Not too much going on lately. I have begun my taper for my race on the 17th. This week my long run was "only" 2hrs and my long bike was 3hr 25min. I have been feeling decent on most of my workouts so I am hoping to be speedy for the race. My plan is to try and race like it is a short race...not the half that it really is. During my long training weeks I over distance trained so in theory it is a "short" race.
The main concern I have for the race is going to be the hot and humid weather. On days that have been warmer here my heart rate definitely increases exponentially. So, the shock of having real hot weather, plus the humidity may be a problem.
I ordered a swimskin for the swim if it is a non-wetsuit swim. But maybe I will luck out and it will be a wetsuit swim. Us slow swimmers love the wetsuit swims!
Next week begins my real taper of workouts scheduled with actual days off. I also drop of my bike for shipping on the 8th so I will be without my bike for awhile.
After my race, I have about 11 weeks before my next half iron in Boulder. Then another 13 weeks before my full ironman. When you look at it that way it doesn't seem like that long of a time. I will need to create a training plan to work with this odd number of weeks. I'm also planning on doing a few sprint races in Aug, as well. Maybe one in June.
That's about it for now. I have been working a lot on the travel for my team this summer and planning tournaments, flights, kids on the teams and that fun logistical stuff. This weekend at the gym they are having a 10-mile treadmill relay with teams of 4. I think that might be kind of fun, at least it gives some variety for run club.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Speedster...
OK, I wish I was a speedster. Today was another day to realize that either I am slow, or the treadmill is confused. I'm going with the latter. This week, I have missed a few swims but I also needed one more run workout, which was a speed workout. Thanks to Colorado weather, which consisted of solid rain for two days (no snow at my house), I had to take my running back into the gym.
My run was to consist of 4x800, 4x400, 6x200. I thought this would be pretty easy to do inside. Just run .5 miles for the 800's, .25 for the 400's and .12/.13 for the 200's. I warmed up with an easy mile, which isn't so easy at this point since I have my mysterious injury and it is hard to straighten my leg out completely...anyway.
Let me regress. To qualify for the boulder bolder you can run inside on the treadmill. One year I ran a qualifying race and qualified for one of the top waves. When I saw the treadmill speed I would have had to have run to qualify for that same wave I thought that to be impossible. However, I keep reading these treadmill calculators and think that the "pace" on the treadmill can't be too far off..??
I started today's run with an 800. Which quickly turned into a 400. I thought I might fly off the back of the treadmill. My body needed to be shocked back into a faster pace, which is something you usually do when you run on a track, you run a few "pickups". My second set I started the 800's. These were difficult. I was running at about 8.1 speed and it took me nearly 3:45 sec to run an 800. This is ridiculous! On a track I run 800's in 3:00-3:10, never do I run nearly 4 minutes for an 800!! I recovered and decided that I would try again, maybe I started my watch too early or something. The next 800 I ran in 3:44 and I ran between 8.1/8.2.
I wasn't sure what to do. I thought maybe I should just run for time, instead of distance. I figured that was the wimpy way out, ugh. So, I finished my 800's, 400's and the 200's all between an 8.1-8.4 pace. I definitely got more "time" on my sprints. But I am still convinced the treadmill is either incorrect on mileage or pace.
On a separate note, today one of my players got her eye split open and had to go to the hospital for 10 stitches. Now of course I would play tomorrow with this..it was similar to when I was in high school I went head to head with another player and instead of my eye splitting open it was so gigantic it was swollen shut for nearly two weeks, it was an awesome black eye! I continued playing later that day and I couldn't even open my eye or see anyone on my right side. The best line of the day though came from another parent. They were wondering if she was going to play tomorrow and I said, well knowing how they are, probably not. He said "why not?? her eye is really quite far from her heart!" It took me a minute to understand, but I thought it was great, now mind you this guys daughter played all last year with a stress fracture in her back (they didn't know) and ended up having surgery at the end of the season. But still it was a great line.
