Iron Dreams

Searching

2012-01-22T21:31:00.004-06:00

Preface: I have had this post in draft form for three weeks and it just didn't feel "finished". Maybe I felt like I was not conveying with words how I feel or the balance struggle. Anyhow, after reading that Chrissie Wellington is taking a break from Ironman, I figured, if the reigning world champion is looking for balance, can't we all?

Ok, back to the post ...

The 1st of January has come and gone and I am doing my best not to be frustrated with myself for not having any clear cut goals this year. I don’t want to pick an arbitrary goal just to have a goal, yet, I NEED something to point towards.

I keep asking myself the very simple question “What do you want to accomplish this year? What sounds exciting to you?” and I don’t really have an answer other than I want BALANCE while still setting goals and attempting to achieve them.

I have always felt that I manage being a wife / mother / full time career woman who travels for her job / athlete / and so much more ... pretty well, but if I am totally honest with myself, there are sacrifices – big ones. I have a super supportive family so they don’t make me feel bad about the sacrifices I have made pursuing my athletic dreams, but I am the one that has to look in the mirror and be ok with those sacrifices. Looking back, I feel pretty good about the decisions that I have made to this point, but I don’t personally feel I can continue to make those same decisions right now. An entire weekend day of training every single weekend leading up to a big race is too much to give right now in my life.

I love racing long and I have thought about reducing my training (train smarter not longer) so that I can feel more balance yet still comfortably participate at the 140.6 distance (obviously with slower times) BUT the competitor in me doesn’t just want to “participate”. So, for now at least, I am leaving 140.6 off the table. I want to keep racing that distance and I know I can get faster, potentially even much faster, but that is a goal and challenge I am saving for another day. I still not-so-secretly want to get to Kona one day, after all (yep, I said it AGAIN, I am putting that out into the universe).

So, where does that leave me for 2012? I have thought hard about EPIC type goals (100 mile trail race anyone?) and the more mundane (get “faster”, have FUN!) but nothing specific is really tripping my trigger (BQ, xx:xx Oly). I am finished with my post 50K recovery running plan – so I am back up to running 35 miles per week – and that means that I do not currently have a plan. HELP!

Here is the reality for me, as an individual it is really easy to fall into the one-up trap. The “I did a sprint, now I am going to do an Olympic distance race, well how about a 70.3 … well, I guess all that is left is 140.6” one-up trap. So, once you have done 140.6, do you have to keep doing them, keep getting faster or go even longer to one-up yourself? I definitely see the appeal, but that certainly doesn't fit the balance goal I am in search of. There are EPIC type goals that allow for more balance than 140.6 but I am still searching for one that makes my heart flutter.

So, is 2012 the year of reflection and searching for the next big goal? Probably.

In the mean time, I have thought long and hard about what to do while I am searching. I want to stay fit, I want to race and I want to have fun. I don’t want to lose my base.

I have also spent a lot of time thinking about why goals like “going faster” don’t trip my trigger. I think it is because they scare me a bit, going fast hurts. It puts me out of my comfort zone … and you know what that tells me? That I should ABSOLUTELY make that my goal. I am a big believer that we should challenge ourselves by getting out of our comfort zones. The mere fact that it scares me, tells me that is why I should do it. I also hope that learning to go faster and to accept a bit of pain will help me mentally when I do go back to the 140.6 distance.

Having fun is the other goal that keeps creeping back into my mind. What does that even mean? Well, let me explain. When I was training for 140.6, I was super conservative, especially when training for the first two. For example, I wouldn’t play a pickup game of soccer or softball or sign up for Tough Mudder because I didn’t want to get hurt and risk my A race. I didn’t do a lot of shorter distance races because I needed to be training long on those days. I want to remove the shackles and do some of these fun races. I want to decide to visit a friend somewhere and do a fun race in their neck of the woods and have it be ok that it is not on my training schedule. Don’t get me wrong, I love schedules, but I also want to color outside the lines.

... now, I just need to decide what picture to start coloring!

Escape from Huntsville 50K Race Report

2011-12-14T16:30:00.001-06:00

Also known as : 50K, the sequel ... or

50K - the good, the bad and the ugly.

Background - I properly trained for and utlimately raced the Rocky Raccoon 50K on November 5, 2011 - you can see that race report here. I was very happy with that race - both my time and the overall race experience. Only two things were missing: a better looking race shirt and my hubby (who was being a wonderful dad during the race). Well, guess what? There was ANOTHER 50K, less than a month away, on December 3, 2011 that had historically awesome looking shirts and my hubby could come. Those are two good reasons to run 31 miles, right? Plus, I figured I had logged the miles, I might as well take advantage of being trained for the distance.

The Good
- Long sleeved technical shirt, medal and hoodie
- Good on course support - boiled potatoes are yummy!
- Small (but not too small), friendly field
- Not nervous or stressed about the race (should be a piece of cake because I just did one, right?) - Rain in the forecast, but it did not rain
- Followed a "between marathons" plan, respected the recovery and let my ankle heal
- I did not twist my ankle during this race
- Other than aid station stops, we ran the entire race (albeit slower than ideal) - even when I really wanted to walk (mental victory!)
- Despite what is listed below, my running partner Mark still made me laugh so hard I almost fell over
-Finishing the race!

The Bad
- Unseasonably warm weather (I didn't take off my arm sleeves or headsweats skull cap a month ago and I started this race in a tank and running skirt and was soaked with sweat by the end of the first 10K loop)
- Poor nutrition and hydration race week
- Going out too fast the first 10K loop
- Course was .7 miles long, which feels more like 17 miles when you are ready to stop running
- Not being my chipper self during the race - Mark was calling my Negative Nancy
- Thinking I could easily PR the distance by taking shorter stops at the aid stations, and actually finishing 25 minutes slower
-How quickly I forgot about how hilly and rooty the course was!

The Ugly
- Hamstrings so tight you could play them like an instrument starting at mile 12 of a 31 mile race - Getting something similar to exericse induced asthma with 2 miles to go

Overall, it was a good race and good experience I just had a bad day. Who knows why ... maybe I ran long again too soon, maybe it was the weather, or maybe it was just a bad day. We are entitled to those every once in a while, right?

Results
6:16:05
13/44 women
35/107 overall

The good news, no the GREAT news, is that my recovery runs in the last 2 weeks have been awesome and even my calf, which has been plaguing me for months, hasn't been bothering me. Here is to starting 2012 healthy and ready to train and race smart!

A Family Affair

2011-11-23T09:24:00.003-06:00

The day I have been waiting for has finally come ... Andrew, my 7 year old, came with me on his bike for my 11 mile run and he did great! I love the quality time it created for us and he even told me during the run that he really liked being out there with me. The best part? He keeps asking when he can go out again!

Tyler, my 4 year old, joined us for the last 2 miles or so (he peters out after that) and then insisted or running the last .25 miles with me because he just loves to run, and even more so, he loves to run with me!

I love sharing my passion with them and I love that they too are enjoying the exercise and developing good habits now --- plus, it removes some of the mommy guilt of training when you can use training time as quality time!

Injury Update and What's Next

2011-11-19T19:59:00.004-06:00

It has been two weeks since the 50K and things are starting to look up. I have learned over seasons of endurance training that if I don't let my body recover properly, I pay for it.

I am (loosely) following Hal Higdon's 4 weeks between marathons plan, which essentially has a reverse taper, two weeks of 30-ish mile weeks and then a taper the week of next marathon. He even encourages cross training in the two 30-ish mile weeks in place of running workouts, if that is what your body needs.

I have been spending some quality time on the elliptical to let my ankle recover properly and I think it is nearly 100% now. I did a 6 mile run today and felt great! My calf, which was bothering me for weeks before the 50K, still flares up, but it is manageable and I am doing calf stretches to improve the range of motion in my calf and ankle. Tomorrow is my first longish run (2 hours) since the race, so I will see how those deep muscles are feeling.

I am really looking forward to a bit of R & R this week beginning on Wednesday. I think it will be just what the doctor ordered for both my body and my sanity! It may even give me some time to reflect on what my goals (and ultimately) races will be for 2012.

Happy Training, Safe Travels and Happy Thanksgiving!

Rocky Raccoon 50K Race Report

2011-11-08T16:40:00.005-06:00

Background

I have wanted to do an ultra marathon since having to back out of the Rocky Raccoon 50 miler in February 2010 due to a hip injury. So, when searching for a goal for this fall, I was thrilled to find a race near my 32nd birthday as I love to celebrate another year by doing something physically challenging (as an example, I did IMFL 6 days after my 30th birthday as my 30th birthday present to myself). So, what better way to celebrate 32 years than to run 32 miles (50K plus 1 mile)?

Goals
Primary - Stay vertical (don't eat it on the trails) and have FUN!

Secondary - Break 6 hours (for no other reason than it seemed attainable and it was a round number)

Race Morning
My old running partner, Mark, graciously volunteered to run the 50K with me, despite the fact that he is running the San Antonio marathon next weekend since Doug was not going to be able to be at the race. Thank you, Mark!

Since the race had a 6:00 AM start time, Mark's family let me crash in their guest room - giving me a precious extra 30 minutes of sleep Saturday morning. We woke up around 3:45 AM and left Mark's house around 4:10 AM to make the drive to Huntsville to pick our packets and prep for the race. It was a nippy 40 degrees out so after picking up our packets and timing chips we huddled in the Jeep to stay warm and finish getting organized.

Since we didn't fall back until Saturday night, it was still very dark at the 6:00 AM start, so that meant wearing head lamps until the sun came up. Of course, my head lamp died 3 minutes before the race start! Thankfully, I brought a light for my visor as well, so I took off the headlamp and clipped on the visor light and it was show time. Note to anyone doing a race that requires a headlamp – change the batteries for new batteries before the race, regardless of how old or new the batteries are!

Pre-race Photo

Race Start
The pack of 100 or so started off fairly slow in the dark – everyone seemed to be being cautious, which was a great way to loosen my legs and get used to the trails. My light was not at a great angle, so I relied heavily on Mark’s light, and ever the gentleman, he made sure I could see and pointed out anything he thought I might miss.

This is also probably a good time to mention that I rarely, if ever, run off road. I am a pavement queen. The main reason comes down to time – driving somewhere to run adds yet another time requirement to my already over scheduled day. I am also a flat-lander and as most Houstonians will attest, unless you are going over an overpass or running in a parking garage, there are not many hills to be found. All of this to say, I did exactly zero trail runs in preparation for this race. I give serious kudos to those that run almost exclusively on trails – a mile on the trails and a mile on the pavement are not created equally (as evidenced by how much longer it takes me to run off road!). Sure, pavement pounds your body more – but the uneven terrain and hills more than make up for it!

Ok, back to the race report.

The good thing about running in the dark is that you only worry about the 10 feet in front of you and that’s it. You aren’t looking at the big hill you have to climb because you can’t see it and by the time the sun wakes up you are warmed up (well, maybe not temperature wise) and well into the run.

Lap 1 - 15.5 Miles - 2:50:11
Mark and I make good running partners because we both like to talk while we run, so we keep each other relatively entertained for hours on end and without fail he always make me laugh so hard at least once on a long run that I almost fall over, and this race was no exception.

So, with the sun up and about 10 miles into our run, we chatted our way through the rest of the first lap (15.5 miles). Religion - check. Kardashians - check. Politics - check. We took our time at the aid stations eating bagels with peanut butter, cookies, etc. and hitting the porta-potties often. I can’t say for sure, but I would guess that we could shave nearly 20 minutes off our time just by being more efficient with our stops- but like I said, this race was about having fun and not worrying so much about the clock (such a refreshing change!). If there was a prize for who had the most fun, we definitely would have received it!

The first lap passed in a blur. After the sun came up the hills felt hillier because I could see them, but I was still glad for the light amongst all of the roots. The trail itself is fairly technical in sections, but there are sections where the course takes you down jeep roads that are far more forgiving and you can push the pace a bit more in those sections. When we reached the turnaround and the end of our first lap, we both shed our jackets, but the temps were still cool, so I opted to keep on my skull cap, bolero (arm sleeves) and gloves.

Half Way Photo-Op

We took off for lap two, laughing at the photographer who told us to “hurry back now” …

Lap 2 - 3:03:47
The next 5 miles passed in a blur because the next time I looked down we were at an aid station and 20 miles into the run. It seemed like time was flying by ... and then it stopped ... well, time didn’t stop, but it stopped flying.

I felt pretty good up until about mile 25 or so and then my legs started to feel heavy and I started to get hungry (cue more nutrition!). My darkest miles were probably from 24 – 28. We kept running though, even though our conversation died down a bit during this stretch. Unlike road races, there are not aid stations every mile, so you just run and run and run and run until the next aid station. They are usually only 3ish miles apart, but when you are getting tired on the trails, it can seem like a long way. With only 100 or so racing the 50K, there were long stretches where we didn't see anyone else. Thankfully, the trail was very well marked so there was no question as to whether we were going the right way.

When we finally hit the last aid station all of the volunteers cheered for us as we ran in – I felt like a rock star. They celebrated that this was my first ultra and my first trail race and everyone was great. I told them that my goals were to have fun and stay vertical and so far, I was meeting and exceeding those goals. One of the volunteers (all ultra runners) quipped that you have to give something back to the course (blood, for example), that is just part of the trail running experience. I told him I was happy to have kept myself vertical and not paid homage to the trail and he reminded me that I had three miles left …

So, up until this point Mark and I both had had a couple of close calls but nothing serious. Mark said he stumbled a bit in the dark and over the course of the day we both stubbed toes and had a couple of shaky steps that reminded us to pick up our feet - pretty much the best you can hope for on a trail run.

As we departed the last aid station, I lamented to Mark that I didn't think we were going to break 6 hours based on our average pace and the time on the race clock. In his typical Mark manner, he replied, "huh, if only that was in your control". Enough said. I was there to have fun, but my competitive spirit wanted to break 6 hours so we started hauling it.

Amazingly, my legs felt great and it felt so good to be running fast. Running fast on trails it a bit nerve racking because you have less time to think about where to put your feet, but everything was falling into place perfectly. We finally caught someone on the trail - the happiest guy I have ever seen - and he gave us both fist bumps as we passed. It felt like we were flying and I knew we had 6 hours in the bag ... and just as I had that thought, I rolled my ankle.

Insert expletive here.

It hurt. I didn't stop running, but I had to slow my pace because it immediately affected my stride. I was so mad at myself for tripping but most of all, I was mad about the fact that I was so close to breaking 6 hours and my misstep would likely squash that goal.

The very smiley guy we passed saw what happened and heard my reaction and in the happiest voice he said very reassuringly to keep running and that the pain would work itself out. I have no idea if he had experience in these matters, but I knew I had to get back to the trail head and I was able to put weight on it, so I took his advice to heart. We were probably 2+ miles from the trail head at this point. After a couple of minutes at the slower pace, I started to feel sure-footed again and I told Mark to open it back up. He asked if I was sure and I replied that I was, and then he took off.

To use a Twilight reference, I felt like we were either Vampires or Werewolves (depending on whether you are Team Edward or Team Jacob) speeding through the woods. Not much talking - I was running too hard and breathing too heavy for that! We really opened it up in the last half mile and finished strong with a total time of 5:53:58 - well under my 6 hour goal! My Garmin read 31.2 at the end of the race.

Race Results
7/17 Women
50/87 Overall
Lap 1 - 2:50:11
Lap 2 - 3:03:47
50K Total - 5:53:58

Post Race
With less than 100 people racing the 50K (there was also a 25K and 10K that day, but those folks were long since finished), there was not much of a party at the finish line. I was happy to see my Trarkkers Teammate, Jeff Irvin though. He ROCKED his race, as expected! the last time I saw Jeff we were running the last lap of IMTX together!

Trakkers Teamie Jeff Irvin

View Near Finish Line
So, there was only one thing left to do -- run .8 miles to hit 32 miles in celebration of my 32nd birthday. After collecting my finisher plaque and saying hi to Jeff, I quickly decided there was no time like the present and I took off to complete my goal. Surprisingly, it didn't feel bad at all, and with a quick .4 miles out and .4 miles back I was done!

I did it!Mark and I hung out a bit before making the trek back to town. When we got back to his house, I noticed that my ankle was starting to swell - which it continued to do for the rest of the day.

Thankfully, I am still able to walk on it just fine and I have been resting, icing, and wiggling my foot as much as possible to get as much range of motion back as quickly possible. It is getting progressively better every day but I am not sure when I will attempt my first run. I am contemplating another 50K on December 3, but that will depend entirely on my ankle recovery. For this week at least, I will be sticking to the spin bike and the elliptical.

Summary
I loved this race. Running in the woods is so cathartic and the ultra community is so welcoming and nice. The race was well organized and the course was well marked, with great volunteers. The food at the end could have been better, but that is not a deal breaker for me. I would definitely recommend this race. One of the reasons I am considering the Escape from Huntsville 50K (the old Sunmart race) is that I had such a blast at this race, plus Doug HATED to miss a big race, so why not run it again just for him? :)

Big thanks again to Mark England for doing this race with me!

Post Race Photo-op

Terrific Taper Timing

2011-10-30T23:45:00.002-05:00

Awww, how I love thee, taper!

This week begins week two of the taper and culiminates with 32 for 32! I have put in all of the miles and feel ready for the race. Having never run the distance or a trail race before, I have zero time goals - mostly, I just want to stay vertical and avoid roots, rocks, holes, etc. that will send my flying (and not in a good way). I am really excited to be doing something new and different and tackling a new challenge. With that said, AFTER the race, I need to do some soul searching ... what will my race calendar look like in 2012? There are a lot of decisions to be made.

The Kitchen Sink

2011-10-10T11:57:00.003-05:00

I often will have random thoughts pop up and I will think, “I should post that in the blog”, but I either forget about it by the time I have a chance to sit down and blog or the singular thought itself doesn’t seem to warrant its own post, so I am starting a “Kitchen Sink” post, where I will share my random, disjointed thoughts about triathlon, and well, just about anything, except maybe the kitchen sink!

-Did you watch any Kona coverage this weekend? One word – inspiring! I can’t wait to see it on TV. I get that it is a long day, but damn, it is frustrating not to get to watch it live! I have decided that I have to do this race once. Since taking 2 hours off my 140.6 PR is unlikely given my full time job, full time wife and mother status, I think I will be playing the lottery.

-I have to admit, I was torn on whether I wanted Chrissie or Rinny to win (after Dibens was out) … who were you rooting for? I annoyed my husband for at least an hour trying to follow the race on my phone at an outdoor, very low-key wedding reception.

-After reading interviews from the pros, it is clear that I do not let myself get into the pain locker. I must work on this - test the water, a toe at a time?

-Rev3 is going to Florida in 2012 – and it is a great weekend for us to boot, October 27 – 28, 2012. I am so excited about this race. For my fellow Texans, I am still suggesting a Texas race. Good things come to those who wait!

-I ran 22 miles in the rain on Sunday and it felt awesome. I am feeling ready for this 50K, although I am seriously lacking on actual trail miles. The great thing about a new race distance, especially one off road, is that I am not worried about my time. I am just enjoying being outdoors in this beautiful weather and celebrating the fact that I can run!

-Yesterday, 11 miles into my 22 miler, my amazing hubby took the boys to a birthday party. He drove through the neighborhood to find me to tell me he was leaving and didn’t even look at my funny, while I was drenched, running in the rain. I am so lucky to have him – he just gets me!

-I am seriously considering going back on my previous commitment to not race long in 2012 … I really want to race IMTX again. Something about missing a race in my backyard just kills me, plus I really like the idea of an early season full. My family supports it, now I just need to make a decision. More to come on this topic soon …

-Tyler, my 4 year old, was wearing his “Ironmanne” shirt - the support shirt that my family wore for IMTX this year. I asked him if he picked it or if Daddy did. He said he picked it (and he is a bit picky on what shirts he wears). So, I asked him if he remembered what that shirt was for. Andrew, my 7 year old, replied, that is the Ironman shirt. So, I asked, do you know what Ironman is? Without hesitation – yea, where everyone runs and gets a medal. This just made me smile.

-I have not ridden my bike in months. I miss her. I have even given up on spin class and indoor cycling since I am now running about 8 hours a week.

-Did you see the new Garmin 910 xt? This is at the top of my Christmas list from a triathlon perspective. What is on yours? The new Garmin power pedals look pretty sweet too – but at $1500, someone needs to give me a sales job on why I need these.

-Speaking of Christmas lists, I decided not to wait and bought two super cute running skirts from Lululemon. I wore one in the rain yesterday and it was so light despite the rain. Perfect! Now, I just need to find 2 or 3 more fun colored running tanks with built-in bras and pockets in the back. Suggestions?

-One month post LASIK eye appointment was today. I love it! Sign me up, I will do a commercial. I love, love, love, love, love not having to mess with contacts anymore!

-I ran 10 for Texas this weekend in the Woodlands – what a fun 10 miler! I love the Woodlands – too bad it is so far away from work or I would consider moving there. So athlete friendly. Race report to follow soon.

Have a great training week!

Support your Local Bike Shop

2011-10-06T15:40:00.002-05:00

It is the day before a race and you need extra CO2, a new tire, spare tubes, extra nutrition or someone to look at that sound your fine tuned machine (yes, your bike) just started making … where do you go?...

Well, if you traveled to the race, you might be at the expo, where you hope and pray that the vendors have what you need (good luck with that!). Unfortunately for me, one disadvantage of riding 650c wheels is that race vendors often don’t carry enough spare tubes or tires in the 650 size, so I am often out of luck when I am looking for last minute items (let’s ignore the fact that I should have planned better) or nutrition that I left at home. So, back to the question – where do you go?

The Local Bike Shop (commonly referred to as the LBS), of course!

My local shop, Bicycle World and Fitness, is like Cheers. I walk in and everyone knows my name. I have only been a customer there for 3 years, but I have purchased two bikes there and watched them grow from two small shops, into three, including one large, beautiful shop (lots of eye candy!), without losing their amazing customer service. They have nailed my bike fit twice and the bike enthusiasts that work there share great information with everyone they meet.

Chris Holmes, the owner, is usually around at one of the three stores, as are his wife and adorable son. There is definitely a family feel to the shop – and they treat their customers as family too. In the last two years, BW&F has really embraced the sport of triathlon and now carries essentials for all three legs of triathlon – something I love and am so incredibly appreciative of as a customer (one stop shopping!).

As a thrifty shopper, I understand wanting to get the best value and being tempted to buy almost everything online to save a few bucks. Except … I need my LBS and so do you. When you want to touch and feel a new product, zip around on different bikes or try a bike in different sizes, try on apparel, put 10 pairs of goggles on to see what fits your face or get a perfect bike fit – where do you go?

You certainly can’t get those things online. I am not suggesting not to shop online – I love All3Sports and I have happily given them plenty of cash and I will continue to, but I am just reminding folks to spread the wealth. As I mentioned above, the LBS is there when you need them, so don’t be afraid to return the favor.

Maybe I am just lucky, but my LBS, BW&F, will order anything I need and offers extremely competitive pricing. Plus, they support their customers – everything from shop rides to tents at local races. In fact, they have also been stepping up in the community by sponsoring races and they have also just recently started a local team. I am excited to be a part of this new team along with many of their other customers. Yes, CUSTOMERS. They didn’t go out into the community to find just the fastest racers, they put together a team of their best customers – which includes athletes of all ages, from long time triathlete age group winners to newbies!

I am excited to be a part of this local team and to meet more local athletes. I have loved being a part of Trakkers and Rev3, and hope to continue that relationship – the Rev3 people and team are amazing! Despite the fact that we are spread out over the country the Trakkers/Rev3 team is very supportive of one another on all fronts, from personal issues to racing. Since I do a lot of training solo and often travel to race, I have not met as many local triathletes -- so I am thrilled to have the opportunity to have a local team to bond with as well! This will also encourage me to race more locally – in addition to the great races I do with Rev3!

Now, go thank your local bike mechanic … :)

Chamber of Commerce

2011-10-01T17:02:00.003-05:00

Weather in Houston in October is what I like to call "Chamber of Commerce" weather. If you want someone to move to Houston - bring them down in October or March, especially if said someone is already getting frosty nights in the great white North.

Well, today is October 1, and the weather came just in time. There is not a cloud in the sky. Morning and evening temps in the 70s with the high topping out around 85. Given that temps hit 100 degrees a week ago, this is much appreciated relief!

Besides making my runs feel slightly easier, I am thrilled to be able to run with my best girl, my chocolate lab, Indy, again ... and the feeling is mutual! She loved every moment of our 8 miles this morning - as did I!

Happy October!

Layers of Motivation

2011-09-28T10:21:00.003-05:00

I have been pretty vocal about needing a goal in order to keep me motivated. Working out JUST for the sake of fitting into my jeans, seeing a certain number on the scale or the very important but broad idea of "being healthy" gets me to hit the gym, but I lack the passion, determination, excitement and frankly, the commitment that I have when I am training for a specific race.

Training and racing gives me a sense of accomplishment and purpose that I just don't get while "working out" and it gives me extra motivation to log the miles. Heck even with this motivation, sometimes, it takes every ounce of willpower that I have to get out of bed to go for a long run before work. I just LOVE to sleep!

So, this is where I have learned that having what I will call "Layers of Motivation" help. For example, here are my current "Layers" ... with the one on the bottom carrying the most weight, or put another way, it is getting me out of bed in the mornings!

Layers of Motivation
1. Be Healthy for myself
2. Be Healthy for my family - set a good example for my children
3. Me time - decompress, try not to think of the many things on my "to do" list
4. Ensure I continue to fit into my favorite David Khan jeans
5. Stay within my "happy range" on the scale
6. Have the fitness and endurance to finish the race
7. Have the fitness and endurance to RACE the race and hit my goals
8. Find out what happens next in my audio book!

Ok, I am sure there are other layers I am missing, but as you can see, #8 is tangible, which is so helpful when you are having a tired and not motivated kind of day.

On a day when all of the bigger goals in my layer of motivation can wait, I go for my run because I want to see what is going to happen next to the characters in my audio book! I ONLY listen to my audio book while I run (or when tri training, cycle) and when the workout stops, the book stops. So, essentially there is a mini-cliff hanger encouraging me to get back into my running shoes every morning. I am actually headed out shortly for a lunch run and I can't wait to find out what happens to Katniss and Peeta in the Hunger Games (no spoilers, please)!

