Tonight Angela and I went out for a 9 mile bike, 1 mile run brick. One of my finest moments of training so far came today when I finally conquered the massive hill on our usual bike ride. Every time I see that hill I think I swear in my head. It felt good to actually ride my bike up it for once.
I've been in the pool a few times this week and came close to 6 consecutive lengths. That's HUGE for me. Still wish I could swim the tri with an inner tube but there's another 6 weeks to go.
I have another sinus infection. Or I guess it's the same one that just won't give up. Hopefully the stronger antibiotics get rid of it and I can get on with training... work outs wear me out enough, I don't need anything holding me back at this point.
I was in pain I was so hungry today. This phenomenon was not due to an empty stomach either, I could have won a competitive eating championship today. I think its the swimming that's doing it. I might as well start packing a cooler for work.
Listening to: Gonna Fly Now/ Theme from Rocky
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Next Gen
If my nephew Alex is around I usually can't take my bike out without giving him a ride... the kid seriously needs a tricycle!
Getting some "help" with my hydration.
Nutrition Update
Cliff Peanut Butter Pretzel Bars are actually pretty good, they've got nothing on my favorite candy bar Take 5 though.... I know it's not really a fair comparison but I was hoping for a closer resemblance.
Time to step it up
Saturday Angela, Elyssa and I went to watch our first Tri at Green Lake's State Park. It was well worth the hour drive as we got to see what an 800m tri swim looks like in open water. It looks like utter chaos. I'm thanking my lucky stars our swim was shortened to 600m after seeing everything I'll have to contend with. I'm not exactly sure how anyone breathes actual air in that mess. The splashing and waves from all the swimmers was creating a visible water halo over the lake. It's going to take a lot of practice to get used to swimming around other people in open water.
We watched a few people transition and take off flying on the bike portion, they were going much faster than I generally go even when I'm flying down a hill at my fastest. Watching the finish line I noticed that most people seemed winded but there wasn't many with red faces keeling over after they finished the race. I will most likely be the red faced, gasping sort. Although I have a feeling if I can finish I won't care.
Transition Area
Watching the Tri was really helpful. I think it got all of us revved up for our Iron Girl and it was a major eye opener. Seven weeks til we're up!
After the race we went for a ride along the Erie canal, back down into Green Lakes for a mile run and then rode back the way we came. The run was hard, 90 degree weather is not runner friendly. I felt pretty self conscious riding up hill in the road as the Triathletes were leaving the park (I really hope they weren't laughing). Although the narrow escape from the hissing Canadian geese was pretty tense too.
This morning Angela and I went for a swim and I finally finished 4 lengths without gasping for air. I've found that if I breath out slower underwater I don't need to take a breath every stroke and pacing myself is helping a lot too. I think the Zoomers are really going to help me strengthen my legs. I still wish I had a few more weeks than we do but it just might be manageable to get my endurance up enough to make it through the swim.
We watched a few people transition and take off flying on the bike portion, they were going much faster than I generally go even when I'm flying down a hill at my fastest. Watching the finish line I noticed that most people seemed winded but there wasn't many with red faces keeling over after they finished the race. I will most likely be the red faced, gasping sort. Although I have a feeling if I can finish I won't care.
Transition Area
Watching the Tri was really helpful. I think it got all of us revved up for our Iron Girl and it was a major eye opener. Seven weeks til we're up!
After the race we went for a ride along the Erie canal, back down into Green Lakes for a mile run and then rode back the way we came. The run was hard, 90 degree weather is not runner friendly. I felt pretty self conscious riding up hill in the road as the Triathletes were leaving the park (I really hope they weren't laughing). Although the narrow escape from the hissing Canadian geese was pretty tense too.
This morning Angela and I went for a swim and I finally finished 4 lengths without gasping for air. I've found that if I breath out slower underwater I don't need to take a breath every stroke and pacing myself is helping a lot too. I think the Zoomers are really going to help me strengthen my legs. I still wish I had a few more weeks than we do but it just might be manageable to get my endurance up enough to make it through the swim.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Note to Self
Eating stuffing before swimming is not a good idea...
