Saturday: Ringing in Hope 10k Race Report

I apparently never wrote this race report... Oops! If I think about it, I'll come back to put SOMETHING in here.

---------------------------------
Race report: 2 yrs later...

Um, not sure how I missed this race report! I loved that the start time was like 10:00am. Makes for a "relaxing" pre-race morning. Met up with Kathy & planned to run as much of it with her as possible. I hadn't really been training for this race & was a bit off my game.

The first 5k went well. People were running all over the place & running into cones. I took a honey stinger along with some water around the half way point. Around mile 5, I had to stop and stretch out my hip. As soon as I did, it popped and felt SO much better! Kathy had gone ahead while I stretched, so I got back to running & finished it up. I ran it in 1:01:50 (which Garmin Connect is telling me is a 10k personal best - I think it is for a stand-alone 10k). If I hadn't stopped to stretch, it would've been under an hour. Ah well.

Shortest race report ever. :)

Week 11 - Not much better than week 10

I've been slacking so majorly. UGH! Cookies, candies, etc, etc, etc. Stress at work, stress at home. I'm in need of a major attitude change.

Tuesday I did a lactate threshold test using Trainer Road. Love their application. Definitely worth the $7 per month. Turns out my LT on the bike is 166. Can't wait to see what that means in my training going forward... once I get my butt moving again!

And... that wraps up my workouts so far this week. WOW. Slackin. I almost missed packet pickup for my 10k that's on Saturday. Oops. I can tell I need to get my head in the game.

Week 11 Low Volume Off Season Plan

It's cardio week this week. Hopefully I'll get back on the band wagon. I've been really slacking off lately. Just very little motivation recently.

 

 

Monday

off/yoga

Tuesday
Spin

Wednesday
Swim: 300m warmup, 12x25 drill set, 6x100 base intervals, 12x25 kick set, 12x25 pull set, 300m cool down

Thursday
Run: 40 min foundation run, 5 drills (30 sec each)

Friday
Bike: 1:15:00 hr foundation ride, 4 drills

Saturday
Swim: 300m warmup, 12x25 drill set, 6x100 base intervals, 12x25 kick set, 12x25 pull set, 300m cool down

Ringing in Hope 10k - Will probably switch to do the swim Sunday instead of Saturday.

Sunday
Run: 40 min foundation run, 5 drills (30 sec each)

Week 10 So Far

This has been my laziest week in a while. I went to TNT on Tuesday and Thursday, but that's about it. Two things to be proud of: I did bicep curls with a 40 lb barbell and did my bench dips with my trainer holding my feet... and he started swinging my legs at one point. That was fun. :) I have a different version of "fun"!

Maybe I'll get a couple of workouts in this weekend. Goodness knows I could use them.

Sunday - Run

35 min foundation run, 5 drills (30 sec each)

I decided to go outside for this run. I thought it was only 30 minutes... so that's all I ran. Oops. Still, great run. Went out way too fast, but it felt SO GOOD!

Week 10 Low Volume Off Season Plan

Mondayoff/yoga

Tuesday
TNT
Spin

Wednesday
Swim: 300m warmup, 12x25 drill set, 6x100 base intervals, 12x25 kick set, 10x25 pull set, 300m cool down

Thursday
TNT
Run: 35min foundation run, 5 drills (30 sec each)

Friday
Bike: 1 hr foundation ride, 4 drills

Saturday
Swim: 300m warmup, 12x25 drill set, 6x100 base intervals, 12x25 kick set, 10x25 pull set, 300m cool down

Sunday
Run: 40 min foundation run, 5 drills (30 sec each)

Saturday - Swim

300m warmup, 12x25 drill set, 6x100 base intervals, 10x25 kick set, 10x25 pull set, 300m cool down

Another great swim. My shoulder was bothering me a bit during this one, but I pushed through. Had the pool to myself the entire time, which was nice!

Friday - Bike

Bike: 1 hr foundation ride, 4 drills

Didn't do it. Blah.

Thursday - TNT/Run

TNT
Run: 35min foundation run, 5 drills (30 sec each)
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TNT was good. Nothing of note. The treadmill run went horribly. I think I lasted all of 10 minutes. It's cold, but I'd rather be outside.

Wednesday - Swim

Swim: 300m warmup, 12x25 drill set, 6x100 base intervals, 10x25 kick set, 10x25 pull set, 300m cool down

Did it! Had a great swim today!

Tuesday - TNT & Spin

TNT was good tonight. My shoulder pain has been tolerable lately, so that's good. T told me about this woman who was spinning last night at a different club and snapped her ankle because she was wearing baggy pants. People are generally stupid, just sayin! Spin was good. D's cycling buddies were there, which always makes for an interesting and funny class. The inside of my knee really hurt after clas. Hopefully it'll be ok. Something to keep an eye on for sure.

Week 9 Low Volume Off Season Plan

I did pretty good last week, only missed one workout. Here's the schedule:

Monday
off/yoga

Tuesday
TNT
Spin

Wednesday
Swim: 300m warmup, 12x25 drill set, 6x100 base intervals, 10x25 kick set, 10x25 pull set, 300m cool down

Thursday
TNT
Run: 35min foundation run, 5 drills (30 sec each)

Friday
Bike: 1 hr foundation ride, 4 drills

Saturday
Swim: 300m warmup, 12x25 drill set, 6x100 base intervals, 10x25 kick set, 10x25 pull set, 300m cool down

Sunday
Run: 35 min foundation run, 5 drills (30 sec each)

Sunday - run, no wait, ride

So, I did my hour long ride today. I decided to finally use Trainer Road since I signed up for their beta. I did the 20 minute FTP and threshold test (which is an hour long). I finished the workout and realized I had it set to measure power and not heart rate! DOH! Now I have to redo he workout. Guess that'll happen next week. Boo!