My run was to consist of 4x800, 4x400, 6x200. I thought this would be pretty easy to do inside. Just run .5 miles for the 800's, .25 for the 400's and .12/.13 for the 200's. I warmed up with an easy mile, which isn't so easy at this point since I have my mysterious injury and it is hard to straighten my leg out completely...anyway.
Let me regress. To qualify for the boulder bolder you can run inside on the treadmill. One year I ran a qualifying race and qualified for one of the top waves. When I saw the treadmill speed I would have had to have run to qualify for that same wave I thought that to be impossible. However, I keep reading these treadmill calculators and think that the "pace" on the treadmill can't be too far off..??
I started today's run with an 800. Which quickly turned into a 400. I thought I might fly off the back of the treadmill. My body needed to be shocked back into a faster pace, which is something you usually do when you run on a track, you run a few "pickups". My second set I started the 800's. These were difficult. I was running at about 8.1 speed and it took me nearly 3:45 sec to run an 800. This is ridiculous! On a track I run 800's in 3:00-3:10, never do I run nearly 4 minutes for an 800!! I recovered and decided that I would try again, maybe I started my watch too early or something. The next 800 I ran in 3:44 and I ran between 8.1/8.2.
I wasn't sure what to do. I thought maybe I should just run for time, instead of distance. I figured that was the wimpy way out, ugh. So, I finished my 800's, 400's and the 200's all between an 8.1-8.4 pace. I definitely got more "time" on my sprints. But I am still convinced the treadmill is either incorrect on mileage or pace.
On a separate note, today one of my players got her eye split open and had to go to the hospital for 10 stitches. Now of course I would play tomorrow with this..it was similar to when I was in high school I went head to head with another player and instead of my eye splitting open it was so gigantic it was swollen shut for nearly two weeks, it was an awesome black eye! I continued playing later that day and I couldn't even open my eye or see anyone on my right side. The best line of the day though came from another parent. They were wondering if she was going to play tomorrow and I said, well knowing how they are, probably not. He said "why not?? her eye is really quite far from her heart!" It took me a minute to understand, but I thought it was great, now mind you this guys daughter played all last year with a stress fracture in her back (they didn't know) and ended up having surgery at the end of the season. But still it was a great line.
Monday, April 13, 2009
First encounter...
I had my first scary encounter today.
My afternoon workout was a 2hr bike ride. I decided to ride one of my usual routes, I made it out, on an out and back, and was returning on my ride. Now remember while biking I wear headphones so noise is limited, I don't wear them too loud, but enough to block out the wind. Anyway, I was riding back and I heard a loud GROWL..it must have been really loud to have heard it as loud as it was through the headphones. I looked back to see a large dog nipping at my back wheel!
I wasn't sure what to do. Out of instinct I tried to ride as fast as I could, the dog was not losing much ground. There was a slight hill which helped him and hindered me..I was getting worried. I didn't know how long he would keep following me. It crossed my mind to stop, since they always say if you are being chased by an animal you shouldn't run...but this animal was not friendly. It wanted to bite me. After about 3 minutes, which seemed like 20 the dog stopped. I looked at my hr monitor which said my heart rate was 180!
After the dog turned around and I settled down a bit, I started getting worried because right before the dog chased me I had passed an older guy riding the other direction. I hope he didn't turn around and ride pass the mean dog. I am glad the dog stopped chasing me, the more I thought about it Stella probably wouldn't have stopped and she probably would have caught me!
After my ride of 37 miles I came home and ran some errands and then went to run club. Today we ran from Inta Juice and since I had a moderate run of 1hr30min to do, I decided to run to run club (5.1 miles/45min). We headed out to follow a 5k race trail and add a loop around the nearby lake, which was an additional 1.5 miles around. The run with run club ended up a bit longer than expected at 6.5 miles and so my total for the day at about 11.6 miles and 1hr 45min. The best part was the smoothie after the run!