Tomorrow I'll be trying my Cliff MoJo peanut butter pretzel bar instead.
I'll report back on whether or not it's better than the Cliff bar fudge Brownie... because someone needs to call them on their false advertising, it was most certainly not a brownie.
My Zoomers came in the mail today. They make swimming more fun but my weak little ankles couldn't put up with them for long. Not to mention my weak little arms were taking a bit of a vacation while my fins were cranking up the leg power. I'll have to work on finding a better balance.
Listening to Horchata/ Vampire Weekend
Tomorrow I'll be trying my Cliff MoJo peanut butter pretzel bar instead.
I'll report back on whether or not it's better than the Cliff bar fudge Brownie... because someone needs to call them on their false advertising, it was most certainly not a brownie.
My Zoomers came in the mail today. They make swimming more fun but my weak little ankles couldn't put up with them for long. Not to mention my weak little arms were taking a bit of a vacation while my fins were cranking up the leg power. I'll have to work on finding a better balance.
Listening to Horchata/ Vampire Weekend
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Swim Bike Run
This past weekend I did a circle swim at the YMCA with a bunch of fellow triathletes. They schooled me. I realized the open water swim will probably terrify me if sharing half a pool with 3 other swimmers was nerve racking. I'm going to look into child sized goggles. No matter what I do I've always got water sloshing around in mine and I'd prefer to keep my contacts in for the whole competition.
Sunday Angela and I did the Tri bike course. 17.5 miles in an hour and 30 minutes... that's roughly the time it takes the pros to finish the entire Tri. Go us! I know progress is slow in coming but I hope it does actually come. I keep reminding myself that it's more about finishing than competing at this point. My competitive nature wants to rear it's ugly head and make my current, "just for fun" attitude do push ups. Maybe the two can reach a compromise.
Today Elyssa and I ran a little. Luckily she was breaking in her new running shoes and had already done a morning workout so it wasn't that bad when I could barely keep up with her. I think I hit two miles though... with one "shoe lace" stop, I use quotes because it was more like a "my lungs are collapsing" stop, which I artfully masked with a quick re-tying of my shoe laces. I'm not sure Elyssa bought it. I walk/ran the last mile with a short sprint towards the end. It's good for me to run with experienced runners, I go a lot further that left to my own "just for fun" ways.
I've been icing my knees everyday and I also have knee bands shipping for my self diagnosed patella tendinitis. I may climb the stairs like an 80 year old woman who needs a knee replacement but at least I can still run and bike. Right now that's more important than climbing stairs like a normal person.
Listening to: Better Together/ Jack Johnson
Sunday Angela and I did the Tri bike course. 17.5 miles in an hour and 30 minutes... that's roughly the time it takes the pros to finish the entire Tri. Go us! I know progress is slow in coming but I hope it does actually come. I keep reminding myself that it's more about finishing than competing at this point. My competitive nature wants to rear it's ugly head and make my current, "just for fun" attitude do push ups. Maybe the two can reach a compromise.
Today Elyssa and I ran a little. Luckily she was breaking in her new running shoes and had already done a morning workout so it wasn't that bad when I could barely keep up with her. I think I hit two miles though... with one "shoe lace" stop, I use quotes because it was more like a "my lungs are collapsing" stop, which I artfully masked with a quick re-tying of my shoe laces. I'm not sure Elyssa bought it. I walk/ran the last mile with a short sprint towards the end. It's good for me to run with experienced runners, I go a lot further that left to my own "just for fun" ways.
I've been icing my knees everyday and I also have knee bands shipping for my self diagnosed patella tendinitis. I may climb the stairs like an 80 year old woman who needs a knee replacement but at least I can still run and bike. Right now that's more important than climbing stairs like a normal person.
Listening to: Better Together/ Jack Johnson
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Life gets in the Way
The thing about training for a Tri is that it takes up soooo much time. I've had a few days lately where I've either been too physically exhausted or just had too many things going on to get in a good work out. Swimming schedules are especially a pain. I got up at 5:30 Monday morning and got in 30 minutes worth of laps. Once a week is about all I can manage with the early workouts, they catch up with me around 10:30 when I want to crawl back in bed. It's harder to leave swimming to the end of the night though. The YMCA only has 30 minutes of lap swim at night and it's at 8:00 PM. I try to be in bed by 9:30-10 these days so it messes with my sleep when I swim at night.