Friday/Saturday - Off

I was supposed to do an hour long bike ride on Friday, but I took it off instead. Saturday was already an off day, so that was good. :)

Thursday - TNT & Run

Tonight's TNYt workout was good. We had 13 people, so the time went by quick. We also had our body fat tests today. Mine was up, which I figured it would be, I've been slacking lately. My run did NOT go well. My Achilles is still bothering me from the Hot Chocolate Run, so 12 min in, I had to stop today. Hopefully it'll feel better next week!

Wednesday - Swim

Swim today went well. I can tell when I'm starting to get tired, so I'm going to start really working on that. Also, my left side breathing is getting better. I think I'm going to start doing at least 1-3 of the 100s doing bilateral breathing.

Tuesday - TNT/Spin

For the first time in three weeks, I actually did my entire workout tonight! I know, I know, I've been slacking. The scale is showing it. I'm not terribly worried about it. I've been trying to cut back on my calories in the recent week or so. I'm ok until dinner. It'll get easier.

TNT was good tonight. We had another really large class (9 or 10 people), so that makes it a little harder, but it was a decent workout.

Spin was really good. I haven't been in 3 weeks and boy did I pay for that mistake tonight. Oops. Ah well, I needed to mentally check out from it for a bit. We did 30 sec on/30 sec off for 5 minutes at a time... 6 times total. That's right, 30 sprints. Wow. Rough workout to come back to, but much needed. Definitely got anything that was still tight loosened up a bit!

Now, to gear up for tomorrow's swim!

Week 8 Low Volume Off Season Plan

Well, I slacked off less last week, we'll give it another try this week.  Here's the schedule:

Monday
off/yoga

Tuesday
TNT
Spin

Wednesday
Swim: 300m warmup, 10x25 drill set, 4x100 base intervals, 8x25 kick set, 8x25 pull set, 300m cool down

Thursday
TNT
Run: 35min foundation run, 5 drills (30 sec each)

Friday
Bike: 1 hr foundation ride, 4 drills

Saturday
Off/Yoga

Sunday
Run: 30 min foundation run, 5 drills (30 sec each)

Saturday - Hot Chocolate 15k Race Report

Hot Chocolate DC 15k Race Report (I have no pics from this race... ah well)

• Race Name: Hot Chocolate DC 15k
• Race Date: December 3, 2011
• Race Location: National Harbor, MD
• Race Distance: 15k (9.3 mi – measured 9.13 on GPS the day of)
• Division: 30-34
• Total Time: 1:29:37
• Time Breakdown: Split 1 – 21:33, Split 2 (at 10k) – 59:27
• Age Group Placing: 613/1638
• Overall Placing: 2982/7678 (women only)

Pre-race

Race registration was all online (this is pretty much the norm now, I think). As long as you registered early enough, you had no problems with registration. A few people tried to sign up closer to the race and the 5k race was closed, so there were complaints about that. When you registered, you had to select your jacket size, which they told you how to measure. This is important later for many people.

On Friday, we headed down to the National Harbor to do packet pickup. We left Tysons Corner (work) right around 3:00 and were at the National Harbor by 3:45. We checked into our hotel and then went to packet pickup. We went in, got our bibs, picked up our jackets, then walked around the expo for a little bit. It was mostly PRR selling stuff at the expo, so that was a bit weird with it being just one vendor, but it’s all good. I picked up a pair of Kinvara 2s that I’ve been meaning to make the trip to PRR for anyhow. We had dinner, met up with Nadia, then met up with Rachel later. We went to bed around 10 with the alarm set for 5:30.

The morning of the race, we walked the mile from our hotel to the race start. Since it was about a mile walk, we started out at 6:30am. This would turn out to be the biggest mistake we made all day, without knowing it. To give the race director a little bit of credit, they did emphasize that people needed to be there by 6:15, as they were closing roads at 6:30. People in the DC area, as always, didn’t account for traffic and it was a cluster. On that note, they should’ve never allowed people to park at National Harbor for this race. They should’ve shuttled everyone in. Also, they should’ve narrowed down the field to at least half of what they had. Had they done those two things, I think things would’ve gone a lot differently.

We were delayed an hour from our start. Mind you, the 15k was supposed to start at 8am. I had been standing outside from 6:30am in race tights and a long sleeve running shirt. I ditched my jacket in bag check at 7:15 because the 5k was supposed to start at 7:45 (they didn’t end up going until 8:20 or so). Total side note: there were PLENTY of port-a-potties in the after race area. The 15k ended up not going until 9:00. I had been outside for 2.5 hrs in very little clothing in 32-34 degree weather. By the time we started, my heart rate had been consistently in the 120s because I had been shivering so much. Since course maps had been provided, I knew we were headed to 210 and then back through where we started and into the National Harbor to run the 5k course before heading back to our start area. What I didn’t realize was that this was a lot hillier than I thought. Oops.

Run

This race is a hard one to write about. I was in a corral, so I didn’t seem to have a lot of the problems people later in the pack did. I found the course to be wide enough and mostly well staffed. I did have to get water off the table myself because by the time we returned to the water station, a couple of the volunteers had left. I didn’t think this was that horrible, so no real complaints. I took my gel at mile 5, took some water, and kept running. My legs actually felt really good for most of the race. Once I hit mile 7.5, my calves started to cramp up and I figured I might be in trouble a bit. I was definitely right… it wasn’t good! I seriously under-estimated the hills on this run and between the 2.5 hrs in the cold and the hills, my calves were shot. Training a bit more (like… at all) would’ve definitely helped me on this race.