So, what are your layers of motivation? Any book recommendations?

... and seriously, if you have never tried running with an audio book or podcast, try it! And no, I am not sponsored by Audible! :)

Safe Training!

I'm In Love

2011-09-25T19:47:00.003-05:00

You know that feeling?

You feel light as air. Every step feels effortless. You glow. You can't wait to go out again. You tell everyone in your inner circle about this new development.

Well, consider yourself my inner circle.

I am in love with running skirts. My last few long runs (16, 18 and 20 milers) training for the Rocky Raccoon 50K in this still stifling Texas heat have been glorious in my running skirt. I love the way it breathes. I love that despite the fact I am soaked, my running skirt does not cling to me like wet shorts. I find myself always looking for it in my workout drawer, so I am putting two more skirts on my wish list for my upcoming Birthday and Christmas. If you have one you love, please leave a comment recommending it!

Sorry, guys, you are totally missing out on this one - unless you are brave enough to try one! I hear they make running kilts for men ...

16 miles and LASIK

2011-09-10T19:47:00.002-05:00

My long run this week in preparation for the 50K was 16 miles. Normally, I would do this run on Saturday or Sunday morning, but I had LASIK planned for Friday morning, which means 3 days of no workouts.

This meant running Friday morning before LASIK - which ended up being the perfect distraction! One of my favorite things to do on long runs is to listen to a captivating audio book. I vary the topics from fiction to business (and everything in between) and recent favorites include The Help and Outliers and I just finished Ken Follet's The Fall of Giants.

I am always sad when a good audio book ends, especially long ones that I have been listening to for weeks. The characters almost become friends and I miss them when the story is over. I finished The Fall of Giants earlier this week so I was at a loss as to what to listen to for my long run this week, but knew I needed something other than music to distract me for 2.5 hours or I would stress about the surgery.

I ended up choosing Tina Fey's Bossypants and it was the absolute perfect distraction. The book made me laugh out loud on my run and I didn't spend a second of that 2.5 hours thinking about lasers in my eyes.

The other benefit of doing my long run before LASIK is that I was pretty worn out (more on that in a minute) and being tired made less stressed. The good news is that my tired state coupled with the valium they gave me right before surgery made me totally relaxed during the procedure. It has only been 36 hours since surgery, but so far so good!

The not great news is that my 16 mile run was exactly half the distance I will running in less than 2 months and I was totally spent after 16 miles. This is when I have to remember that I have not tapered, I am still fighting cough / cold / congestion crap and that I didn't follow my race day nutrition. I am looking forward to my 18 mile run next week to see how I feel and hopefully I will finally be rid of this cough!

Good luck to all those racing long tomorrow ... yes, I am a wee bit jealous.

I couldn't end this post without mentioning 9/11. Ten years later ... may we never forget.

Cold Front

2011-09-03T20:57:00.002-05:00

For the first time in weeks, temps in Houston were below 100 degrees, coming in at a cool 93 degrees today. It is amazing what a difference of 10 degrees makes! I did my long run of the week, 14 miles, and despite not feeling well because I am coming down with a sore throat and cough, I made it through the miles without as much trouble as expected thanks to the lower temps.

Now that I have had a taste of the "cooler" temps, I am ready for Fall! For those of you in the Northeast, I am not envious of your winters, but I am sure envious of the cooler temps you are experiencing now.

Hope you all are enjoying the long holiday weekend!

You know what they say about assumptions ...

2011-08-27T13:06:00.004-05:00

About a week ago the doorbell rang in the evening, sending my chocolate lab into a barking frenzy and two curious little boys to the door. Standing outside the door was a young guy, early 20s perhaps, wearing khaki pants and a 3 button polo shirt with a pest control company name embroidered on the front. He gave a very short spiel about how his company was doing some work in the neighborhood and wanted to know if we were interested.

I quickly explained to him that Terminix has been doing our quarterly pest control for years so we would not be requiring his service. I was about to turn around to go inside and shut the door when he stopped to ask me one more question ...

"What is the sticker on the back of your Jeep - the number - mean? Is it a race?" I explained that the number was 140.6, the distance of an Ironman.

His reply ...

"That's really cool, did your husband do that?"

I just smiled and pointed at myself.

Technique, technique, technique?

2011-08-23T21:45:00.001-05:00

I have been told I have a "pretty" freestyle ... well, it is definitely pretty ...

Pretty slow that is.

I know that if I swim every single day and put all of my effort into being a "swimmer", I will get faster, although I honestly question how much faster I am capable of being without a fundamental change in how I swim.

I am a middle of the pack swimmer who enjoys the swim, but I am a realist as well. Where we spend our time is an investment and it is also an opportunity cost. An hour in the pool might mean saving a few precious minutes on the swim, but that same time spent in the saddle on a weekly basis can create huge dividends in terms of time saved on the bike in a race.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am disenchanted with the swim. I have been swimming for three years and I worked pretty hard leading up to Florida and Cedar Point to get faster and logged tons of hours and yards in the pool. Circumstances changed (primarily how much I travel for my job) and I did less swiming leading up to IMTX and guess what, my swim time was nearly exactly the same WITHOUT a wetsuit in washing machine conditions! So, go figure, less training = similar results. I am sure if I had been swimming more I would have been a couple of minutes faster, but not the 15 minutes faster I would love to be (sub 1:15 on an IM swim vs my actual time of sub 1:30).

So, what I really want to know is ... what's the secret to getting faster in the pool? Is there some change to my form that is going to yield huge dividends? I don't have the time (or frankly the desire) to invest in becoming a "swimmer". If the answer is that the way to get faster in the pool is to swim faster in the pool, then I will have to deal with that, but I just can't help but think that I am missing out on some secret that is slowing me down in the water.

I have heard from many swimmers that you can log endless hours in the pool and if your technique is not right, it is going to yield marginal returns. I was regularly attending Masters and learned to swim from a coach, but I have definitely hit a plateau. Any advice?

32 miles for my 32nd Birthday

2011-08-18T20:01:00.003-05:00

I need a goal to get my out of bed in the morning, otherwise the snooze button it too tempting. Working out for the sake of working out and being healthy turns my good intentions (say an hour run) into checking the box kind of workouts (well, I still managed 30 minutes)!

My "A" race at the beginning of 2012 is the Rocky Racoon 50 mile trail race. I have wanted to do this race for years, but have never been able to priortize it over my tri training, so 2012 is going to be the year! Since I don't have much (ok, any) trail running experience, I figured I better do a couple of 50K races before attempting the 50 miler.

There just so happens to be a different Rocky Raccoon trail race (same location as the 50 miler) on November 5, a mere 4 days after my 32nd birthday. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you may recall that Ironman Florida was my 30th birthday present to myself. So, in this spirit, I decided to run 32 miles for my 32nd bithday. The race is 31 miles, so I am going to have to either run a mile before it starts, or finish the race and add an extra mile, but either way, my Garmin will say 32 miles when I am finished!

So, what would you do? Do the extra mile as a warm up or cool down?

Oh, and so far, I have resisted the urge to sign up for IMTX again, although I still check the website on occassion. The race is still open, just in case you were wondering...

Bridgeland Sprint Race Report

2011-08-15T22:00:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I clearly identify myself as an endurance triathlete, but in an effort to be more balanced in the family / work / training triangle this upcoming year, I am going to focus on short course racing as well as endurance trail running races.

What better way to determine my short course base than to do a test race? So, on a whim I entered the Bridgeland Sprint triathlon on August 7. I entered the race less than a month out, so I didn't have much time to train for it.

Most people think that sounds stupid ... Of course, I can do a Sprint if I can do an Ironman ... but racing a sprint and finishing a sprint are two very different things. My body is trained to go moderately hard for a very long time - which means pushing hard and staying in the red for nearly an hour and a half is a different animal.

My plan for the race was to survive the swim, err, swim to my best ability on my limited swim training, push as hard as possible on the bike and run sub 8:00 average on the run ... so here is how it all turned out:

Swim - 500 Meters (550 yards)
My wave started last - ugh. Starting 30 minutes behind the first wave means a hotter run and lots of passing on the bike. The race leaders actually passed the swim start on their run while I was waiting for my wave to start.

The swim was point to point and the lake was pefect. Not a wetsuit legal race by any stretch, but the water was not overly warm like I have experienced in other races. I started towards the front of my wave and stayed on the buoy line. My sighting was good and I felt pretty good in the water, depsite the fact that I have been avoiding the pool.

Given my lack of swimming, I was happy with my time, but I seriously am going to need some help on my swim if I am ever going to be competitive in this sport (more on that in a future post).

Time: 10:57
Rank: 26/70

T1
I ran hard out of the water in order to have a fast transition time, but my heart was pounding when I got to the rack. The only advantage of starting in the last wave is that transition was nearly empty so at least I didn't have to contend with a lot of other people. Since I registered late, I was not racked with my AG, but with other people who registered late (I found this to be odd) so I didn't even have other women in my AG next to me.

My T1 is always longer than my T2 as I do a couple of things in T1 that save me time in T2, but this T1 was considerbly slower than it should have been. I think my pounding heart overwhelmed me a bit...

Time: 1:49
Rank: 23/70

Bike - 13.5 Miles
My goal was to go as hard as possible on the bike without blowing up. It took me about 5 miles to really find my legs and for my heart rate to settle down a bit at the harder effort. I was pretty much passing people the entire race, but not many people in my AG. I had no clue where I was relative to the rest of my AG at that point. I finally started catching up and passing women in my AG in the second half of the bike. There were several women in my AG that I played leap frog with as well. At the last turn around heading back into transition (with a couple of miles to go) I saw a bunch of fast women approaching so I did my best to just pedal hard. The look on my face in my race photos from the bike show how hard I was working.

Overall, I am happy with my effort and the results relative to my AG, but I can't help but think I should be able to go significantly faster. If I can average 18.7 mph for 6 hours in an Ironman, I should be able to go significantly faster for 40 minutes. That is where the speed training comes in, I guess!

My bike time and T2 time are approximate because I am guessing at my T2 time as was lumped into my bike time. I hate inaccurate timing!

Time: 0:37:36 - 21.5 mph
Rank: 8/70

T2
T2 was quick and easy. Change shoes, drop sunglasses, grab visor and hand water bottle and exit.

Time: 0:01:00 (estimate)
Rank: ??/70

Run - 3.6 miles
My goal for the run was to run 8:30s for the first 1.5 miles and then really kick it for the last 2 miles. My heart rate was still pretty high as I started the run and I was barely holding pace. It was pretty hot and I was not sure I had it in me to run 7:30s for the last 2 miles. Fellow blogger Christy Blain ran by me in the fist mile and introduced herself and she gave me the boost I needed to pick up the pace (thanks, Christy!).

Unfortunately, shortly after this I got stopped by a volunteer to let traffic past. I have to be honest, I was pretty pissed off. I was running closely behind two other women in my AG, pacing off of them and I lost about 30 seconds because of that stop. I assume the volunteer figured that late in the race it wouldn't matter, but given that my AG started last, it did make a difference to us. I was pretty disheartened after that and my pace slowed in the heat instead of speeding up as planned. I managed a nice kick for the last half mile, but not enough to make a big difference. Given that I averaged 8:33 for my last HIM run (although with cooler temps), I know I can manage a sub 8:00 average for a sprint distance, if not a 7:30 average pace.

Time: 0:32:57 - 8:54 pace
Rank: 13/70

Overall Time: 1:24:21
Overall AG Rank: 14/70 (80th percentile)
Overall Rank: 329/1133 (70th percentile)

Overall, it was a fun, well run race and I recommend it if you are in the area. The race has grown significantly (40 people in my AG in 2010 vs 70 in 2011 - and the top race times were a lot faster too!) and OnUrMark does a great job putting on athlete friendly races. I would like to see them add touches to make their races more family friendly like Rev3 does.

I know that I have a lot of work to do, but it is nice to have a recent short course race under my belt as a baseline. I just purchased The Time Crunched Triathlete - Race Winning Fitness on 8 Hours a Week and I am going to use it as my guide to get faster. I am still reading the book and I will do a review of it when I am finished.

Identity Crisis

2011-07-25T23:01:00.002-05:00

What words do you use to describe yourself?

I am a Catholic wife, mother, daughter and friend. I am an endurance triathlete and hobbyist photographer. I am passionate in all aspects of life - family and friends, work and hobbies.

And now, I am having a bit of an identity crisis.

For the first time since April 2008 I do not have a big, fat hairy goal to chase or a big race on the calendar .... and I am lost.

I promised myself during peak IMTX training that I would take a year away from the IM distance, focusing on shorter races with at least a 70.3 next year to keep me honest. This would also allow me to pursue other goals, like an ultra trail race and/or bucket list races like Escape from Alcatraz, Goofy's Challenge or the Nike Women's Marathon, to name a few.

Sounds reasonable, right?

Let me take a step back though …

You may be wondering why I would want to take a year away from the distance in the first place. This is easy to answer.

Training for an Ironman is selfish. Now, don’t misunderstand me, I do think that we should all do things for ourselves that are inherently selfish – but we also need to recognize it. Selfish is not a “bad” word but it is an opportunity cost.

No matter how time efficient you are, if you respect the iron distance, you have to train long on the bike and that means a long ride (or really a long brick) every weekend leading up to the race.

I trained for IMTX from January to May – so let’s call it 5 months training. During that time, there were at least 2 months where my long brick took me until well into the afternoon.

With two boys ages 4.5 and 7, I feel like the opportunity cost is too great to give up that much of my weekend to training. I am lucky in that my family 100% supports this passion of mine and has encouraged me to sign up for another iron distance race, but my own guilt is holding me back.

I think that my struggle, well part of it anyway, is that all of races I am considering are in 2012 and I need a goal NOW (any ideas on getting into the San Francisco Nike Women’s marathon this year?). Another issue I am facing is that I have come to identify myself as an endurance triathlete, so how do I see myself if I am not currently training for an Ironman?

I also know that next May when everyone locally is gearing up for IMTX again, I am going to be jealous instead of relieved that it is not me out there training and racing.

This is the crux of my struggle – what I want to do versus what I think it best for this period of my life for my family. I don’t want to look back and regret that I missed this time with my boys.

Yet another problem with taking a year off the IM distance is that the necessity of signing up for most races a year in advance means that I may be looking at taking two years away from the distance. Thank God for races like Rev3 Cedar Point and Red Man that allow you to sign up much closer to the race, but I digress.

On a whim, I signed up for a local Sprint Triathlon on August 7 and I have been trying to add speed to my workouts as a new type of challenge, but that still leaves 5 months on the 2011 calendar.

I am not sure what I am asking necessarily, but I needed to share my struggle.
Any suggestions on making the transition from long course to short course? Any races I should be considering? What should I focus on this Summer and Fall before picking a goal for 2012?

Thanks for reading!

Ironman Texas 2011 - The Run

2011-07-18T22:00:00.000-05:00

The run course was set up with a short run from transition onto the main loop, followed by a 3 lap run. The 3 loop course made it easier for spectators to maneuver around which made for great crowd support, although running by the finish line twice and seeing mile markers that you are not going to hit for two more laps can be a bit depressing.

Happy to be running ... I started the first lap strong, trying to control my pace. I didn’t want a repeat of Cedar Point where I went out too fast. Around the 3 mile marker, I realized that I had messed up my Garmin buttons so my average pace and total time and distance were not right on my watch (so I couldn’t use it as a crutch to help me figure out how fast I needed to be running without doing a bunch of math in my tired head).
The first lap was hot – really hot, with no real shade for the majority of the run. I carried my hand held water bottle and used EFS liquid shot for calories. I put ice down my top at every aid station and took cold sponges as well – all in the name of attempting to not over heat. The heat was hitting me hard and I too quickly mentally gave up on attempting to break 12 hours.

I was struggling to hold my pace and I told myself that I had left it on the bike course. I saw Doug and Ryan at the end of the first lap and was feeling pretty down. You can see how I feel in the picture progression throughout the run – it is so obvious by the look on my face. I gave Doug a kiss and then I gave Ryan a kiss too (what can I say, I was tired and confused) and I told them that I left it on the bike course and I didn’t have it in me to break 12 hours.

Not feeling as good - end of lap 1 Another spectator commented to Doug after I ran off, “Did he (Ryan) just kiss your girlfriend?” and Ryan responded, “Even better, I just kissed his wife!”

I took my first walk break around the aid station about 10 miles in and used the reduced speed to refill my hand held water bottle and take in some extra calories. I extended the walk break just a bit past the end of the aid station and then started running again. I immediately felt like much better – like a different person almost. Unfortunately, this told my mind that the occasional walk break is good for me rather than “you feel better, get back to only running and you can still break 12 hours”.

Looking back now, my only disappointment in the race is that I didn’t have a stronger mental fortitude to come back from that dark place and run at the pace that I know that I can run. I do believe that I was physically fit enough to run a 4:20 Ironman marathon, which was roughly what I needed to break 12 hours. I took the “easy” way out by slowing my pace and taking walk breaks. In my opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with walking, but for me, I know that I could have pushed harder to hit my dream goal and I mentally gave up. That mental block is something that I need to work on before Ironman #4 (which is still TBD at this point – more on that later).

Despite feeling much better, the second lap was still very hot, so I continued the ice / sponge routine and walked the occasional aid station and then some when needed. As I approached the end of the second loop, the crowd support in the mile or so leading up to the finish line (and the turn to start the next lap) really picked me up and as I made the turn, I was so happy to be starting the third and final lap! I also knew that I was about to see my support crew, which had grown to include my children, parents and in-laws.

As I made the turn to the stretch of road where my crew was waiting, the first person I saw was my 4 year old son, Tyler. He immediately ran to the side of the road, put his hands in the air and started jumping up and down. The feeling of pure joy that came over me when I saw Tyler and then immediately the rest of my crew can be seen on the huge smile on my face in these photos. I gave everyone a sweaty hug and a kiss and then took off, it was single digits to the finish line! Andrew, my 6 year old son, ran alongside me for a couple of seconds to send me off, which was so sweet.

Pure joy ...

Every step after seeing my family reminded me that I was that much closer to the finish line and seeing them again (and keeping them from waiting!). I was feeling good and my pace picked up – adrenaline does that for you. I saw a few familiar faces on the course too, which is always a nice surprise. I ran with my Trakkers teammate off and on during the second half of the third lap and we encouraged each other. I took a couple of quick walk breaks at aid stations, but kept them very brief. I was READY to be finished!

When I hit the two mile to go mark I found my inner Forest Gump and picked up my pace again, running well sub 9s. The crowd was great and the faster I ran the more crowd support I got with random people cheering me on. It felt so good to be finishing strong. With about a quarter mile to go, as I entered Market Square, both sides of the street were lined with people. The crowd was great, but a bit subdued, so I raised my hands like a football player does when trying to get the crowd to make noise … and make noise they did!

I continued this while running my heart out towards the finish line. As I entered the finisher’s chute, I high fived lots of people on the left side and ran with my arms up. I saw my mom but missed my hubby and kids because they were on the right side. Mike Reilly, rather than saying, “Anne Moore you are an Ironman”, said, “Annie, get your gun!” and that was alright by me. I’ll take a personalized announcement any day!

Run Time: 04:42:44
Average Pace: 10:47
Overall Place: 474 / 2156
Gender Place: 104 / 537
Division Place: 18 / 78

Overall Race: 12:20:02 – a PR by 3 minutes and 55 seconds!

Overall Place: 586 / 2156
Gender Place: 109 / 537
Division Place: 17 / 78

I loved this race – I had so much fun and despite the hot run conditions, I felt relatively good because of my nutrition plan (thanks First Endurance!). I would do this race again in a heartbeat (local race, great crowd support, nice course, good aid station support).

A huge thank you to my amazing family who rarely complain when I am gone for long training days weekend after weekend and who offer endless amounts of love, support and encouragement. I couldn’t do it without you!

Check out those super cool support shirts ;)
I have also been very fortunate to be a part of Team Trakkers for three incredible seasons, and have been blessed to have fantastic sponsors -- First Endurance, Avia, Tri Swim, TYR, Kestrel, All 3 Sports, Recovery Pump and Canari -- who give me what I need to train long and race hard.

Now, the big question … what’s next? Stay tuned.

Ironman Texas 2011 - The Bike

2011-07-16T10:45:00.002-05:00

The start of the bike leg of an Ironman always feels a bit like organized chaos to me – like a stadium emptying after a big concert or football game and everyone finding their own way - and Ironman Texas was no exception. It usually takes the first 20-something miles of the race for things to settle down and for the shuffle of fast swimmers, slow swimmers, fast cyclists and slower cyclists to work itself out.

The crowd support heading out of town was great as well and made for a nice send off into the rolling hills of the Piney Forest area. I quickly settled into a comfortably hard pace and put it on cruise control at that effort level.

I rode the hilly portion of the IMTX course twice leading up to the race so I was really happy when we approached Montgomery and the road began to look familiar. I pushed the down
hills which helped me power up the up hills and kept the pace dialed in on the flats. I saw a couple of familiar faces on the course throughout the day which is always a great pick me up.

The wind was pretty calm and we had nice cloud coverage for a good portion of the bike segment, so I stayed cool, or rather – not hot. The volunteers, as usual, at the aid stations were incredible. I chose not to use the special needs bags for the bike or run because we were told that we would not get them back and I didn’t want to lose anything. Plus, I had everything nutrition-wise that I needed with me on the bike (from what I understand, no one got the bags back, so I was glad I didn’t use them). So, as we approached the half-way point and special needs I stayed to left while a lot of people stopped.

At the half-way mark, my total bike time was less than 3 hours and I realized that if I kept pace that I could break six hours on the bike. I made a mid-race decision to go for it. My fastest HIM bike split is about 3 hours, so hitting 6 hours in a full would be a big deal for me. I knew I was jeopardizing my run, but I felt strong and knew that a fast bike split would give me the best shot at breaking 12 hours.

My only concern at this point in the ride was that I had not seen Doug and Ryan yet. I made it a game to look for the suburban, which helped pass the time, but it was also a bit disconcerting – where were they???

Around this time I went over a rail road track and lost a bottle. I have always thought it was silly that athletes who lose nutrition don’t stop to pick it up – especially if they are going to need it, so I stopped to pick up my bottle. Unfortunately, the top broke on the fall and I lost most of my liquid concentrated nutrition in that bottle. I made two bottles with 3.5 hours worth of nutrition each, so losing that bottle would have been a game changer if I had not brought a flask of First Endurance Liquid Shot “just in case”. I did pick up my broken bottle as to not litter. Overall, the stop was only about 30 seconds, max.

After the nutrition mishap I did a quick re-evaluation of my nutrition plan and adjusted accordingly. I still had plenty of calories to get me through the bike.

Around the 75 mile marker I FINALLY saw Doug and Ryan! What a pick me up! I normally would have just waved but I decided a quick kiss was in order, so I made another 30 second stop to say hello to my support crew and managed to bruise my quad getting off my bike. Thankfully, the bruise didn’t really hurt or show up until Sunday. Doug told me to get going quickly because they had been stopping bikes for as long as 3 + minutes to let cars pass at the major intersection where they were. From what I understand, there was some drama around this because it should not have been happening, so hopefully race officials will get that squared away for 2012.

I took off after seeing Doug and Ryan with a renewed sense of purpose to get back to transition because I knew that is where I would see them again. I finally stopped for a potty break at the 90 mile marker and then the countdown was on! For reference, I stopped at least 3 times during IMFL and 2 times at Cedar Point, so I was happy to have made it 90 miles without a potty stop. With an empty bladder, I felt refreshed and the break was good for me mentally as well.

At this point in the race, I am like a horse running to the stables. I was still focused on breaking 6 hours and my pace had slowed a bit during the second half, so with my albeit brief stops, I knew it was going to be close. I kicked it up a notch as I counted the miles off one by one. With 10 miles to go, my feet hurt, a deep ache. I did my best to move my toes around and just ignore the pain. I knew it would go away as soon as I got off my bike so I was incentivized to get back to transition as quickly as possible.

As we got closer to transition, the crowd support got bigger and bigger, which just fed my adrenaline. As usual, the last several miles felt long, but as I finally approached transition and was surrounded by the excited crowd, I got a huge smile on my face. I took a deep breath and thanked God for a safe ride and no mechanicals. I saw Doug and Ryan as I dismounted my bike and ran it into transition.

It felt so good to hand my bike off to a volunteer! I immediately stopped to take off my bike shoes to alleviate my foot pain and so that I could run more easily to the transition bags and the change tent.

I was amazed when I saw the cumulative clock time as I rounded the corner to the gear bags – it was around 7:35 – I knew that I had done what I needed to do on the swim and the bike to set myself up to break 12 hours. I was not sure what my bike time was, but I knew it was close to 6 hours and I was really happy with that. I was even happier after the race when I found out that I had indeed broken 6 hours on the bike, finishing it in 5:59:56. 4 seconds to spare!

I easily found my bag and went straight into the change tent. It was pretty empty and I had two volunteers helping me. I realized at that point that I had forgotten to put my all day sunscreen on my face before the swim so I was thankful to have a spray bottle of sunscreen in my bag. I sprayed it in my hands and did my best to get it on my face. I also changed socks (now wet and dirty from running in the grass), put on my shoes, changed the nutrition I carry in the back pocket of my tri top from bike nutrition to run nutrition, put on my visor and Garmin and gave the volunteers my sunglasses and bike gear and then I was off.

Bike Time: 05:59:56 (hell yeah!)
Average Speed 18.7 MPH, or 30 KM per hr for my Canadian friends :)
Overall Place: 891 / 2156
Gender Place: 134 / 537
Division Place: 21 / 78

T2 Time: 00:04:25
Overall Place: 288 / 2156
Gender Place: 71 / 537
Division Place: 12 / 78

Ironman Texas 2011 - The Swim

2011-07-04T18:20:00.007-05:00

The nice thing about racing my third iron distance race was knowing what to expect … and knowing that despite the fact that my training volume was much lower this training cycle, that I have the capacity to finish the race.

My number one worry going into a race is having a catastrophic mechanical issue or wreck that prevents me from continuing the race. I don’t stress too much about race times – the day will unfold how it will unfold – so I try to put the things that are out of my control (mechanicals, wind, weather) out of my mind.

