March was my first full month triathlon training for the season after coming off marathon training and maintenance. With that, I am pretty happy with my training numbers and will be even happier if I can maintain these hours. I know that as I approach mid-year I will need to start spending even more time on the bike, but for now, I am happy with my progress.
The bike is the most challenging for me in terms of training because outside of my long ride each week, I spend a lot of time on the trainer/spinner because I do not feel safe riding in the dark!
March's totals:
Bike: 20h 10m - 328.8 Mi
Run: 15h 36m - 105.1 Mi
Swim: 9h 35m - 22,500 Yd
Total Time - 45h 21m
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
News from Team Trakkers
I am very jealous of my Team Trakkers Teammates that will be competing in the Rev3Tri June 7 in Middleburry, Connecticut. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make the trek from Texas to CT to do this race this year because I was already committed to the Gulf Coast Tri and Florida Ironman (where I will proudly sport Trakkers gear and hopefully meet a lot of my teammates), but if you are closer to this venue or have not already allocated your travel dollars for the year, I encourage you to check out this race!
Check out for the most up to date information.
Revolution3 takes place in Middlebury, Connecticut at Quassy Amusement Park. On race day, Quassy vopens exclusively to athletes, their family members and friends, as well as race volunteers and their families. Spectators enjoy front row action via stage screens set up in the transition area. Six cameras strategically placed throughout the course will broadcast live directly to you. Combine this with real-time GPS athlete tracking and you, too, will see the revolution unfold!
What does that mean for athletes like me and you? Our families will finally have a fun venue and our significant others will not be stuck trying to entertain young children in odd locations while we are racing. This is going to be a first class event with star power to boot! Want to race along side some of the best athletes in our sport? This is the race for you! I can only imagine the bike eye-candy that will be seen on race day!
The best part? Save $10 on your active.com registration fee by entering code NSS126 when registering.
Check out for the most up to date information.
Revolution3 takes place in Middlebury, Connecticut at Quassy Amusement Park. On race day, Quassy vopens exclusively to athletes, their family members and friends, as well as race volunteers and their families. Spectators enjoy front row action via stage screens set up in the transition area. Six cameras strategically placed throughout the course will broadcast live directly to you. Combine this with real-time GPS athlete tracking and you, too, will see the revolution unfold!
What does that mean for athletes like me and you? Our families will finally have a fun venue and our significant others will not be stuck trying to entertain young children in odd locations while we are racing. This is going to be a first class event with star power to boot! Want to race along side some of the best athletes in our sport? This is the race for you! I can only imagine the bike eye-candy that will be seen on race day!
The best part? Save $10 on your active.com registration fee by entering code NSS126 when registering.
Two-a-days
Mileage for Week Ending 3/29/09
Being a working mom of two active little boys means that I fit my workouts in when the boys are sleeping or at school so that I spend as little time away from them as possible. That means lots of early mornings and two-a-days to fit in all the hours I need in a given week. I have a standing Monday and Wednesday 5:30 a.m. Masters Swim and my training partner Mark and I have a standing Tuesday and Thursday 10 mile run at 5:10 a.m. When work lunches don't get in the way, I spend an hour at the gym on my lunch break at least 4 days a week (thankfully we have a smallish gym at my office with a great locker room and facilities).
Two-a-days make the days fly by, but the best part is that when the weekend rolls around, I am usually only left with a long bike ride, which I can usually get in Saturday or Sunday morning, giving me the other day off entirely with my guys!
Here are a couple of anecdotes for this week as well as what is on tap for the week ahead:
One one of my 4 spinner rides this week at the gym, I was spinning away and getting a bit fatigued and ready to hit the showers when I moved to a more aero position and found myself staring at the M-Dot on my Timex Ironman watch. That was a great reminder to me as to why I spend so much time on the bike and it helped me pick it up for the rest of the ride. I have worn a Timex Ironman watch for as long as I can remember and long before I knew or appreciated what the M-Dot stood for. In fact, I think this week was the very first time I noticed the M-Dot on the wrist band, but it sure brought motivation to my struggling workout!
There was a time when the thought of the swim leg of any triathlon terrified me ... but not anymore! I love swimming and learning to properly swim is one of the things I am most proud of from 2008. Sometimes it is nice to remember exactly how far I have come and I got two reminder of that this week.
First, there is a new guy in my Masters class who is working hard but has not been able to do the full workouts yet because he still gets fatigued in the water. After our Monday workout I told him, "I have been there, I promise it gets easier" and our coach overheard and replied, "Yeah, you should have seen Anne when she started - it was horrible to watch!" Ha ha ha! I knew I was bad before, but wow, horrible to watch?!?