Post-Race

Immediately after I finished the race, I was on the ground and massaging my calves to get them to stop contracting. I knew this was super important to get them to stop as soon as possible given my Achilles issues from 2009. I caught up with Rachel, Nadia, and Jon. Jon helped me massage my legs and stretch out some. We sent the ladies back to the hotel since they needed to pack up and check out. I got my hot chocolate and skipped the chocolate fondue. I just wanted real food. After about 45 minutes, we finally started the 1.5 miles back to the hotel. We stopped at Nando’s Peri-Peri for lunch. Chicken with mashed potatoes and cole slaw was just what I needed! Yum!

Summary and Lessons Learned

The worst part of this race was the lack of communication from the race officials and the waiting. The RAM organization seriously needs to look at what went wrong before returning to the DC area. Once we got started, I thought everything was fine, but again, I didn’t have the issues that apparently others did. I think that the field needed to be cut off at least half of what they had. Ultimately, I’d do the race again. We’ll see if they return.

Note: We were delayed an hour because of the traffic debacle that was the National Harbor this morning. If we hadn't been delayed, I would've loved this race instead of just liked it.

Friday - Off

I took it off cause, you know, I've been slacking on everything lately. I haven't done any yoga in about 3 weeks or so. That has to stop, like, yesterday. Plus, we traveled to the National Harbor for packet pickup and did a good bit of walking around. Glad to at least stretch my legs a bit.

Thursday - TNT/Run

I went to TNT today... pretty normal workout. We had 10 people there, a few too many to have too much of either coach's attention. I donno, I hate the larger classes. T & M handled it well, but blah.

The run... surprisingly (NOT), I skipped it. I've been really lazy about this lately and I have a feeling that'll kick me in the butt on Saturday!

On another note: it's December1st and it feels like December. I'm so not ready for colder weather!

Wednesday - Swim

Today's workout was this:
Swim: 300m warmup, 8x25 drill set, 4x100 base intervals, 8x25 kick set, 8x25 pull set, 300m cool down

And that's exactly what I did. I had a great swim today. Hey - even the lifeguard was in the pool area today! I did a few different drills today. I feel like I'm starting to get stronger with breathing every 4 strokes instead of every 2 strokes. I'll keep working on it during drills and start putting it into my main sets. I've also been working on my bilateral breathing. I'm getting there!

Tuesday - TNT

Tonight's workout was supposed to be TNT and Spin. I went to TNT knowing full well that I hadn't really worked out at all since the 17th. WAY too long! T asked for our cardio and nutrition numbers... his response to my answer was "SHE IS HUMAN!" I just laughed.

TNT went well, but man did it take it's toll! I rarely ever feel like I did tonight, so I went home instead of spin. On the way out, D saw me and was like "where are you escaping to?!" I haven't been to class in 3 weeks now. I HAVE to go next week.

I need to talk with M about my race schedule for next year and see if she has any suggestions for races to build up to the Half Rev. Can't wait!

Week 7 Low Volume Off Season Plan

This week is for refocusing my habits. I slacked off big time last week, so this will be about getting it back. Only 5 more weeks in the "easy" off season. Here's the schedule:

Monday
off/yoga

Tuesday
TNT
Spin

Wednesday
Swim: 300m warmup, 8x25 drill set, 4x100 base intervals, 8x25 kick set, 8x25 pull set, 300m cool down

Thursday
TNT
Run 5 miles

Friday
Off/yoga


Saturday
Hot Chocolate 15k; Goal time: between 1:30:00 and 1:35:00. I think it's obtainable.

Sunday
Bike: 45:00 foundation ride, 4 drill sets (I have my new trainer and can't wait to get it set up!)

Week 6

Oh my goodness... Thanksgiving got in the way! I didn't do a single workout last week. You know what? That wasn't my goal at all! I'm normally really good about cardio week, but last week, well, I just wasn't.

Week 7 is where I get refocused. Refocused on my training and on food. Bring it week 7!

Week 6 Low Volume Off Season Plan

I was slacking (just on the blog front) yesterday about getting this week's workouts up. It's cardio week, so no TNT this week. Here's the schedule:

Monday
Run 7 miles

Tuesday
Either Spin class or 45:00 foundation ride, 4 drill sets

Wednesday
Swim: 300m warmup, 8x25 drill set, 4x100 base intervals, 6x25 kick set, 6x25 pull set, 300m cool down

Thursday
THANKSGIVING! I'm in charge of the turkey, so this is a rest day.

Friday
Run 6 miles

Saturday
Bike: 45:00 foundation ride, 4 drill sets

Sunday
Run 8 miles

Friday - Sunday

I'm a serious slacker. I didn't work out at all this weekend. Oops. I instead cleaned my house, did a lot of last minute Thanksgiving shopping, wrapped presents, and started making certain dishes for Thanksgiving. So, I wasn't just sitting around doing nothing, just wasn't working out. Some of my workouts from this weekend are getting moved to next week so that I can get the workouts in, especially that 7 mile run!

Thursday: TNT/Run

Today was a much better day than Tuesday. I got out a did my run before TNT, which was fantastic! I have no idea how long the run was because my watch died 0.8 miles into the run. I just knew I needed to get home by 4:40ish to grab my stuff for TNT. I got to TNT around 4:50, so it gave me enough time to get water and bring my heart rate down a bit. TNT was good, I worked hard and got in a good workout. Next week's cardio week, so I have to work hard to get the weight that I've been slowly putting on back off.

Wednesday: Swim

Today's workout was a swim. 250m warmup, 8x25m drills, 4x100m base interval, 6x25m kick set, 6x25m pull set, 250m cool down I had a pretty good swim. Nothing major to note; I even had the pool to myself for everything except the cool down! The on,y thing that has me a bit concerned recently is that the lifeguard hasn't been in the pool area when people are in there. Things happen, even in 3.5 to 4 ft of water. It's probably me being paranoid, but still... I'd just rather the lifeguard was in there.