Race morning is fairly simple when racing long because you have already turned in all of your gear and the only race gear that you have to remember is your bike nutrition … well that and trislide and sunscreen and breakfast and your swim stuff and timing chip… but still, far less stuff to remember than a normal race day.

We chose to stay at home, a short 45 minute easy drive from the Woodlands. We woke up around 3:45 am, got dressed, made breakfast (toast with peanut butter) and hit the road by 4:30 am. My Iron Sherpa hubby and our good friend Ryan were going to be my primary race crew for the day. My children and parents would be joining them much later in the day to watch the finish.

Transition

We arrived in the Woodlands around 5:30 am, found parking and made it to transition to drop off my bike nutrition before walking the mile or so to the swim start. It was a pretty laid back morning and I enjoyed talking to lots of different people on the walk to the swim start. Once at the swim start, I got body marked and then put on my TYR Torque. The race was not wetsuit legal for those competing for AG awards and Kona slots. I knew I had no shot at either, but chose to race without my wetsuit anyhow so that I would see how I fared against the best.

Support Crew - Check out those shirts!

My Iron Sherpa
I always get teary-eyed before saying goodbye to Douglas before big races and this race was no exception. I have no idea why, but it happens every time! After one last quick kiss, I got into the “no wetsuit” corral and started making my way into the water. I finally made it into the water with a couple of minutes to spare before the gun and was surrounded by athletes. I really had no place to go to get away from people (in Florida I started a bit further down the beach to avoid the washing machine) – and there was still a decent line of people trying to get into the water.

Swim Entry Line
At the Gun
When the gun went off it was mayhem. Bodies everywhere. It was the definition of the washing machine effect and it was by far the most difficult mass start swim I have done (Redman Full Aqua Bike, IMFL, Rev3 Cedar Point, IMTX). It took about 15 minutes to find clear water – and for the rest of the race it was a constant battle to stay in clear water. It was as if we all had magnets on that were attracted to each other and we wanted to swim in pods to beat the crap out of each other rather than swim a couple of feet in any other direction in clear water. I got slapped and kicked and had my goggles knocked off my face once, but that is not so bad considering the chaos.

I mentally broke the swim into three parts – the first segment was the “out” to the turnaround buoy, the second segment was the “back” which took us back towards the bridge where we started and the turn into the canal and the third segment was the canal itself. Once in the canal, it was really neat to see spectators on both sides – until I noticed one guy basically walking next to his swimmer. I’m not sure why this annoyed me other than every time I breathed to that side he was there and it felt like I was not going anywhere!

I really try to enjoy the swim even though it is my weakest of the three sports because it just passes so quickly and before I know it I will be spending hours and hours and hours on my bike. When I get tired or frustrated during any part of the race I will often think of people who would love to be where I am at that given moment and for health or other reasons they cannot train for or race an Ironman – and that helps get me through. So as I approach the swim exit I try to remember one last time to embrace and enjoy the day.

As soon as I hit the stairs I got a huge smile on my face – one leg down, two to go! I nearly lost my balance as I started to run for the wetsuit strippers. I opted to have them help me pull off my Torque so that I wouldn’t end up struggling with it in the change tent.

With the Torque off, I ran towards the transition bags and passed the time clock, the time showed it was less than 1:30 into the race. I was pretty happy with what I saw on the clock, especially since I had not been swimming the yardage I had for previous races leading up to IMTX – think, once a week in the pool, maybe. I ran through the sea of bags to the 200s and immediately saw my bag its neon green duct tape on it, grabbed it and was off to change for the bike. I saw Doug at this point and it is always such a relief to me to see him – for one, I am happy he knows that I am safe (I always worry he is going to miss me) and two, it is just a big mental boost to see him.

Grabbing my transition bag
There was an empty seat on the bench outside of transition and I opted to sit there rather than in the dark change tent. I only had to put on my socks, shoes, helmet, sunglasses and gloves and to grab my bike nutrition, so it was a fairly simple transition. I did panic for one moment because it took a couple of looks in my bag to find my second bike shoe, but it was just for a moment. I threw my swim gear into the bag and was off to grab my bike.

Literally, millions of dollars worth of bikes in transition

My only real complaint from a race perspective is that my bike was at the far end of the rack so I had to run to the end of the rack to get it and then back to the middle to exit, so theoretically someone in my age group racked closer to the middle had an advantage. I guess when I am ready to fight for a slot to Kona these little differences will be a much bigger deal :)

The nice thing about being on the end of the rack it that it was also close to the fence so I got to see Doug and Ryan for a moment while I grabbed my bike before running to the bike exit. I saw Doug running towards the bike mount line just as I was mounting my bike (spectating is hard work!), and then I was off.

Swim Time: 01:27:56
100M Pace: 2:18
Overall Place: 1230 / 2156
Gender Place: 256 / 537
Division Place: 46 / 78

T1 Time: 00:05:02
Overall Place: 449 / 2156
Gender Place: 129 / 537
Division Place: 23 / 78

IMTX Race Report – Quick(ish) and Dirty

2011-06-17T16:20:00.003-05:00

Doing an IM at home town was a very different experience from traveling to race.

When I travel, it is easier to leave behind day-to-day life and just focus on my travel plans – and in the case of a race – focus on the race. When traveling for a race, my Iron Sherpa is with me every step of the way and we are usually situated close to the race site.

Racing at home means commuting back and forth (minimum 45 minutes each way) to the race site for pre-race activities, not having my Iron Sherpa with me for pre-race stuff (he was working) and multi-tasking until nearly the last hour the night before the race (unloading the dishwasher among other fun things).

However, racing at home also means that I am at HOME! I enjoy sleeping in my own bed, not having to disrupt everyone’s schedule and routine because I am racing and having my own cheering section at the race is icing on the cake.

For those of you who just want the race highlights – here is a quick(ish) and dirty race recap. I have a lot more to say about the race, the experience, my nutrition, etc, but this will give you the highlights and focuses on how I performed time wise and in comparison to the field.

To compare IMTX versus other IMs, check out RunTri’s analysis. IMTX currently ranks as one of the top 5 most difficult races on RunTri’s Toughest Ironman Index (based on finishing times).

Swim - Did not wear a wetsuit – wore TYR swim skin. First 15 minutes were brutal, tough to get into any sort of rhythm thanks to the endless slaps, hits, kicks and punches. Toughest mass swim I have done to date. That being said, I was thrilled with my time, given how little I had been swimming in the two months leading up to the race. I’ll take it!

Swim Time: 01:27:56
100M Pace: 2:18
Overall Place: 1230 / 2156
Gender Place: 256 / 537
Division Place: 46 / 78
**Overall and Gender includes Pros!**

T1 – Easily found my bag and an empty seat on the bench outside of the chaos of the change tent. The only disadvantage I saw here is that my bike was at the end of my row so I had to run down the row and back to get my bike whereas people in my AG racked on the end did not have to do this.

T1 Time: 00:05:02
Overall Place: 449 / 2156
Gender Place: 129 / 537
Division Place: 23 / 78

After T1
Overall Place: 1057 / 2156 ---- passed 173 people in transition!
Gender Place: 221 / 537 ---- passed 35 women in transition!
Division Place: 40 / 78 ---- passed 6 women in my AG in transition!

Transitions are free speed!!

Bike – The beginning of course had great spectator support. Easily found my rhythm and a good pace. I was thankful that I had ridden a good 55 miles of the hilly section of the course because I knew what to expect -- when to push hard on the down hills, when the pavement was going to change, etc. Saw many friendly faces on the course – another perk of a hometown race. At the half way point, I saw that I could break 6 hours on the bike if I kept my pace up and I decided to go for it, even it if would cost me a bit on my run later. I only had to stop twice on the bike. Once to pick up a bottle of nutrition that was ejected going over railroad tracks (unfortunately, it broke and I lost the nutrition) and once for the porta-potty. Thank God I brought a flask of First Endurance Liquid Shot in my tri top, just in case, so I was still ok on the nutrition front. My feet started to hurt during the last 10 or so miles, but adrenaline took me to the bike dismount line. I was thrilled with my bike performance.

Bike Time: 05:59:56 (hell yeah!)
Average Speed 18.7 MPH, or 30 KM per hr for my Canadian friends :)
Overall Place: 891 / 2156
Gender Place: 134 / 537
Division Place: 21 / 78

Getting off the bike, I was 07:32:54 into the race and my standings were:

Overall Place: 915 / 2156 ---- passed 142 people on the bike
Gender Place: 142 / 537 ---- passed 79 women on the bike
Division Place: 25 / 78 ---- passed 15 women in my AG on the bike

T2 – my favorite part of T2 is handing my bike to a volunteer and taking off my bike shoes before running to my T2 bag and the change tent. Again, easily found my bag and went into the shade of the change tent to change. It wasn’t very busy and I had help. Switched out my nutrition and changed socks, shoes, put on my Garmin and visor and I was out the door.

T2 Time: 00:04:25
Overall Place: 288 / 2156
Gender Place: 71 / 537
Division Place: 12 / 78

I’m not sure why I am faster than my peers in T2 than I am in T1???

After T2
Overall Place: 850 / 2156 ---- passed 65 people in transition!
Gender Place: 133 / 537 ---- passed 9 women in transition!
Division Place: 22 / 78 ---- passed 3 women in my AG in transition!

Starting the marathon, the race clock was 07:37:19 …

Run – On a “perfect” day, my goal would be to break 12 hours. All I had to do was run a 4:22:40 marathon and I would be set. I am 100% confident that my body is capable of a 4:22 Ironman marathon … it was my mind that was not capable today. 3 lap run – first lap was really tough and hot, second lap felt better but was still hot and the third lap felt even better and it was actually not as hot. Crowd support was a major boost and I rocked the last 2 miles (sub 9:00 pace). This was not the run I am capable of, however, even with the heat, I felt pretty good and I’ll take it!

I rev’d up the crowd during the last quarter mile and high-fived as many people as I could in the finisher’s chute.

Run Time: 04:42:44
Average Pace: 10:47
Overall Place: 474 / 2156
Gender Place: 104 / 537
Division Place: 18 / 78

Overall Race: 12:20:02 – a PR by 3 minutes and 55 seconds!

Overall Place: 586 / 2156 ---- passed 264 people on the run
Gender Place: 109 / 537 ---- passed 24 women on the run
Division Place: 17 / 78 ---- passed 5 women in my AG on the run

For those of you who are not keeping track, I ended up passing 644 people throughout the day after getting out of the water, including 147 women and 29 women in my AG. Clearly I need to learn to swim faster!

Overall, I am really happy with my performance and results, especially since I had to cut back on my training volume this IM training cycle. I was just outside the top 20% for women overall and in my AG. I was just outside of the top 25% of the overall field and my time was nearly an hour faster than the average finishing time of 13:19. This is a huge improvement in my comparative results from IMFL, so I feel great about the strides I have made in the last 18 months!

Stay tuned for a segment by segment detailed race report to follow soon!

Back from Paradise

2011-06-09T21:02:00.002-05:00

You may recall from this post that directly after IMTX, I planned a 10 day second honeymoon to Belize for me and my amazing, supportive husband of 10 years.

Well, 6 short days after PRing the IMTX with a time of 12:20:02, we left for Belize and 10 days of rest, relaxation and not a minute of S/B/R! Ok, I did swim but not in a training fashion. I drank, I ate and I didn't feel a hint of guilt (ok, maybe a tinge once or twice).

The trip was amazing and I am back feeling energized and refreshed and ready to figure out what my next challenge will be.

IMTX race report to follow soon ...

Creatures of Habit

2011-04-22T22:51:00.001-05:00

As a general rule, I think most people are creatures of habit. I know that I am. I often run the same run route, drive the exact same way to work, eat the same meals for dinner most weeks and usually eat the same thing for lunch everyday.

Why?

Because it is easy ... and familiar. No surprises. Why try something new and risk disappointment when you have a good thing going, right?

The problem with this is that it can be too much of a good thing and we are reticent to try new things that may actually help us improve (in terms of training) or that we may actually like better!

One of the best things about being on Team Trakkers (besides the camraderie of my super cool teammates) is trying new products from our sponsors. I will tell you with 100% honesty that I was very nervous to try new products. I had been wearing the same brand of shoes for close to a decade. I was using nutrition that I liked. I wore the same goggles ... the list goes on and on.

I am happy to say that this experimentation has been great for me. I have discovered new products that I swear by that I would not have otherwise known about. Not everything new I try works for me - and that's ok too - sometimes I learn more when trying something that doesn't work than finding new things that do.

Be on the look out soon for an "Anne's Triathlon Favorite Things" post that I will use to share with you well, my favorite things. Unfortunately, unlike Oprah, I won't be giving away my list of items, but I do encourage you to think outside of your routine and perhaps try something new!

The Big Dance in T minus 1 Month

2011-04-21T19:54:00.002-05:00

When life gets so busy that keeping all the balls in the air feels like a nearly an impossible task, what do you do?

Keep your head down, stay focused and work hard.

So, that is exactly what I have been doing for the last month. While I have had to make some sacrifices on the training front, my main focus has been to be active during the week in s/b/r and nailing my long workouts on the weekends.

The temps in Texas are starting to soar and I can definitely feel it on my long runs, but my pace is still holding up. My long bike rides have been strong and consistent and I got to ride two loops of the hilly section of the IMTX course last weekend. While there are some hills, there are downhills as well, with lots of opportunities to pick up some good speed.

I don't know if I am going to be a trained "ready" for this race, but I have never been more ready for a race to arrive!

Hope your training and racing has been going well - stay safe, train hard and may the wind be at your back! Hope to see a lot of you on the IMTX course one month from today!

The Verdict Is In ...

2011-03-27T20:12:00.006-05:00

Thank you so much for all of the great advice on whether I should race IMTX 70.3. I found myself being swayed back and forth as I read the various comments. Ultimately, I have decided not to race it, but after much deliberation I feel confident that I am making the decision for the right reasons.

Primarily, my reasons for not racing are: 1) save the money 2) save the time (avoiding a weekend in Galveston away from my kids, especially since I am traveling most of the following week) and 3) for $275 I want to race not be conservative.

After a month of 80+ mile bike rides, followed by good brick runs and two recent long runs of 16 and 17 miles, I am feeling more and more confident about my fitness. I even had a wonderful swim this weekend despite being out of the pool for over a week.

I am definitely finding the family / work / training balance more difficult this IM go round, but am happy that I have two finishes under my belt so that I can be more flexible with my training without losing confidence in my ability to have a good race.

Thanks again for the advice - I will miss the fun and the atmosphere in Galveston, but it is the right decision for me this year. Have a great training week!

Decisions, decsions ... help me make one!

2011-03-15T20:53:00.003-05:00

Ok, tri friends, I need your help again.

IMTX is 10 weeks away (yikes!) and IMTX 70.3 is 6 weeks before IMTX, making it 4 weeks from now. I did this race last year and had a great day, even PRing the race in my goal time (sub 5:45)

I have not registered for the 70.3 yet and I am on the fence on whether I should race it ...

I only did two races last year, one in the Spring - IMTX 70.3 in April and one in the Fall - Rev3 Cedar Point in September. So while technically my 140.6 was not my first race of the year, I clearly did not do one as a part of my build or peak leading up to my iron distance race.

Part of me wants to do the race so IMTX won't be my first race of the year, but I also have a whole list of reasons not to do it ...

- Save the money (two big vacations this year, fall races?)
- Not necessary
- Don't feel ready to race (would a poor race affect me confidence for IMTX?)
- Closer than I would like to IMTX

If this was my first IM distance race, I think I would definitely go for it, but since IMTX will be number 3, I need help deciding if I "need" to do a tune up race.

If I am being perfectly honest with myself, it also has something to do with the fact that I don't feel like I am in as good of shape as I was last year (e.g. If given similar race conditions and I felt the same, could I beat last year's time?).

My training doesn't feel like it has been as good and consistent as last year, mainly due to my travel schedule. Although, looking back, my training volume is similar, if not higher (since I was not training for an IM at this point last year, my hours were lower).

I can easily talk myself into or out of the race - I have twice while writing this blog post. So, give it to me ... should I race the 70.3 or skip it this year?

Remember Me?

2011-03-07T21:12:00.002-06:00

I have just wrapped up one of the busiest months in as long as I can remember. The juggling act between family, work and training hit a serious peak over the last month between wrapping up a major project for work, traveling, two birthdays and two birthday parties, our whole family fighting the flu, oh and of course, training for a little race that is just around the corner.

I had my longest brick to date this weekend - 80 miles on the bike followed by a 5 mile run. I am starting to feel at home again in the saddle, but I am not quite to where I was leading up to Cedar Point.

Starting at the end of March, I plan to spend the two months leading up to the race doing as many of my long rides on the IMTX course as possible.

I am looking forward to catching up on all of your blogs and sharing a few product reviews that I have been working on. Long rides give me lots of time to think - lots of blog fodder!

Happy Monday!

Good News, Bad News and a PSA

2011-02-10T20:07:00.004-06:00

I will keep this short because I am cuddled up in bed, resting and getting ready to watch The Big Bang Theory with my family.

I will start with my bad news -- I have the flu! The is the first time in as long as I can remember getting sick like this. I struggle with my sinuses like the rest of Houstonians, once or twice a year, but other than the congestion, it does not affect my ability to work or train or live life in general. I have been varying levels of miserable since Sunday night. The kicker is that I get a flu shot every year without fail, but I just didn't get around to it this winter. So, my PSA -- get your flu shot!

The good news is that I feel much better about my ride last Sunday now. My misery on the bike was probably in large part due to my coming down with the flu.

In more bad news, I was supposed to get 13 hours of training this week and all I have been able to manage is 1:45 of very easy spinning on the trainer. I am going to see how I feel over the next several days, but at best will get a bit more easy trainer time in. I have never had to miss significant training volume like this in a given week, but ...

In more good news, it is just one week. With IMTX just 100 days away, I have just enough time to build and peak without letting this illness set me back.

Here is to getting healthy ... and don't forget to get your flu shot!

On the Road Again

2011-02-06T20:13:00.003-06:00

Today marked my first ride on the open road of the year and of the new season ... and it sucked.

I had a 4 hour ride and 45 minute run on the schedule and the temps indicated that it would be a good day for an outdoor ride. I purposely started later than usual because the morning temps were cool in the 40s, but the forecast had them climbing to 70 by Noon.

I went into the ride with low expectations. I knew I would not have the power that I had in late August leading up to Cedar Point and I didn't want to be disappointed. I also knew to expect some wind. Both expectations were met. I felt pretty flat for much of the ride and the wind, oh the wind. There were points that I just didn't want to keep pedaling, but I suffered through the wind.

My body ached during the ride, probably from gripping the aero bars so hard in the windy sections- and it still aches now. I was wiped after the 4 hours but ended up with a decent run, probably because I was just happy to be off my damn bike. I was thankful that I downloaded a new audio book for this brick because I really needed the distraction today.

My boys have been sick with coughs and fever all weekend and I have started coughing tonight. In retrospect, I have been a bit sluggish and sleepier than usual this weekend. I rarely experience aches on the bike, so I think my body was telling me something.

So, the bad news is that my ride sucked. The good news is that "skunk is off the porch" and it should only get better from here (or at least I am going to keep telling myself this so that I will keep getting on my bike!).

One thing is for certain, the next time I am stuck on the trainer I will not complain!

How far is too far to run with your dog?

2011-02-03T21:54:00.005-06:00

I mentioned recently that my chocolate lab Indy loves to run and it seems like she can run for days without getting tired. She makes for great company on a long run but I am worried about pushing her too far.

I gradually increased her mileage and we are now up to 10 miles, which is about 1.5 hours. My gut says I am probably starting to push the limit on how far I should let her run even though she seems great at the end of our runs. Maybe 2 hours max?

I will definitely ask her vet at her next visit, but I am worried that it will be like asking a doctor that doesn't run about overcoming a running injury. Without perspective or passion for the sport, the short answer is usually very conservative and not patient specific - usually something really creative like "stop running".

Do you have a dog that loves to run? How far is too far to run with your dog?

Honeymoon Training

2011-01-30T20:37:00.004-06:00

If you have ever planned a wedding, there probably came a time when you thought ... "after the craziness surrounding all of this planning, I get to celebrate with my loved ones at my wedding AND I get to go on the honeymoon!" ... and that thought alone was enough to get you through the stressful times.

For me, training for a big race like Ironman can get overwhelming, stressful, tiring , but usually I really enjoy it. It is probably an 85%/15% split on love/hate.

I don't enjoy endless hours indoors on the trainer and I am getting itchy for the open road, but when I start getting frustrated I remind myself that I get to celebrate all of my training by racing an Ironman (the wedding) AND this year, right after IMTX I get to go on a second honeymoon to Belize (we celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss in December)!

So, when the temps get hot and the miles get long, I will be thinking of two things to get me through - the IMTX finish line and a hammock outside of a beachfront cabana in Belize.

If you have ever been to Belize, I would love your input on what to do / where to stay /etc.

The first month of Ironman training is in the books, coming in around 44 hours. Not bad for my first month back. I got the majority of my workouts in and didn't miss any of the "important" ones. I am not nearly the slave to my plan that I once was, but I still make time to get er' done. I could probably stand a few more days a month in the pool, but as many before me have said ... it's all about the bike.

Happy February! I don't know about you, but I can already hear the sound of the waves ...

Dancing in Heaven - Q-Feel

2011-01-23T14:51:00.005-06:00

It never ceases to amaze me how different I can feel running (or swimming or biking for that matter) from one day to the next. One session makes can make me feel like an Olympic champion and the next makes me feel like the kid who got picked last in gym class (well, as a tomboy, that wasn't me, but I felt for the kids that did).

If you like bad 80s movies, it reminds me of the lyrics of the song Dancing in Heaven (Orbital Be-bop) by one hit wonder, Q-Feel, featured in my all time favorite movie as a child, Girls Just Want to Have Fun. I can't tell you how many times I have seen the movie, but there were plenty of nights growing up that I would watch it multiple times in one night. I *really* wanted to be a dancer.

Anyhow, back to the lyrics -- part of the chorus repeat is "Slow - slow - quick, quick slow" and that is how my workouts sometimes feel (check out the You Tube link to hear the song), although thankfully my workouts are more like "Quick, slow, quick, quick, slow" ...

The good news is that I try to remember the words of Caballo Blanco from the book Born to Run (I am paraphrasing here because I listened to it on Audio book, so I don't have the book to look up the quote), "When you feel like running fast, run fast, and when you feel like running slow, run slow."

Don't get me wrong, there are definitely times for intervals and speed work, but what I took Caballo's words to mean were simply, listen to your body.

Week 3 of IM training is behind me and my muscle memory is coming back. Getting up early is getting easier, although I do miss the extra sleep. Happy training and thanks for reading!

Too Hot to Handle

2011-01-19T21:16:00.004-06:00

The joys of traveling and training ...

Woke up in chilly Ft. Smith, Arkansas this morning on business and decided not to tempt fate by running outside in the dark in an unfamiliar area, especially when ice was a possibility.

I opted instead for the hotel "gym", a room just large enough for two old school treadmills, an elliptical, a bench with free weights and a recumbent bike. There was not room for much of anything else, including walking around room. My hotel room itself was definitely larger than this cubicle of a hotel gym. Sadly, this hotel actually had better facilities than the hotel I stayed at last week ...

There was an old school big box TV mounted on the wall on a news station, but no volume, so I ran with tunes and decided to make the best of it. What I didn't bargain for was the heat. There was no fan in the room and the heat must have been on high because I was drenched within a mile and my heart rate was screaming. It wasn't as hot a Bikram yoga session, but you are also not running during yoga, so I will call it a tie.

I was spent after 5 miles and had to take 15 minutes to cool down before getting in the shower. It was definitely not my finest run, but it is in the books and I stayed the course despite wanting to quit at the halfway point. Score 1 for winning the mental challenge. Can I count that as heat training for IMTX?

Conflicting Goals

2011-01-16T13:51:00.005-06:00

"One of the most maddening parts about timed racing is that speed - the very component that truly defines success - is largely incidental. Whether it's swimming, biking or running, speed is overwhelmingly influenced by terrain, weather, equipment, and a host of other factors. Did you shave 10 seconds off your PR in the pool because of hard training or was it because of that new full-body rubberized suit? Was that 5K PR due to smarter pacing or was it a tailwind pushing you along? Nowhere are these questions more prevalent than when you're on the bike, where wind speed, road surface, tire choice, equipment aerodynamics, topography and even air density play a role in speed. How fast you go is all that gets recorded in the official results, but it doesn't even come close to telling the whole story of what it took to get there."

- Jordan Rapp, "Power Play", Lava Magazine

The above is an excerpt from a Lava Magazine article on training with power (which I don't, in case you were wondering). This concept that speed is incidental is one of the first lessons that Coach Carole taught me last year. Carole was far more concerned about the execution of my plan (for a given workout or race) than she was about my speed, since it is all relative.

That brings me to this quote from Mirinda Carfrae from the "Chasing Down a Ghost" article, also in Lava Magazine (by Susna Legacki) ...

"My goal was to race my own race, and I did that. I knew that people would ask about Chrissie (Wellington, 2009 champion who did not race due to illness), but I really know that I raced my best on my best day and I just wanted the focus to be on that."

So, what does all of this have to do with me? With week two of IM training behind me, I have been struggling to articulate my triathlon goals for 2011.

I can say without question, on a perfect day, I would like to break 12 hours at IMTX. To refer to my teammate Mike Moore's (no relation) term and one that I have used before, it is my BHAG. Big, Harry, Audacious Goal -- a stretch goal that is still achievable.

But I don't want to define success at IMTX based on a time goal. My goal at Cedar Point was to race my best on my best day, to adapt to the conditions and know at the end of the race that I had done my best. I feel like I got 90% of the way there (see my run race report for details).

So, for IMTX my goal will be the same - to race my best race. Will my fitness be there to break 12 hours? Will the conditions help me or hurt me? I can control the first (well, some what, more on that ...) but not the second.

IMTX will be my third Ironman but the first I have trained for with a significant work travel schedule. The workouts that suffer the most during travel are typically the ones in the pool. Hotel pools are invariably too small and a lot of the small towns I visit do not have other facilities available close by.

Going through this exercise has also reminded me of why I compete -- I enjoy having a goal to work towards, I like this lifestyle and I like pushing myself from time to time to see how I am doing (e.g. a race). What I have also realized though, is that after 3 years in the sport, that improvements in race times will be harder to come by and I have to be ok with that, unless I am willing to sacrifice something else (time/balance, money) to get faster, which for the time being, I am not.