Then on Wednesday, one of the other triathletes, an older gentleman training for Ironman CDA, told me how impressed he was with my increased speed. It helped me to remember the days when I wondered if I would ever be as fast as the 50-60 year something triathletes in my class ... and I am happy to report that I am faster than they are now.
Then, one of the swimmers (I refer to those that do a lot of stroke work as the 'swimmers') told me that I was the Teacher's Pet because the coach was bragging about me on Wednesday. Apparently, our coach thinks that I am the most improved swimmer in the class. I told her that just meant that I have come the furthest (and when you start with nothing you have a long way to go!). It was nice to get some compliments this week in the water, but I don't want to rest on my laurels. I have seen huge improvements in the water since my Half Ironman last October so I am excited to see what the next 7 months bring as I train for Florida!
This next week brings my first triathlon of the season, a Quarter Distance Tri in Galveston, Lonestar. I am excited because it is put on by the same people that did Longhorn, so it is sure to be a well run race. I just hope we get weather like we have had this weekend (sunny and 60s). The only question I have in my mind is how much to taper. This is not my "A" race, that is the Gulf Coast Tri in May in Panama City, so I need to stay on my training schedule, but I hate going into a race not feeling rested. I think that I am going to do a mini-taper and lower the intensity of some of my workouts this week, but do my best to stay on schedule.
Finally, three weeks from now is the MS-150 bike ride from Houston to Austin. This will be a great ride to really stretch my legs and practice my nutrition and pacing for a longer race.
Here are my numbers for the week --
Swim: 5600 yards in 2:30
Bike: 75 miles in 4:40
Run: 27.9 miles in 4:10
Total Time: 11:20
Being a working mom of two active little boys means that I fit my workouts in when the boys are sleeping or at school so that I spend as little time away from them as possible. That means lots of early mornings and two-a-days to fit in all the hours I need in a given week. I have a standing Monday and Wednesday 5:30 a.m. Masters Swim and my training partner Mark and I have a standing Tuesday and Thursday 10 mile run at 5:10 a.m. When work lunches don't get in the way, I spend an hour at the gym on my lunch break at least 4 days a week (thankfully we have a smallish gym at my office with a great locker room and facilities).
Two-a-days make the days fly by, but the best part is that when the weekend rolls around, I am usually only left with a long bike ride, which I can usually get in Saturday or Sunday morning, giving me the other day off entirely with my guys!
Here are a couple of anecdotes for this week as well as what is on tap for the week ahead:
One one of my 4 spinner rides this week at the gym, I was spinning away and getting a bit fatigued and ready to hit the showers when I moved to a more aero position and found myself staring at the M-Dot on my Timex Ironman watch. That was a great reminder to me as to why I spend so much time on the bike and it helped me pick it up for the rest of the ride. I have worn a Timex Ironman watch for as long as I can remember and long before I knew or appreciated what the M-Dot stood for. In fact, I think this week was the very first time I noticed the M-Dot on the wrist band, but it sure brought motivation to my struggling workout!
There was a time when the thought of the swim leg of any triathlon terrified me ... but not anymore! I love swimming and learning to properly swim is one of the things I am most proud of from 2008. Sometimes it is nice to remember exactly how far I have come and I got two reminder of that this week.
First, there is a new guy in my Masters class who is working hard but has not been able to do the full workouts yet because he still gets fatigued in the water. After our Monday workout I told him, "I have been there, I promise it gets easier" and our coach overheard and replied, "Yeah, you should have seen Anne when she started - it was horrible to watch!" Ha ha ha! I knew I was bad before, but wow, horrible to watch?!?
Then on Wednesday, one of the other triathletes, an older gentleman training for Ironman CDA, told me how impressed he was with my increased speed. It helped me to remember the days when I wondered if I would ever be as fast as the 50-60 year something triathletes in my class ... and I am happy to report that I am faster than they are now.
Then, one of the swimmers (I refer to those that do a lot of stroke work as the 'swimmers') told me that I was the Teacher's Pet because the coach was bragging about me on Wednesday. Apparently, our coach thinks that I am the most improved swimmer in the class. I told her that just meant that I have come the furthest (and when you start with nothing you have a long way to go!). It was nice to get some compliments this week in the water, but I don't want to rest on my laurels. I have seen huge improvements in the water since my Half Ironman last October so I am excited to see what the next 7 months bring as I train for Florida!
