Swimming Lessons

First, Happy Fourth! We got a lot of rain here, but hopefully some of you were able to enjoy some fireworks.

Today I was back in the gym pool for the first time in a while. I feel like I haven't been there in weeks. I am a total creature of habit, and it showed today. Usually, I grab my towel, suit, and flipflops, put them in my bag, and off to the pool I go. But recently, I've been doing lots of open-water swimming and long-course meters, and haven't been to this pool in a while.

Walking in, I realized I forgot my watch, and my workout today was timed intervals. Unfortunately, my pool has no lap clock, just two standard analog clocks high up on the walls, and I am blind as a bat without my glasses. So after each interval I stood at the end of the lane squinting up at the clock, trying desperately to find the second hand so I could head out for the next interval at the right time. Later, I finally figured out why my bag seemed less bulky than usual - no towel. So yes, today I was 'that girl' standing there drying off with paper towels. Yuck. Fortunately the locker room was basically empty. It's not likely I'll forget my towel again anytime soon.

During my absence, I'd forgotten what sorts of characters this pool attracts. While I was swimming, two different people got in, did 50 yards of breaststroke, and got out. A third person was doing some sort of lunges in the water. A fourth got in and looked like he was flailing around doing freestyle, but was actually moving really fast. He swam 25 yards of really fast, splashing everwhere freestyle, and then 25 yards of very slow breaststroke. Continuously. For a while. It was interesting - I'd pass him while he was doing breaststroke, and as soon as he turned and started swimming crawl again he took off past me like a shot.

All that said, it was good to get back into a measured, controlled environment again, just for comparison purposes. I have no intention of spending too much time there this summer when I have a long-course outdoor pool I can use. But I found that while I'm able to get down the lane in fewer strokes these days, I still need to work on my endurance at speed. It didn't take me too long to fall apart in the water, with my stroke count shooting up and my kick not getting me anywhere. I was okay for the first of two sets of 150s and 50s, but the sets were broken up by a 500 and I generally find it really tough to get back into a groove for faster intervals after something longer. In fact, I barely made the interval for the last few 50s. Like I said, I've got to work on endurance at speed.

Say it with me . . . If you don't do it in practice, you can't do it in a race. If you want to race well, you have to train well. I'm learning. It's just taking me a while.

A Photo Essay

Cheaper Than Therapy, usually:



Cheaper Than Therapy, during studying:

(Make your own here.)

Be Nice!

This week is "Be Nice to New Jersey" Week.

So no "Jersey - Only the Strong Survive!" t-shirts this week, okay? Thanks for your cooperation.

:)

Race Report, Part II

The bike was hard. There were eight hills in all. Most were pretty void of spectators, except for Lemon Hill, where there were a few people cheering, and a climb off of West River, where there was a guy all done up in red body paint and holding a triton, like our very own El Diablo. It was really cool, and while I said something to him on the first time up the hill, the second time I was too busy sucking wind to get anything out.

Just after the second-to-last hill on the bike I started to feel fatigued. Not like "Wow this is really hard" fatigue, but more of the deep in the bones, 'I'm gonna curl up on the side of the road and fall asleep right here' fatigue. I've got to say, that's not such a great feeling when you've still got one more climb and a 10K to go in a race. I all but trudged through the end of the bike, getting passed left and right. I had been watching ages as people went by, and it wasn't until this point that I really started getting passed by people in my age group; before this, it had mostly been men in the 30-44 range.

The transitition area was situated at the bottom of a descent, but far enough out that you could still bomb down if you wanted to. I ended up behind someone on the descent who was taking it just carefully enough that I decided that trying to pass her would be a bad idea, especially considering we'd be rolling right into T2.

T2 was okay. I ended up at my rack at the exact same time as the girl right next to me, which made for some interesting times as we both tried to shove our bikes onto the rack and get out of there. Again, because the transition area was so long, we had to run a fair distance with the bike to get back to the rack.