Tomorrow I am heading up to Ft. Morgan with Pedro. I am planning on getting my long bike ride in while he does his qualifications. I figured it would be nice to have a change of scenery..now let's hope the weather agrees!
My afternoon workout was a 2hr bike ride. I decided to ride one of my usual routes, I made it out, on an out and back, and was returning on my ride. Now remember while biking I wear headphones so noise is limited, I don't wear them too loud, but enough to block out the wind. Anyway, I was riding back and I heard a loud GROWL..it must have been really loud to have heard it as loud as it was through the headphones. I looked back to see a large dog nipping at my back wheel!
I wasn't sure what to do. Out of instinct I tried to ride as fast as I could, the dog was not losing much ground. There was a slight hill which helped him and hindered me..I was getting worried. I didn't know how long he would keep following me. It crossed my mind to stop, since they always say if you are being chased by an animal you shouldn't run...but this animal was not friendly. It wanted to bite me. After about 3 minutes, which seemed like 20 the dog stopped. I looked at my hr monitor which said my heart rate was 180!
After the dog turned around and I settled down a bit, I started getting worried because right before the dog chased me I had passed an older guy riding the other direction. I hope he didn't turn around and ride pass the mean dog. I am glad the dog stopped chasing me, the more I thought about it Stella probably wouldn't have stopped and she probably would have caught me!
After my ride of 37 miles I came home and ran some errands and then went to run club. Today we ran from Inta Juice and since I had a moderate run of 1hr30min to do, I decided to run to run club (5.1 miles/45min). We headed out to follow a 5k race trail and add a loop around the nearby lake, which was an additional 1.5 miles around. The run with run club ended up a bit longer than expected at 6.5 miles and so my total for the day at about 11.6 miles and 1hr 45min. The best part was the smoothie after the run!
Tomorrow I am heading up to Ft. Morgan with Pedro. I am planning on getting my long bike ride in while he does his qualifications. I figured it would be nice to have a change of scenery..now let's hope the weather agrees!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Easter!
Easter is one of my favorite holidays. I love it because it signifies, to me, the seasons changing to a more "green" spring.
Another reason I love Easter is the music at church. I wish they would sing the Easter songs all year round! Today after church we had breakfast at the church, which consisted of pancakes, eggs and fruit. After a brief respid we then went to Simms Landing for brunch and lunch. I love eating, so we know any place that has a lot of food is good for me! I had an omelete, waffles, french toast and fruit for breakfast. Then I had a salad and a few cookies for lunch!
Anyway, here is a picture of us at Simms Landing. We are a few short, Pedro had to work (though I hear he went to brunch at someone's house), my mom watched Grey and Kurt, Dena and the kids were planning to go to her families and then decided to come with us, but the restaurant wouldn't change our reservation, because we already had too many.
Another reason I love Easter is the music at church. I wish they would sing the Easter songs all year round! Today after church we had breakfast at the church, which consisted of pancakes, eggs and fruit. After a brief respid we then went to Simms Landing for brunch and lunch. I love eating, so we know any place that has a lot of food is good for me! I had an omelete, waffles, french toast and fruit for breakfast. Then I had a salad and a few cookies for lunch!
Anyway, here is a picture of us at Simms Landing. We are a few short, Pedro had to work (though I hear he went to brunch at someone's house), my mom watched Grey and Kurt, Dena and the kids were planning to go to her families and then decided to come with us, but the restaurant wouldn't change our reservation, because we already had too many.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Grey...
New pictures of Grey. He got to go home yesterday from the hospital. We bought him this awesome swing, now if they would just make one big enough for an adult!
Pedro put the swing together...
This is Grey right after his "unhappy" diaper change:
Pedro put the swing together...
This is Grey right after his "unhappy" diaper change:
Monday, April 6, 2009
Nutrition...
Nutrition plays a huge role in training. There are some days that I totally forget this piece of information and eat things that should never make there way into any diet, let alone someone training.