This next week brings my first triathlon of the season, a Quarter Distance Tri in Galveston, Lonestar. I am excited because it is put on by the same people that did Longhorn, so it is sure to be a well run race. I just hope we get weather like we have had this weekend (sunny and 60s). The only question I have in my mind is how much to taper. This is not my "A" race, that is the Gulf Coast Tri in May in Panama City, so I need to stay on my training schedule, but I hate going into a race not feeling rested. I think that I am going to do a mini-taper and lower the intensity of some of my workouts this week, but do my best to stay on schedule.
Finally, three weeks from now is the MS-150 bike ride from Houston to Austin. This will be a great ride to really stretch my legs and practice my nutrition and pacing for a longer race.
Here are my numbers for the week --
Swim: 5600 yards in 2:30
Bike: 75 miles in 4:40
Run: 27.9 miles in 4:10
Total Time: 11:20
Sunday, March 22, 2009
B-e-a-utiful weather!
Mileage for Week Ending 3/22/09
Had a decent training week, despite feeling tired at the beginning of the week. I made sure to sleep in as much as I could Friday - Sunday. Saturday I did a 30 min open water swim in my wetsuit as a practice run for the Lone Star Tri April 5. Other than the 300 yards I did one I first got the wetsuit in the pool to test the wetsuit fit, this was my first actual workout in my "Super Suit" (what my 4 year old calls it). The swim went well -- the wetsuit fit great. I had full range of motion and I was able to breathe and turn my head easily. After about 20 minutes, I noticed that a spot on the back of my neck felt raw, so I need to make sure to actually use body glide on race day as I have several sore "hicky" spots on the back of my neck today from the wetsuit.
Sunday I woke up feeling crappy so I skipped the morning long ride in favor of sleeping in and doing a shorter afternoon ride.
Swim: 7200 yards in 3:15
Bike: 65 miles in 4:00
Run: 22 miles in 3:15
Total Time: 10:30
Had a decent training week, despite feeling tired at the beginning of the week. I made sure to sleep in as much as I could Friday - Sunday. Saturday I did a 30 min open water swim in my wetsuit as a practice run for the Lone Star Tri April 5. Other than the 300 yards I did one I first got the wetsuit in the pool to test the wetsuit fit, this was my first actual workout in my "Super Suit" (what my 4 year old calls it). The swim went well -- the wetsuit fit great. I had full range of motion and I was able to breathe and turn my head easily. After about 20 minutes, I noticed that a spot on the back of my neck felt raw, so I need to make sure to actually use body glide on race day as I have several sore "hicky" spots on the back of my neck today from the wetsuit.
Sunday I woke up feeling crappy so I skipped the morning long ride in favor of sleeping in and doing a shorter afternoon ride.
Swim: 7200 yards in 3:15
Bike: 65 miles in 4:00
Run: 22 miles in 3:15
Total Time: 10:30
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
You Know You Are Tired When …
- You are planning your nap for later in the day before you are even out of bed
- Your running partner stops for a potty break and you nearly fall asleep standing up waiting for him (and he was only gone 1 minute)
- You find yourself longing for the weekend because you only have to get up 6 something a.m. instead of 4 something a.m.
- You fall asleep in the middle of typing a blog post (or watching your favorite tv show or in the middle of conversations with your spouse)
Off to bed because in case I did not mention it already, I am tired!
- Your running partner stops for a potty break and you nearly fall asleep standing up waiting for him (and he was only gone 1 minute)
- You find yourself longing for the weekend because you only have to get up 6 something a.m. instead of 4 something a.m.
- You fall asleep in the middle of typing a blog post (or watching your favorite tv show or in the middle of conversations with your spouse)
Off to bed because in case I did not mention it already, I am tired!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Rain, Rain Go Away!
Mileage for Week Ending 3/15/09
Travel this week put a damper in my training but I still managed to pull out a respectable 8:45 hours. The worst part of the week was the weather ... cold, rainy days meant hours inside on the trainer. Thankfully, a couple of good movies got me through most of it.
Swim: 3400 yards in 1:30
Bike: 76 miles in 4:45
Run: 17.5 miles in 2:30
Total Time: 8:45
Travel this week put a damper in my training but I still managed to pull out a respectable 8:45 hours. The worst part of the week was the weather ... cold, rainy days meant hours inside on the trainer. Thankfully, a couple of good movies got me through most of it.
