Here We Go!

So...today started my official training for Tinman. 21 weeks to go. What better way to kick things of than hit the pool? Now, ever since returning after the holidays, my swim sessions have been like this:

(via Steve in a Speedo)

Sp I was pleasantly surprised when all of my sets (it was a 1500 yd form workout) were under 2:30? My first 100 was even 2:20. Not where I was in October, but a definite improvement. I felt really good in the water aside from a rough 200 where I lost my form a bit and started "attacking" in the water.

All in all, a great start to training. Tonight is Karate and tomorrow it'll be bike time. I'm actually really looking forward to Wednesday - run in a snowstorm. No, I'm not being facetious. I LOVE running in snow! Expect pictures.

First Schedule! Woohoo!

I had a nice surprise last night after work - Coach Karen sent my my first two weeks of training a few days early. Needless to say, I printed it out immediately and pretty much have it memorized already. It starts off fairly easy, a little over six hours next week and a little over seven the week after, but that's a good thing since I'm so out of shape. I have a little under six months to go and want to stay injury-free, so a slow ramp-up works for me.

Hoping to go for a swim today, but we'll see how work goes. I have a couple projects due before the weekend so might be relegated to the dreaded trainer just to save time. Anyone want to buy me an endless pool for the basement? ;-D

Will hopefully get out for some snow-filled fun tomorrow before it's all S/B/R.

Ready to Ramp Up

Not much new going on here. I start with my new coach, Coach Karen on Monday and I can't wait. I've never worked with a coach before, so I am SO excited to tear into the schedule I will be receiving sometime Sunday. You can bet that I'm going to print that bad boy out and read it over and over again. I'm really interested to see what she has in store for me!

I'm also a bit nervous. Having to call an early end to the season last year means that I am severely detrained and out of shape. Starting next week though, that will be no more!

In the meantime, I need to get back to work and clear my virtual inbox to get ready for the season.

Buckle your seatbelts, here we go!

It's never too cold to run!

Really busy day today, but just thought I'd share this fun photo from yesterday:



12 degrees. One crazy runner. This is how we do it in the L.P., bitches.

Bike LT Test

On Tuesday I had my first-ever lactate threshold test, a Christmas gift from Dr. Z. (Who says all girls want diamonds? ;-D ) I opted for the bike test as I have enough experience running to feel pretty good about knowing my zones.

So, we packed up the bike and brought her to the Fit for Life center in Saranac Lake. I got changed while the physiologist hooked her up to the Computrainer.

I got ten minutes of warming up and then the fun began. What struck me immediately is that the Computrainer was set way differently than my trainer at home. I had to warmup in the granny gear. Time to adjust the resistance at home!

So every four minutes he took a finger prick blood sample and then I had to go into the next gear. We repeated this three times before I maxed out completely. I will fully admit to being disappointed by the condition I'm in. I couldn't even reach the 220-age number for my heart rate. It was a big wake up call.

So here's the results:

Graph:



And here's my new (wimpy) zones:

Zone 1 119 (Recovery Rides)
Zone 2 119-131 (Endurance Events)
Zone 3 133-146 (Tempo Work)
Zone 4 153-164 (Lactate Threshold / Time Trialing)
Zone 5 166-183 (Sprints and Anaerobic Training)

Here's to time in the saddle getting those numbers up!

5 Day Swim Streak! DONE!

As everyone knows, the swim is BY FAR my weakest event. So what better to work on in the very early season than swimmy swim swim. The biggest limiter was my back and arms. I would have loved to have swam 2.5K a day, but a couple days all I could handle was 1K before my form fell apart.

So...3.5 miles in 5 sessions. NICE! The pool is only open four days next week, but my goal will be 4 miles in 4 sessions.

Also, I am officially registered for Tinman. Check it:



(Click to see full-size. Stupid Blogspot.)

Oh, and exciting new news to be announced. I'm holding off until I can get pictures.