Tuesday TNT/Spin

You ever have one of the crappiest days you can remember? That was today. I hardly ever let what happens at work affect my working out, but today, it happened. I didn't want to go to the gym at all, so just making it there was awesome. I got through TNT, but just got through. Wasn't really able to clear my mind like I would've liked to. Spin? Yea, I skipped it. I just didn't want tobe around super chipper people. Ah well, there's always tomorrow.

Week 5 Low Volume Off Season Plan

This week, the training shifts into more of a running mode to get ready for the 15k. It's the last race I have on schedule, and I need to get ready!

I actually have 2 off/yoga days this week! Woooo hoooo!


Monday: Off/Yoga (Yoga for cyclists, if I do it)

Tuesday: TNT/Spin

Wednesday: Swim - 250m warmup, 8x25m drills, 5x100m base interval, 6x25m kick set, 6x25m pull set, 250m cool down

Thursday: TNT/ Run 5 miles

Friday: Off/Yoga (Yoga for weightloss, if I do it)

Saturday: Run 7 miles

Sunday: Cycle - 45:00 foundation ride (technique), 4 drills

Sunday - Run

Today's workout was a 6 mile run, but instead I did 5. Not because I didn't feel like I could do 6... but because I ran out of time. I also had a massage this morning, and I was running out of time (literally) to get to it, so I had to cut the run a mile short.

The run itself was good. I chased down one chick who was doing a run/walk and then on the way back chased down an older guy (maybe later 50s?) wearing an ironman hat. It took me about 48 minutes to run 5 miles, not too bad. I feel like I need to get my time down a bit, but I'm also not too worried about it.

I still need to download my stats from my watch. I think I'm going to try to post my heart rate stuff on here, since I'm going to start trying to use it. I need to do a lactate threshold test, but that's going to have to wait until after the 15k.

Update: I downloaded all of the info from my run earlier today.

Distance: 5.08 miles
Time: 49:29 (a little longer than I thought)
Elevation Gain: 186 ft
Elevation Loss: 186 ft
Average Pace: 9:45/mile
Average HR: 178
Max HR: 190

Saturday - Sweat for a Vet

Today's workout was Sweat for a Vet - a 3 hr indoor cycling event to raise money for Project Visability. They buy hand crank cycles for Walter Reed Hospital to help rehabilitate wounded veterans. They're also going to send some of these vets to classes to become cycling instructors. How awesome is that?!

The spin went great! I was so happy to be a part of this. Can't wait to do it again next year!

Total side note: today is J's and my 6th anniversary. 3 hrs of spin = guilt free awesome dinner!

Friday - Run

I had a 5 mile run on tap for today and I completely skipped it. Running fail. I needed a down day, it's been a really rough week and I just needed a break, so I took it.

Thursday - TNT/Spin

This week is pretty spin heavy in preparation for Sweat for a Vet on Saturday. Today was TNT and a 30 minute easy spin.
TNT went well. We ended with one of my least favorite leg/core workouts - 12 pushups, 12 squats, 11 pushups, 11 squats... all of the way down to 1 and 1. I do this activity as fast as I can just to get it over with. I don't even mind that I have to squat until everyone else gets done.

The spin was a chore. I wasn't in the mindset to spin at all today. Plus, I got up there and someone else was in there... and had turned off the fans. WHO DOES THAT?! I should've asked if he minded if I turned them on, but I just did it without the fans. It went ok - just kept moving. I don't know that I've ever been happier to get off a spin bike after such a short spin.

Wednesday - Swim

Tonight's workout was:

Swim - 250m warmup, 6x25m drills, 3x100m base interval, 6x25m kick set, 6x25m pull set, 250m cool down

And that's exactly what I did. For the drills, I did 100m left side only breathing and 50m bilateral breathing. I need to continue to strengthen my left side breathing, so I'm working on it!

The workout was good. I was the only person in the pool until my pull sets, which was great. Nice and quiet. It let me get some stuff out of my head, which was desperately needed. It's been a hard week on so many levels. Not the worst it could be, but definitely not the best.

I've also decided that I hate kick sets. I know they serve a purpose, but they're not my favorite. The pull drills went really well today, I was actually glad to be doing them!

I'm starting to really look forward to my weekly swims again!

Tuesday - TNT/Spin

Tonight was TNT and Spin. I ran over to the gym for TNT, like I normally do. It's been unseasonally warm here since our first snow (go figure). Normally, I'm all sorts of motivated to do my lifting workouts. Tonight, not so much. T asked me why so gloomy, and I straight up told him I'd prefer to be outside instead of inside. He responded back that we could take the bungees outside and do TNT out there, just need headlamps. I told him I could be back in less than 10 min with my headlamp. He just laughed at me.Yea... I really wanted to be outside so bad.

Spin was rough for me tonight. I so wasn't focused on being there. We had quite a few intervals and hills. Blah. I need to get my head on straight since I have a 3 hr spin on Saturday! I think part of my problem is that I've been doing spin in my normal workout shorts, so I'm without padding... it's distracting! D worked hard to keep the entire class motivated, and it was a good workout, I just wasn't the most motivated of them all!

Monday - Off

I took today off to meet up with S for dinner. I miss her, especially now that I'm doing the tri stuff. When she was doing it, I thiough she was crazy, but now that I'm doing it, I wish she was too... and I wish we were still working out together. There are days I wish I hadn't moved to Brambleton to do TNT, but other days I'm glad I did. Today, I wished I hadn't. It's ok though, because S stopped working out at Regency, so I guess I'm not missing much.

Week 4 Low Volume Off Season Plan

Last week was a good week. I got all of my workouts done - even if I ended up doubling up on Sunday instead of doing Saturday and Sunday. It worked out better that way, I was able to get a bunch of house stuff done.

This week's workouts look really doable. I'm so glad I decided to do the low volume training plan before jumping back in on the higher volume plan.