Like race day, I am going to do the best I can through training. I am going to get in all of the workouts that I can, and especially the long training and intervals and know that when I show up on race morning that I am racing as a wife, mother, full time employee and athlete. I will be mentally prepared to push hard to race my best race - regardless of the time on the clock when I cross the finish line.

p.s. I ordered the Cycleops 2 Fluid Trainer - product review to come!

Seeking Your Wisdom: Fluid Trainers

2011-01-09T21:41:00.003-06:00

Alright, blogger buddies, I need some help.

I don't mind riding indoors. Honestly, I don't ... but I hate my trainer.

I currently have a Blackburn Trackstand Fluid trainer that is probably about 3 years old. I can't seem to dial it in to get the prescribed ride effort level my workout calls for. It seems to be too easy or too hard and I don't feel like I am getting as much from my indoor riding as I should.

Since I will likely be spending some quality time on my trainer in the upcoming months when the weather is too cold and/or rainy for this Texas girl, I want to make sure that I am getting the best workout that I can.

My question is, if I upgrade my trainer, will I have a better indoor riding experience? I have been reading good things about the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine and Cycleops Fluid Trainer 2. What trainer do you suggest? Positive and negative reviews welcome.

On a side note, week one of IM training is in the books ... 19 to go!

I appreciate your pearls of wisdom, thanks for reading.

I Aspire to be More Like my Dog

2011-01-04T12:00:00.006-06:00

Meet Indy, my faithful chocolate lab aka The Best Dog in the World

This lovely brunette is almost 4, which is 28 in dog years. As the only girls in a house full of boys, we have to stick together, so it is good that we have a lot in common. Besides being close to the same age (I am 31) and brunettes, we are passionate about many of the same things in life and we are both fiercely loyal.

We both love …

1 - Eating
2 - Relaxing lazily in the warm Texas sun
3 - Sleeping for 10+ hours at a time (or more)
4 - Running around like crazy for fun
5 - Playing with and protecting our boys
6 - Hiding from our boys when they are being, well, boys
7 - Cuddling on the couch
8 - Wrapping up in a warm blanket
9 - Attention (unless it is a result of #6)
10 - Being with our family
11 - A good back scratching
12 - Sneaking food from the boys

… just to name a few.

For as much as we have in common though, she has (at least) one quality that I seek to possess…

Sheer excitement to go for a run no matter what time of the day, how hot or cold it is outside or how tired (who am I kidding) she may be. She does not love to swim (hmm, not sure if I do either) and she can’t cycle so I can’t speak to those sports.

Let me paint a picture with words on what I am talking about.

Tuesday morning, 5:25 AM. Bedroom is dark. I am up, have brushed my teeth, put in my contacts and put on my running clothes. I am sitting on the bedroom floor putting on my socks and shoes and I look up at the bed to see Indy staring at me longingly, much like in the photo above.

I get up early often, so I know it is the running shoes that have given me away. I ask her if she wants to come for a run with me and her head perks up. I finish tying my shoes and tell her that she better get off the bed if she is going to come with me. She immediately jumps down and stretches (something I should do more of too).

As I stand up she starts walking circles around me in excitement. When we get to the utility room to grab her leash she starts jumping up and down. She can no longer contain her excitement about what is about to happen. When we get to the street, I barely have time to hit the start button on my Garmin before she is ready to take off.

Her leash is adjustable so I am able to wear it around my waist so that I do not have to hold it while we run. After the initial quarter mile or so, her pace settles in as her excitement becomes pure contentment to simply be running – and you can tell by the smile on her face.

Adios

2011-01-02T10:24:00.003-06:00

So long, farewell, aufwiedersehn, goodbye ...

To sleeping in past 6 am
To staying up late
To the extra 7 hours a week
To the dust on my Felt
To the 7 pounds that I need to lose

Goodbye, offseason! I will miss you greatly these first weeks back in the saddle when I am getting up with the moon, but I am excited to put you behind me as I prepare to tackle IMTX.

Year in Review

2010-12-27T16:45:00.001-06:00

As 2010 comes to a close, it is time to evaluate how I measured up on what I wanted to accomplish this year.

In years past I have chosen to focus on one goal for the year and that philiosophy served me well. I have stated time and time again, that you make time for what is important to you, and if you have but one goal, it is (relatively) simple to make time for it.

I attempted to chase multiple goals in 2010 becuase there wasn't necessarily one big goal that I wanted to focus on, but as you will see in my results below, too many goals can be distracting. With limited time in the day, I managed to find time for what was most important and everything else fell to the wayside. To use a swimming analogy, I can only focus on one or two things at once per 25 or 100 or set because otherwise my stroke and times go to crap.

The funny thing is, looking back, I am not heartbroken about the things I did not accomplish, probably because they were never the priority they should have been and I did spend time and energy on what mattered to me. As I craft my goals for 2011, this lesson will definitely not be forgotten.

So, here were my 2010 goals and my self graded results:

Personal (non-tri) Goals:

1. Read the Bible from cover to cover. - Grade: F

I gave myself an F because I feel like this was a complete or not complete goal and I gave up on this goal failry early in the year. What I DID do that I am extremely happy about was make time to go to church every Sunday and by the end of the year, it was a family affair. I did not write that down as a goal, but it was something that I did not do in 2009 and I wanted to do in 2010 (and beyond) and for that I get an A+

2. Spend more time on photography. - Grade: C

I gave myself a C because I consider it to be an average grade and that is where my photography stayed in 2010. I documented the important life events and captured some great shots, although was frustrated by others that were elusive, despite my best efforts. I know that I am going to have to devote a lot more time and money to this if I want to really improve.

Triathlon/Endurance Goals:

Theme: Respect my body. I need to train smarter not harder. - Overall Grade A

I listened to my body this year. I logged fewer hours yet trained smarter (thanks, Coach Carole!) and had still managed PRs at both of my 2010 races. I took time for an off season where I have done what I want when I want (first real off season since 2008). I did NOT over commit. I did not attempt an ultra despite my desire to do so, given that I did not want to jeapordize my other planned races. Result? No injuries or major illnesses this year! Given what we as triathletes put our bodies through, that is a major win.

1. Weekly stretching and foam rollering - Grade B

I found that I did this as needed instead of daily, and that worked for me. It wasn't my goal, but I did listen to my body, and that was what this year was all about.

2. Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition. - Grade B-

I experimented quite a bit with training and racing nutrition - A+! I did not pay as much attention to my non-training meals - C-. I am still looking for new, easy recipes. This will likely show up again in 2011 as something to focus on.

3. Core / stability / strength training sessions 2x per week - Grade B

I did significantly more strength training in 2010 than I did in 2009, but I definitely did not manage two sessions every week. I did more during the off season though and most importantly, listened to my body.

4. Focus on swimming technique - Grade B

I did do more intervals to focus on speed (yeah!) but I did not have more form videoed for analysis. My pool swim times improved, although my race swim times were about the same.

5. Fun Goals to Chase - Grade A+
-Do a Sprint just for fun and leave it all on the course - Skipped this. It was for fun - No grade.
-PR HIM (time to beat: 5:52:58) - Did it! 5:44!! A+
-Complete Cedar Point Iron Distance Triathlon - Did it with a PR to boot - 12:23!! A+
-Complete an Ultra (may defer due existing injuries) - skipped this. A+ for being smart.

Overall, I am happy with 2010. I PR'd the 70.3 distance early in the season and left it all on the course. I made a commitment to my 140.6 training by hiring a coach and I PR'd that distance as well. I learned so much about myself as an athlete from Coach Carole. I also learned my training limitations as a working mother and wife and was reminded of the delicate balance between the many aspects of life. I did listen to my body, which was my main goal, so for that I am happy, and I did focus on my spirituality, just not in the way I originally intended.

I am extremely grateful for my incredibly supportive husband and family, I couldn't tackle these goals without them. I am also so grateful for my Team Trakkers family and our amazing sponsors who kept us well nourished (First Endurance), clothed (Saucony), and clean (TriSwim) in 2010.

2011 is sure to be an amazing year - I am excited to be a part of Team Trakkers again - on an expanded team! - and with new sponsors. Stay tuned for all the excitement. Thank you for being with me on this journey.

Wishing you all the best for 2011. Follow your dreams and train hard. Happy new year!

Santa Came Early

2010-12-23T17:49:00.004-06:00

I was the benefactor of a serious pay it forward a couple of weeks ago ...

An acquintance at work is retiring from the sport and she sold me her 650c Zipp 404s, including tires and rear cassette for a steal (front is used and rear is brand new)! A set of new stickers to come (so the front and rear colors match) and Merry Christmas to me! More photos to come ...

Rev3 Cedar Point - The Run

2010-12-19T15:40:00.002-06:00

Better late than never ...

As I exited T2 and began my 26.2 miles, Douglas and I shared a fist bump and I saw Coach Carole. I was honestly excited to be in my running shoes and the energy I got from seeing Doug and Carole was palpable!

I did my best to settle down the energy and stick to my plan. The plan was to run sub 9 for as long as I could, knowing I would slow down in the second half to around 9:30, but with a goal of coming in around 4 hours (9:10 average pace). It was a stretch goal, but I had trained for it and the conditions were right (and I have done it stand alone).

My nutrition plan was simple. I carried a hand held bottle and used NUUN for extra salt and took in calories every mile.

The first miles were effortless. I felt great and I saw a lot of my Trakkers teammates, including Megan who was FLYING, which was a great pick me up along the way. Lots of folks were finishing up the half and it was great to cheer them on as they passed by, including my teammate Kiersten who was battling knee pain but powering through.

This is the first race that I used a hand held bottle and I was really happy with it. The aid stations tend to get congested and I was happy to be able to stay to the left, only slowing twice when I needed to refill the bottle. I was also happy to have access to water whenever I wanted, even though I was not drinking nearly as much as I had in training because the temps were so much cooler (mistake #1).

The run course was a 13.1 mile loop that the 140.6 athletes completed twice. The course was mostly flat, with only one hill on the bridge near the two/eleven mile mark. My only frustration with the course were the zigs and zags through parks that were not clearly marked and some of the volunteers were not giving great directions. This has happened at IM branded races too, it really just depends on the volunteers. When you are 'in the zone' zigs and zags can be easy to miss or require abrubt changes in stride, which don't feel good.

Around 9 miles into the marathon, I started to feel the miles. It was taking more effort to maintain my pace but I kept telling myself that I could slow down at the half way mark and that I was going to see Douglas. I fought to maintain pace but my mental state was deteriorating. This should have been a clue I needed more calories.

I fought my way to the half way point and got cheers from Trakkers teammate Ryan, that helped, but I almost lost it when I saw Dougas as I turned to start the next 13.1 miles. You can see from the photos that I am fighting back tears. I told Douglas that I was slowing down and not to worry if it took me longer than expected to finish. I was mentally giving up on my sub-12 hour race, heck at this point, time was no longer important.

Looking back now, despite the fact that I had been taking in calories as I trained, I must have needed more for whatever reason. I needed to adapt better on the fly, and my mental state was a major indicator that something was wrong. I just don't think or act that way normally. I am a fighter and I don't like to throw in the towel. I should have started trying to shovel down the calories, which I ended up doing many miles later.

I managed to run 2 more miles before deciding that I would walk up the hill and then from then on I would allow myself to walk through aid stations. This is not something I ever do, but it was the deal I made with myself so that I could keep moving forward. My pace slowed down quite a bit and my walks through aid stations got longer.

If you had asked me about IMTX at that point during the race, I would have cussed you out and told you to keep my $700.

At one point, a nice racer approached me and asked if I was ok. That was a major wake up call. I must have looked totally out of it. He walked with me through that aid station and for a bit after and I started shoveling down calories. I walked through this to make myself get the calories down and started drinking more water. I told him I was ok so that he wouldn't feel obligated to stay with me. This must have been around the 18 mile mark and I gave myself a mental slap to get my shit together. I felt light headed and knew that my race would be in jepaordy if I didn't take immediate action.

I started running again and almost immediately started to feel a bit better. I kept to running between aid stations until about 3 miles to go, when the adrenaline must have kicked in. I skipped walking through an aid station and told myself I could make myself run until the hill on the bridge. When I got there, I decided I didn't need to walk. At that point my pace was increasing again. I may have blown a sub-12 hour race but I knew a sub 12:30 race was still in my grasp.

The fact that I was able to get back to a decent pace at this point in the race really showed me two things: 1) I lost the mental battle earlier in the race and 2) I can dig deep. Knowing I can dig deep will definitely help me in future races (so will staying better in tune with my mental state).

With about a mile or so to go, my left IT band started to scream at me, but I was not going to let anything slow me down. I grimaced through the pain, let out a few profanities, cheered on athletes starting their second loop and kept putting one foot in front of the other.

As I neared the finish line I saw Carole, who from my time, knew things must have fallen apart, but she cheered me on as I ran to the finisher's chute. I saw Douglas and smiled a huge smile. This time I remembered to put my hands and smile as I crossed the finish line (no deer in the headlights look like at IMFL).

My teammate Josh caught me as I crossed the line and gave me my finisher gear and Doug was able to find and hug me right away, so much better than at IMFL!

Run Time:

4:38:19, 10:37 Pace

5/14 Division Place

25/67 Overall Place Women

Final Stats:

Swim - 1:24:28

T1 - 4:24

Bike -6:12:38

T2 - 3:56

Run -4:38:19

Total Time - 12:23:57 -- 40 min PR!

Division Place: 5/14

Overall Place: 25/67

Since the top 2 women in my AG, were also in the top 3 overall amatuer women, I ended up in 3rd place for my AG!

Post Race Thoughts

My entire body hurt the minute I crossed the finish line. After the short walk to the athlete's area, I only had a short wait for ART. The ART didn't feel good, but I sure did after I got it - complete transformation! I walked back to the hotel fairly easily, showered and walked back to the finish line, where I proceeded to stub my toe, which ended up hurting more than my legs!

After cheering on a bunch of finisher's, Douglas and I walked back to the car to get some grub and cheer folks on from the car who were still on the course. There was not much open so we settled on Sonic, which hit the spot.

We woke up early the next day to pack up and hit the Rev 3 finisher store. We got to wander the park and be silly in the finisher area which was fun. We had to miss the awards to make the drive to Cleveland to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before heading back to Columbus for our flight home. I had no idea I was missing 3rd place AG hardware!

Finally, I think it took me so long to write this race report because while I am thrilled with my PR, I know I could have done better. It was not about my finisher time, it was about not executing the race as I had planned (doing the best I could do on that day, under those conditions based on my level of fitness). Disappointment is not fun to write about, but it is something to learn from, and learn I did. I took less than 30 minutes after crossing the finish line to think about what I would do differently at IMTX ...

Procrastination

2010-11-13T12:01:00.006-06:00

I should have been finishing my race report, paying bills, reading a book, or name a 100 hundred things that are on my to do list, but instead I spent several hours playing in photoshop designing this logo for my support crew at IMTX.

Since it is a home town race, I am hopeful I will have a good size cheering section and Doug and I thought shirts would be a nice touch. I am still deciding on a background color (right now it is shown on grey), but otherwise, we are pretty happy with the design. We will likely add Support Crew on the back of the shirts. Any other ideas? I would love some feedback!

I finally made it to the pool this morning -- it wasn't pretty, but the "skunk is off the porch"!

Have a great weekend!

Du the Teddy Bear - Andrew's First Race!

2010-11-07T23:02:00.000-06:00

Andrew, my 6 year old, competed in his first race in October and I could not be more proud!

We live near Bear Creek Park and there is an annual duathlon in October called "Du the Bear". I have never raced it because it has yet to align with my race schedule, but the bike shop I frequent is the head lining sponsor and I just happened to see an advertisement for a kids race called "Du the Teddy Bear".

The kids race was supposed to be a half mile run, 2 mile bike ride, and half mile run, but they ended up splitting the race into kids over 8 (they did the original distance) and kids 7 and under, who did a shorter version.

Here are the photos that will do a far better job of telling the story of the race ...

Waiting for the race to start - deer in the head lights anyone? :)

Having fun on Run Part I

Still running
T1 - preping for his ride

On the bike leg ... he actually had a minor crash at the turn around, but he got right back on his bike.
These 3 are my favorites - look at him, finishing strong!
The grin is on his way out ...

Receiving his medal

Andrew with his buddy Jack and his favorite little brother
Showing off his medal

Andrew with his gear

Brothers

Proud Mama

Proud Daddy

One Year Anniversary

2010-11-07T22:55:00.000-06:00

Today marks the one year anniversary of the day I finished my first Ironman - my how time flies! When I finished IMFL I would not have guessed that a year later I would have completed IM #2 and already registered for IM #3, all within 18 months. My workout today was much shorter, but come January, I am going to be thankful I took some time to enjoy the off season.

Here is to celebrating milestones!

Rev3 Cedar Point - The Bike

2010-11-06T15:22:00.007-05:00

As I headed out to start the longest part of my day, I was immediately thankful that I took the time to put on my bolero arm warmers. September in Ohio was cool, with air temps at the start of the bike in the low 60s. It was perfect riding weather, but this Texas girl, especially after training in 100+ degree temps in the weeks leading up to the race, was a bit chilled.

A kiss for Douglas

It always takes me a while to settle in on the bike and find my legs. I have to make a conscience effort not to “eat the paste” while the slower swimmers who are strong bikers fly by in the early miles on the bike. Coach Carole gave me good guidance to take the first miles easy to settle in, so I did just that.

The bike can be mind numbing so I try to split up the miles, if only for a mental break. This bike course was easy to split into 4 sections – the bike start to the start of the first loop, loop 1, loop 2, and the final leg. Douglas and I drove the bike course the day before the race so I was very familiar with the route and my surroundings, which helped tremendously. The best part was that we had so much fun on the bike route tour, just chatting and laughing together in the car, that I couldn’t help but smile as I passed various landmarks and recalled those conversations.

Doug and I had discussed a good spot for him to spectate on the bike course – a place where he could easily see me three times on the bike course without having to drive around like a mad man. I was excited about 20 miles into the race as I approached our designated spot because seeing Douglas is a huge pick-me-up … except, he wasn’t there. No big deal, I told myself. The first 20 miles ended up being pretty fast for me and I figured that Doug must have gotten stuck in traffic. I was wearing a Trakkers device so I knew that Doug would know exactly where I was in the course, so he wouldn’t worry about me. The designated spot was also the demarcation of the end of the first segment and the beginning of the first loop of the course. I did a mental check to mark the first portion as complete and told myself I would see Doug in a couple of hours.

Shortly after the 20 mile marker, we turned to do a short out and back and it was on this stretch that I was surprised to see Douglas – and our rental car completely decorated with colored duct tape as a huge sign for me!

We exchanged a couple of yells back and forth and a virtual fist bump and I was on my way. Douglas later told me that this little town was easier to get to while the race was underway, so he made a game time decision to change spots. Spectating is hard work – hours of waiting and worrying, just to see me for less than 30 seconds! At least with the Trakkers device he could see where I was on the course and my speed, which took away a lot of the worrying (mechanicals, crashes).

We love mom, A+T (Andrew & Tyler)

I got a big boost from seeing Douglas and did some mental math and figured I would see him again a little over 2 hours. I refocused and settled into “section 2” of the ride. Just as was settling in, I noticed a motorcycle behind me. At first I thought it was a race official, but they were not passing me – and then I saw the blur of the lead male cyclist coming up behind me! It was so cool to see the race leader. That is one of the best parts of racing a triathlon – you get to race WITH the pros.

The wind on the course was mostly in our favor or a cross wind for the first leg of the race and I was slightly anxious about when we were going to turn into the headwind. The first half of section 2 (the loop) had a great tail wind, so I did my best to take advantage of the favorable wind. When I turned I was expecting to take a beating, and while my speeds slowed down considerably, I never felt miserable.

At this point, I was approaching special needs, but since I carried all of my nutrition on my bike and was feeling comfortable with what I was wearing I did not stop. Rev3 did a great job of having someone a half mile ahead of the special needs stop radioing in our numbers so our bags were waiting for us as we rode by. Special needs also marked nearly the end of the first loop, which meant I was on my way to Doug (yeah!) and that killer tail wind!

With the first loop behind me, it was time for a self assessment. My nutrition felt spot on and my legs felt good. The best part about starting the second loop was knowing what to expect at each turn. Which roads were rough or uphill, when to expect the aid stations, the tail wind and downhills. Mentally, this is a big thing for me.

Shortly after starting the second loop, I saw Douglas again and got another mental boost. I figured I would see him again at the bike finish and settled in to the third section of the ride (loop 2). This loop was slower overall as the wind changed against us. I still had a nice tail wind, but it was not quite as good and the sections with the head wind were tough.

All of my solo riding in preparation for the race paid off though, and I was focused and not at all frustrated or bored. Each turn was a mental checkmark getting me that much closer to the marathon. As I approached the end of the second loop (mental section 3), I was getting a bit down. The wind had slowed me down and I was starting to get ancy to get off my bike.

It was as if Douglas knew I was going to need the boost of seeing him because just as I was having my short lived pity party, I saw Douglas in the original spectating spot we had scoped out. It was so good to see him and it was just what I needed at that moment. At this point with only one mental section left to ride, I was feeling good about my overall pace and my time.

I have always been a second half rider and my body has a bit of a horse to stables mentality so I kicked it up for the last 20 miles, just like Coach Carole wanted. My last hour was one of my strongest. I kept expecting awful wind on the last leg, but it never materialized. I passed quite a few people in those last few miles. I felt so good and I was not pushing the effort, just anxious to hit T2.

Once I was within a mile or two of the finish, I decided to check my mileage on my bike computer to see exactly how much further I had to ride --- and my computer showed 120ish miles. Hmm, that is not right. I knew I reset my computer, so I immediately realized that when we changed out my battery, Doug’s programming must not have worked so my computer thought I was riding on 700c wheels instead of 600c wheels. That explained why my mph was higher than expected throughout the ride. Good thing I was not paying attention to speed much at all -- it was all exertion level and time.

As I made the turn back into the Cedar Point parking lot I said a prayer of thanks for my safety and no mechanical issues (remember, my 3 flat tires the day before?) and was thrilled to be getting off my bike. I was happy to see Doug waiting for me at the bike dismount line. 2 of 3 sports down – 1 to go!

Bike Time: 6:12:39, 18.03 mph
5 /14 Division
26/67 Overall Women (including pros)

T2
As I entered T2 a volunteer grabbed my bike and I started running to the peg boards. I took one step and decided to take my shoes off on the spot. My feet hurt and I couldn’t wait another 20 seconds to take my bike shoes off.

As I turned the corner to reach my T2 bag, Doug was worried and asked me if I was ok. I told him I was great and he asked me if I had had a flat or anything and I said no. He was relieved and told me that my Trakkers device must have run of batteries at the 92 mile mark because that was the last live data he received on my progress and he had been worried about me. He was about to go look for me in the car! I reassured him that I was ok and ran into the tent to get ready for the run.

The tent was empty and I had 2 volunteers waiting on me hand and foot. One took my gear and the other was basically helping me get ready (putting my race number on, turning on my Garmin, helping me with my hat, etc. It was amazing to have such great volunteer support. With that I was off like a prom dress, ready (or so I thought) to conquer the marathon.

T2 Time– 3:56

Starting the marathon, I was 48 minutes ahead of my IMFL time and looking at my watch (cumulative race time was 7:45:37, I could taste a sub 12 hour race.

The Pendulum Swings

2010-10-20T23:09:00.005-05:00

Yes, the rest of my race report is way over due.

It IS in process, but my frequent flier account has been getting more action than my running shoes.

Two weeks before Cedar Point I got a new, exciting opportunity at my company. While the weeks leading up to Cedar Point were hectic, I was tapering and the craziness of transitioning to a new job was a (too) good distraction.

After the race, I came home to recover and jump feet first into my new job. Just like ramping up for peak training when the pendulum swings far to the training side of life, the pendulum has now swung far to the work side of life.

Thankfully, the timing is perfect. I am sure that I would have managed my tri training load with my new job if, for example, I was racing IMFL again this year, but thankfully it has not been necessary.

It is hard for me to embrace the off season, so this somewhat forced hiatus is probably a blessing in disguise and when December / January roll around and I start to ramp back up my training, I should be well situated in my new job and mentally and physically ready to tackle Ironman again.

For now, I am thoroughly enjoying the workouts I manage to fit in, spending as much time with my family as possible and embracing the pendulum in its current spot. Race report to follow soon!

IM Recovery, Inspiration & Team Trakkers 2011

2010-10-02T11:34:00.003-05:00

Recovery

Rev3 Cedar Point was nearly 3 weeks ago … so, how am I feeling now?

Recovery, like after IMFL, has been fairly quick. I always expect to feel like I was hit by a ton of bricks, but I find that even the day after the race I am able to get around just fine – walking, taking stairs, but just a bit slower than usual and with less pep in my step.

True recovery though, takes longer. After stressing my body for 7+ months straight, I am being very cautious this go round to respect the recovery period to avoid injuries and give my body what it needs – rest and diversity in workouts (pilates anyone?). The superficial recovery may be complete but the deep rooted recovery takes a bit longer.

I have done two very short runs since Cedar Point, the first 1.5 weeks after the race and the second 2.5 weeks post race. The first run sucked, plain and simple. The second run was infinitely better, but I feel that I have an exponential way to go. I am going to try running again next week to gauge my recovery.

In the mean time, I am still riding my bike, trying to make it to the pool once a week and doing things I have never made time for, like pilates and Parisi speed school.

I love running and I really miss the simplicity of it, but what I learned last year was that my body needs a break from running and I can either do it now or get injured and then do it. My hamstrings and IT bands are still fairly tight, despite a phenomenal massage, which included stripping my IT bands (yowza!). Next week will be the first week post race I have not had to travel, so I am committing right now to spend time each day for the next week on my foam roller to work on my tight muscles.

Also starting next week I am aiming to start a maintenance program. I feel lost without a plan to follow, so I will aim for 6 to 7 hours a week of whatever I feel like doing for the week. A good mix of cardio and strength/flexibility training with a little S,B,R mixed in for good measure.

What do you do during the off season?

Finally, looking ahead to next season (with IM Texas looming on the calendar!), I want to share a bit of inspiration and the incredible opportunity to join Team Trakkers!