The first part of the run was on grass, as the course fed behind the transition area onto the road. The volunteers were great with directing us and warning us about curbs. The start of the run was ridiculously painful, and it didn't get any better. I felt like I was just slogging along, and was really surprised to see after the first mile that my pace was around 8:30. I was really happy with that, considering how I felt. Although my legs seemed to feel less tired for a little while, the combination of general fatigue, running on grass in Mile 2 and the very canted road surface took its toll, and all in all my legs were not happy.

As with my last race, the run was mostly a mental game. I looked at the faces of people heading in the other direction, and told myself that they were all hurting as well and that it was supposed to hurt, and if I wasn't hurting, I wasn't going hard enough. This got me through past Mile 4, but when I didn't see the Mile 5 marker I started to get into my head again. I knew it couldn't be too much farther, but I wasn't seeing any hints as to where I was on the course. At the last water station, I asked the volunteer how much further it was, and she told me it was just about a mile. That right there nearly kicked my ass, as I checked my watch and couldn't believe I had slowed down so much. But, lo and behold, about 100 yards past the station was the 6 Mile marker, and soon after I could hear the finish line announcer. Whew! I'm not sure what's worse: being told by cheering spectators "You're almost there!!" at Mile 2, or being told there's still a mile left when you're at Mile 5.9.

I had a little left for a kick, but not much. I was passed in the chute by a guy who went flying by me at an all-out sprint, and there was no way my legs were going to do that.

Speedy had caught up to me near the end of the run. While I was a little disappointed by this, as I had been hoping to finish before him (his wave started well after mine), I was happy for him as he was looking fast and strong, and it was nice to see him right at the finish line.

We both realized that we needed Band-Aids; Speedy for blisters and me for a cut on my leg, probably from my chain ring when I nearly fell. We stopped by the med tent to get some bandages, and the staff was top-notch. Instead of just handing us Band-Aids and sending us on our way, they patched Speedy's blisters with Second Skin, and cleaned and bandaged me up, and only laughed a little when I told them I thought I cut myself on my own chain ring (note that the cut is on the outside of my right leg. Yes, the outside.).

Some things I learned:
- I need to do more race-pace training. This pains me to say because I love my aerobic base-building workouts, but the workouts that will make me faster are not the relaxed and conversational ones. I need to get my ass in gear.
- Racing while stressed and sleep-deprived is not the greatest idea ever. That said, I'm sure that's a lesson I'll learn many times over in the future.
- I should get tri shoes; transitions would be much easier.

All in all, the race itself was great, and I was sort of pleased with my result. It'll go down in my books with an asterisk, as in *this race completed while in full-swing bar-study mode. As I told Speedy, I think I raced well with what I had available to me. I didn't leave anything out there, but although I did empty my tank, I didn't start with a full tank.

When I saw Speedy at the finish line, we both gasped about how we were NEVER going to do another one of those, it was so painful, and so on. You won't be surprised to hear we're both already planning for our next.

Race Report, Part I

(This is taking longer to write than expected; here's the first part.)

First, the nitty-gritty: 2:45 overall.

Second, that was really freaking hard. It's twice as long as a sprint but four times as hard. The hilly course was tough, tougher than I'd expected it would be, even having gone over the course in a few training rides already. Racing it was much more difficult.

I was pretty nervous going in, given that this was my first non-sprint tri, but felt mostly confident in my training. What I didn't account for was how much my general fatigue and stress level affected my race, even with a good taper last week. Speedy, on the other hand, rocked the course and did very well, especially considering this was also his first race at this distance.

Preface: I have been having lots of problems with my wetsuit. The legs are slightly too short and end right at the belly of my calf, and each time I've worn it in training swims this year my calves have cramped up. I also spend too much time trying to get it off, which I think cuts into any time savings gained from wearing it. I explained all this to Speedy the night before the race, and put the suit on around my legs so he could see what I was talking about. In his infinite wetsuit wisdom garnered from years of surfing, he suggested I cut the legs just a little so they weren't so tight. After notching about one inch into each leg, the suit felt must better. Okay, onto the good stuff:

The Swim:
The water temperature was 76, making a wetsuit allowable, but really probably not necessary. I decided to wear it and give it a shot with the new cuts in the leg and hope for the best. Most people in my wave were grouped around one bouy to start, and I started near the other bouy to try to get some clean water and avoid the crowds. My plan worked pretty well for about 500 meters, until I convinced myself that they probably knew something I didn't and I should really get my butt over there. Yeah - lesson learned. I knew where I was going, I was on course and had clean water, and I should have just stayed my course instead of voluntarily entering the washing machine.