Monday: Off/Yoga

Tuesday: TNT/Spin

Wednesday: Swim - 250m warmup, 6x25m drills, 3x100m base interval, 6x25m kick set, 6x25m pull set, 250m cool down

Thursday: TNT/ 30 min easy spin

Friday: Run 5 miles

Saturday: Sweat for a Vet (3 hr spin event)

Sunday: Run 6 miles

Sunday - Cycle and Run

Well, I slacked off yesterday, so in addition to my 30 min spin, I needed to do a run.

I spun for 30 minutes and kept it kind of easy. My flat road was at a 10 today, which was good. I didn't push too hard (no hills today), but they weren't in the plan either. :)

After the bike, I decided to do a nice, easy run of 4 miles at 10 minute per mile. I wanted to keep it easy since I haven't really been running that much lately.

Everything went well for this workout - onto next week!


Update: Here's the HR data from this run:

Distance: 4:00 miles
Time: 40:00
Elevation Gain: 0 ft (was on the treadmill)
Average Pace: 10:00/mile
Average HR: 175
Max HR: 187

Friday & Saturday - Lazy Slacker

Well, Friday was a scheduled off day. So, I did just that... took off. Today, I didn't run but took off instead. I don't know if shopping for 5 hours (normal errands + Christmas shopping) counts as "off" since I did more walking than I normally do. I just didn't run. Will have to do it tomorrow.

Thursday - TNT/Run & body fat checks

Today was a good day. I got my Garmin Forerunner 110 in the mail yesterday. I already owned the Garmin Forerunner 405 CX... and HATE it. No, seriously, I don't know that I've ever hated an electronic device more (well, maybe my BlackBerry, but that's another story). When I was only running, I disliked it, but didn't hate it. Now that I'm tri-ing, I hate it. For training, it's not bad. Usually, it's fine actually. In races, it sucks. In tris you never really dry off from the swim, so using the touch bezel is incredibly difficult. Stupid touch bezel. Honestly, I don't use all of the "features" and just wanted something simpler, so I bit the bullet and ordered the 110. We'll give the 405 to my brother to do his training with. Nice Christmas present. I decided to order it with the heart rate monitor and decided that I'm going to use it.

I went for a run - with intention to run 2-4 miles. I haven't run since the race on Oct 1. I've also been sick and haven't fully recovered, so that's not so great. I ended up running 2 miles in just under 20 minutes. Not too bad considering. I did wear the HR monitor, but haven't uploaded the data yet, so I'm not too sure what it looks like. It was a beautiful day out and I'm glad I got to take advantage of it!

I got home, changed, and went to TNT. TNT was pretty good. It did wear me out a little more than I'm used to, but I think it's because I'm not 100% yet. One of the other ladies said I was sweating more than normal, so that was probably a good indicator of me not being quite well yet.

We had body fat checks today. My stats are:

Weight: 133.0
Body Fat Percent: 16.1%
Fat Weight: 21.3 lbs
Lean (non-fat) Weight: 111.8 lbs

I'm up 2 lbs from 13 weeks ago, but that's not too bad considering the complete debauchery that's been the past few weeks. Starting next week, I'm getting this back in check, period.

My goal for 13 weeks from now is 128. So, 5 lbs in 13 weeks. Totally doable!


Update: Here's the data from my run:

Distance: 2.04 miles
Time: 19:13
Elevation Gain: 50 ft
Elevation Loss: 63 ft
Average Pace: 9:26/mile
Average HR: 180
Max HR: 196

Wednesday - Swim

I was super excited about today's workout. I haven't been in the pool in about a month now. Crazy!

Swim workout:
250 warmup (4-5 RPE),
4x25 (RI 0:10) drill set,
2x100 (RI 0:05) base interval (6-7 RPE),
4x25 (RI 0:15) kick set,
4x25 (RI 0:10) pull set,
250 cool down (4-5 RPE)

Total: 1000m

I got in the pool aroun 3:45 and there wasn't anyone else in it. So nice. It was getting a little crazy when I was leaving. Anyhow... The warm up and cooldown seemed a little long, given that they were half the workout today. Bit, it was a nice short one to get back into the swing of things.

For drills, I did bilateral breathing today. I think the next swim, I might do only left side breathing. I can tell I'm not as comfortable breathing on my left side, but I need to learn. Also, I need to learn to breathe every 4th stroke instead of every 2nd (so every other time my left arm hits the water instead of every time). I think that'll be a drill at some point this off season.

It feels GOOD to be back in the swing of things!

Tuesday - TNT & Spin

Tonight was my first "real" workout in 2 weeks. I originally wasn't too sure of how it was going to go. I'm at about 90% (feeling better after the cold), so still not quite where I'd like to be, but it's time to get off the couch. My couch and I had a bit of a break up discussion today. :)

I went to TNT and T took it easier than normal on me. He could tell I still wasn't feeling quite like myself, so that was nice of him.

After TNT, I decided to go ahead and stick to the schedule and head to spin class. I REALLY wasn't sure how this would go given that 1) my last bike ride was 102 miles on Oct 15 and 2) I was feeling kind of "eh" to begin with. My legs were definitely feeling fresh. "Flat road" was about 2-3 gears higher than normal. Also, for our sprints, I was in higher gears than normal. However, my upper body wasn't feeling so fresh. At one point, I had snot sitting in the back of my throat - it wouldn't come up or go down - ANNOYING. Around the 30 minute mark, I was struggling. I powered through and was glad that I did.

Hopefully, I sweated out the rest of this cold and left it on the gym floor!

Monday - Yoga

I decided not to take completely off today. Since I've been on the couch for the last week (and still not at 100%) and at Disney the week before, I figured some yoga was in store. I did the Yogamazing podcast - Yoga for Cold and Flu. It was just what I needed. It helped open up my airways a good bit and get my body back into the mindset to do something.

It's Halloween and the trick or treaters are starting to come fast & furious!