Swim: 3400 yards in 1:30
Bike: 76 miles in 4:45
Run: 17.5 miles in 2:30
Total Time: 8:45
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Mileage for Week Ending 3/8/09
I started my long ride today feeling exhausted, but I was not sure why because I took my rest day on Saturday and was not sure why my legs didn't feel right. It only took me 9 miles to realize that my brake was rubbing ... doh! Lesson learned -- and I got one hell of a workout for those first 9 miles and the rest of the ride felt like a piece of cake!
Swim: 6500 yards in 2:30
Bike: 86 miles in 5:15
Run: 25.8 miles in 3:50
Total Time: 11:35
Swim: 6500 yards in 2:30
Bike: 86 miles in 5:15
Run: 25.8 miles in 3:50
Total Time: 11:35
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Joke's on me!
Tuesday and Thursday mornings my running buddy Mark drives 20 minutes from his house to mine to run 10 miles at 5:10 in the morning. Lucky for me, I just have to get up and be ready by 5:10 a.m. We spend the 1.5 hours talking about everything and anything under the sun, joking and laughing and generally having too much fun for running 10 miles. In fact, I firmly believe that 10 miles with a buddy is equivalent to 5 miles alone -- I'll take good company any day of the week!
He harasses me at least once a run about the fact that I get to roll out of bed while he is hiking halfway across the city. In all fairness, I get (at least) one Ironman mention every run, so I don't mind taking the harassment :)
Most mornings I am ready to roll by 5:05 a.m. and I sit on the couch with my Blackberry waiting for his text message to tell me he has arrived. I usually close my eyes for a moment and enjoy the last moments of quiet before starting the day. Tuesday morning during this quiet time my mind started to play games on me ... and I started thinking, "Hmmm, maybe Mark will be a few minutes late so I can get a couple more minutes of sleep" -- and then it went to -- "Maybe Mark will have overslept" -- "No, he would have texted me by now" -- "Hmmm, what am I going to do if Mark did oversleep?" -- "Maybe I will sleep for 30 minutes and then go run for an hour" -- my thoughts were finally interrupted by my Blackberry. Message received "I'm here". Time to roll.
I told Mark about my mental volley Tuesday morning and he focused not so much on how tired I was but on harassing me (as usual, all in good fun) for complaining since he had gotten up a whopping 45 minutes before me.
So, this morning I woke up at 4:50 a.m., brushed my teeth, put on my contacts, put on my running clothes and shoes, turned on my Garmin and sat -- ok laid -- on the couch to wait for Mark. I figured I had about 5 minutes until he arrived and par for the course, my mind started racing with the same thoughts that I had on Tuesday. Just like Tuesday, my thoughts were interrupted by my Blackberry, except this time Mark's text message read: "Sorry, I overslept". Crap!
I immediately replied, "No problem, how about Friday?" While I was incredibly disappointed, Mark is very reliable and in the entire time we have been training together we have each only overslept once (see my post: The Equivalent of the Party Foul), so I couldn't be mad and besides, he DOES make the sacrifice twice a week before dawn to drive to my house and then fight traffic to get back home.
While I waited for his reply about Friday (mostly because his reply was going to impact how far I decided to run on my own), I looked at the text message again, and I had received a second message that I had missed ... "Just kidding, I'm here".
Joke's on me!
We had a great run - wonderful t-shirt and shorts weather, lots of laughs and some speed work mixed in for good measure. I am going to miss our runs next week while I am traveling (which means my runs alone will feel that much longer!).
He harasses me at least once a run about the fact that I get to roll out of bed while he is hiking halfway across the city. In all fairness, I get (at least) one Ironman mention every run, so I don't mind taking the harassment :)
Most mornings I am ready to roll by 5:05 a.m. and I sit on the couch with my Blackberry waiting for his text message to tell me he has arrived. I usually close my eyes for a moment and enjoy the last moments of quiet before starting the day. Tuesday morning during this quiet time my mind started to play games on me ... and I started thinking, "Hmmm, maybe Mark will be a few minutes late so I can get a couple more minutes of sleep" -- and then it went to -- "Maybe Mark will have overslept" -- "No, he would have texted me by now" -- "Hmmm, what am I going to do if Mark did oversleep?" -- "Maybe I will sleep for 30 minutes and then go run for an hour" -- my thoughts were finally interrupted by my Blackberry. Message received "I'm here". Time to roll.
I told Mark about my mental volley Tuesday morning and he focused not so much on how tired I was but on harassing me (as usual, all in good fun) for complaining since he had gotten up a whopping 45 minutes before me.