Saturday we had the baby shower (thank goodness we had it before the baby!) and I had ice cream cake, oreo "bark", wings, boneless wings, cookies and soda. Then I went to the nuggets game, I was stuffed but decided to have nachos. I am actually, disguisted even writing this!
Anyway, fast-forward to today. I had a 3hr bike ride and a speed/track workout. I decided to try and go outside today for my ride, even though it was about 45 degrees. I bundled up and left for my ride. It was cold, but the worse part were my legs. They were exhausted. Tired at the beginning of a bike ride is never a good sign, it's not like when you go running and the first mile is usually the hardest. Anyway, I kept thinking it would get better. It didn't. Then it dawned on me, I am on some of my longest weeks of training and I ate the worse possible foods. I am not sure what else I was expecting.
I finished the ride at 2hr 35 min because between the fatigue and the numb feet I decided it was best to go home, the ride was 50 miles.
After the ride I had a bit of time to recover so I went to go see Grey. Today I could actually hold him, but he slept pretty much the whole time.
Then I headed to run club. Today we did a track workout. It consisted of a warm up followed by 2x800, 4x400, 4x200 with the recovery being a jog/walk of half the time it took to do the interval. So, today was our first track workout together. I have never heard so many excuses and seen so many people just quit or take 2 times as long on recovery.
If you have ever run on the track or run sprints you know, it's not fun. Your chest burns, your legs burn and at some point you actually can't feel your legs. Today a few people stopped running after 2 of the 400's because they said, there legs were tired. No really?? Your legs are tired doing sprints??? I wanted to point out I had just recently finished my 50 mile ride, which was already on tired legs, but I figured it wasn't me being a quitter. Most did finish the 800's and 400's. We got to the 200's which are definitely not as bad. When I finished my 200's everyone was still on their first or second 200 so I decided to do two extra 200's, for a total of 6x200. Than one lady still had another 200 to do and I wait for the last person before I cool down...so I did 4x100's while waiting. For a total of 3 miles of sprints (which was actually what I had wanted to do). This last lady wasn't slow, she just took forever on her recoveries.
Today, including recoveries was 47 minutes and 4.80 miles of running (3 miles of sprints and the rest as recovery/warmup/cooldown).
Anyway, I usually feel pretty good when I do sprint workouts or hill workouts because I know people do not like doing them...but I couldn't believe people actually stopped running and said their legs were tired!!
Now I am going to do some epsom salts to help my legs a bit before I do a longer workout tomorrow (not sure which one yet).
Saturday we had the baby shower (thank goodness we had it before the baby!) and I had ice cream cake, oreo "bark", wings, boneless wings, cookies and soda. Then I went to the nuggets game, I was stuffed but decided to have nachos. I am actually, disguisted even writing this!
Anyway, fast-forward to today. I had a 3hr bike ride and a speed/track workout. I decided to try and go outside today for my ride, even though it was about 45 degrees. I bundled up and left for my ride. It was cold, but the worse part were my legs. They were exhausted. Tired at the beginning of a bike ride is never a good sign, it's not like when you go running and the first mile is usually the hardest. Anyway, I kept thinking it would get better. It didn't. Then it dawned on me, I am on some of my longest weeks of training and I ate the worse possible foods. I am not sure what else I was expecting.
I finished the ride at 2hr 35 min because between the fatigue and the numb feet I decided it was best to go home, the ride was 50 miles.
After the ride I had a bit of time to recover so I went to go see Grey. Today I could actually hold him, but he slept pretty much the whole time.
Then I headed to run club. Today we did a track workout. It consisted of a warm up followed by 2x800, 4x400, 4x200 with the recovery being a jog/walk of half the time it took to do the interval. So, today was our first track workout together. I have never heard so many excuses and seen so many people just quit or take 2 times as long on recovery.