Week 3 Low Volume Off Season Plan

Last week, I spent all week on the couch. I didn't get to TNT or spin... or get to my run. I've had a head cold since last Sunday and have been zapped of energy. Even though I still have remenants of it right now, I'm back in the gym no later than Tuesday.

 

I haven't done anything in 2 weeks... my body's itching bad to get back into it. Plus, I have a 15k to get to work on training on (which I'm setting a goal time of 1:30:00 for)!

 

Tuesday:

TNT

Spin

 

Wednesday:

Swim - 250 warmup (4-5 RPE), 4x25 (RI 0:10) drill set, 2x100 (RI 0:05) base interval (6-7 RPE), 4x25 (RI 0:15) kick set, 4x25 (RI 0:10) pull set, 250 cool down (4-5 RPE)

 

Thursday:

TNT

(may do a run as well)

 

Friday:

Off/Yoga

 

Saturday:

Long Run - 6 miles

 

Sunday:

Bike: 30:00 foundation ride (technique) (6-7 RPE); 2 drills (drill set)

Sunday - Beginning of week 2 "off"

Last week was awesome! I really needed a full week off of everything - work, "real life", and working out. We walked a lot (we were at Disney World), so we weren't inactive, but we definitely weren't overly active either. We ate a LOT. Pure gluttony for one week out of the year.

While on vacation, I started to read "Born to Run". So far, it's a good book and has given me a good bit to think about. I'm almost done with it and then really need to get started with "The Triathlete's Training Bible".

This week's workouts are all non-structured activity. The only days I have "planned" are:

Tuesday: TNT/Spin
Thursday: TNT

I'm feeling the need to run and swim, so I'll probably do some of that. Maybe I'll do some yoga too. We shall see what happens.

Sunday Ramblings

This is the beginning of my 2 weeks "off". I'm transitioning to off-season and being self coached as well. I really need to finish reading "The Triathlete's Training Bible" by Joe Friel.

In the next two weeks, I'll be either off or doing non-structured activity for the most part. I'm not supposed to swim, bike, or run at all... but that won't be the case. I need to run in order to prep for my 15k in December, which I'm sooooo not ready for. I have about 7 weeks to prepare; I'll get there. I'll also still be doing spin class because in 4 weeks, we've got Sweat for a Vet - a 3-hr spin class to raise $$ for wounded vets. There's also TNT, because I just can't not weight lift. :)

In the next few months, I'm also going to have to be watching my food very carefully. Hopefully I'll be able to get back on the bandwagon! Tri training really spoiled me about the amount I could eat.

This week's workouts look like this:

Monday - TNT, massage
Tuesday to Saturday - nothing planned (vacation!), but maybe a run
Sunday - if no run on vacation, then run!

Sea Gull Century Ride

Sea Gull Century Ride

• Race Name: Sea Gull Century Ride
• Race Date: October 15, 2011
• Race Location: Salisbury University
• Race Distance: 102 mile bike
• Total Time: 6:29:43 moving time; 8:30:14 overall
• Average Speed: 15.7 mph moving speed; 15.4 overall speed

Pre-ride

The registration for the ride was done online, mail-in, or in person. We did online at $67.95 each. For a charity ride, I thought that was pretty good – especially with 4 rest stops. The ride was very well organized, well marked, and well supported. This is their 23^rd year, so they definitely have it figured out. The volunteers were amazing. They made sure that all of the water, Gatorade, and food was well stocked. There were a good number of port-a-potties, but with 8000+ riders, there were lines. Nothing they could really do about that. Course maps were provided online and in our ride packets. The course was also really well marked.

That morning, we had the “high carb” breakfast at the cafeteria; pancakes, hash browns, bacon, and juice for me.

The weather was pretty good; a bit chilly in the morning, but definitely nice. We started out with arm warmers, leg warmers, and full gloves.

Bike

The road was in really good condition. You never know what to expect over 100 miles of road, a huge loop course. For the most part, the roads were pretty flat; only a couple of minor hills. The course wasn’t closed to traffic. In general, that was ok. The roads to and from Assateague Island National Park was NOT fun. There was so much traffic in and out of there. Plus, the wind was starting to pick up as we headed towards the island.

Rest stop 1:

Rest stop 2:

Rest stop 3:

There were 4 rest stops. They were fantastic. We didn’t stay horribly long at the first two, just long enough to refill water bottles and use the bathroom at each. I had my honey stingers gels with me, which was good. The Perpetuem drink mix didn’t agree with me all that much. At the third rest stop, we sat for a bit longer to eat, refill drinks, and just chill out. At the fourth rest stop, we definitely stopped a while longer than the other stops. We had been fighting the wind for a solid 25 miles by that point and just needed a rest.

Rest stop 4:

I think next time, I’ll definitely train a good bit more. Our longest training ride was only 40 miles and that had been a few months before, so we really weren’t prepared. My legs were perfectly fine over the 100 miles, it was my posterior that I was having issues with.

Finish line:

Post-Ride

After the ride, we went and got our participant shirts, then headed back to the car. We put the bikes on the car, changed out of our bike shoes, grabbed our “post-ride clothes” and headed to the bathrooms to change into different clothes. After that, we decided to grab dinner at a local mall, which was good. I felt surprisingly good after the ride! The photos were up about a week later, which was perfectly fine!

Summary and Lessons Learned

This is the first time I’ve ever finished an event that I’m not sure I how I feel about it after. I think it would’ve been better without the 40 miles of headwinds and with some training. It wasn’t a bad ride at all though. Mentally, I learned I’m a lot tougher than I thought, which has given me a much better outlook for next year’s 70.3.

Thursday and Friday

Thursday's workout was supposed to be:
Run - 3 x 1 mile with 4 min. rest btwn. hold efforts within 10-15 sec. ; good wu

It turned out to be just TNT.