"At 29, she [Mirinda Carafrae] has yet to reach her pinnacle as a female endurance athlete, which usually comes in the mid 30s. The full depth of her talent, she believes, has yet to be explored ... Carfrae believes that she has plenty of time to catch and beat Wellington, who, at 33, is entering her prime" -- LAVA Magazine

As a 31 year old female athlete, it was nice to read that the best is yet to come. Maybe I will be able to break 12 hours one day...

Team Trakkers

We are a group of multisport athletes of every shape, size, and ability who love to train, race and have fun. The Green Machine is looking for a new athletes to join in 2011. If you are interested in being a part of this phenomenal group, then click here and fill out the application. Good luck!

If you have any questions about the team, leave them in the comments and I will be happy to respond.

Want to know a bit more about what you get for being a part of the team …

“In addition to the privilege of wearing the awesome green Trakkers kit, we are in process of bringing on some additional companies who are interested in the exposure that a grassroots team would bring. They are in the works, but it will consist of a variety of triathlon related products. Nutrition, clothing and shoes are a couple of the categories that we are close to filling. We will be holding a camp for the team this year and athletes on the team will have their lodging at camp paid for. Also included in team membership is free entry to all of the rev3 races next year.”

Speaking of Rev3 races ... All of the Rev3 races are open for registration for 2011 -- including Cedar Point, and at $425, it is a bargain compared to IM branded races, for arguably, a better experience. Check it out!

Rev3 Cedar Point - The Swim

2010-09-23T20:15:00.010-05:00

I woke up Sunday morning and went through my regular pre-race routine of putting sunscreen on my face, putting Trislide on any potential chaffing spots and having my pre-race breakfast. Normally, I have oatmeal, but with no microwave access and no open restaurants in the vicinity, I had a chocolate chip Clif Bar instead.

After breakfast, we headed to transition to get body marked, weigh-in and to put my nutrition on my bike. Then it was back to the room for one last opportunity to sit on porcelain for the day before heading out to the swim start. It was also a bit chilly out, so it was nice to be waiting for the race start in the comfort and warmth of our room. The swim start was directly outside of our room so we could watch the sunrise and countdown to the race start without worrying about missing something.

After applying my Trislide, I put on my wetsuit and headed to the beach to join the other racers. The race start was delayed by 10 minutes because (I think) it was not quite light enough out to start the pro waves. Before I knew it they were corralling us at the swim start (where I ran into Trakkers teammate Laura!) and I was giving Douglas one last kiss before the shotgun indicating the start of the race.

With Douglas

Snoopy and Charlie Brown wishing me good luck!

No nerves here ...

All smiles!

A short 10 second countdown later and the gun went off and we were on our way into the water. The forecast was correct, the wind did change directions, and Lake Erie was much calmer than the day before. I knew from the day before that I would have to dolphin my way in for quite a bit because the water was shallow. The swim was 2 rectangles next to each other, so we were to do one 1.2 mile loop and then run a short way down the beach to do a second 1.2 mile loop.

Most of the racers near me were walking their way in and I turned to someone next to me and said, “I guess we are going to walk our way out to the first buoy” only to realize that it was my Trakkers teammate Jaime. A quick hug later and we were both on our way.

I settled into my swim much more quickly than I expected and was surprised at how much clear water I had around me. I caught myself several times thinking about the bike or the run and I quickly got myself to refocus on swimming. One buoy at a time. The further I swam away from shore, the choppier the water became and when I made the first turn to swim parallel to the shore, I could really feel the chop. Around this time I got kicked in the face which made me bite my tongue, but I just shook it off and kept swimming.

I was pretty happy with my sighting as I was doing a decent job of swimming on the buoy line. When I made the second turn to head back towards shore to finish the first loop I had a much harder time sighting because I could see the buoys for the second loop. At that point, I stopped sighting the buoys and started sighting the roller coasters on the shoreline instead.

I finished up the first loop and immediately saw Douglas as I was exiting the water. I love seeing Douglas along the course because it gives me a real pick me up. I exchanged a few words with a fellow racer and then started dolphining in again. I don’t know why, but the first loop always seems to fly by and the second loop seems to drag on, even when my splits are basically even (the same was true at IMFL).

Finishing 1st Loop

Doug's Sign

I did my best just to focus buoy to buoy and enjoy the water. I reminded myself during the second loop to be thankful to even have the opportunity and athleticism to be competing in an iron distance race.

As I was finishing up the last lap I got kicked in the face one last time and my goggles came off my eyes, so I had to stop momentarily to put them back on securely. I swam and dolphined as long as I could before walking in towards shore. I pulled down the top half of my wetsuit as I was running out of the water and into transition.

It was not my fastest swim (but faster than IMFL!), but it was within my desired range, so we’ll call it a success!

Loop 1 -- 42:34 (2:12 min pace)
Loop 2 – 42:55 (2:13 min pace)
Total Swim Time: 1:25:30 (2:13 pace)

9/14 Division
41/67 Overall Women (including pros)

T1:
I exited that water and pulled my wetsuit down to my waist and then ran to the transition area. Thankfully, Rev3 had bins of water to step in to remove the sand from our feet. After a quick step in the water, it was off to the pegs to pick up my swim to bike transition bag. Of course, Douglas was there waiting for me which made the smile on my face from being finished with the swim that much bigger!

Side note: This is just one of the many things I thought Rev3 did that was more user friendly than Ironman branded races. Rather than having your bag “generally grouped” with a lot of other bags by number, you actually have two pegs from which to hang your transition bags so that you can quickly and easily retrieve them. Also, the transition area was set up much more very efficiently than IMFL, saving precious minutes in transition!

Peg Board with Transition Bags
Tip: My bags are the ones with the pink tape. Definiely do someting to make your bags stand out. This will especially help when retrieving your special need bags because they are not sorted by number!

I decided to take my wetsuit off next to the pegs before entering the changing tent because there was more room. My Trislide worked like a charm and my wetsuit slid right off with no problems.
With my wetsuit on my arm and my transition bag in my hand, I entered the changing tent to put on my cycling socks, shoes, bolero (arm warmers that are connected in the back), sunglasses and helmet while a great volunteer packed up all my swim gear. before retrieving my bike from my bike spot (which were labeled with the coolest labels that made me feel like a pro!).

How cool is this?

After one last wave to Douglas (who had dutifully run from the pegs to the bike out), I was off for a short little bike ride …

T1 Time: 4:24

As I started the bike portion of the race I was 6:01 ahead of my IMFL time.

Rev 3 Cedar Point - Pre-Race

2010-09-18T09:47:00.005-05:00

If having things go wrong BEFORE a race is a good thing (better than during the race, right?), then the days leading up to Cedar Point were perfect.

The weeks leading up to the race were pretty hectic, including taking on a new job at work, so while I did my workouts, mentally I was not focused on Cedar Point. I didn't pack until late Wednesday night and I didn't have my usual lists and the like to guide me. The good news is that I was not obessissing about the race, the bad news was that mentally I was not "in the game".

We left Houston on Thursday morning on the 7:35 a.m. flight … but my bike took a side trip to Tampa before meeting us in Columbus.

See, Douglas and I completely underestimated the time required to park, take the shuttle, wait in line to check our bags and make it through security. Our “official” check-in time at the Southwest counter was 7:19 for our 7:35 a.m. flight, and that was before paying for my bike, getting our baggage claim tags and ultimately going through security.

When we checked in a loud buzzer went off warning us that we were checking in late and that our luggage might not make our flight. It was seriously loud and I would have been embarrassed if I was not panicked about missing our flight. When the agent handed us our boarding passes she told us to run once we got through security or we would likely miss our flight.

We made it to our gate at 7:30 and the plane was pulling away from the terminal at 7:35. Southwest does mess around! Luckily, I saw our bags make the flight … my bike, however, did not, although, we did not find that out until we arrived in Columbus at 12:25.

The Southwest team in Columbus was fantastic and told us exactly when we could expect my bike. Depending on which flight my bike took, we were told it would either arrive at 2:15 or 4:30 pm. Either way, we had time to kill, so we went to rent our car and grab some lunch.

The rental car agent gave us a great recommendation for an outdoor shopping and dining spot just a couple of miles from the airport called Easton, so we headed there and had lunch at Cosi (I wish we had one in Texas!) and walked around to kill some time. The weather was beautiful and it was actually nice to walk around after traveling for the entire morning and before getting into a car to drive for several hours. We got a call at 2:15 from the baggage crew letting us know that my bike had arrived so we headed back to the airport after grabbing some delicious yogurt from Yagoot (another thing I wish we had here)!

With that, we started the 2 hour trip to Sandusky and Cedar Point. We drove through small town USA, Ohio and reveled at the great scenery and made each other laugh – it was a great, albeit slow (speeds), trip.

We arrived at Cedar Point and checked into The Breakers (host hotel) and Douglas was immediately spooked. You know how there is almost always some sort of buzz at hotels – people coming and going, the check-in crew manning computers, etc. … well, not here, not Thursday night. The hotel was basically deserted and Doug said it reminded him of The Shining. It didn’t help that the hotel was decorated for Halloween. I, of course, preceded to harass him for the rest of the night – well, the rest of the trip – about his fear. Red rum, red rum …

After getting settled in we ventured out to find a good pizza joint, knowing that if we found a good place we would be repeat customers since I always eat pizza pre-race. We ended up at Chet and Matt’s and had stellar pizza – so good, we had it three nights in a row!

Friday morning we slept in and then went to expo to do packet pick up and check-in with Team Trakkers. The expo had some great give-a-ways and the race schwag was awesome -- plus, meeting so many of my teammates and seeing Coach Carole was icing on the cake.

So, Thursday my bike was missing. Friday, my rear tire went flat.

3 times.

Without riding it.

Seriously …

I started to freak out a bit. I had already purchased all of the 650 tubes All3Sports had in stock at the Expo and there was not much available in terms of 650 tires. I was pretty freaking frustrated.

Turns out the first two flats were due to a tiny poking, super thin sharp wire (tire ribbon maybe?) on the inside of the tire. After I removed it and changed the tire for the third time, I figured we were good to go. We grabbed lunch and checked out the run course only to see several hours later that the tire was flat AGAIN! Crap!
I was really nervous at this point. Did I need a new tire? What was causing the flats? Uggh.

Bike Authority was on hand and they checked out the tire and rim tape and felt like my wheel was ok and the tire did not need to be replaced, so they offered to change the tire and promised me that they would help me get to the bottom of the issue if it went flat again. They thought the 3rd flat was likely a pinch flat, which was not outside of the realm of possibility given that I had turned the tire inside out after changing it the second time and it didn’t go back on as smoothly as I would have liked. Ok, breathe, Anne.

After a great nutrition session with none other than THE Robert Kunz from First Endurance, it was time to hit Cedar Point for the Rev3 family night. I was determined not to worry about the tire while we were at the park. Carole asked me how I was feeling about the race and I responded in all sincerity, that I was more nervous about the rides at that moment!

The family night from 6 – 9 p.m. was beyond awesome. No lines at all for some of the best rides on the planet (seriously, they are on the list of tallest, fastest, best rides. Millennium Force – check. Top Thrill Dragster – check. By the time we had ridden all of the open rides I was actually starting to feel a bit nauseous (some of the rides are crazy!) and it was time for dinner. Team Trakkers stuck together for night and it was great to get to know them better as well.

Top Thrill Dragster ... 0 to 120 mph, straight up, straight down in 17 seconds!

Team Trakkers!

The other great thing is that the host hotel was at the park so we walked straight from the park to our room. It was great to lie down while Doug went to pick up more Chet and Matt pizza!

Saturday morning I let Douglas sleep in while I went to the practice swim. Lake Erie was pretty choppy and my practice swim left a lot to be desired, but I have long given up fretting about the swim. The conditions will be what they will be. After doing the Gulf Coast Tri in May 2009, I know I have swum in some pretty choppy water. Thankfully, the wind forecast for Sunday had the wind coming from the opposite direction and they were predicting calmer waters for Sunday.

I also ran into my blogger buddy, Mark -- Tri Dad of 5! It was so great to meet him and wish him well in person for his first 140.6

After my swim, Douglas and I decided to drive the bike course so I could see what was in store for Sunday and I also wanted to do my last bike ride on the course. We had so much fun chatting in the car on the route and stopping at a local orchard for some fresh apples and homemade just-out-of-the-oven apple fritters and blueberry muffins.

Thankfully, my back tire was still holding air so I did not have to stress about that on Saturday. After driving the course we went back to the Expo and Transition areas to turn in my bike and attend the athlete meeting. Then it was off to church and then back to … you guessed it … Chet and Matt’s for my pre-race pizza dinner.
After dinner it was back to the room to pack my transition and special needs bags. I feel asleep around 9:00 p.m. with 3 different alarms set for 4:30 a.m. and dreams of 140.6 in my head …

How do you sum up a season?

2010-09-14T22:10:00.003-05:00

With my last scheduled race of the season behind me and a big race report to write in front of me, I am struggling to find words for this triathlon season.

Rev3 Cedar Point was a success and a PR to boot (12:24:49!!) , but it also reminded me of how much I have to learn about myself as an athlete.

A full race report will follow by segment in the week ahead and I promise it will not be all roses and sunshine. I will do my best to chronicle the highs and lows of my day -- how I felt in the moment and I how I feel now -- and most importantly, what I will do the same and what I will change for my next Ironman. I really enjoy re-reading race reports as I prepare for future races and I hope that someone reading learns something that can help them in their next race as well.

For now, I will leave you with this quote I saw today that really spoke to me:

"How can you say that the sky is the limit if there are footprints on the moon?"

Full Rev......DONE!

2010-09-12T16:58:00.003-05:00

and there isn't a prouder husband in the world!!!!! i love you madly!!!!!! congratulations, baby!!!!!

- Douglas (Anne's Iron Sherpa)

Let's Go Racing!

2010-09-11T19:58:00.001-05:00

A short 8 hours from now I will be getting body marked and doing all my last minute race preparations -- checking tires, filling bottles, nervous pacing and the like -- I can't believe that race day is upon us!

We have really enjoyed our time in Ohio and especially family night at Cedar Point. I have lots of stories to share but those will have to wait for the post race report. Blogging from a blackberry is a wee bit challenging!

If you want to follow me on race day, you can do the following:

1. Go to http://www.rev3tri.com/ and look for race day coverage. There should be a link for athlete tracking where you can enter my race number - 429 - and follow my splits through out the day.

2. I will be wearing a Trakkers device that should allow you to see where I am at any point on the bike or run course (I will not be wearing it during the swim).

Go to http://live.trakkersgps.com/events.aspx and click on "Watch Live". This will pull up a separate window with an icon (avatar) associated with my name. Once you select my name, click on “Go” at the bottom right corner of the page.

This will pull up the course map and my LIVE GPS coordinates. (Note this page is not active until race start.) You can utilize the zoom and pan functions on the left to follow my progression. You can also view the course using the different view buttons on the top right.

If you are tracking me from a smart phone, use the link below for the mobile Trakkers site:
http://live.trakkersgps.com/TrackEvent/Default.aspx?eventId=42

If for some reason my tracking device is not tracking, default to option 1 above.

Good night and thank you for all of your support!

p.s. I love you, Iron Sherpa and thank you for everything!

6 days to 140.6 and August Report

2010-09-06T20:59:00.004-05:00

With less than 1 week until Cedar Point I am anxious ... but not about the race (yet).

I am anxious because I have never flown to a race with my bike and all of my training and racing crap. Packing is going to be a nightmare. I have not even thought about packing lists yet. Work has been super busy and I have been too focused on enjoying the taper to worry about things like packing. I am not one to obsess during the taper about things like weather (low 65, high 75, chance of rain, by the way) or to question if I have done enough or if I should I be doing more.

I know that I am ready to race and once we have arrived in Cedar Point, my bike is reassembled, I have gotten the lay of the land, and of course, hooked up with Team Trakkers, I know that I will settle into my groove. I am sure there will be nerves, but I think that has more to do with expectations.

Speaking of expectations, I haven't shared mine yet.

My answer is going to be lame, but my goal is to execute my race just like I have executed my training. If I do that, I know that I will have a great race.

This is what the month leading up to the race looked like, including 2 weeks of taper:

August in Numbers
Swim: 21,015 yards in 8:17
Bike: 697.36 miles in 38:21 -- biggest bike month ever!
Run: 92.75 miles in 15:15
Other: 0:15
Total Time: 62:08

For those of you racing or spectating in Cedar Point, make sure to say hello! Good luck to everyone, including those racing IMWI the same day. Happy and safe travels!

My Least Favorite Workout

2010-08-27T18:57:00.003-05:00

I know you all have one.

You know what I am talking about ... the workout that shows up on your training plan and you groan when you read it. Then, when the actual workout rolls around you have to give yourself a pep talk before you start the workout.

For me, that workout is pace work in the pool.

Confession time.

I HATE swimming fast.

There, I said it ... I feel better.

I was not a "swimmer" growing up and while I have come a l-o-n-g way in the pool, I still prefer running fast to swimming fast, mostly because when running I have an endless supply of oxygen.

Well into my first week of the taper, my hours are decreasing but the intensity of my shorter workouts has ramped up and I found myself swimming hard and fast this week which also means I was often gasping for breath and fighting the urge to breather while streamlining off the wall.

What do I like about swimming?

I love what swimming does for my arms and back and I really do enjoy a good swim. I love feeling fast - at least for the first set of the first 50 yards!

I have to a admit that swimming "fast" (for me at least) has made me, surprise, suprise, a faster swimmer.

So, what's your least favorite workout and what benefit do you get from it, despite loathing (is that too strong a word?) the workout itself?

Just over 2 weeks to Cedar Point!

Toeing the Line

2010-08-24T12:19:00.002-05:00

I have said it before and I will say it again, training for an Ironman is harder than the race itself. Now, I know I have a whopping 1 Ironman under my belt with my second, Rev3 Cedar Point, just 3 weeks away, but I am a big believer that anyone can complete an iron distance race with the proper training. That’s the hard part. The proper training.

If you spend any time on the triathlon forums like Beginner Triathlete, you will see the following question posed:

“I just completed my first Sprint Tri and now I want to sign up for an Ironman, is it too soon?”

These threads get heated between triathletes that have an “earn your stripes” mentality that don’t understand the need to rush to race long versus the triathletes who are dream chasers. I tend to side more with the dream chasers, but that was my path.

My advice and caution to anyone considering racing long is simple – to race long, you have to train long. You have to toe the line.

Even to “just finish” the race, the training for an iron distance race requires a time commitment in the form of training. There are exceptions to every rule, like the uber athletes that are natural swimmers, bikers and/or runners and who can neglect one discipline or another to save time in training and who only want to “finish” the race. However, for us mere mortals, training is waking up early 5+ days a week, hours on end in our bike seats and running holes in our new running shoes. It is toeing the line, even when you don’t feel like it / would rather sleep in / [enter excuse here].

So, what is my answer to the above question?

Chase your dreams, whatever they are, but make a commitment to yourself to toe the line so that you will be successful.

I dreamed of one day doing an Ironman. If you had asked me 4 years ago what I would do if I won the lottery, I would have replied that I would quit my job, move somewhere exotic, hire a full time trainer and train for an Ironman (weird, I know). I just didn’t think it could be done otherwise.

Fast forward to 2008. I put my toe in the water (literally), did some research, picked a Sprint tri and started training. I had to learn to swim properly and I had to buy a bike, but by November of 2008, I had completed Sprint, Olympic and Half Iron distance races, all while working full time, raising two young boys and staying married. It was in toeing the line in training for the HIM that I realized I could chase my dream and I signed up for IMFL 2009, my 30th birthday present to myself.

What I have discovered along the way is that for me, triathlon is a healthy lifestyle and an outlet. It is also a balancing act, one that I am not doing as well with right now. Thankfully, my family is amazing and supportive – two ingredients that are essential if you pursue this journey and are married and/or have children.

Ironman boils down to a simple life lesson that I hope my children are paying attention to – or one that they will see when they are old enough to understand – you can achieve anything you set your mind to …

… if you toe the line.

Spinergy Stealth PBO Wheelset Product Review

2010-08-15T20:55:00.000-05:00

Ask and ye shall receive. Bid Daddy Diesel over at Tri Diesel asked for me to review my hot new wheels, so check it out.

When I was bike shopping, I made the choice to go with the Felt B16 with Shimano 105 components instead of the Felt B12 with Dura Ace components and put the money I saved on the bike purchase towards a set of "race" and training wheels.

I put race in quotes because I am not sure if hard core cyclists consider these race wheels, but I chose these wheels for the following reasons:

1. Limited selection of 650c wheels. Seriously limited. I was not prepared to spend the cash needed to get Zipps and most of the wheel manufacturers no longer make a 650c option. These were one of the few options I could afford. I wanted the wheels for my upcoming race so I didn't have time to stalk the used market.

2. Reviews. Overall, great reviews on Road Bike Review.

3. Price. While the website shows the retail price as $1200, you can get the wheels new in the original box on eBay for $700 shipped for the set.

4. Overall improvement. For the price, the wheels are lighter and more aero than my stock wheels.

My thoughts post purchase:

The wheels ride like a dream! The wheels create a very smooth, stiff ride and they accelerate quickly and hold speed well. I have no basis for comparison because I have never ridden Zipps, but I could tell an immediate difference to my stock wheels. They absorb road shock well, which makes a big difference on long rides. I have seen a .5 mph+ improvement in my mph average over long rides (80 - 110 mile rides) using these wheels.

I have not done any climbing in these wheels so I can't speak to their climbing or descending attributes.

There are lighter and faster race wheels out there, but not much, if anything else, new in this price range.

Overall rating: Very satisfied.

Bike Flair and One Month & Counting ...

2010-08-12T12:30:00.000-05:00

My wheels arrived 2 weeks ago and I have done my last several long rides with them - and I have seen a .5 mph+ improvement in my pace over the long haul!

I am still loving my bike and am beyond thrilled with how great I feel riding it. I was very worried about the transition but it has gotten better than I could have ever expected. I had my first ride in the rain last weekend and the Tux handled like a champ.

Every tuxedo needs some flair -- like swanky cuff links -- or in the case of my tuxedo, race wheels!

In other exciting news, Cedar Point is one month from today!

Flights and hotel are booked. Now I just need a bike box and a rental car and we should be all set. I am really looking forward to the roller coasters -- it will definitely be a fun way to spend the days leading up to the race.

Mentally, I am in a much different place than I was with one month to go leading up to IMFL. I was excited and nervous and anxious. My every thought focused on the race. Seriously, it was all I could talk about and I think everyone around me was ready to puke ... on me!

Today, I am excited and nervous and confident, but most of all just focused on executing the rest of my training. I don't talk about the training or the race unless asked and I don't think anyone is ready to puke on me - although I know my family is ready for the off season!

What's the difference? I just don't think there is anything like doing the distance the first time. I remember when I was training for IMFL and I ran into a guy at the pool and we got to talking about IMs. He had done several and asked me what I was training for. When I told him it was my first, he was giddy with excitement for me. I didn't get it at the time, but I do now.

Don't get me wrong, I am excited and nervous, but I think I just have a better handle on my emotions than I did a year ago. I am sure the week of the race I will be a ball of nerves - and my goal will be to channel that energy into my performance.

Another difference? Coach Carole. It feels so good to have a pro guiding me through the process and her confidence in me makes me that much more confident in myself. I also know her high expectations of what I am capable of will push me that much harder on race day.

So, to all of you chasing iron (or any distance for that matter!) for the first time, enjoy the journey, because there is nothing quite like the first time.

Humidity Humor

2010-08-10T07:01:00.001-05:00

Living in the great state of Texas, I have a love / hate relationship with heat and humidity.

I HATE to be cold...

Seriously, I would rather be sweating than shivering. A good sweat session is good for the soul too (not so good for my pores, but alas, life is not perfect). I enjoy finishing a workout and seeing my efforts in sweat, but even I have my limitations.

For instance, when I go for a long run (or any run longer than 30 minutes, really) and I am unsure whether it may be raining because drops of moisture keep pelting me, only to realize that it is not rain but actually my own sweat (true story), well, that is just funny.

My hope is that all of this Texas heat and humidity training in the heart of a Southern summer will give me a performance edge at Cedar Point. Executing my run plan in sub-100 degree temps will hopefully feel slightly easier than it does when the heat index is, oh, 105 degrees and I am drowning in my own sweat. No wonder I killed two iPods in less than a month (side note: the H2o Audio case works like a charm!).

Just a couple of more big weekends until the taper!

Thoughts on Recovery and July in Numbers

2010-08-05T21:39:00.001-05:00

With Rev3 Cedar Point around the corner, I can't help but make comparisons between how I feel right now with just over 5 weeks (eek!) until race day and how I felt leading up to Ironman Florida last Fall.

Overall, I feel strong and I am happy with my training and progress. My volume is down slightly as compared to IMFL training, but my intensity is slightly up. I have to remind myself that it is quality and not quantity alone that matters. I am also doing something I did not do enough of leading up to IMFL - recovery! Coach Carole has been having me do some bigger weekends recently, which means my weeks have been lighter, with a focus on 1) recovery, 2) form and 3) intensity. I think that having adequate recovery makes my workouts later in the week better (big surprise there!) and overall, I am not quite as tired all of the time like I was training for IMFL.

I am also slightly less neurotic as I approach IM #2. I actually had to look up how many weeks are left until race day. I could have told you how many weeks, days and hours were remaining until IMFL at any given moment. It is nice to be in a calmer place now.

July in Numbers
Swim: 23,150 yards in 8:55
Bike: 608.28 miles in 34:57
Run: 111.45 miles in 17:02
Other: 0:15
Total Time: 61:09

Goal Tracking

I forgot to report my progress on my goals last month - likely because at this point, I am really only working towards one of them (Cedar Point). I referenced in my January 1st post on my 2010 goals that in previous years I have focused on just one goal per year and that approach has been successful for me. I think that in 2011 I will go back to that approach. Even though my 2010 goals are smaller and seemed more manageable, there are just too many goals on which to focus!

1. Bible/Church -- I was unsuccessful in my attempt to read the Bible cover to cover in 2010, but I have been dutiful in going to church on a regular basis. I have only missed two days this year (by comparison, I think I went to church 3 times in all of 2009!).