If you have ever run on the track or run sprints you know, it's not fun. Your chest burns, your legs burn and at some point you actually can't feel your legs. Today a few people stopped running after 2 of the 400's because they said, there legs were tired. No really?? Your legs are tired doing sprints??? I wanted to point out I had just recently finished my 50 mile ride, which was already on tired legs, but I figured it wasn't me being a quitter. Most did finish the 800's and 400's. We got to the 200's which are definitely not as bad. When I finished my 200's everyone was still on their first or second 200 so I decided to do two extra 200's, for a total of 6x200. Than one lady still had another 200 to do and I wait for the last person before I cool down...so I did 4x100's while waiting. For a total of 3 miles of sprints (which was actually what I had wanted to do). This last lady wasn't slow, she just took forever on her recoveries.
Today, including recoveries was 47 minutes and 4.80 miles of running (3 miles of sprints and the rest as recovery/warmup/cooldown).
Anyway, I usually feel pretty good when I do sprint workouts or hill workouts because I know people do not like doing them...but I couldn't believe people actually stopped running and said their legs were tired!!
Now I am going to do some epsom salts to help my legs a bit before I do a longer workout tomorrow (not sure which one yet).
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Baby Grey
Today I became an aunt...again for the, let me see here, for the 9th time. However, it was the first kid for Kory and Karen. This is a video of Grey. He is very cute. He has very big feet and had a black eye, I'm convinced this is a very good sign for him to be an athlete! I wear a size 10.5 in women's and have always been told it was a sign of a good athlete, or was that to make me feel better about my skis, I mean feet? And, well black eyes are the best thing ever!! They make you look tough! Grey weighed in at 4lbs 14oz and was 18 and 1/4inch long.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Mental toughness...
More than anything physical, this week of training has been more about mental toughness. Colorado weather has again proved to be a pain in the butt. As I have said before, it is either snowing, windy or 100 degrees. The few days that are 70 degrees and nice are my favorite days of the year. This week was not full of those days.
This week was my longest "hours" of training. Monday came with a 5hr bike ride. Because it was very cold, windy (and recently snowed, though it had already melted)and sandy on the streets I had to stay indoors for this long ride. I moved my bike to be square in front of the tv and I rode while watching a myriad of shows. This became, not a day of physical strength, but more of mental toughness. Sitting indoors on a bike for 5hrs (actually 4hrs 45min, I had to cut it a few minutes short) and 87miles is a difficult task.
After getting off the bike I had my new favorite fuel, oatmeal with chocolate chips and peanut butter, then headed out for a speed run. This speed run took place with two of my players and my other run coach. We ran the stairs and hills at the rec center. We went 4 sets of 5 minutes on the stairs/hills and recovered with 2.5min of running flat. It was cold, it was windy but surprisingly I felt pretty good.
Tuesday it was better out, but not great. I headed indoors for a run on the treadmill. I ran 1hr 45min. The first hour was spent running under hr control and then I finished it with one minute on and one minute recovery. Again, to have to restart the treadmill (it only goes for 1hr) takes mental toughness. I followed this up with a speed swim.
Weds started bright and early with swim club. I swam 3,500m. Swim club is one of those places that makes me feel fast (I know I am not really). I swam this distance while the other people swam about 2,000 meters in the same amount of time. After the early swim I eat and take a nap. I followed this with an hour ride indoors and headed to the gym for weights and stair master.
Thursday..
I woke up thinking I should get my long run in for the week. It was a decent day out, about 45 degrees. My brilliant idea was to get someone to run with me for at least one of the three hours that I had to run. Sadly, there were no takers. I decided to head out and just "run". Running without heart rate control and just try and make the 3 hours.
I started running and decided to go to the platte trail where I had run with run club two weeks ago. I knew I was running a decent pace when I reached the run club turn around point in a lot less time than I had with run club. I headed out for a 1hr 37 min (I was taking a slightly different route home, so I figured I needed the extra few minutes) and turned around to come home.