Friday's workout was supposed to be:
Swim - wu with swim and drills - 300-400 yds; 3 x 500yd. hold efforts within 10-20 sec. of each other; rest 2 min. btwn efforts

It turned out to be nothing.

Given that my vacation is coming up pretty quickly, as is Sea Gull century, which requires a weekend away right before vacation, I was stressing out about getting things done on Thursday. So, I got a bunch of stuff done around the house and did only my TNT workout. Friday, we packed up and went to Ocean City. We went for a nice long walk, but nothing more.

I also sent the dreaded "I'm leaving the group" email to Coach L. She's been great, the group's been great, but it's just not for me long term, so I pulled the plug. Things need to be more reliable with her in order for her to prosper in he long run. I really want to see her succeed, but she's struggling with it.

Wednesday

Today's workout was supposed to be:

Wednesday
Bike- 10 mile TT effort; wu and cd

It turns out that running up and down stairs a million times (ok, not a million, but enough) and carrying 20-35 lbs each time in recycling isn't a bad workout. I never made it outside to do the run I was going to do the day before but didn't because I was busy prepping the house for our outtings later this week.

I did get all of the recycling taken care of though! Sometimes, that has to be enough. I have a feeling that I'm going to be like this until we get back.

Tuesday's non-workout

So, Tuesday was supposed to be track. Here's the thing, I needed to run it by my boss since it'd switching late days. Monday was a holiday. I can't just assume it'll be ok with my boss, even though it likely will. This was kind of my last straw... well... this and another email I got.

Today's workout was supposed to be:
Tuesday
Track - 6-8 x 2 min. on 2 min. off

I did TNT and spin class instead. I was planning on doing the track workout too, but it just never happened. Ah well. TNT and spin both went really well. I needed them both pretty desperately.

Later in the day, I got another email from Coach L saying that she wouldn't be doing Sea Gull Century with us. While not surprised at all, given that she hadn't looked into hotel or registered, it still irritated me enough to finally decide to definitely pull the plug.

This week's workouts

This week's workouts:

Monday
Day off

Tuesday
Track - 6-8 x 2 min. on 2 min. off

Wednesday
Bike- 10 mile TT effort; wu and cd

Thursday
Run -  3 x 1 mile with 4 min. rest btwn. hold efforts within 10-15 sec. ; good wu

Friday
Swim - wu with swim and drills - 300-400 yds; 3 x 500yd.  hold efforts within 10-20 sec. of each other; rest 2 min. btwn efforts

Saturday
Sea Gull Century

Sunday
Run - long
1/2  marathoners /Chocolate runners - 5-8 miles depending on what you have built up to

Wednesday's Swim

I took Tuesday off too. After having just done 2 races (though the 5k wasn't much of a race effort for me), I reasoned that I was allowed 2 days off. Plus, my shins were kind of bothering me, so in an effort to not end up with horrid shin splints again, I laid off.

This brings me to Wednesday's swim:

Swim - wu with swim and drills - 300-400 yds; 5 x 200 yd with 20sec. rest btwn efforts. try to keep efforts within 3-5 sec. of each other; cd - non free 200-400 yds.

I did:

Swim - wu with swim and drills - 200 yds; 5 x 200 yd with 20sec. rest btwn efforts. try to keep efforts within 3-5 sec. of each other; cd - non free 200 (pull, kick).

I took it a little easier since it was my first swim since the race on Saturday, but still went out pretty well. All of my 200s were in the 1:50 - 1:55 range. Not too bad.

This week's workouts

Coach L was a bit late getting us the workouts this week. They're turning to be a bit more run/bike related, depending on your focus of "off-season". It's cardio week for TNT, which is nice. I won't be doing bootcamp on Saturday, so I'll do my long run Saturday (since I've got the Hot Chocolate 15k coming up in December) and then my long ride on Sunday.


Monday
Day off

Tuesday
Run - 5k tempo run (meant to be run at race pace effort. not an easy workout. as fast as you can maintain for the 5k) record your time for comparison.
Spin class - maybe

Wednesday
Swim - wu with swim and drills - 300-400 yds; 5 x 200 yd with 20sec. rest btwn efforts. try to keep efforts within 3-5 sec. of each other; cd - non free 200-400 yds.

Thursday
Track - 8-10 x 400's with equal recovery; good wu and cd

Friday
Bike - 20 mile effort. Every other mile all out effort.

Saturday
Bootcamp
(I'll probably do the long run here instead of tomorrow)

Sunday
Run - long; 1/2  marathoners /Chocolate runners - 4-7 miles depending on what you have built up to
marathoners - 2:45-3 hour run
Bike - 3 hour ride (to prep for  Sea Gull Century)

Kailee's Run 5k

Today was a "fun run" 5k with two girlfriends and J. I had a good time. Didn't put down a PR for my 5k, but it was one of their's first 5k and the other's first one that she was actually running. I am so proud of them for doing it with me! I'm slowly getting people hooked and bringing them into my crazed world!

I ran the long way back to the car while they all walked the shorter way. I needed to get in a little bit of cardio, so that was good.

Giant Acorn International Tri

Giant Acorn International Tri Race Report

• Race Name: Giant Acorn International Triathlon
• Race Date: October 1, 2011
• Race Location: Bumpass, VA
• Race Distance: distance  (1500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run)
• Division: W 30-34
• Total Time: 3:09:32
• Time Breakdown: Swim – 35:36, T1 –5:58, Bike – 1:25:28, T2 – 3:25, Run – 58;46
• Age Group Placing: 23/32
• Overall Placing: 184/258 (women only)

Pre-race

Registration was online and was $95.40. Considering I registered for this about 2 months before the race due to TriRock Gettysburg Olympic being canceled, I thought that the fees were decent. I really like the Setup Events group. Both of the races I’ve done that they’ve organized have gone smoothly. The volunteers were great. There were even 2 on the bike course specifically to warn people about a metal grate on a bridge! Pre-race, I got my number, cap, and bag and then went to set up transition. Also in the bag was the shirt and socks (again!). Love the design of the shirt, it was super cute.