For the first 1100 meters or so, the target was a bridge, which made sighting pretty easy. I looked up every 3-6 strokes, which looking back was probably too often. I could have eaasily gotten by sighting half as much, especially on a course that I know as well as I know this one. After the bridge, and leading into T1, there was a lot of congestion as the course narrowed, and I was bumping into people and getting hit pretty often. I'm happy to say I was able to handle it all pretty well, and not get freaked out by the amount of contact with others.

Overall, I think I could have gone faster, had I stuck with my original line and stayed out of my head, instead of joining the crowd and getting distracted a few times and then finding myself not going as hard as I should be. I have a tendency to zone out when swimming, which works really well for getting through long training sets but clearly doesn't work so well for racing.

T1: Pretty smooth, the wetsuit came off with relatively few problems. I spilled some Nuun out of my bottle trying to make thre turn around the rack, but overall it was fine. A minor gripe: the transition area was really long, and the bike in and out were at the same end, which meant that those closer had to do less running with their bikes and those further had to do lots. Although the racks were numbered by age, this still created some inherent unfairness for those in later waves, racked towards the back, who may have been going for overall ranking.

The Bike: As soon as I got on my bike, I realized my computer had somehow come off in transistion. Shit! It was literally hanging from my handlebar by the wire. While I wasn't planning to use it for speed, I was planning to track the distance and monitor my cadence. Instead, it hung limply. About the course: Whew. I've seen these hills in training, and they were still freaking hard. Those who didn't scout the course, or who just assumed that the course would be flat because it's in the city, were in for a surprise. The first hill on the two-loop course is also the steepest, and I wasn't quite ready for it after my swim, especially considering on training rides it's usually the second hill we do, not the first.

After the crest, I realized my bike was making a funny noise, and since my bike computer was already off, I was expecting the worst, and I slowed down to check for a flat. I pulled over to the side of the road, and unclipped my right foot. Unfortunately, the road at the point canted steeply, and I started to tip over to my left. With an 'OH FUCK' so loud I'm lucky there were no marshals around, I started to fall over. Fortunately, I have pretty good reflexes, and was able to get my arms out and catch myself on the (rusty, metal) barrier protecting the side of the road from the hill we had just come up not too long ago. I am certainly lucky, since if I hadn't caught myself I'm pretty sure my head would have made contact with that same barrier, probably ending my race. I righted myself, and checked my tires, which were (of course) still properly and fully inflated, making my stop, lost time, and near-fall wholly unnecessary. But after restarting, my bike was still making a funny noise, and in looking it over I saw something that looked like paper stuck in the front brake. I have no idea what it actually was, because I reached down to remove it and it went flying. But the problem was solved; no more funny noises from my bike, and on my way I went.

I Think I'm Going to be Sick

I've been feeling pretty good about things tri-related lately. Training is going pretty well, I've gotten much faster than I was last year, I have a fun and fast new bike, and so on. But every now and then, something slips in there and makes me feel like a total newbie again.

My race is still two days away, and I'm so nervous I think I'm going to puke. This is bad. I need to eat so I don't fall off my bike on Sunday. But I'm nervous.

Why?

I don't know. The stakes aren't very high. It's not like I'm going to win anything, and since this is my first time at the distance, I'm really just establishing a baseline. And I'm very familiar and comfortable with the swim course, as it was where I rowed in college, so that's not really an issue. I've done the bike course a few times, so that's not the problem. The run is freaking me out a little, because while I've done long runs and I've done fast runs, I haven't really done any long fast runs. But that will come; I know it will.

Putting it together is what's got me in knots.