First Two-a-Day of the Year!

Man, it's only Tuesday and I can tell that I'm going to be TIRED after this week of training. Makes me wonder how I did 12-14 hour training weeks for Tinman last year. Thank God it's only January - gives me time to get back up to that fitness level!

Anyway, last night's Karate class was pretty good. We started off with the black belts working bo kata, which rocked. I hadn't picked up my bo in ages and it was a nice surprise that I really wasn't too rusty. Impressive considering I really have to work hard at that weapon. (I'm a sai kind of girl.)

This morning I did another quick, easy 2.5 mile run on the treadmill at a 9:30 pace. STILL no IT band pain, so I'm hoping to up it to a full three miles next week.

At noon I did an equally short, easy session at the pool. I was still embarrassingly, ridiculously slow even for me, but I upped my long sets to 400 (10:27 and 10:34 - YOUCH!)and did a couple sub-2:25 100's. A total of 1200 yards in the same amount of time (35 minutes) as I did 1000 yesterday, so an improvement. I just pray I can get back to the swim form I was in back in October. My swimming just never recovered from that trip to Phoenix last November.

So...first two-a-day of 2011 has been completed. They were both short and easy, but it's a start.

Outdoor Bike! Pool! Running! AWESOME!

Oops...already lost a couple days of updating. In all fairness, it's been CRAZY. I have been training though.

Saturday Dr. Z. and I did indeed get outside for another (for me) seven miler on our mountain bikes. It was a blast. I would have taken mud pictures, but we just didn't get as messy as I did the day before. AWESOME!

Sunday, after a long day of shopping up in Plattsburgh it was time to hit the treadmill. I upped it to a 9:31 pace, which I was able to hold for 2.5 miles with absolutely no IT band pain. AWESOME!

The pool re-opened from semester break so I hit it as soon as they opened today. I expected to be even slower than usual (a.k.a. Bricks and snails go flying past me in the next lane. My 300 yard warmup took 7:50. Yep, almost a 2:40 pace. Admittedly I was warming up and nowhere near trying hard, but damn.

Speaking of warming up, the water was cold. I mean "Take five minutes to even get in and then have your breath taken away when you put your face in cold." Once again, DAMN!

I spent the rest of the time doing 300 pull buoy/100 drill to try to get my feel for the water back. After I had completed 1000 yards, Dr. Z. said he was done. (He had wanted to go longer but wasn't feeling well and exhausted.) He was willing to wait for me, but stopping made me realize I was already sore. Can we say out of shape? At least I wasn't fatigued. AWESOME!

Tonight Karate starts back up after being closed all last week for the holidays. AWESOME! I'm also hoping to hop on the trainer for about a half-hour...not so awesome.

Back in 2011!

Happy New Year Everyone! Hope it was good. I know I really neglected my blog last year, so am hoping to do better this year.

To kick things off, I have some great mud photos. We're experiencing a winter thaw, so Beast has been dusted off and taken outside.

Front View:



I think I have mud in my teeth.

Even more impressive, the back view (and not just because of my fine Cuban ass...hahahaha...)



I literally had mud in my hair. Took forever to wash out.

Well, it's warm again today, so another bike ride might be called for. If I get out there, it'll mean that I made it through January without missing a month of outdoor riding, a true accomplishment up here in the tundra.

Back from Phoenix

I did manage to get a couple bike machine workouts and even a short hike in while in Phoenix, but am glad to be able to get back to regular training. Pity that didn't happen. Heh. Beautiful 60 degree weather (a true rarity up here this time of year) meant that all indoor training had to be scrapped for outdoor activity.

Friday was a total throwaway - I left my hotel room at 5:45 am MT and arrived home at 8 p.m. ET. A truly long day, especially since I barely slept the night before.

Saturday Dr. Z and I went for a hike. Well, more like a walk in the woods - we walked to the base of Scarface Mountain and back - a total of about 3.4 miles.