They kept the music down for the most part to not disturb people living on the lake, which I thought was nice. They had port-a-potties in several locations, so not everyone was standing in one line, which was pretty helpful. Course maps were provided online and again the week before in our race information packet. The race venue was really nice. One of the prettier I’ve done all season.

We got up at 5:30 or so, left Fredericksburg at 6, stopped at McDonalds for breakfast (I had the fruit and maple oatmeal), and were at the race site by 7, just a wee bit early for a 10am race. Ah well. It gave me plenty of time to use the restroom, get acclimated to the cold and wind, and do packet pickup. There were close to 800 registered, so being there early wasn’t a bad thing!

Swim

The water in Lake Anna was warm – a wonderful 73 degrees, so still wetsuit legal – and also pretty choppy. The power plant that normally heats the lake has been turned off since our earthquake a few months ago, but the water was only 3 degrees cooler than last year, so that was good. The sun was horrible during the middle stretch for all of the right handed breathers. Then again, if you were a left breather, you were taking in water the entire time we were on this stretch. I managed to get way off course on the first part of the course, sighting on the yellow turn buoy instead of the orange ones. Oops. It was ok, I managed to get back on course and still pulled off very close to my estimated time. The last 100m was the worst. I had this guy who swam straight into me and wouldn’t get out of my way. I had to push to pass him just to stop getting hit/kicked. Just annoying when I spent the rest of the time pretty much not having too many of those types of issues. The biggest thing I could’ve done to improve my swim was stay on course!

Bike

The roads were pretty good. There was one part that was pretty bumpy, but nothing major, no potholes to speak of. The course wasn’t closed to traffic, but for the most part, the roads aren’t heavily used, so there were only a few cars. It was a double loop course of about 12 miles each, no food/water stops. I took in shot blox in T1 and then one honey stinger gel toward the end of the bike ride.

I met my goal on the ride. My entire goal was just to do it, save my legs for the run, and to enjoy it. Sometimes, I looked down and was doing 13mph. A bit too slow for a race, but I was taking in the scenery. I averaged just about 17.5 mph over the course, so that’s not too bad. I know I have plenty of room to grow with strength on the bike, but considering my first race this year’s average pace was just under 15 mph, I’m happy with the strength I’ve gained this season.

Run

In T2, I couldn’t get my Garmin to cooperate, so I brought my swim watch with me instead. I’ve decided this might be the way to go during a race. It allowed me to concentrate on overall time instead of obsessing about how fast I was going that very second.

My legs felt surprisingly good. The longest brick I had done was a 25 mile bike ride followed by a 2.5 mile run. Not really a great indicator of what would happen in the race, but it was pretty good. This is the first run that I didn’t really feel like I had Jell-O legs… they felt strong the entire 10k.

I’ve decided I like wearing my headsweats visor during the runs. It really does help keep the sweat out of my eyes. There were 2 water stations, 1 of them you hit on the way out and back. I think three stations over 3 miles is pretty good (it was a double loop course). The course was definitely rolling hills, which normally I would’ve hated, but I loved it this race. It wasn’t easy, per se, but it wasn’t hard either. There were a lot of athletes really struggling. Several with muscles that were cramping, breathing too hard, looked like they were going to puke, etc. I was just happy I had planned out my bike so that I wasn’t one of those people!

One of the best things was seeing Jon after I came out of the woods and him telling me that the finish line was literally down the hill and he’d meet up with me after and then seeing Tracy as I came through the chute. The first thing out of her mouth was “Do you want to cry? I want to cry for you, I’m so proud of you!” I did want to cry, in the happiest sense. I had that “The world is mine today” smile on my face again.

Transitions

Was everything ready for you and in place just like you wanted it to be? What could you have done to improve your transitions?

T1 was horrible for me. The buckle on my bike shoe came off of the top part of the shoe and I spent way too long fussing with it. Should’ve jumped to my conclusion earlier – just put the buckle in as far as it’ll go and GO! No problems with the wetsuit, which was good.

T2 wasn’t bad. The main problem I had was re-racking my bike. The other athletes on my rack didn’t re-rack their bikes correctly and it just made for a difficult time. Part of the problem was the guy 2 down from me, just didn’t set up his transition area efficiently, screwing up pretty much everyone else. Anyhow, bike stuff off; hat, run belt, and shoes on, and out I went.

Post-Race

I felt like a million bucks at the end of the race. I was so happy with my performance. It wasn’t the fastest of times in the world (or even as fast as I could’ve done), but it was exactly what I needed to close out my first tri season. After the race, Tracy and I packed up, went to the cars, changed, and met back up. Apparently the food station ran out of pizza and subs, so I didn’t even bother to try to get anything. Thankfully, I had a Honey Stinger waffle, so I snacked on that until we could get to a place for lunch.

Race results were posted later that night, which was super fast. The photos followed a couple of days later. The distances seemed accurate, and the race officials fair. It’s a good thing they weren’t really handing out drafting penalties on the bike, there were quite a few places you just couldn’t help it with that many people around.

Summary and Lessons Learned

I accomplished everything I set out to in this race. The main goal was to finish before cut-off. Cut-off was 4 hrs from start time for the first loop of the run. Finishing in just over 3 hours, I had plenty of time. I figured setting that kind of goal, I wasn’t setting myself up for disappointment in any sense and it’d allow me to enjoy the race. Sometimes, setting a “just finish” goal is better than any time goal because it relieves the pressure. The only thing I wish I would’ve done differently is the dealing with my bike shoe. It is what it is though. I’ll know next time!