission tent, which has a better spread, but no beer.

It was a lot of fun, and also reminded me of how helpful it is to run with somebody. It's a lot easier to keep going when you have somebody to talk to and it's nice to motivate each other. Whenever you run, you have points along the run that you don't feel so great and kind of get that pull to walk a bit. But if you are with somebody else, you usually don't both have those moments at the same time, so you take turns keeping each other going. Uh, also I need to recalibrate my heart rate monitor. Evidently, I am able to maintain over 100% of my max HR for an extended amount of time without dying. I'm thinking it underestimated my max HR by just a tad...

Next up: Run for the Zoo on June 3rd -- my first 10K run ever! Also, Quad Cities Triathlon on June 16. Race season is heating up, baby! (Not really. These and my big tri are the only things on my calendar for this summer so far. :P)

I needed some extra motivation to run, so I signed up for the Run for the Zoo 2007. The course winds through Lincoln Park Zoo and I get a nice Dri-Fit t-shirt (and we all know that the t-shirt is what really matters). I bravely signed up for this as my first 10K race, but I should be more than capable of covering 6.2 miles at this point. Small races along the way help to get my butt outside and running.

The 28th Annual Shamrock Shuffle is coming up on Sunday. It should be a lot of fun. I'm hoping I can run the whole thing. (I'd better be able to!) With 30,000 participants, it is certainly going to be crowded, and I'm guessing it will be at least a mile before it breaks up enough for me to get up to pace, so then it makes it only about 4 miles on pace, which I think is doable. I'm shooting for 10 minute miles, but that may be wishful thinking. I know a few other people running in it, including an old college friend that I haven't seen in years. Hopefully I can find her and at least say "hi" and catch up a little. There is a post-race party that starts at 10am with beer, food, and live music. It should be fun, though I'll definitely be eating something before I start in on any beer!

Thankfully, I was able to con my way ;) into overnight accommodations near the train so I won't have to drive into the city for the race or the expo. That will make things a lot less stressful and more convenient. No worrying about negotiating closed streets or paying for parking. I'll definitely post an update post-race to share how I did.

The current overall standings for the time trial series are posted on the ABD website and my category standings are shown below (click for a larger image that is actually legible). For the individual race, I was 4th out of 7, and I'm 5th out of 11 overall right now. I'm pretty happy with that. I was really hoping to catch that Joy Houser person, but as you can see, she blew her previous hilly time out of the water. Just goes to show you that all you can do is race your best, since it's just you against the clock. In time trials, you have no control over how other people race, only yourself. I'm happy with my improvement over time. The Fraser Memorial TT (10 Miles) is the last race in the series. It's April 1st in Maple Park and will be my first outdoor cycling race, and my first time racing in my aerobars. Yikes! Should be interesting.

The final indoor Time Trial was today. I raced really well. The girl next to me was pushing really hard and it was all I could to to hold her off. It paid off, though, since both of us ended up going a lot faster than if we hadn't been going head to head. My time was 18:41.11, with an average speed of just under 20mph, which is the fastest time I've managed. I'm interested to see how I placed in my category and where I'm at overall. I'm going to try to get some pictures up of the race. Here is the progression of my performance over all four races. Note that my power increased from race to race, it indicates that I'm getting stronger and stronger every time.

Race 1: 19:16.24 / 19.3mph / 178watts (flat)

Race 2: 19:15.26 / 19.3mph / 191watts (hilly)

Race 3: 18:53.16 / 19.7mph / 199watts (flat)

Race 4: 18:41.11 / 19.9mph / 202watts (hilly)

Update: I put some pictures of the race up on Photobucket. Still waiting on ABD to post the results. Below is one of me warming up before the race started. I'm SO rocking those pink socks.

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!

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.)

Indoor Time Trial #2 was yesterday. My heat was me + seven guys, ugh! I have my warmup routine down for these, now, which helped immensely. I was very happy with my performance, 19:15.26, which put me at 19.3 mph again and in 4th place out of 10 in Women's Cat-4. Even though I got the same time (essentially) and the same speed, it was a vast improvement. This was a hilly course (course profile below), and so was considerably harder than the flat course from last time. I compared some of the other girls' times and just about all of them did worse by approx a minute on this course as compared to last time. So I must've improved a bit, which is surprising since I haven't been training ALL that much. I think my pared down warmup (only 15 min) and having my ipod working helped a lot. I managed to beat the guy to my right, and was hoping I could catch the guy to my left, but the computer thingy he was on pooped out about 2/3 of the way thru. I would've been PISSED! Overall, a good race for me. I still have a lot of endurance work to do, but yesterday motivated me to really get going on being faster for the next flat course!