So, this morning I woke up at 4:50 a.m., brushed my teeth, put on my contacts, put on my running clothes and shoes, turned on my Garmin and sat -- ok laid -- on the couch to wait for Mark. I figured I had about 5 minutes until he arrived and par for the course, my mind started racing with the same thoughts that I had on Tuesday. Just like Tuesday, my thoughts were interrupted by my Blackberry, except this time Mark's text message read: "Sorry, I overslept". Crap!
I immediately replied, "No problem, how about Friday?" While I was incredibly disappointed, Mark is very reliable and in the entire time we have been training together we have each only overslept once (see my post: The Equivalent of the Party Foul), so I couldn't be mad and besides, he DOES make the sacrifice twice a week before dawn to drive to my house and then fight traffic to get back home.
While I waited for his reply about Friday (mostly because his reply was going to impact how far I decided to run on my own), I looked at the text message again, and I had received a second message that I had missed ... "Just kidding, I'm here".
Joke's on me!
We had a great run - wonderful t-shirt and shorts weather, lots of laughs and some speed work mixed in for good measure. I am going to miss our runs next week while I am traveling (which means my runs alone will feel that much longer!).
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Fashion Plate
Sunday is laundry day so when I went to find my clothes for today's brick I was left with a hodge podge of clothing that didn't really go well together but wore it anyway (thankfully, no paparazzi are trying to get my photo) ...
Imagine this: black tri shorts with pink panels on the outside, light blue long sleeve shirt, blue running socks and orange running shoes ... I was quite the fashion plate today.
Imagine this: black tri shorts with pink panels on the outside, light blue long sleeve shirt, blue running socks and orange running shoes ... I was quite the fashion plate today.
Two More Races!
I have been planning on racing Lonestar and the Gulf Coast Tri all year, but I just pulled the trigger and registered for both events before the the March 1 price increases. It is time to start making travel arrangements!
Panama City, here I come (trip 1 of 2 for the year)!
Panama City, here I come (trip 1 of 2 for the year)!
Mileage for Week Ending 3/1/09
I had a great long bike ride this week, despite the hellacious head winds and cross winds. I did my first group ride ever where I took turns drafting and pulling for the entire 3 hour ride. I know there is no drafting in triathlon, but it was good bike handling experience and the pulling into the headwinds was a great workout. Overall, it was an awesome training week!
Swim: 6150 yards in 2:45
Bike: 87 miles in 5:15
Run: 23.8 miles in 3:30
Total Time: 11:30
Swim: 6150 yards in 2:45
Bike: 87 miles in 5:15
Run: 23.8 miles in 3:30
Total Time: 11:30
Iron Widow
My husband is such a comic.
We have been cleaning out our office so he has been shredding lots of old paperwork. I came through with my training book and left it in the office near the shredder (ok, my own fault, but I was trying to keep the room tidy) ... and when he came back to the office to start shredding again he asked me if I wanted him to shred my training book!
He said it in jest, of course, but then he said maybe if he shred the book he wouldn't be an "Iron Widow" anymore. I have heard that expression used for football and golf, but not Ironman training until now :)
Don't judge him too harshly, he was only joking and I thought it was pretty funny. He is my biggest fan and will tell anyone who will listen that his wife is training for an Ironman!
We have been cleaning out our office so he has been shredding lots of old paperwork. I came through with my training book and left it in the office near the shredder (ok, my own fault, but I was trying to keep the room tidy) ... and when he came back to the office to start shredding again he asked me if I wanted him to shred my training book!
He said it in jest, of course, but then he said maybe if he shred the book he wouldn't be an "Iron Widow" anymore. I have heard that expression used for football and golf, but not Ironman training until now :)
Don't judge him too harshly, he was only joking and I thought it was pretty funny. He is my biggest fan and will tell anyone who will listen that his wife is training for an Ironman!
February Totals
38.9 total hours
96.5 miles running
245 miles biking
22,250 yards swimming
Race season is quickly approaching with my first race of the season just over a month away. My goals for March are to maintain my current level of training, get several wetsuit practice swims under my belt, set-up and use my aero water bottle (instead of my Camelbak) and to set up my cadence sensor on my bike so that I can more fully utilize my Garmin.
96.5 miles running
245 miles biking
22,250 yards swimming
Race season is quickly approaching with my first race of the season just over a month away. My goals for March are to maintain my current level of training, get several wetsuit practice swims under my belt, set-up and use my aero water bottle (instead of my Camelbak) and to set up my cadence sensor on my bike so that I can more fully utilize my Garmin.
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