2. Photography -- I invested in a new lens earlier this year and it has been fun to play with, but I haven't worked out all of the kinks yet. I am looking forward to doing Andrew's 6 year old portraits soon as it will give me more time to play with the lens and work on photography.

3. Foam Roller / Stretching -- I do this as needed only now. I need to spend some more time on the foam roller right now.

4. Nutrition -- I have successfully been focusing on recovery nutrition and can see a difference in how I feel post workout and how quickly I bounce back.

5. Strength training -- I would love to do p90x, but I just can't train for endurance events and also focus on strength training. This is something I want to think about during the "off" season.

6. Swim Technique -- My threshold pace has gotten slightly faster, but I still feel like there is a lot more improvement available here. I really think I need a video analysis so I can see what I look like versus what I see others doing.

7. Fun Goals
- Sprint -- post IM, maybe?
- PR HIM -- Did it!
- Cedar Point -- 5 weeks to go!
- Ultra -- This Fall or defer to 2011

Have a a great training month!

The Maiden Voyage

2010-07-26T16:17:00.004-05:00

Here she is ladies and gentleman, the “Tuxedo” …
(named by the hubby, a tux to replace my grey suit)

One of the reasons I love this bike is the red anodized components :)

I love her, she is just so beautiful, you can’t help but want to go for a ride!

With that said, our maiden voyage was not without difficulty.

Saturday we went for a 3 hour ride and Sunday we went for a 4 hour ride … but to give you an idea about our maiden voyage on Saturday, it took longer than Sunday’s 4 hour ride! Saturday’s ride started off well enough with me spending a lot of time really focusing on the fit. For example, I don’t like the aerobar pads that came with the bike because they are too slippery (I will be replacing those asap), but other than that I was surprised at how comfortable I was so quickly. About 2 hours into the ride, just as I was hitting my stride and excited to be headed back to the car, out of nowhere, I felt some resistance that I was not expecting … sure enough, I had a flat.

Seriously! On my first ride? Uggh.

I hopped off the bike with confidence to change the tire, not expecting the battle that was to come. The tire did not want to come off the wheel for anything in the world. I had to just laugh at one point because otherwise I probably would have cried. My fingers were blistered and the damn tire still would not budge. I have struggled with tires before but nothing like this! I finally got the tire changed right around the time my hubby showed up on a rescue mission. He brought the Continental GP 4000 tires I had purchased with the bike and that I normally ride and decided to go ahead and switch out the tire. He is a pro, so I decided to let him go for it, and even he said it was the hardest time he ever had changing a tire. That made me feel MUCH better. I hate the idea of being a damsel in distress (although technically, I had changed it all by myself, even though it took a friggin hour, thank you very much).

So, I am not sure if it the factory wheels or what, but I am anxious for my new race wheels to arrive to see how challenging they are to change (more to come on the wheels).

The good news is that my Sunday ride was fantastic! I switched out the aerobar pads and was infinitely more comfortable on Sunday and my GP 4000s performed flawlessly. I am getting used to changing gears on the aerobars and I am happy with the overall feel of the bike. I might need a few minor adjustments, but overall, I am thrilled with my purchase and how quickly the Tux has started to feel like an extension of me.

Bike Search Update

2010-07-22T21:24:00.002-05:00

Let me start this post by saying that I know this post is worthless without pics ... and I promise that they are coming, but I want to wait to post the photos until after my fitting tomorrow.

So, drum roll ...

I am the proud new owner of a Felt B16 Tri Bike and am currently searching for a set of 650c race wheels!

I tried to love the Cervelo P2, heck, I wanted to want the Cervelo P2, but ultimately, I was just much more comfortable on the Felt. I chose to go with the B16 instead of the B12 so that I could put the money savings towards a set of wheels.

I am anxious to get my final fitting tomorrow (although I have 6 months to go back for adjustments) and even more anxious / excited / nervous to ride this weekend to see how she feels on the open road.

My Giant, aka the Grey Suit (see this post item #33 for the name reference), is looking sharp as the hubby gave her a good cleaning -- even a wax job! -- so I can put her on Craigslist. She has been so good to me and I am hopeful to find her a good home.

I am almost feel legitimate now ... almost!

Decisions, decisions ...

2010-07-19T22:11:00.002-05:00

Another weekend of back to back rides - to the tune of 170 miles - and I handed my very dirty bike off to my mechanic for some TLC.

My mechanic, aka, the hubby, informed me that I need to replace the drive train on my bike -- and that, plus the regular maintenance that she needs (cables, chain, etc), puts the cost of said new components and maintenance at a point where I have decided, with the recommendation of my mechanic of course, to put the money into a new bike instead. Yeah!

So, now for the hard part. Which bike? Do I upgrade my wheels? I don't want to rush my decision, but I have a big race in less than 2 months so I want to be training on my new bike by this weekend. I am excited to be moving from my modified road bike to a tri bike, but I am also nervous because my bike is so comfortable. In fact, it is like a perfectly worn in pair of blue jeans.

It is going to be a crazy, bike shopping week!

You know your training is ramping up when ... & June Recap

2010-07-11T23:18:00.000-05:00

How do you know when your training volume is ramping up?

- At the end of the week you have used nearly all of your training clothes

- Your audio book only lasts through the weekend

- Your family knows not to schedule anything prior to lunch

- You can't keep enough nutrition in the house (EFS, Ultragen, etc)

- You eat a lot. Ok, all the time.

- A pedicure lasts a week - maybe

- You use the word "only" in front of anything shorter than a 4 hour ride or 2 hour run.

- You stop doing non-essential things, which is why I am way behind blogging, housekeeping and the like (family, work, training, sleeping, eating are essential)

- You are too tired to finish this list

June in Numbers
Swim: 31,450 yards in 12:35
Bike: 505.35 miles in 28:51
Run: 131.16 miles in 19:21
Other: 1:40
Total Time: 62:27

Milestones

I had the biggest bike volume training week ever in June - back to back bike days sure rack up the miles!

I also killed my new iPod, yes, you read that right, the brand new one. I bought this case for my new, new iPod to ensure that I will not have to replace the new, new iPod again due to my sweat (ewwww!). For the record, a ziploc bag will not protect your iPod ...

Where has the month of July already gone???

Happy Training!

Ironman Texas

2010-06-27T17:31:00.001-05:00

Hell has frozen over ... Ironman is coming to Texas.

There has been talk of this happening for years, given the large triathlete base in the state, but until now it was all just talk. So, when 3 to 6 months ago, rumors started to circulate that Ironman was coming to The Woodlands, triathletes got excited yet again, but were not optimistic. That is, until 3 weeks ago, when the governing body in The Woodlands (suburb outside of Houston) posted the agenda of its upcoming meeting and Ironman was on the agenda. Apparently, per statutes the agenda and other information are public records and had to be made available.

You can imagine the local excitement about the race ... Although there was plenty of whining about the date, May 21, 2011 (myself NOT included). You see, Texas in May can get pretty hot and the humidity is back with a vengeance by that time of year. Despite all of the whining, when the official announcement was made, Texas triathletes put on their big girl pants and signed up at Noon on Friday, myself included. $630 friggin dollars. Ironman raised their already high prices!

Everything is bigger in Texas, and I could not resist racing in my backyard. Are there potentially better dates for a Texas IM? Sure, but the date is what it is and I decided there was no sense in complaining about it. In a sense, it would be like whining that my diamond shoes are too tight -- if you have diamond shoes, what the heck are you whining for? Also, Kona is pretty darn hot from what I understand!

I am most excited that I will be able to race in front of a home town crowd, especially my friends and family.

Anyone else out there considering IM Texas?

iPod, oh, iPod ...

2010-06-13T21:56:00.005-05:00

Well, I have killed yet another iPod. I am not sure if I sweat more than the average athlete or living in such a humid climate breeds sweat, but I have not come up with a way to keep my iPod Nano protected while running or cycling.

Let's skip the conversation about whether one should be training with an iPod all together and let's just agree to disagree.

I am now the proud owner of the latest generation iPod Nano and would love suggestions on how to prolong its life. I tried using Ziploc bag this weekend and it worked cycling, but not so much running. After my run, the bag was saturated and my new Nano was just stewing in sweat. Urrgh.

Why a Nano and not a Shuffle?

Well, I love listening to audio books and that is much harder on a Shuffle. I have just finished up The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire and highly suggest those titles if you have not read them. I am just about to start the last book in the trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and I can't wait!

Besides keeping my mind occupied during long training hours, audio books make me happy because I get to multitask. I don't have much time to sit with books so audio books let me maximize my time. If you have book suggestions, leave me a comment.

I listened to the entire Twilight series last year training for IMFL and listened to Angels and Demons, Born to Run and Freakonomics earlier this year. As you can see, I like a diverse group of books so let's hear those suggestions!

Happy Training!

p.s. Cedar Point is less than 3 months away now and I just completed another solid 15 hour week (even with a business trip to Boston -- where I lost my Lonestar hat in the wind -- with late nights out). 90+ mile bike ride and 15 mile run completed this weekend ... ahh, rest day tomorrow!

May In Numbers

2010-06-01T19:56:00.005-05:00

With Cedar Point just over 3 months away (how the heck did that happen????), here is what training has looked like for the last month...

14 bike rides
10 swims
15 runs
5 rest days
1 vacation day
1 holiday
1 forgotten helmet (I borrowed one)
1 forgotten pair of shoes (my AMAZING hubby dropped them off in my car while I was riding)
Countless showers and loads of laundry (again, done by my AMAZING hubby)

May in Numbers
Swim: 25,500 yards in 10:15
Bike: 578.38 miles in 32:58
Run: 88.34 miles in 13:21
Other: 2:31
Total Time: 59:05

I have referenced this before, but I am still amazed at how different I feel training for my second iron distance race. Don't get me wrong, the training hours are just as long, I get just as tired and I eat just as much (if not more!), but the fear and stress associated with the unknown is not there.

To some extent, there is less excitement about the race... but not because I am not excited to race. Traning for IMFL was all about the end goal -- in a sense the journey was about the destination. What I learned after finishing IMFL though, is that for me, the training is the journey and the race is more of a celebration of how far you have come.

I am very excited about meeting up with the rest of the Trakkers team in September, chilling out at one of America's best amusement parks and racing 140.6 miles -- but that is not what gets me out of bed in the morning or in my bike saddle for hours on end. I actually enjoy it.

I don't know if I will do 140.6 every year, but I do know that I will do something challenging every year, as long as I can.

Goal Tracking
1. Photography – May was a slow month on the photo front, but look for fun things to come in June!

2. Nutrition – I am dialing in my race day nutrition and enjoying my Ultragen recovery drinks. I still need a healthy and fast dinner recipe. What is your favorite?

3. Strength Training – I am happy to report that I am back on the wagon! I am looking at picking up a couple of the P90x DVDs for more variety on the core / abs front. I am borrowing the DVDs from a friend this month to see if I like them.

4. Swim Technique – Just keep swimming ...

5. Fun goals – I need to find a Sprint tri just for fun, maybe after Cedar Point???

Coaching Update

2010-05-31T21:16:00.003-05:00

With six weeks of coaching under my belt, I am happy to report that coaching is going extremely well. It is such a relief to not be second guessing myself all of the time -- Am I doing too much? Am I doing enough? -- and to know that each workout Coach Carole gives me has a specific purpose.

Intervals - check. Long workouts - check. Recovery - check.

The absolute best part about having a coach is being able to ask questions, to get suggestions and most importantly, to be challenged.

Carole and I have been spending a lot of time talking about nutrition lately and her latest advice was a major eye opener for me. You see, as a woman, I still struggle with the idea that I need to take in a lot of calories when I exercise. I say as a woman because I think many women struggle with this concept.

Don't get me wrong, I am very focused on nutrition when I train and race because I know how important it is to be able to achieve my desired results, but I was still thinking about it all wrong. Until recently, my thought process was, "what is the least amount of calories I can consume and perform?" What I realize now, thanks to Coach Carole, is that I need to figure out not how little I can consume but how MUCH I can consume and still perform. The better fueled I am, the better I will perform.

Think about it -- if I can get by with 200 calories an hour, but my body can handle 300 calories an hour, that extra 100 calories may be the difference between performance and peak performance.

I am still perfecting my nutrition plan, but I am doing so with a totally different mindset and I think my performance will be all the better for it!

Hours in a Day

2010-05-22T17:39:00.005-05:00

At a post t-ball dinner recently, one of the other parents asked me about my training and, in what I perceived as perhaps a slightly accusatory tone, asked me whether my training takes up 30% or more of my time. Intuitively I said no, but admitted that training is a significant time commitment.

The conversation stuck with me and I decided to play around a bit in Excel to see exactly what percentage of my time I spend doing various activities in a given week. I am a total data nerd, I know ... so, how do you spend your time?
The hours left represent, well everything else, including quality family time - a big priority for me (one that I could not quantify by a daily time allowance). Thankfully, I also get family time during meal times, commuting (when I take the boys to/from school) and at church. I could have attempted to put in even more categories, but really, the remaining items are so diverse they would not make up a statistically significant percentage of my weekly time.

What this exercise showed me was that sleeping and working take up the majority of my time, followed by "hours left" -- and it really confirmed what I already knew, that is, that I make time for what is important to me.

Better Late Than Never - April In Numbers

2010-05-17T19:00:00.003-05:00

The CPA in me gets frustrated when I don't do things in order, so before I can do anything else I have to, for my own sake, post my April report. Let's just pretend it isn't already mid-May!

For the first time since I have been tracking, year over year, my numbers were slightly down for the month, but with good taper and recovery weeks in the monthly totals for an April "A" race, I am not surprised.

April in Numbers
Swim: 18,912 yards in 7:32
Bike: 331.5 miles in 19:13
Run: 83.93 miles in 12:28
Other: 1:30
Total Time: 40:43

I committed to myself at the beginning of the year to revisit my goals once a month to see what sort of progress I have been making (or not as the case may be!) ...

Goal Tracking
1. Photography – April was a pretty good month behind the camera. Between bluebonnet photos and taking pictures every week at Andrew's t-ball games, I have been enjoying using my creative side.

Tyler & Andrew Gabe (t-ball friend) & Andrew

2. Nutrition – I focused on recovery this month using Ultragen and it is really working for me. If you are not using some sort of recovery drink directly after hard efforts, I highly recommend giving it a try. You will be amazed how quickly your body can recover if you let it. I still need an easy to make, healthy new dinner recipe - any suggestions?

3. Strength Training – Strength training was spotty in April, but I am happy to report this will look better in May (cheating because I know the first half of May results!)

4. Swim Technique – I have been working on my turnover and finishing my stroke through to my hip. If you have a swim tip you think is helpful, I would love to hear it!

5. Fun goals – I PR’d the HIM! Woot! :)

Check out this photo of me riding in my cycling kit -- my buddy Ryan took the photo while he was riding too, I am impressed!

Ironman Texas 70.3 aka Lonestar HIM Race Report

2010-05-06T17:30:00.001-05:00

For those of you who don’t want the nitty gritty details, here are the highlights:

Swim: felt better than my time reflects, not sure what happened there. Sighting was decent and swam freestlye the entire way.

Bike: a touch of hip pain slowed me down around mile 20, but I found a comfortable position and hammered it on the way back. Cross/head wind on the way out and cross/tail wind on the way back.

Run: I executed my plan and had even splits for the first 3 loops and opened it up the last loop.

Overall: I wanted to break 5:45:00 and I did it! That is an 8 minute PR for me on a similar course under similar conditions, I’ll take it!

Splits
Swim: 47:19 (43 of 76 in AG; 820 of 1337 Overall)
T1: 2:46
Bike: 3:00:17 – 18.6 mph (22 of 76 in AG; 630 of 1337 Overall)
T2: 1:59
Run: 1:51:57 – 8:33 pace (17 of 76 in AG; 328 of 1337 Overall)
Total Time: 5:44:18 (19 of 76 in AG; 452 of 1337 Overall)

Detailed Race Report

Pre-race
Packet pick-up and bike drop off were the night before the race, so we drove down to Galveston after a full day. I picked up my packet, dropped off my bike and got a short swim in on the course.

I have been using Trislide for anti-chafing with great success, but I was anxious to try it out with my wetsuit. I sprayed it on my ankles, wrists and neck to see how effective it would be come race day at aiding in wetsuit removal and I will never use anything else again! After my swim (which was spooky since I don't do a lot of open water swims solo), I was able to pull my wetsuit off without a struggle thanks to the Trislide. That was a first for me - normally I look like one of those "how many triathletes does it take to change a light bulb" jokes!

I also found out they cancelled the swim for the Sprint and Olympic distance races earlier in the day and was relieved that the forecast for the half looked much better.

Since we stayed in a smoky, dumpy motel, we only went back to the room to sleep. We ate our pre-race pizza on the seawall before calling it a night.

Race morning
I-Hop oatmeal for breakfast and then straight to transition for body-marking and getting situated. Then it was time for the waiting game. My wave went off 1:05 after the pros …

Swim
Waiting, waiting, waiting …

Still waiting …

My parents arrived and a quick hug and kiss later, it was time to go join the other blue caps on the dock. I had to take in some calories right before the swim since it had been hours since breakfast! When it was finally our turn, we jumped in and treaded water for a few minutes before the gun went off for our race.

Me with Parents

My wave getting ready

note: it is slightly disconcerting to see a swimmer coming in on a jet ski right before your wave starts!

The swim felt great. Yes, I was pummeled a time or two, but overall, I felt like my sighting was good and I was swimming strong. I was pretty disappointed in my swim time because I felt faster than that, but the good news was that my best two sports were yet to come!

I RAN toward the wetsuit strippers and saw Doug as I was headed into transition, which always gives me a sense of peace and calm as I get ready for the loneliest, most self-reflective part of the race.

T1
I am pretty happy with my transition time, although they can always get faster! I was 14 of 76 in my AG for this transition and within 30 seconds of the winner of my AG.

Bike
I saw Doug again right as I was mounting my bike (he should totally win the spectator award for running around to see me as many times as possible) and then I saw my mom as I was turning the corner to head out of Moody Gardens.

Bike Out
The course was a generally flat (minus bridges) out and back along the coastline and while there was wind, I would not call it a windy day. I guess all those rides this Spring into horrible winds paid off because I felt strong. I developed some hip/leg pain around 20 miles into the bike that affected my power, but shifting positions helped and it finally went away shortly after the turnaround.

There was definitely a bit of wind help on the way back in and I felt like I was flying. It felt great to be passing people left and right. My only pet peeve was that many riders were not staying to the right so to pass I had to go into the traffic lane. When I saw that I was within striking distance of my 3:00 bike split goal, I put the hammer down.

I drank First Endurance EFS on the bike and felt fantastic when I hit the dismount line, ready to run and knowing I had taken in plenty of electrolytes to keep me going. It was a warm day, so taking in plenty of sodium was key!

T2
Again, pretty happy with my transition time. 20 of 76 in my AG and again within 30 seconds or less of the leaders.

Running the Bike Into T2
Running Out of T2
Run
This is the one portion of the HIM that I felt like I had the most room for improvement. My first HIM was all about finishing. I ran the entire course, but it was hilly and I was conservative for the majority of the run because I didn’t want to compromise the finish. Run pace was 10:19 on a hilly course.

My second HIM I wanted to break the 6:00 hour mark and when I got off the bike, I knew what I had to run to break 6:00 so that it what I did. Again, a conservative move. Run pace was 9:37 on a course and in temperatures similar to Galveston.

For Lonestar, I wanted to throw conservatism out the window and see what I could do. My plan was to run the first 3 loops of the 4 loop course below 8:45 min/miles. I ended up clocking 8:35, 8:38 and 8:37 averages for those laps. For the last lap, I decided to not look at my Garmin, but to run however fast I could, simply using perceived exertion. With exactly 3 miles to go I looked at my overall time for the day to calculate what approximate pace I needed to finish under 5:45.

I am never great at math in my head, but definitely not at the end of a 70.3 while running towards the finish. My rough estimate was that I needed something close to an 8:00 min mile average for the last 3 miles to break 5:45 and I thought it was a long shot, but I decided it didn’t matter, I was running as hard as I could maintain for 3 miles. All I could think about at the time was how fast and light I felt in my Saucony Fastwitch 4s. Each mile got faster and I ended up with an 8:18 average for the last 3.275 miles.

I was running ...
I for one, really enjoyed the loop course. I loved the fan support and getting to see my family over and over again. It can be mentally challenging to pass the finish line repeatedly, but that is far outweighed by the excellent fan support, especially from my #1 fan (my amazing hubby) and my parents, who cheered louder than anyone on the course that day!

As I ran into the finisher’s chute I passed several people, well squeezed by them, and while I felt bad about it at the time, I have decided that in the end, this is a race and if that means passing people in the last 20 yards on the far side of the chute (to get around them), then so be it. This was further re-affirmed when reading Ryan aka White Hot’s account of his 2nd place AG finish at IM St. George – second by .05 seconds. It can be a sprint to the finish. All said and done they were actually faster than me overall because they were in an AG that started after me, but that doesn't change my approach to the finisher's chute.

Finisher's Chute
It was also great to hear the announcer call my name and see my family cheering for me as I crossed the finish line. When I finally stopped running (momentum is not your friend here), I pressed stop on my watch and saw that it was still 5:44 … holy cow, I did it! Douglas and I were equally excited about my finishing time and I got the best post-race hug immediately after crossing the finish line! This is huge for him because he is not a big fan of sweat, and let me tell you, I was sweaty!

Overall
It was a great first race of the season. The benchmark has been set for the season and I am excited to see where I can go from here!

My #1 Fan an Ironmate!
My Support Crew

Meet My Coach

2010-05-02T11:15:00.003-05:00

I did it - after 2 years of being a self-coached age-group athlete, I have turned over my training plan to a coach! I have been wanting to do this for quite a while but the control freak in me was hesitant.

What if I needed to make last minute changes to the plan and move things around?
Also, until now, I have been accountable to myself and no one else - what would a coach think of my training to date? What if the coach thinks I am an impostor? What if I disappoint my coach?

Those were a few of the things that made me nervous, but they were offset by my desire to improve and to get the one thing I was missing from my training -- FEEDBACK!

Once I decided I was ready for a coach, I had to find one, and luckily for me, I didn't have to look too far.

I met my coach, Carole Sharpless, through Team Trakkers. Carole is a professional triathlete and all around extraordinary person. Her blog regularly makes me laugh in hysterics or cry and it is definitely worth a read.

So, why did I choose Carole? First and foremost, when I approached her to ask questions about coaching we were immediately on the same page, plus, personality wise, we are two peas in a pod. She loves to laugh and to be silly but she is passionate about what she does, she is fiercely loyal and absolutely knows her stuff.

She realizes that coaching is dynamic and that those of us who do not do this professionally have other obligations that come up and our schedules change -- so we have agreed that when that happens, we will just modify the schedule to make things work. This was my biggest concern and it turns out, it really wasn't an issue at all.

She is already teaching me so much about nutrition and being an expert about every single thing I put in my body ... and best of all, I immediately felt like part of her family and that my success is her success.

With the first race of the season behind me (race report to follow soon) and Cedar Point just 4.5 months away, I am excited to see how far and how hard Carole can push me!

Team Spirit

2010-04-21T12:27:00.006-05:00

Triathlon is individual sport, as defined by USAT rules. That is why there is no drafting or outside assistance. We each must race our own race, but …

That doesn’t mean you have to be alone on the course or when racing. When I started racing I loved seeing all of the team kits, passing the team tents and hearing teammates encourage each other along the course, in fact I was a bit envious. My hubby does a great job being my personal cheerleader, but there is only one of him! That is one of the reasons that I got involved with Team Trakkers – the sense of team spirit and general fun associated with being on a team.

The Age Group team is made up of consistent podium finishers (not me!) and weekend warriors alike, and while we are spread out across the US, there is not a single day that my blackberry is not blowing up with great team emails! Plus, we are all coming together for the Rev3 races at Knoxville, Quassy and/or CedarPoint, so I am thrilled that I will have major team support for my A race this season.

If you are not a part of a team, I encourage you to check out your local tri scene – being in an active tri club can definitely create an even better training and racing atmosphere.

Along those lines, my super cool, fun AG team decided yesterday that we would challenge a couple of teams (Team Terrier and Dynamo Multipsort) racing Knoxville to a Team Challenge, similar to the Elite Challenge thrown down by Michael Lovato to the KSwiss/Trek Team. The Twitter and Facebook trash talk is hilarious, because let’s face it, there are lots of Type A's in triathlon!

Fan Trakkers on Facebook to follow along!

Check out these great photos created by my teammates (click on photo to enlarge):

Team Mascot, Winston
Trakkers Smack Talk
Don’t want to miss out on the fun? Remember you can save $10 by using code Trakkers102 when registering for any of the Rev3 events on Active.com .

Go Team!

I have a confession ...

2010-04-18T12:38:00.003-05:00

Several confessions, actually.

First confession.
I do almost all of my long rides with one of a handful of my steady training partners. During IMFL training last year I did portions of long rides solo, but the majority of the time someone was nearby. Now, there are lots of good reasons to ride with a group, safety in numbers being a big reason, but I have another secret reason I like riding with my regular training partners.

Confession time.

I am not the most mechanically oriented person and I secretly worry that I will get a flat or have a mechanical issue that I cannot fix on my own. I normally ride with men and chivalry is definitely alive and well in Texas, so I feel taken care of on my rides. My amazing Iron Sherpa hubby is also my mechanic, so I will admit to being a bit spoiled.

This morning I went out for my last long ride before Lonestar 70.3 and for the first time this season I went out solo. I had a premonition that I was going to get a flat on this ride because I was alone. Sure enough, about 12 miles into my ride I felt a drag coming from my back wheel and I stopped to find my back tire flat. Great. Not only did I have a flat but it was on my back wheel. Ugh.

Now, confession two. I have never had a flat on the road. I have practiced changing tires at home (and not nearly enough) but I have always had Douglas looking over my shoulder.

So after diagnosing my problem (easy enough), I called Douglas for moral support and put my cell phone on speaker so Dougas could be my quick reference guide, if needed, and I got to work. Several people passed me and asked if I needed anything and I was tempted to be rescued, but I knew I could do this on my own ... AND I DID!

I know that I should not be so excited about doing something that I should have been able to do all along, but there is something about actually having done it and the confidence that goes with it that really gave me mental boost for the rest of my ride and going into my race next weekend (plus the new tires I am getting will provide a nice extra layer of protection). I know, lame ...