Indoor Time Trial #1 was yesterday. There were computer problems, but my section got underway at around noon. About two miles in, I thought I would die and wasn't sure if I could make it. My legs were feeling heavy all morning and I was just having an "off" day all around. I managed to push it though and refused to let my speed drop below 18. There was another girl in the heat that I wasn't far behind, but hard as I tried, I just couldn't quite catch her! She stayed approx .2 mph faster than me the whole time, grrr! Anyway, I definitely gave it my full effort, which I am proud of. I ended up getting 4th place out of 8 in the Women's Cat-4 with a time of 19:16:24 (average speed = 19.3 mph). I'm happy with that, especially since it was my first race ever. It definitely motivates me to improve for next time. I'm happy I was able to be in the middle of the pack as opposed to at the rear end. :P

Had my first race of the year yesterday, the New Year's Day 5K Fun Run/Walk in Lincoln Park in Chicago. I've been slacking on my running so it was a good way to kick off the new year. Don't have my official time yet, but it was slooooow. Partly because the paths were narrow and it was a big pack, partly because I was tired from being up late the night before, but mostly because I'm slow.

After the race, my friend and I wandered over to North Avenue Beach where we joined the Polar Bear Club for a quick dip in Lake Michigan. Yes, it was cold, especially since the wind really seemed to pick up as we were walking over there. After getting out of the water, my legs were numb and my feet were shaking as I tried to get dressed. Fortunately the weather was quite mild compared to what January in Chicago can be.

Going to sit down tonight and plan out specific workouts for the next four or so weeks. I've been putting it off and been busy, but it's got to get done now.

I was in a bit of a funk as far as working out around the holidays. I did get a bit of exercise in, so I wasn't a complete lump, but I definitely slacked too much. I decided the only way to really get my butt back in gear was to fork over a few registration fees. So I did. I signed up for the ABD Indoor Time Trial Series. The first race is in 9 days, so that should get me motivated! I hope to do alright, mainly want to avoid making a total fool of myself over there, but we'll see! I need to be stepping outside of my comfort zone a bit, otherwise I'll never do anything, I'll just sit around wondering how I might've done. Not a very good way to live life! I've been doing a bit of cycling on my trainer and been trying to keep up on the spinning classes at the gym, but I'll be stepping up the training throughout the series and will hopefully be able to see decent improvement over time.

The Time Trial Series consists of five races:
1/1/07 -- 10K Flat TT (Indoor, 8-Up)
1/28/07 -- 10K Rolling TT (Indoor, 8-Up)
2/18/07 -- 10K Flat TT (Indoor, 8-Up)
3/4/07 -- 10K Rolling TT (Indoor, 8-Up)
4/1/07 -- 10 Mile TT at Maple Park

I also signed up for the 2007 New Year's Day Fun Run in Chicago. Decided it would be a good way to kick off the year on the right foot. It doesn't start till 11, so I'll have plenty of time to get into the city. I may also jump in Lake Michigan with the Chicago Polar Bears Club, but we'll see if I'm that brave! Definitely would be something to brag/talk about! I'll try to remember my camera if I do go through with it.

I'm making some headway on the planning. I bought Joe Friel's Triathlon Training Bible, and have been going through that trying to set up my training plan. Part of the challenge is figuring out which races I really want to do and which races I can cut out. I'm also trying to decide whether to join USAT. So far it looks like I might be doing three triathlons that are USAT sanctioned, so it would make sense to join ($30 for annual membership or $10 fee for nonmembers to race in USAT races). I would be breaking even, so might as well get me a key fob and those other benefits. I'm also noticing that registration is open for several of the races I'm considering. I know some have a tendency to fill up quickly, so I should register ASAP. The funds are short at the moment, given the Christmas shopping I've been doing, but registering will lock me into participating and be that much more motivation!

I'm also struggling with how ambitious to be about the cycling races. There are several time trials in the area (well, sort of, close enough to drive to anyhow), which would be great prep for the triathlon bike portions. They range from 20 to 40K, and most of them fall earlier in the season than the triathlons I'm planning on. It's tempting to think about signing up for most of them, but will need to work it into the rest of my training plan.

On a training related note, I found out this morning that my personal trainer has left my gym. Now this could be a pro or a con. I was benefitting from the program he had me on, but I have been feeling it was more sprint focused than I necessarily want to be at this point. My newly assigned trainer (good thing I don't have any input here), said that she understands that I do marathons (come again? nope. not yet anyhow.) and that she can work with me blah blah... So needless to say there was a slight breakdown in communciation. I'll be sure to sit down with her and get things in order. Hopefully we can get me on the right track to support my actual goals.