Sunday it was time to try out mountain biking again. We did a slightly harder route, and I did fairly well considering it was only my second time ever. I even jumped my first log!

Pictures of the weekend will be coming soon. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of me hugging a ginormous cactus while on my hike on Thursday.

ANOTHER swim breakthrough!

Today's swim workout was a nice long warmup followed by a 1000 yard time trial. I've been having some serious breakthroughs lately so I was psyched to see how I stacked up.

I started with a nice easy 300 yards to warm up. I felt stiff and sore from yesterday's strength training, but kept it easy. Was shocked to hit the wall in 7:13.

Next was 6 x 50 hard with 15 second recovery. The slowest was 1:07. And this is was with no one to pull me along, which is always a problem for me.

So, after 600 yards and then a full minute recovery, it was go time.

I decided to bust for all I was worth. At one point I wasn't sure if I was at 300 or 350 yards so I checked my watch. 6:50, which could only be 300 yards. Holy shit. I was fully in the hurt locker, but tried to hold on. Wanted to quit so badly, not being used to pushing myself on the swim for that long, but kept at it and finished in...are you ready for it?

23:50. Holy FUCK. 2:22/100 pace.

Now, any swimmer or even triathlete would laugh at that, I know, but that is a HUGE breakthrough for me. Just a month ago 25:00 would have been a breakthrough. I even double-checked to see what the pace would have been for 950 yards in case I missed a lap, but that would have been 2:30/100 even and I was definitely hauling faster than that.

I was supposed to do 3 x 200 at that new T-pace afterwards, but I was SO shot that the first one was 5:00. That (and having to leave for a meeting) told me it was time to go. However, I was more than happy to have left it all out there for the time trial. I'll take that over being able to do the post-work any time!

First Mountain Bike Ride! FUN!

I thought that my previous spin with Beauty before putting her on the trainer was going to be the last outdoor ride of the year, and I was grateful even for that - October rides are rare up here in the Far North.

However, the weather gods smiled upon the Northeast and it was 70 and sunny. Both Dr. Z and I wanted to ride bikes tomorrow, but Dr. Z was stubbornly adamant about off-roading instead of a nice ride on River Road (my first choice). I do own a mountain bike (Beast), who was never seen dirt while I've owned him, so I grudgingly agreed to try out off-roading if we kept to EASY PEASY PUSSY trails.

Well. Not only did Dr. Z keep his word, leading us down wide grass paths and glorified dirt roads, I actually had a BLAST and didn't fall off my bike once! If you had told me I would be able to do even an easy mountain bike ride back in June when I was worried about hydration during Tinman because I COULDN'T EVEN GET MY WATER BOTTLE FROM THE CAGE, I would have thought you were insane.

So, I'm not giving up my half-century rides on wide highway shoulders anytime soon, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed mountain biking.

Coach Wanted

Okay, I'm putting this out there. After this disaster of a season, I am seriously considering hiring a coach. I'd prefer someone local that I can work with in person, but am willing to work with something remotely if they're the right fit.

Any recommendations are most welcome.

Thanks!

Broke 2:30/100 for long swim!

YES! After trying for a year to get to sub-2:30/100 for my long swims (i.e. Any set over 500), I FINALLY did it yesterday with 1100 yards in 27:15. Sweet! I actually thought I had gone sub-2:20/100, but idiot here double-hit her watch twice, making it appear I had done two laps more than I really did.

I'm still really happy though, especially since:

1.) That was my first time using my lap button to keep track during a long swim and I KNOW it slowed down my turns at the wall

2.) I'm pretty sure I could have kept a sub-2:30 pace going for longer.

In other great news, despite my last entry saying it was the last outdoor bike ride of the year, tomorrow is going to be in the 60's, so it looks like my trusty mountain bike Beast is going to get a late-season spin. It actually ended up in the 60's today, but idiot here already got on the trainer this morning not realizing how warm it was going to be.