My ride and run today also went well from a pace and nutrition perspective, so I feel good heading into a recovery week. What I give up in workout hours I will spend mentally preparing for the race. I am nervous and excited about my first race of the season!

Chewing Gum Theory and Other Ramblings

2010-04-14T13:31:00.003-05:00

Chewing Gum Theory
I have made an observation on my last two runs – I run faster when chewing gum. I am sure it doesn’t look pretty while I am running, but I work the gum while I run, chewing hard or popping it as I run along. Somehow channeling my pain or tiredness into my gum allows me to run faster. I don’t regularly or purposefully chew gum when I run, but I might start, just to see if it makes a difference. I will definitely have some gum waiting for me in T2 of my race next weekend. So, does anyone else agree with my theory that chewing gum makes you run faster? If you can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, this question does not apply to you! ;)

Coach Search
My coach search has gone really well and I think that I have found someone – stay tuned! I am very excited about the prospect and I appreciate the encouragement to find someone. I think for me the most important factor was finding someone that I trust AND with whom I have good rapport. More to come!

Marathon Moms
I am on the Runner’s World email distribution and their latest email had a link to an article titled “Marathon Moms.” I found it to be a humorous, honest read. There are 3 short articles back to back – the first two on the dynamics between spouses, one on spouses who both run and another on a spouse who does run and the other does not and the third on a mother’s view of running and its effect on her children. Definitely worth the read – especially the third one which completely resonated with me. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Team Trakkers Kick Off

2010-04-11T15:29:00.004-05:00

The Team Trakkers Elite Team came down to Austin, Texas for a training camp and for an official team kick off.

Living a mere 2.5 hours away, I had to make the trip to see the crew and meet the sponsors, if only for a 2 hour Happy Hour! I took Friday afternoon off of work and the family and I headed to Austin. Doug and the boys spent the evening at a car show and I spent it getting to know my Elite teammates and my Saucony and First Endurance sponsors!

I have to say, it was pretty freakin' incredible to be hanging out with some of the very best in our sport. Everyone was so nice too and it was a total honor for me to be introduced as one of their teammates!

Me and Pro Carole Sharpless aka "Mama Bear" to the Trakkers Team

After a great team kick-off party (pizza and beer!), the family and I headed out to our favorite Mexican food haunt before driving back to Houston. We made it home around 12:30 AM, which ensured that I was able to get my long ride in Saturday morning, despite the crappy weather.

There are great photos and two great write ups so far on Ironman.com -- check them out here and here (it was a pleasure to meet the photographer and writer, Jay as well)!

You can see my green shirt in the last photo (under the Jack and Adams tent with my hand on my face, on the right side of the photo :) ) on the first article.

I am also really excited about the team challenges, it will make the races that much more exciting to watch. Not sure what I am talking about? Check it out in this story.

Excerpt:

Michael Lovato: Team Trakkers is calling Trek-KSwiss to a race. We bet $5k our team beats yours at in Knoxville May 9. Be there, or we win!

Trek/KSwiss Tri Team response? Said team co-manager Nick Howe on his handle, TrekSpeed: Anywhere, Any time. Any day. We gladly accept.

Julie Dibens: Can’t sleep! Woke myself up laughing cos I dreamt I saw Michael Lovato crying like a baby at the side of the road in Knoxville! Bring it ML.

Lovato: Hey Julie, those were tears of joy you saw. I always get emotional after a crushing victory.

Lovato: Hey Julie we hope u get your mojo back soon, we don't want Trek-KSwiss to race without their strongest athlete.

Dibens: Michael you are trying to kill me with kindness! I like your style… but I won’t fall for it!

I am totally inspired for my workouts this coming week!

So “Flipping” Excited

2010-04-07T10:51:00.000-05:00

Today was the second swim practice that I tried to incorporate flip turns into my set for practice. To say that I started out horribly would be an understatement! Up until today I had only attempted flip turns in the indoor pool and I was swimming in the outdoor pool this morning, which is much shallower than the indoor pool and at 6:00 am is still dark. Apparently, this made things difficult for me!

Last week I had perfected the turn and push off, but had not been able to figure out how to get from streamlining on my back to twisting to my stomach and ready to swim again. This morning my timing and pace were off and I was barely able to get the flip in and the push off was abysmal … but I kept at it. I was determined to get back to where I was last week, perfecting the flip turn and streamlining on my back, not worrying about twisting to my stomach. Mission accomplished. Once I felt like my timing was right, I decided to work on the twist and before I knew it I was swimming 100s doing proper flip turns – streamlining past the flags like I do on my open turns!

Some turns were straighter than others – and some left me desperate for air – but I am happy with my progress. I will keep incorporating them into my workouts until I am doing all of my freestyle laps with flip turns. Maybe after I master the flip I will start thinking about butterfly …

I know flip turns are not necessary for triathlon, but they are fun and help to break up the monotony of swimming laps – and that in and of itself is enough for me!

Future Heartbreakers?

2010-04-02T22:00:00.002-05:00

The Metaphorical Bridge

2010-04-01T15:51:00.006-05:00

I have been stressing out a bit lately about some of the liberties that I have been taking with my training plan – liberties I would have NEVER taken while training for IMFL last year.

If my program last year told me to jump of a bridge, I would have done research to determine what kind of bridge, what color, at what height, etc. and then I would have jumped off the appropriate bridge (and then logged the results!).

Fear of the unknown is a fantastic motivator and in training for my first iron distance race that fear got me through every grueling workout. With it though, I sacrificed a lot of other things along the way. Not the most important things, mind you, but things that help to balance me and keep me more or less sane and happy (girls nights out, plenty of sleep, to name a few).

So, why I am taking more liberties right now? That is a complicated question.

First off, I have not “officially” started my training for Cedar Point so my focus has been on the Lonestar 70.3 on April 25 and I am less stressed about racing this distance. (Side note: I contemplated doing an Oly two weeks before Lonestar but decided against it because Lonestar in my first A race of the season and I would have been too tempted to race the Oly.)

Second, I am still using the Be Iron Fit Competitive IM training program. Yes, you read that right, I am using the IM program to train for the HIM. The program has you race a HIM along the way to the IM start line, so I just use the program up to that point, modifying the taper as needed. I do feel like this volume is slightly more than I need right now though, so I have been cutting it back when I have to due to other life and work commitments. This is when it would be great to have a coach (which I am contemplating) – no second guessing myself if I have someone else telling me what to do.

Even with the above thoughts in mind, I still feel guilty on occasion when I have to cut a workout short, especially knowing I would have found a way to make it work when I was training for IMFL. This is when having data is helpful (I highly recommend logging your training). As a quick comparison, I looked at my numbers for March 2009 compared to March 2010 (below) and I breathed a big sigh of relief.

This time last year I was training for a May 8 HIM, so my efforts should have been similar year to year based on race dates. As you can see, I have nearly 10 more hours this March than last March. So much for feeling like I am not doing enough!

March in Numbers
Swim: 28,950 yards in 11:35
Bike: 387.9 miles in 24:00
Run: 121.4 miles in 18:26
Strength: 0:55

Total: 54:56:00

I would love to hear your advice on getting a coach – I am thinking of trying to find someone to help me prepare for Cedar Point.

Goal Tracking
Ok, so let’s review. I have modified my original goals to reflect the realities of this year, so I am only reporting on what is left on the list.

1. Photography
-- March was slow, but we have bluebonnet pictures this month to look forward to!
2. Nutrition
-- What can I say, some days are better than others. April goal – find 1 new healthy, easy recipe. Any suggestions?
3. Strength Training
-- Keep making time for at least 1 session per week (Got 2 sessions in last month)
4. Swim Technique
-- I started working on flip turns for fun, so I will continue to practice those in April. I am going to rewatch this video and I will report back on my thoughts.
5. Fun Goals
-- I am racing a HIM this month, so we will see if a PR is in my future. I am nervous about all of the wind that we have been having but that won’t stop me from leaving it all on the course. April goal - pick the Sprint to race for fun and put it on my race schedule.

Happy April!

Rev'd Up!

2010-03-30T20:38:00.004-05:00

It's Official! I am Rev'd Up for the Rev3 Iron Distance Triathlon race at Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH!

If you want to race with me, don't forget to use code Trakkers102 when registering to save $10 off the entry fees at any of the Rev3 races.

Trakkers News

Ok, I will admit it. If you haven't gathered already, I am a bit of a nerd. With that in mind, I was pretty excited when a training partner was looking for my blog and searched my name on Google and found this. Check out the first link - it takes you to my page on the new and improved Trakkers website.

A couple of other exciting things to report on the Trakkers front (ok, so maybe my page on the Trakkers site is only exciting to me!) include ...

1. My teammate and super mom and athlete extraordinaire Sonja was the 1st place woman and 2nd overall at the Moab 100 mile ultra run. She is an inspiration - if you don't read her blog, you should. Go check it out.

2. This week's live interview is with the one and only Craig Alexander! Don't forget if you miss the live interview, you can download the podcasts later. These are great to listen to on a run or the trainer. Tune in tonight at 8 pm EST.

Priorities

2010-03-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

One of the top questions that I get as an endurance athlete and working mother of 2 young boys is “How do you find time to train?”

My standard answer is simple …

You make time for what is important to you.

It’s as simple as that.

Sometimes it is things you NEED, like sleep. Other times it is something you WANT, like a date night or a relaxing evening with friends.

Notice I never said that sacrifices are not involved, but to quote Kris Allen’s “Live like we’re dying”:

“Yeah, we gotta start lookin’ at the hands of the time we’ve been given
If this is all we got, then we gotta start thinkin’
If every second counts on a clock that’s tickin;
Gotta live like we’re dying.

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away …”

I think that we all fall victim to wanting to make something a priority, but our actions (or inactions) clearly indicate that that something is not really a priority because we are not treating it as such, like my diet for example! No matter how much you want something to be a priority, if you don’t make time for it and commit to it, it’s not a priority.

That’s not to say that training is my top priority – it’s not – but it is on my short list, way above clean dishes and usually above a night out drinking, well to excess at least!

I often get follow up questions to my “simple” answer – specifically, “No, really WHERE do you find the time in your day?”

As in, give me the how to.

So, here is a typical week in the life of a triathlete, working mother of 2:

Of note - I work 8:30 - 5:30 Monday - Friday with about an hour commute each way and have access to a gym at my office.

Mon – Recovery Spin (high cadence) and/or strength work at lunch
Tues – Mid-long distance run in AM w/ tempo work; strength/recovery spin at lunch
Wed – Masters Swim in AM; run at lunch
Thurs – Long Slow Run in AM; Spin at lunch with intervals
Fri– Masters Swim in AM; Brick at lunch
Sat – OFF (Family Day!) or short AM workout (swing day if I miss something during the week)
Sun – Long Ride/Brick starting at Dawn:30

You’ll see that I end up having to do doubles at least 4 times a week to fit in the hours. Honestly, I try to flexible with my training schedule, knowing that I often have to move things around in a given week, depending on what is happening at work. I always plan ahead for the week though, so I know what my scheduling challenges will be.

I recognize that I am very lucky to have a gym available at my office, but there are weeks, like last week, where my job requires me to attend lunches with customers or other events in the evenings (leaving me very tired for morning workouts). That is when I have to get creative. So last week, for example, I hopped on the trainer for an hour to spin while I watched the CBS Monday night comedy line-up because my lunch workouts were all scheduled over with meetings. It is not ideal for me because I much prefer to be relaxing on the couch at that time of night, but alas, training is one of my priorities.

What works for me, is getting in most of my workouts before my kids even wake up and doing some of my high intensity work on my lunch hour. I find that this leaves me ample time for my #1 priority – my family.

Finally, an encouraging word I try to share with people who come to me for advice on getting into endurance sports is to take baby steps. For someone who is dreaming of going long (as I was), looking at an iron distance training plan can be overwhelming. I suggest starting with reasonable hours and work from there.

I remember a day when thinking 8 – 10 hours of training was literally the maximum I could do in any given week, but with time I slowly ramped up my hours and found that I could do just a bit more, and then a bit more, and then a bit more ...

Here are what my training hours have looked like over the past 2 years (baby steps):

Starting April 2008:
Apr - Jun 2008: averaged 6 hrs/wk training for my first Sprint triathlon (or first in a long time!)
Jul - Aug 2008: averaged 8 hr/wk training for my first Oly
Sept – Oct 2008: averaged 10 hrs/wk training for my first HIM
Nov – Jan 2009: averaged 7 hrs/wk training for a marathon and still swimming
Feb – May 2009: averaged 10 hrs/wk, building to an Oly and second HIM

Leading up to IMFL:
Jun – Jul 2009: averaged 12 hrs/wk
Aug – Sept 2009: averaged 16 hrs/wk
Oct – Nov 2009 - averaged 17 hrs/wk (peaked at 20 hours)

With baby steps, I was able to gradually move from 6 hours to 8, then to 10, then 12 and finally 17 hours a week of training, on average. I have to mention that the book, Be Iron Fit was quite inspirational in terms of time efficient training.

The difference this season as compared to last is that I am far more relaxed about the training – it reminds me of yet another way that Ironman training is like pregnancy.

During the training for your first Ironman you read every book you can find on the subject and follow your plan to the letter, just like your first pregnancy. In your second Ironman training season, similar to your second pregnancy, you remember most of what you read the first time and you do all the major things you are supposed to do, but you know what to obsess over and what to let go (missing one workout is not going to sabotage your race!) and not to beat yourself up over. Can it still be stressful? Sure, but the fear of the unknown is behind you.

Best lesson I learned this week? Laughing is the best core workout ever!

Want to Know the Secrets of the Pros?

2010-03-03T10:36:00.003-06:00

Just ask - tonight!

Rev3 is launching a weekly radio chat show starting tonight at 8 p.m.

Simply Stu and Heather Gollnick are hosting the show tonight with Julie Dibens (check out her hamstrings!!), Ironman 70.3 World Champion, as the guest of honor. Simply follow this link to listen and call in with questions.

I am going to the Houston Rodeo tonight (yes, we actually do that here in Texas! :) ), so I am going to download the interview in podcast form from iTunes and listen to it on my long run this week. I can't wait to see who is up next! If you listen tonight, be sure to drop me a comment with your feedback.

Happy training!

And the Winner Is …

2010-03-03T10:34:00.002-06:00

The winner of the TriSwim Shots and Foggle towelettes is …

Aimee (I Tri To Be Me)

Congrats, Aimee! Leave me a comment on how to contact you so that I can get you your prizes!

I hope that you enjoy the products as much as I have. I have decided I definitely need a second set of the TriSwim products (one for the gym that stays at the gym and one for the house). Also, I am happy to report that the Foggle towelettes work wonders! No spitting in my goggles needed. Erin – I will bring some to the pool for you to try.

Everyone else, thanks for playing!

Let Them Eat Cake

2010-03-01T21:12:00.009-06:00

February was a busy month in the Moore house. Between Valentine’s Day, my husband’s birthday and my youngest son’s birthday, there are lots of reasons to celebrate and eat cake. And cupcakes. And brownies. And sweet tarts. And more cake. And even more cake. You get the drift… I should have given up sweets for Lent and my problem would have gone away, or at least I would not be eating it away! With February behind me, I will am excited to start March without so much dessert in the house. One thing is for certain, if I eat just a third of the dessert that I have been eating I should be all set!

My volume ramped back up in February and I had some great workouts, especially on the running front. For every great day, however, there seems to be those not so stellar days, like last Friday. It amazes me how one day I can run 4 miles at a 7:36 pace with effort but still at ease (if that makes sense) and then struggle to pick my feet up to run 2 miles at a 9:15 pace later that same week. It is a major reminder for me that nutrition and rest are key components to training.
February by the Numbers
Bike: 19h 53m - 324 Mi
Run: 17h 21m - 108 Mi
Swim: 12h 00m - 27,550 Yd
Other/Strength: 1h 43m
Total Active Time - 50h 57m

Goal Tracking
1. Reading the Bible cover to cover -- can I change my goal for the year? I am so far behind in this goal, but I have been going to Mass weekly, which is another goal that I started working on late in 2009, the Sunday after Ironman, in fact. I just feel like I am so far behind that I will never catch up, so I don't even try.

2. Photography -- I took Tyler's 3 year old photos and bought a new lens! Looking forward to playing with my new toy this month.

3. Weekly stretching -- I am moving this to an as needed basis. I have found that lunges, squats and core work do a lot more for my hip pain (which is basically gone now!) My new custom orthotics, which by the way, were covered at 100% by my insurance, are helping as well.

4. Nutrition -- I am doing slightly better on drinking water and I ordered and received my first order from First Endurance. I love the EFS Fruit Punch sport drink and I am looking forward to seeing how all of the electrolytes help me hold up to the Texas heat this summer. With my workouts getting longer, I also ordered Ultragen and I am looking forward to putting it to good use.

5. Strength Training -- Push ups, planks, lunges, squats and sit-ups have become my friends. I am still looking for a good ab workout that I can watch and follow along -- would love your suggestions.

6. Swim Technique -- Progress! I think I am at least back to where I was during peak training last season, so now it is time to fine tune this month.

7. Fun goals -- Races are coming up next month - stay tuned!

Best. Run. Ever.

2010-02-19T16:33:00.003-06:00

I am a sound sleeper. I am asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow and I only wake up ...

a) to the sound of my alarm
b) to the sounds of my children over the monitor, whether in the middle of the night or playing in their beds in the morning (on the weekends)
or
c) 10 hours later (or longer!).

The alarm is obviously a critical component because I never get 10 hours of sleep. Thursday morning I had my alarm set for 4:45 AM, figuring I would wake up around 5:00 AM, after snoozing a bit. I have to hit the snooze at least once, so I always build in extra time for that.

Well, I stirred Thursday morning and checked my watch, thinking to myself, I feel like I should have heard my alarm by now. This is usually followed by the panic of knowing that I have overslept because I either a) set the alarm but did not turn it on or b) set the alarm for PM instead of AM. I was confused when the indiglo on my Timex showed that it was exactly 5:00 AM. I checked my alarm and sure enough, I had set is for PM, not AM. I remember thinking to myself how lucky it was that I woke up on my own … and then I was asleep again.

I stirred again and thought, “crap, why didn’t I get up when I realized I had not set my alarm?”, but was relieved to see it was only 5:15 AM. I really just needed my snooze, I guess. This has only happened once before, which is why before every race I set 4 different alarms to make sure that I do not oversleep!

With that, I got up and got ready for my Thursday 10 miler and tempo run.

I run a two mile loop around my neighborhood, so I do all of my splits in 2 mile increments and plan my runs accordingly. I decided on a 2 mile warm up, followed by a 4 mile tempo run and a 4 mile warm down.

I started my warm up lap listening to Freakonomics on my iPod, but less than a mile into my run, my iPod battery died. Ugghh. My initial reaction was to run into the house when I finished the first 2 mile loop to let it charge for 2 miles, so that I could have it for the last 6 miles of my run. Instead, I ended up deciding to suck it up and run without music or audio books because on occasion, it is good race simulation.

I have been doing 6 mile tempo runs (2 mile warm up, 2 mile tempo, 2 mile warm down) off and on for the last month or so, so I was nervous to be extending the tempo portion of the run to 4 miles. My Tuesday 10 mile runs are done at my ‘I can run all day’ conversational pace somewhere between 9:00s and 9:30s, so pushing below 8:00s is definitely outside of my comfort zone.

I made a concerted effort not to push too hard for the first two miles, knowing that I had to do an additional 2 miles. I tried to just keep the pace just below 8:00s. I felt good for the entire 2 miles and while I could not have held a good conversation, I was not suffering. With the first two tempo miles behind me, I took a swig of G2 and gave myself a short pep talk heading into the next 2 miles. I asked myself what I was so afraid of – I mean, what is the worst that could happen, I could bonk and have to slow down during a training run? Not a huge loss, right? So, with that, I was off for the next 2 miles of tempo work. I was shocked at how much easier the second 2 miles felt at an even faster pace. It was like my body just needed some time to warm up and then it knew what to do. I was thrilled with the results and almost considered pushing it to a 6 mile tempo run, but decided to stick to plan.

For miles 7 and 8, I just ran comfortably, not checking my Garmin for pace. I was excited to see my split for those 2 miles, given the low level of exertion. The last 2 miles are what I dub the “Victory Lap” and invariably, I tend to speed up for that lap because I have a horse-to-stables mentality. Again, I was shocked to see I was running low 8:00s so comfortably and so far into my run.

Splits
Miles 1 + 2: 9:01 pace
Miles 3 + 4: 7:53 pace
Miles 5 + 6: 7:39 pace
Miles 7 + 8: 8:25 pace
Miles 9 + 10: 8:12 pace

Avg Run Pace: 8:14 pace

Oh, and I got to watch a beautiful sunrise to boot!

So, what is making me faster?

Maybe it was my pre-run meal the evening before, which included delicious butter flavored birthday cake with chocolate icing (yum!)? Maybe it is my new Saucony shoes? Maybe it was the cooler temps (run fast to stay warm)? Maybe it is my new confidence and previous tempo runs paying off?

All I know, is that it was the best run I have had in as long as I can remember! I just hope I can duplicate that feeling next week.

p.s. don't forget to enter the TriSwim Giveaway . I will do the drawing early next week!

TriSwim Giveaway and my Swimming Pet Peeves

2010-02-16T15:20:00.005-06:00

Like many triathletes, I was not a swimmer growing up and while my swim stroke and efficiency have improved dramatically over the last 2 years, I am far and away a better cyclist and runner than I am a swimmer. It doesn’t help that I often dread going to the pool, mostly due to my swimming pet peeves …

Pet Peeves
1 – There are many triathlete jokes about chlorine (you might be a triathlete if … you smell like chlorine all the time) and they are all true. You go for a swim and two showers later you can still smell chlorine. I work in an office and regularly have to meet customers and chlorine is not my perfume of choice, but on swim days, it follows me everywhere, plus I hate the texture of my hair on swim days, even after multiple washings.

2 – Goggle marks. I have tried a dozen different pair and I have yet to find a pair that don’t leak or fog incessantly or (the absolute worst part) give me nasty goggle marks until after lunch. I am tired enough as it is, and these goggle marks make it look like I have serious bags around my eyes! Not attractive for morning meetings at the office. Right now I swim with Women’s Vanquishers and they don’t leak but the goggle marks are horrendous! I just heard of Sable Goggles and I am thinking about giving them a try, but I am not sure if they are worth the risk for $50. If you use Sable Goggles, I would love to hear from you.

3 – I am usually swimming at 5:30 a.m., plus a 15 minute drive, which means I am up early on swim days. I much prefer rolling out of bed and into my running shoes. Swimming requires too much prep work!

I know, it sounds like a lot of excuses. The good news (for my training at least) is that despite my dread, I drag my sleepy arse to the pool for a good 3 hours a week.

The better news? I am excited to report that I can now cross #1 off of my list of reasons I don’t like the pool! Yes, the chlorine is a w f u l , but I just got to test out SBR’s TriSwim products and I am a beliver! On top of getting rid of the unfavorable chrlorine perfume, I love what the shampoo and conditioner did for my hair! The conditioner smelled incredibly refreshing, the body wash lathered nicely and the lotion soothed my dry winter skin that hates the over-chlorinated pool! I will keep these in my swim bag and in my gym locker from now on!

The best news?
You too can check out these great products by entering into my TriSwim and Foggle giveaway!

Winner will receive the entire TriSwim line in the convenient TriSwim Shot size (great for your swim bag!) and Foggle anti-fog towlettes for your goggles.

How to Enter – each item gives you 1 entry into the contest:

1. Check out the TriSwim Website – it is full of great information and leave me a comment.
2. Follow my blog. If you enter via #1 and already follow my blog, you will automatically get a second entry.
3. Post a link on your blog to this giveaway.

Just let me know in your comment which ways you are entering. Good luck!

Now, if I could just do something about those pesky goggle marks … this photo is from Friday morning an hour after I got out of the pool with make-up on to cover the worst of it! You may have to click on the photo to enlarge it, but you can clearly see my goggle marks – and yes, they were there until at least 2 pm!

Comfort with Discomfort

2010-02-08T07:00:00.001-06:00

Last season I was focused on two things - going long and not getting injured. As Ironman got closer on the calendar I chose to forgo speed work and anything else that I felt may increase the chance of injury.

They (who is they, by the way?) say, if you always run long and slow, you will get good at running long and slow. And guess what else? On race day, you will be slow. You can't expect to be a speed demon on race day if you are always training slow.

I was focused on getting to the Ironman starting line healthy and having the endurance training so that I could cross the finish line. My training made me pretty darn good at going long at a moderate pace, whether swimming, biking or running. Moderate, of course, is relative to ones own strengths and weaknesses, and compared to others, I am sure I could be considered slow.

This season, with a decent endurance base supporting me, I am working on getting faster. I have started adding weekly tempo runs to my routine and while I don't necessarily look forward to these runs, I know that they are both physically and mentally rewarding. Physically, I am confident that running faster will make me faster (and you can substitute swimming and biking for running too). Mentally, running faster in my workouts is showing me both what I am capable of speed wise and giving me confidence that I can handle the discomfort that comes with pushing myself hard. I know that this confidence will come in handy on race day.

On a separate note, this weekend was the Rocky Raccoon 50 mile / 100 mile endurance race. Since I abandoned my training partner for the race, I volunteered to crew for him instead. So, Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30 and drove to his house so that we could make the 1 hour trek to Huntsville for the 7:00 am race start. Rocky allows packet pick-up race morning, so we retrieved his packet and got him to the starting line. The 100 milers started at 6:00 am, so the starting line wasn't too hectic for the 50 mile start.

This race is very casual and family friendly. It was frustrating to be there and not be racing and that feeling only got worse as the day wore on and I was itching to run.

After seeing Mark off, I went back to the car to nap, knowing that I would not see Mark again for about 3 hours. It was pretty chilly out, otherwise, I would have been happy to nap in the shade. Just after 10 am, I saw Mark again, looking great after his first 16.7 mile loop. After a short stop, he was off again. Meanwhile, I was coordinating with our families who were on their way to the race site. I got to spend about an hour with them before Mark re-appeared and I was off to run my pacing loop with him.

