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!

Another week down

Ok, I was super lazy this week in blogging. Mostly because I had a million things to do. I'm not going to post details of this week's workouts, because I'm being lazy about it.

Tuesday (supposed to be)Swim - 3 x ( 50, 75, 100, 150, 200) 10-15 sec rest btwn each; cd kick and non free
TNT
Spin

What Tuesday was:
TNT/Spin

Wednesday (supposed to be)Bike - 1hr. good wu and cd; 10 x 30 sec. efforts with 2 min. easy spin btwn.
Run - 20 min. run off the bike

What Wednesday was:
Bike fitting/Pick up awesome dress for next week from being altered

Thursday (supposed to be)Track - 4-5 x 400's
TNT

What Thursday was:
Track - 30 seconds on, 1:30 off
TNT

Friday (supposed to be)Day off

What Friday was:
Took it off, travelled to Fredericksburg

Saturday (supposed to be)Giant Acorn International Triathlon

What Saturday was:
Giant Acorn International Triathlon - will post race report later.