Last Outdoor Ride of the Year

It was an unseasonal 55 and sunny today, so I took Beauty out for one last ride before hooking her up to the trainer. It was a beautiful ride, but the purple of my toes when I got back convinced me that it was the end, especially since it's going to be 40's and cloudy after today.

My pace was ridiculously slow - couldn't even hold a 15 average I'm ashamed to say. It was a combination of many things - being out of shape (I've barely been riding because of the weather), the nasty wind, and my windsail-like bike jacket. (I really DO need to find one that's closer-cut.)

Slowness aside, it was great to get out there one last time. I'd complain, but I had the trainer set up about three weeks earlier last year, so not bad at all.

Now...is it Spring yet? ;-D

Dating a Triathlete

Read this on Beginner Triathlete this morning and just HAD to share. Poor Dr. Z! The ones about food are especially true.

---------------------

Dating a triathlete...

"I am an outdoors type of person." Really means: I train in any type of weather. If it's raining, snowing, 90 degrees w/100 percent humidity, or winds gusting at 30 mph. I don't want to hear any complaints because I will still train in it and you're just a big wuss for complaining about it.

"I enjoy riding my bike." Really means: with or w/o aero bars, alone or in a peleton, I don't care. If you can't do a spur of the moment 30 miler then you're not my type. I will let you draft, but if you can't hang and I drop you - I will see you later. I am a capable mechanic, but don't expect me to change your flats or tune your bike. You need to learn that on your own.

"I enjoy jogging." Really means: Let's run hills until we puke. I have just as many shoes as you only mine are better because they are functional and all look the same.

"I enjoy dining out." Really means: I enjoy eating out, in or anywhere else I can find food. Don't be shy because with the amount of food I eat, you can have that main entree instead of a salad and you will still look as though you eat like a rabbit in comparison. Don't get your limbs too close though as I may take a bite out of you. Most importantly don't expect any taste off my plate unless you can bring omething to the party like more food. Eventually though if your not burning 4,000 calories a day your going to plump up and have a terrible complex due to watching me eat deserts and not gain any weight. Friends and family will eventually decide not to dine with us anymore due to my horrid table manners. Oh, and don't ask me any questions during breakfast, Mid Morning Lunch, Lunch, Afternoon lunch, dinner or Recovery Dinner as it does not lend to efficient food intake.

"I enjoy quiet walks on the beach." Really means: Walks on the beach warming up into an 8 mile run and then plunging myself in the ocean for a 2 miler. If you get in my way you're going to find out what mass start is and let me assure you that you don't want to find out.

"I find fulfillment in charitable work." Really means: If I am not racing, I am volunteering and I expect you to be there along side me as I stand out in 90 degree weather for 8 hours handing out sports drink to cyclists going 20 mph. Just stick the ol' arm out there and hope it doesn't get taken off.

"I enjoy sharing quiet moments together." Really means: It's taper time. Just back off because I am strategizing and in a pissy mood because I am worried about my "A" race and can't workout.

"I am an active person." Really means: Aside from my 40 hour job, and the 8 mandatory hours of sleep a night. 10 hours a week are devoted to me during the off-season and 20 during race season leaving us 4 hours. 2 of which are spent inhaling food and you not talking to me, so let's make the best of the 2 hours we will spend together on average each day. If you are a licensed message therapist or doctor this would make the most optimal use of our time together. Nutritionist is also acceptable, but I probably already know just as much as you.

"I enjoy road trips and leisurely drives." Really means: You have your choice of Wisconsin, Idaho, Florida, California, Arizona, and Canada, but don't expect to do much site seeing. If I get enough support from you we might be able to include Hawaii in there.

"I enjoy site seeing." Really means: Lets grab a mountain bike and get our HR's up to 90%. There's plenty of time to look around on the descent as trees and bushes whiz by you at 40 mph.