I have not done much true trail running so I was not sure what to expect. My "trail" running has been on crushed granite on a flat, circular loop, so I had a steep learning curve on the pine needle, root covered trail. After tripping, but thankfully not falling, a couple of times, my footing got better and the running got easier. I had also forgotten that running on trails also slows down your pace. On the positive side, the trails around the lake were beautiful and the miles passed quickly. I was struck by how friendly and encouraging every single person on the trail was. If I was ever unsure as to whether I wanted to commit to an ultra, all of my doubts were set aside on Saturday. I have to do one now -- and I would seriously consider doing a 100 miler too (after tackling a 50, of course!).

Mark had a great race and it was awesome to run the last lap with him. With several miles to go he started to pick up the pace and with 2 miles to go he was running sub-9 minute miles. I could hardly keep up with him for the last mile and I had only run one-third of the miles that he had! I felt like a total failure but I kept pushing knowing that I could manage through the discomfort. He later told me, quoting Born to Run, that when you feel like running fast, you run fast, and when you feel like running slow, you run slow -- and at that point he felt like running fast. I was glad to be able to give him company on the last lap and to support him as he has been a rock for me through some tough training cycles as well as pacing me to a sub-4 hour finish at the Houston marathon last year.

Sunday Report
Mileage for Week Ending 2/07/2010
Swim: 6400 yards in 300
Bike: 83 miles in 5:15
Run: 32 miles in 6:04
Strength Training/Core: 0:30 (high heart rate)
Total: 14:49

Stretching: 0:00 -- I have been feeling great (knock on wood), so I have been bad about stretching. I can commit to 5 minutes each night this week.

Have a great week!

January - Month in Review

2010-01-31T22:11:00.004-06:00

I can't believe the first month of the year is behind us already! I am making good progress towards some goals and well, not much progress at all towards others. That is the beauty of these monthly reflections -- they keep me honest and help me redirect as needed in the months to come.

January In Numbers
Bike: 7h 55m - 126.6 Mi
Run: 8h 25m - 55 Mi
Swim: 4h 00m - 8,900 Yd
Other/Strength: 10h 10m
Total Active Time - 30h 30m

Stretching: 3:45

Goal Tracking
1. Reading the Bible cover to cover -- I am a couple of weeks behind schedule. My goal for February is to not fall any more behind schedule and to hopefully catch up a day or two.

2. Photography -- unfortunately, my camera was in the repair shop most of the month after salt water got in the lens after a trip to Sea World. I am looking forward to taking Tyler's 3 year old photos in February.

3. Weekly stretching -- on track, minus this last week

4. Nutrition -- I am still living in a state of dehydration, so if I do nothing else toward my goals in February, my goal is to stay hydrated! I haven't needed a recovery drink yet, but am looking forward to trying it out soon.

5. Strength Training -- great progress here too. I had my first meeting with the personal trainer and the first workout was not ab specific enough for me, although it kicked my arse. I have heard good things about the P90x ab workout, so I may look into that too.

6. Swim Technique -- stay tuned, I was not swimming much in Jan, but am planning a serious come back this month.

7. Fun goals -- I deferred the Ultra, but all other goals are still in place.

Farewell Off Season

2010-01-31T21:41:00.003-06:00

Well, it is official. I have logged the last of my off season workouts and it is time to get back on the wagon. My first race is 10 weeks away and my first A race of the season is a mere 12 weeks away. It is time to get serious!

I am both nervous and excited to be entering a new season. I am excited because I love having a goal, but nervous because I know the hours and tired afternoons from early morning workouts that are just around the corner.

I have definitely learned a thing or two about respecting the off season and the importance of down time and I will go into my next off season with a sense of purpose instead of flying by the seat of my pants.

Sunday Reports
Mileage for Week Ending 1/31/2010
Swim: 2500 yards in 1:00
Bike: 12 miles in 0:45
Run: 16 miles in 2:22
Strength Training/Core: 1:30 (high heart rate)
Total: 5:37
Stretching: 0:05

Mileage for Week Ending 1/24/2010
Swim: 2200 yards in 0:50
Bike: 44.6 miles in 2:45
Run: 18 miles in 2:45
Strength Training/Core: 0:50 (high heart rate)
Total: 7:10
Stretching: 0:35

Music is a Time Machine

2010-01-22T22:45:00.002-06:00

Music is a time machine for me.

When I hear Alanis Morissette's hit, "Isn't It Ironic," I am 16 years old again, driving around in my 1989 Toyota Camry, braces on my teeth, with not a worry in the world. Ok, lots of worries, none of which were really important!

When I hear ABBA's "Dancing Queen," I am taken back to my wedding reception, spinning around in circles in my wedding dress. I have never had so much fun dancing as I did on my wedding day. Twirling in that dress was amazing.

How is this triathlon related?

I mentioned in my Ironman FL Run Race Report that I heard Katy Perry's "Waking Up In Vegas" with about a mile to go on the run playing over speakers in a cheering section on the course. I couldn't help but start to sing along. It made me smile and gave me chills because I had a burst of adrenaline and I knew that I was so close to achieving my dream.

Fast forward to today's run at lunch. 70 degree, sun shining, makes you happy to be alive weather. A mile or so into my run, "Waking Up in Vegas" came across my iPod speakers and I was transported back to Panama City Beach. Chills went down my spine and I could hear the crowd cheering me on. I smiled for the rest of my run.

I love how music can capture a moment in time that way. What songs rev up your time machine?

Out of Shape

2010-01-19T22:14:00.000-06:00

As promised, I am attempting to diversify my workouts during what is left of my "off season" in hopes that I will find time to incorporate some of these other workouts (strength / stability) during the non-peak weeks of the regular season as well.

Monday I took a 50 minute class at my office gym that is dubbed a "conditioning class" -- think lots of walking lunges, squats, core, exercise ball, push-ups, arms, etc. I felt the burn during the class, but overall I was happy with my showing. The only move I really struggled with was the ab move where you come up to a "V" position and pass the exercise ball from your feet to your hands, go down flat, back up again and pass the ball back. That totally kicks my ... core!

I definitely felt like I got a good workout, although I would have been even happier with more core work and less leg work, because legs are my strength (or so I thought) and my abs, well, they could use some work, but I digress ...

I should also note that besides the physical therapy, elliptical during my no-running weeks, one hot yoga class, and the recently added push-ups and stretching, I have done nothing but swim, bike and run since April of 2008.

Ok, so back on topic. I woke up this morning for a 7 mile run to test my Piriformis Syndrome and immediately felt stiff from Monday's class, but I still managed a decent run. I didn't feel any pain specific to my PS, which was good. I listened to Born to Run and was happy to be listening to a portion that described run technique so I was able to play with my stride a bit.

After my run, I took my shower, got dressed for work and drove my boys to school. I wore flip flops because I have found driving in heels aggravates the tendinitis in my left foot. When I got to work I put on my super cute BCBG black peep toe patent leather pumps ... and after taking one step I nearly fell over.

I hobbled and found my stride and as usual, took the door to the parking garage stairs to take the 3 flights down to the ground level and after the first step, I almost fell over again! I literally had to use the hand rail to make it down the stairs. Later in the day, I was crossing my legs at my desk and had to pick up my leg in order to do so. I am still stiff walking, although thankfully walking is much easier in flip flops than in 3 inch heels!

I can't remember the last time I felt this sore ... definitely not after Ironman or any other race in the last 2 years. It just goes to show that you can be in shape in one aspect of your health (endurance) but entirely out of shape in another (everything else!).

The good news is that all of those leg exercises should be strengthening the area around my Piriformis. I have no idea how my run today effected my PS because my legs were so sore from my workout, so I will be anxious to see how it feels after Thursday's run.

Two things are for certain -- one) I am going to feel like a brick tomorrow during my swim (hmmm...maybe I will postpone my swim until Friday??) and two) I better keep this up so I don't feel this sore next time!

10 Things That Make Me Happy

2010-01-19T05:00:00.000-06:00

I was tagged, so here are some personal tidbits about what makes me happy...

1. Tickle fights with my boys and getting greeted at the door with hugs and kisses after a long day’s work or a tough workout

Tyler's Tickle Monsters

2. Cuddling on the couch with Douglas (and Indy, our chocolate lab) watching How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory -- if you don't watch these shows, you are missing out!

3. Finishing the “toughest” workout of the week, usually my long brick and crossing the finish line at a race (elation!)

4. A good meal, particularly (in no specific order) pancakes, spaghetti, sandwiches on fresh bread, ok, really any good meal. I love to eat.

5. My weekly catch up calls with Allie (she lives in CA and I only get to see her once a year or so, but it is so nice to decompress with a girlfriend!) and family fun dates with the Browns, Englands and McGowans
6. A good bargain – I love finding *things I need / want* on sale!

7. Listening to a good audio book on a long run – it is a multi-tasker’s dream come true!

8. Capturing great photos of my family – the age of innocence is fleeting and those smiles are so precious!

9. Margaritas with girlfriends – I definitely don’t get to enjoy this one often enough!

10. Blog comments. The encouragement is fantastic, the feedback is helpful and it gives me a sense of community. I am pretty good about leaving comments on people’s blogs who leave comments on mine, wink wink!

Now, I am supposed to tag 10 fellow bloggers - all of these blogs are definitely worth a read, including the blogs of Mark (TriDadofFive) and Kelly (TriMommyLife) who both tagged me!

1. Iron Trish
2. Joel - TriMadness
3. Kristin - The Lazy Marathoner
4. Big Daddy Diesel
5. Jessi Thompson - a super FAST trimommy!
6. Sonja - Go Sonja! - Endurance athlete extraordinare
7. Sally Aston
8. Kathleen
9. Mike Russell
10. Rockstar Tri

Orthotics

2010-01-18T10:12:00.003-06:00

As expected, the podiatrist I saw today recommended custom orthotics. I have heard great things about him and his orthotics, as he goes to great lengths to create a well fitting, functional orthotic (thanks, Kathleen!). The way it was described to me is that the orthotic would engage my foot in a way that would lessen the use (and thus impact) to the tendons / muscles that are currently inappropriately overworking and it will further engage the muscles that are currently inappropriately not fully engaged.

I am waiting to hear how much my insurance will cover and in the mean time, how my runs feel this week without orthotics. I am somewhat torn on how to proceed – my feet are a mess and always have been thanks to bunions, so I think the orthotic could be helpful, but there also seems to be a lot of science saying that less is more. I am leaning towards giving them a shot to see if they help. You have to cross one bridge at a time, right? If you wear orthotics, I am definitely interested in hearing about your experiences.

Thank you all for your recommendations last week. I am definitely going to keep asking questions. I did have the PT check my SI joint (again) and he said that I was generally in-line. He also had me do several exercises to see if they caused pain that would be typical of the SI joint and I did not experience any pain, so for now I am still focused on piriformis syndrome. I was happy to hear (and to read) that spending time in flip flops and barefoot is good for strengthening your foot because I live in flip flops 9 months of the year here (except at work, unfortunately) and I am always barefoot at home.

Here is the weekly wrap up – I am really looking forward to running again this week (and listening to Born to Run!)!

Mileage for Week Ending 1/17/2010
Swim: 2000 yards in 1:00
Bike: 50 miles in 3:10
Run: 17 miles in 2:41
Total: 6:51

Stretching / Foam Roller / Push Ups / Core: 1:50

Born to Run

2010-01-14T10:54:00.001-06:00

I am currently listening to Born to Run on audio and I am really enjoying the stories of these ultra runners. Like others, it has reminded me how much I love to run. I think now more than ever, after a forced hiatus from running, I realize how much I enjoy running.

Like the author of Born to Run, I am frustrated by an injury and even more frustrated by the conflicting advice that is currently saturating the running community. Newtons and the Barefoot phenomenon vs more supportive shoes is just one example.

I have not finished the book but my husband and others have, so I know generally how the author feels about stretching, cushioned running shoes, podiatrist, orthotics, etc -- and spoiler alert -- he thinks they are crap.

I am currently running in a light weight fairly neutral shoe. I have been wearing this exact shoe and style for over a year, but in that time, I have gone through 3 pairs and until mid-November I was totally injury free. In fact, I have run for exercise for as long as I can remember and have never had a running injury.

I know a lot of people who swear by stretching and orthotics and others who think they cause more harm than good.

So what gives? Is there a right answer? My guess is that it depends on the person, so I need to figure out what I need. Has something changed in how I run and what is the best way to be entirely injury free again? I am working on getting these questions answered.

After 3 weeks of rest from running and 6 weeks of PT, I have had three runs back. My first run, a 4 miler, went off without a hitch and I had no pain during or after. My PT encouraged me to increase my distance to see how I felt, so on Tuesday I ran 7 miles with no pain during the run, but I felt the Piriformis Syndrome for the rest of the day. It is not extremely painful, but, it is literally, a pain in the butt! It also makes my leg tingle. I had no pain on Wednesday though, so I tried again this morning and I will see how I feel the rest of the day. I had no acute pain during today's run.

I have an appointment on Monday with a new podiatrist that treats a lot of local triathletes and runners. I will be interested in what he has to say. I still have some pain in my left foot in the anterior tibial tendon, so I will ask him about that too.

So, the bottom line for me is that neither of my injuries bothered me while I was not running, but came back, at least to some degree, when I started running again. I know there is a formula to get back to the point where I could run forever without any pain, during or after, and I just need to figure out what it is.

The good news is that the fire pain I felt in my calves on my two runs immediately before I took my 3 week break has not returned. That was the main driver on taking the time off. At the time the PT thought I may have been overcompensating from the Piriformis Syndrome, but I think it likely had more to do with the hills and speed work I did the weekend prior. The PS in my right hip and the tendonitis in my left foot don't hurt (much) while I am running, so I am confident that I can simultaneously work on correcting these issues while keeping my April races on track. A bike focused program is usually beneficial to triathletes, right?

So, for now, I am gathering opinions on the best course forward. My last PT appointment is tomorrow so I will see what they have to say. Then there is the podiatrist appointment, and I am also looking for someone to look at my running form. I would love to hear what you all think.

Do I hang up my running shoes for a while longer? Note: I don't think this is the answer :)

Do I try custom orthotics?

Do I work on my running form?

Do I do nothing and see if I leave it alone - no PT to aggravate it, whether it gets better on its own?

Recommendations on who to visit for a second / third / fourth opinion?

Something else?

I do agree with the author on one thing for certain -- we are born to run and running should be generally pain free. I WILL find a way to get there again!

Decisions

2010-01-10T10:18:00.000-06:00

You know, the thing about decisions for me is that they can be hard to make, but once they are made I feel so much better. I try not to question the decision, but stick with the plan that was made as a result of the decision.

After some soul searching and a heart to heart with my super supportive hubby, I decided not to run the Rocky Raccoon 50 miler. First, I had to ask myself why this race was so important to me.

I just needed to be honest with myself to realize the reason the race was really important to me was that my training partner and I had discussed doing this together and I did not want to let him down.

Do I want to do an ultra one day? Yes. Do I want to do an ultra less than 1 month from now after coming off an injury and 3 weeks of no running? Ummm, no.

Rocky was never an A race, it was a space filler, something to train for during the off season. So why risk aggravating an injury that could jeapordize my entire tri season? I want to train for an ultra and be able to treat it as an A race.

I felt like a huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders when I told my buddy that I was not going to run. I volunteered to go out and support him on the course and even volunteer at the race, if he chooses to run it.

With that, there is no looking back. I am finishing up PT, enjoying the rest of my off season (with a new reduced schedule!), and looking at a couple of shorter road races to add some fun in to the schedule in February.

I have two races in April that I am targeting, a new Oly distance race put on by the race directors that do Escape from Alcatraz, called Gateway to the Bay (April 11) and the Lonestar 70.3 (April 24), two weeks later.

My training is going to have to start in earnest in abut two weeks, so I am going to try to have as much fun as I can over the next two weeks - mixing up my workouts and not worrying about mileage.

Oh, and very exciting news ... I was cleared for a test run! I ran 4 miles on Saturday with NO PAIN! I will be s-l-o-w-l-y building my mileage back up over the next month, provided the PT is happy with my progress on Monday.

Mileage for Week Ending 1/10/2010
Swim: 2200 yards in 1:00
Bike: 20 miles in 1:15
Run: 4 miles in 0:37
Elliptical: 2:45
Rowing: 0:15
Total Active Time: 5:52

Stretching / Foam Roller / Push Ups / Core: 1:05

Happy training!

Sunday Report

2010-01-03T22:12:00.000-06:00

I am starting to have a love / hate relationship with the elliptical machine. In an effort to keep up my "mileage", now that I have been cleared to do everything but run, I have been spending a lot of quality time on the elliptical to simulate running.

I am headed to the PT tomorrow morning for another session and I am hopeful that he sees improvement in my leg ... but the real test will come when I get to go for my first test run, hopefully Saturday.

In the mean time, I will be spending a lot more quality time on the elliptical machine. Fun, fun, fun! I will never complain about a long run again ...

Mileage for Week Ending 1/3/2010(!)
Swim: 2200 yards in 1:00 -- toughest, slowest swim I have had in a long time! Serves me right for skipping the pool for 3 weeks.
Bike: 12 miles in 0:45
Run: 0 miles in 0:00
Elliptical: 5:00
Total Active Time: 6:45

Stretching / Foam Roller / Push Ups / Core: 0:50

Goals for 2010

2010-01-01T08:00:00.004-06:00

Happy New Year!

The birth of a new decade brings with it new goals and new challenges.

I try to keep things simple, so I usually have one goal a year and everything I do is in working towards that goal.

My goals for the last several years have been:

2006 - pass the CPA exam
2007 - Tyler was born, nurse for 1 year
2008 - Get back in shape for me, tackle a HIM
2009 - Ironman Florida

Don't get me wrong, there are always other, smaller goals that I may be working on at any given time, but there are only so many hours in a day, so those goals sometimes get squeezed as I work on my main goal for the year (for example, my photography has taken a major backseat to triathlon training) while trying to also be the best mommy, wife, friend, daughter, and worker bee that I can be.

So, what is in store for 2010?

I have a personal, non-triathlon specific goal that will be easy to quantify at the end of the year (e.g. did I do it or not!), and that is ...

To read the Bible from cover to cover. I found a great One Year Bible, which is broken into 365 daily readings (15 minutes or less a day!). This has been on my list for a while, so I am excited to have found a tool to help me achieve this goal.

I also want to spend more time on photography, but I know that until I make it a priority (like take classes, buy lenses), I will live in a state of mediocrity! I am going to make an effort to add more photos to my blogs this year to kill two birds with one stone and I will also look for a photography project each month to keep me focused.

Jan - Get organized!; Feb - Tyler's 3rd Bday Portraits; Mar - Spring Break; Apr - Bluebonnets; May -Mommy&Me (tripod fun); Jun - Father's Day - Daddy Photos; Jul - Andrew's 6th(!) Bday Portraits; Aug - Summer Fun; Sept - Road Trip; Oct - Halloween Portraits; Nov - A Day in Photos; Dec - Night Photography

The endurance training front is trickier for me for 2010. I do have specific goals but I don't have a big, fat hairy goal like I have had the last 2 years. It is almost harder because I am trying to fine tune my training (and results!) so rather than a singular goal, I have a theme I want to focus on in 2010. I am hopeful that if I write down my plan I will be more likely to hold myself accountable each month on the topics below.

Theme: Respect my body.

It has worked hard for me for 2 years and I need to return the favor by giving it what it needs. No more excuses that I don't have time. I need to train smarter not harder, and I am going to do that by:

1. Weekly stretching and foam rollering. Massages as necessary. Tackle minor injuries before they turn into big problems.

Quantifiable goal: 30 mins per week of stretching and/or foam rollering. That is less than 5 minutes per day! I can do that ...

2. Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition. Every day, pre-race and race day. I did a good job with race day nutrition in 2009, but I could have done a lot more in terms of daily hydration (I live in a constant state of dehydration), recovery nutrition (directly after a long, hard workout or after a race), and of course, my daily diet (hello vegetables, nice to meet you, my name is Anne ...).

Quantifiable Goal: drink at least 64 ounces of water a day (more when needed) and begin using First Endurance Ultragen for recovery after all hard efforts and races. My diet? I need a goal I can achieve, so my goal is to learn to make 2 new healthy, well balanced meals that we can add to our repertoire.

3. Core / stability / strength training sessions 2x per week

Quantifiable Goal: I want abs. No more mommy belly. In January I will work with a personal trainer to develop a program that I can follow 1) at the gym (30-45 minutes) and 2) at home (15 minutes or less). I may not ever have a 6 pack, but I can be fit and strong!

4. Focus on swimming technique

Quantifiable Goal: Get videoed (again!) and work on weak areas. Do more intervals to work on speed. Utilize Tri swim coach DVD. To swim fast you have to swim fast!

5. Fun Goals to Chase

Quantifiable Goals:
-Do a Sprint just for fun and leave it all on the course
-PR HIM (time to beat: 5:52:58)
-Complete Cedar Point Iron Distance Triathlon -- if I can maintain my swim and run and better my bike, I should be able to break 13:00 and then some ...
-Complete an Ultra (may defer this goal depending on recovery of existing injuries)

To keep myself honest, I will check-in on these goals when I do my month in numbers blog posts. Here is to a productive year!

Year In Review

2009-12-31T11:05:00.004-06:00

2009 was an incredible year for me personally. I turned 30 and accomplished two big goals - a sub 4 hour marathon and an Ironman finish. It is easy to lose perspective when you are living this lifestyle -- at least for me -- and I sometimes have to take a step back and remind myself of the awesomeness of the feats I tackled this year.

The good thing about perspective is that is keeps me humble (I hope!), reminds me not to rest on my laurels and in the grand scheme of things, reminds me that these endurance sports I enjoy so much are hobbies. I know that I am not curing cancer or inventing something that is going to change the lives of millions ... but I am changing my life and hopefully setting a good example for my boys.

So, as this year draws to a close, we will be celebrating the end of a memorable year and toasting to even better things to come. The best to you and yours for 2010!

Mileage for 2009
Swim: 286,862 yards or 163 miles in 116:09:00 -- approximately the distance from Houston to Austin. 3x the volume of 2008!
Bike: 4058 miles in 240:14:00 -- approximately the distance from Houston to Lake Tahoe and back! 3x the volume of 2008!
Run: 1451 miles in 219:38:00 -- approximately the distance from Houston to Baltimore (I could have run to see Trishie!). A 60% increase from 2008!

Total Time: 577:33:00

Off the Bench and Other Musings

2009-12-30T09:55:00.003-06:00

Good news: I was partially released from the PT to do everything ...

Bad news: ... but running. I am out of my running shoes until January 9. In the mean time, I think I am going to have to start a love affair with the Elliptical machine.

With my new freedom and my PT's blessing, I hit the pool this morning. It was my first time in several weeks to swim and as such I thought I would feel phenomenal, gliding through the water after coming off a week's rest.

Umm, no.

The good news was that I had not forgotten how to swim, but I definitely didn't feel like a fish. It was a good reminder to me on why I don't take time away from the pool. I have decided I need one of these to keep me motivated in the pool.

I did hit the deck and do 5 sets of 10 push-ups immediately after my swim ... the pool was empty, otherwise, I probably would have been too intimitated, but I was really happy with myself afterwards.

With my second season of triathlon behind me, I want my focus this upcoming year to be on getting stronger (hence the push-ups) and ultimately working smarter, not necessarily harder. Goals/resolutions for 2010 coming soon ...

Mileage for Week Ending 12/27/09
Swim: 0 yards in 0:00
Bike: 16 miles in 1:00
Run: 16.4 miles in 2:30[2 workouts]
Total Time: 3:30

And for your reading pleasure, How to Train for Triathon without Getting a Divorce ...

On the Bench

2009-12-23T11:43:00.001-06:00

Despite some improvements, my PT put me on the bench Wednesday. To his credit, we tried active recovery. I am just not improving enough and as I overcompensate, I am feeling pulls and strains in other places, like my calves (really, the soleus muscle). The last thing I want to do is get a season ending injury before the season starts!

I have been ordered to take a week off of EVERYTHING. No swimming, no biking and definitely no running! They really don't want me to do anything that engages my legs. They almost begged me to just take the entire week off (no yoga, no pilates, etc) and to just do the excercises they gave me.

Rather than being frustrated, I am going to enjoy the time off a la Steve in a Speedo and spend the quality time with my family. I will do the strengthening exercises and stretches and maybe some core work and push ups, but that is it. I am confident that if I am good for this week that when I go in for my evaluation Tuesday morning I will be cleared to at least swim and bike again. I have a feeling that they are going to suggest additional time out of my running shoes though ... (let's face it, I am really only doing 5 days of nothing as it stands since I biked Wednesday at lunch before PT).

So, how do I feel about all this and what does it mean for the Rocky Raccoon 50?

I have mixed feelings, to be honest. I worked extremely hard for nearly 2 years straight to get to Ironman. I got there injury free and had an amazing race. I can see the big picture and I am not going to be selfish. Being an athlete means respecting my body, and as the PT reminded me, this is not my source of income.

I still really want to do the Rocky 50, but I will not be broken hearted if I have to miss it ... definitely not like I would have been to miss Ironman. It is all going to depend on how much time I have to take off and the improvements I make in that period. There will be other opportunities to do an Ultra and the practical person in me is happy because I haven't actually registered for the race yet (I was waiting to see how my recovery progressed).

Gluttony, here I come! Good thing New Year's resolutions are around the corner ...

Recovery Week

2009-12-20T13:14:00.003-06:00

Ahhh ... recovery week. I would have loved to do some swimming or biking this week, but I just couldn't find the time and I didn't want to break my no doubles rule this month. I find it funny that I couldn't find the time, when in reality, that really means, it just wasn't as important to me this week as was sleeping in, the demands of my job and Christmas shopping! I really am trying to take this off season stuff seriously!

I am looking forward to having some time off from work in the upcoming weeks so my big running weeks won't feel so demanding. I have also not been as respectful to my body as I should be -- no stretching, foam rollering or PT this week. I am working on my resolutions for 2010 and this will definitely by one of them. You have to take care of the body that works so hard to deliver the results you demand from it. My training resolutions for 2010 will definitely center around that theme.

Mileage for Week Ending 12/20/09
Swim: 0 yards in 0:00
Bike: 0 miles in 0:00
Run: 38 miles in 5:45 [4 workouts]
Total Time: 5:45