Coming home was a lot more difficult. I stopped at business to refill my water that I was carrying and I also stopped to pop a blister I was getting on my foot...mental toughness was starting to kick in when I realized that most of the run home was "feeling" like uphill. Even the downhill that I was looking forward to, did not feel as good as I had hoped (this was 3 miles from home).
In the end I ran 21.57 miles and the best part was I ran it at an 8:51 pace. My 3hr run turned out to be a bit longer, with the bad estimate of my different route home. My average heart rate was 165, which is not bad at all. What does it mean for my upcoming race?? I don't know but it definitely helped build some confidence in my training. I have never run that pace or distance in training.
My legs were tired because a lot of the run took place on cement, which is not something I usually do. But today (Friday) they felt almost back to normal.
Today I had a long swim. I decided to save my 3 hr bike ride for tomorrow to save my legs a bit more. Besides it is suppose to snow again tonight, so I'll be inside again....
Next week I start my run taper, the following week bike taper and then swim taper before my race.
This week was my longest "hours" of training. Monday came with a 5hr bike ride. Because it was very cold, windy (and recently snowed, though it had already melted)and sandy on the streets I had to stay indoors for this long ride. I moved my bike to be square in front of the tv and I rode while watching a myriad of shows. This became, not a day of physical strength, but more of mental toughness. Sitting indoors on a bike for 5hrs (actually 4hrs 45min, I had to cut it a few minutes short) and 87miles is a difficult task.
After getting off the bike I had my new favorite fuel, oatmeal with chocolate chips and peanut butter, then headed out for a speed run. This speed run took place with two of my players and my other run coach. We ran the stairs and hills at the rec center. We went 4 sets of 5 minutes on the stairs/hills and recovered with 2.5min of running flat. It was cold, it was windy but surprisingly I felt pretty good.
Tuesday it was better out, but not great. I headed indoors for a run on the treadmill. I ran 1hr 45min. The first hour was spent running under hr control and then I finished it with one minute on and one minute recovery. Again, to have to restart the treadmill (it only goes for 1hr) takes mental toughness. I followed this up with a speed swim.
Weds started bright and early with swim club. I swam 3,500m. Swim club is one of those places that makes me feel fast (I know I am not really). I swam this distance while the other people swam about 2,000 meters in the same amount of time. After the early swim I eat and take a nap. I followed this with an hour ride indoors and headed to the gym for weights and stair master.
Thursday..
I woke up thinking I should get my long run in for the week. It was a decent day out, about 45 degrees. My brilliant idea was to get someone to run with me for at least one of the three hours that I had to run. Sadly, there were no takers. I decided to head out and just "run". Running without heart rate control and just try and make the 3 hours.
I started running and decided to go to the platte trail where I had run with run club two weeks ago. I knew I was running a decent pace when I reached the run club turn around point in a lot less time than I had with run club. I headed out for a 1hr 37 min (I was taking a slightly different route home, so I figured I needed the extra few minutes) and turned around to come home.
Coming home was a lot more difficult. I stopped at business to refill my water that I was carrying and I also stopped to pop a blister I was getting on my foot...mental toughness was starting to kick in when I realized that most of the run home was "feeling" like uphill. Even the downhill that I was looking forward to, did not feel as good as I had hoped (this was 3 miles from home).
In the end I ran 21.57 miles and the best part was I ran it at an 8:51 pace. My 3hr run turned out to be a bit longer, with the bad estimate of my different route home. My average heart rate was 165, which is not bad at all. What does it mean for my upcoming race?? I don't know but it definitely helped build some confidence in my training. I have never run that pace or distance in training.
My legs were tired because a lot of the run took place on cement, which is not something I usually do. But today (Friday) they felt almost back to normal.
Today I had a long swim. I decided to save my 3 hr bike ride for tomorrow to save my legs a bit more. Besides it is suppose to snow again tonight, so I'll be inside again....
Next week I start my run taper, the following week bike taper and then swim taper before my race.
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