"I like stimulating conversation." Really means: while we are running, we can talk about food. Then we can talk about how we decided what to wear on this run based on the temperature at start time versus the temperature at the time we expect to finish, how horribly out of shape we are, how many miles we did last week, and how many we will do this week and next week. Then we can talk about food.

"I enjoy relaxing soaks in the tub." Really Means: I'm going to stop on the way home and buy two bags of ice, throw them in the tub with some water, and sit in this torture chamber for 30 minutes.

"I'm interested in photography" Really Means: My camera is permanently perched a tripod in front of my trainer. I obsess over taking photos of my bike position and analyzing them to get the perfect setup.

"I'm into in technology" Really Means: My HRM and bike computer are my best friends. Until you can give me some hard data that can improve my training, don't bother trying to buddy up to me. You could one day break into the top three if I find you as entertaining on long runs and rides as my mp3 player.

Exploring the NCCC Weight Room

Hit the pool today. Unfortunately my lack of swimming over the past week and a half showed - my splits weren't HORRIBLE, but they weren't that great. Did hit one 1:06 50 yard sprint with the help of Dr. Z. Like I said, nothing great. Actually ended the workout early to spend a good 15 minutes on technique drills.

After that, I went to the NCCC weight room for the first time now that I've canceled my membership at the gym. (Sad, but it had to happen - they lost their partnership with the pool.) It was small but had everything I needed except a pulley machine for rows. Luckily they had a weight machine that was very close. It should work out just fine for my routine.

Now it's FINALLY cleared up and warmed up. So tempting to try to get out for a quick bike ride. Sigh. After the long time at NCCC I must work instead.

I *RAN*!

I've been fighting this IT band injury for weeks now, which is why I dropped out of the marathon, but yesterday...I RAN!

Okay, it was two miles on a treadmill with no incline at a 12:00/mile pace, but I did it and it didn't hurt! YAY!

Also, Dr. Z and I just got back from "hiking" Mount Baker. It's really a little bump compared to some of the mountains around here, but it was our first time in a year, so we wanted to start small. It was PERFECT weather for it too - sunny and 50. A beautiful fall day.

Tomorrow is still up in the air training-wise. I still haven't decided between swim, bike, run, or a combination. Depends on how my knee feels. I also have Karate class tomorrow - gotta get there since I missed Wednesday.

Friday Follows and Fun!

First of all, LOVE this UnderArmor ad because it pumps you up and it actually features female athletes without being all "Girl Power!" In fact, they could have used male athletes and it would have worked just as well.



Now for some follows:

Just stumbled upon Kara Goucher's blog. Head over and congratulate her on her new son Colt.

Next, head over to Sonja's blog. She's an AGer heading down to Kona and just beat the Elites to win her "tune-up" 70.3 a couple weeks ago. Woman is SICK fast, yo.

And finally, if you're not following Steve in a Speedo's Twitter feed, you're a moron.

Was Sick, Now Better

Hey All,

Spent yesterday sick. Blech. Stomach was hurting so bad I didn't even work. (And that takes a lot when one works from home.) Needless to say, no training was done.

Finally felt better today. Skipped the morning swim, but got out there for the Fun Run. The course of the week was "No Name," a course that has always boded bad luck for me. I finally did decent on it - no GI issues, no bonking, nothing. I finished the 4.28 miles in 35.37. Not a speed record by any means, but not bad. I really want to get back to doing sub-8's though. I hate having lost my speed. I just have to keep telling myself that I've made huge improvements in my endurance.

In other news, Lake Placid is absolutely crawling with Ironman competitors. Awesome!

Anyway, tomorrow will be a 20 mile bike and swimming the Ironman course. First 1.2 mile open water swim ever! I'm nervous, but I know I can do this. (Actually, physically, I can. Put me in a pool and it'd be no problem. It's totally the mental aspect of being out in the middle of the lake that gets to me.)