Anyways, Monday night I finally gave running another try and I did a mile and three quarters without stopping... way to go me. Tuesday I did a short bike ride attempting to go fast. 37 minutes for 6.5 miles is kinda crappy, but I'll plead my case by saying it was sort of windy and there was a big long hill involved.
This week my family's little dog had some major health issues and between all the upsetting news and worry I skipped tonight's workout... sometimes regular life, outside of personal fitness goals, has to take center stage. I still feel a little guilty about not swimming but sitting next to my recuperating pup was a much better use of my time tonight.
There's always tomorrow.
my old work out partner, Chloe
Listening to Free/ Zac Brown Band
Anyways, Monday night I finally gave running another try and I did a mile and three quarters without stopping... way to go me. Tuesday I did a short bike ride attempting to go fast. 37 minutes for 6.5 miles is kinda crappy, but I'll plead my case by saying it was sort of windy and there was a big long hill involved.
This week my family's little dog had some major health issues and between all the upsetting news and worry I skipped tonight's workout... sometimes regular life, outside of personal fitness goals, has to take center stage. I still feel a little guilty about not swimming but sitting next to my recuperating pup was a much better use of my time tonight.
There's always tomorrow.
my old work out partner, Chloe
Listening to Free/ Zac Brown Band
Friday, June 4, 2010
Foot cramps, Fatigue and Family Swim Fridays
Wednesday night I had to go to the YMCA to be trained on the weight machines... I did a few reps at each station and over the next two days paid for it dearly. The trainer showing me the ropes told me that for a young person I have very little upper body strength... One night of lifting may have robbed me of what little I did have because today I almost dropped the water cooler refill jug on my foot. I caught it in a bear hug type grip saving me from making an idiot of myself right in front of the office safety bulletin board.
After lifting I gave swimming another try. The pool closed early so I only had about 30 minutes. I think I'm slowly... very slowly, improving every time. I'm having a hell of a time with foot cramps though, every single lap. I looked at some stretches you can try to prevent them from happening that I will experiment with tomorrow.
Thursday and tonight I decided to take off after feeling very run down and fatigued. I did however go to family swim with my mom and nephew for the whole 20 minutes we were able to hold his attention. It was actually a lot of fun to be in the pool for once and to see how happy Alex was jumping in and splashing in the water. Maybe I'll try to channel his excitement tomorrow morning when I attempt to get back into the swing of things.
Good news today, the Tri swim has been shortened from 800m to 600m. Since 1 down and back lap is still somewhat of a challenge for me I'm thrilled they're knocking 4 off. I also read today that the life guards in boats along the swim will allow you to grab on to the side and rest if necessary. I'm going to try like hell not to wuss out but it's nice to know that my hopes of completing the Tri won't be lost when I start hyperventilating in the first event!
After lifting I gave swimming another try. The pool closed early so I only had about 30 minutes. I think I'm slowly... very slowly, improving every time. I'm having a hell of a time with foot cramps though, every single lap. I looked at some stretches you can try to prevent them from happening that I will experiment with tomorrow.
Thursday and tonight I decided to take off after feeling very run down and fatigued. I did however go to family swim with my mom and nephew for the whole 20 minutes we were able to hold his attention. It was actually a lot of fun to be in the pool for once and to see how happy Alex was jumping in and splashing in the water. Maybe I'll try to channel his excitement tomorrow morning when I attempt to get back into the swing of things.
Good news today, the Tri swim has been shortened from 800m to 600m. Since 1 down and back lap is still somewhat of a challenge for me I'm thrilled they're knocking 4 off. I also read today that the life guards in boats along the swim will allow you to grab on to the side and rest if necessary. I'm going to try like hell not to wuss out but it's nice to know that my hopes of completing the Tri won't be lost when I start hyperventilating in the first event!
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