CRS Syndrome

Enough with the acronyms already. I know, I know. And, I apologize for the quality of past and future posts, studying for the bar is frying my brain.

As Speedy can attest, I've done nothing for the past three weeks but study and train. I went for a deep-tissue massage last week (which was awesome, by the way), and the therapist asked me what I did to relax, and my answer was something along the lines of "You're looking at it." Sigh.

Due to the studying, other details about things are completely missing from my brain. Speedy is traveling this week, and I think I've asked him 10 times when he's coming back. And, 10 times, he (patiently) reminds me. And so armed with this knowledge, I go and make plans for us to go see one of my friends - the night before he gets back. Go me.

Which leads me to CRS Syndrome. A few years ago, back before law school, my boss at the time would always refer to her CRS Syndrome. I didn't want to be insensitive, so I just nodded like I had any idea what the hell she was talking about, and went on my way. Finally, I got the (not subtle, by this point) hint that she wanted me to ask her about CRS, so I did. Turns out it's "Can't Remember Shit." So, um, yeah . . . my CRS Syndrome is flaring up big-time. Think I can take something for that?

LCM v. SCY? OMG! WTF?

This morning, I went to our local municipal pool for the opening day of the summer season. Today was the official start of the free early-morning swimming that the pool offers, which means I got to get out of the gym pool, which is a 4-lane, indoor, short-course yard pool, and out into the eight-lane, long-course meters outdoor pool. And for a little while, I was the only person in the whole pool. It was awesome.

But hard. Geez, I had forgotten how much harder it is to swim long-course meters; I've gotten so used to the rhythms of my gym pool. At the gym, I know that the yellow square on the wall should appear when I breathe to my right on the 12th stroke, and that if it doesn't show up again when I breathe to my left after my flip-turn I didn't push off the wall hard enough, or my first strokes were lacking. All that is gone in the outdoor pool; I have no landmarks or stroke counts to rely on (yet). That will come. For now, swimming outside in a huge pool is just freaking awesome.

Actually, all things considered, where I live is pretty good tri-training land. It's hardly Austin or Boulder, and nobody's going to move here anyime soon just for the training quality, but for those of us here already, it's got:
- an outdoor LCM pool that is FREE during the early morning;
- a local park with a nice paved path;
- a decent loop for riding shorter rides and intervals;
- a river (not exactly swimmable, but good for scenery);
- proximity to Philadelphia and Fairmount Park for riding; and
- proximity to Wissahickon for great trail running.

I'll take it. Visitors always welcome. :)

Fitness Magazine

This is a rant. You've been warned.

I have a subscription to Fitness magazine, thanks to that Active.com "Would you like a complimentary three-month subscription?" button, my inexplicable agreeing to that, and my subsequent laziness in cancelling it.

Most months, I get the magazine and read through it quickly, griping to Speedy about what sort of fitness activities the target readership must be doing in order for some of their 'tips' to apply. This month, though, Fitness included a helpful guide, entitled "How to cut 100s of calories...and Not Even Miss Them!!"

These tips include:
1. Eat 1/2 cup Egg Beaters for breakfast; they're just 60 calories and a great way to start your day (60 calories???!!??? I eat more than that any time I put food in my mouth, and for me a good breakfast has at nearly 10 times that! Honestly, though, who can even have the energy to walk out the front door when their breakfast is only 60 calories?)
2. Instead of eating an apple, drink apple juice and cut 45 calories (please take special note of the Mott's two-page pull-out ad immediately following these helpful, and clearly impartial, tips)
3. Eat bran flakes and blueberries for a mid-day snack (not too bad a tip, until you realize that they suggest eating it without milk)
4. Replace the cream in your coffee with fat-free evaporated milk (ewww)

I am all for eating better. Really. I eat way too much pizza, and should not eat Pop-Tarts for breakfast nearly as often as I do. But the thought of anyone taking these tips seriously is a little terrifying.

• 60 calories for breakfast? That's a foolish and dangerous weight-loss strategy, especially for anyone who is even remotely active. And it's pretty much a guarantee of late-night snacking, thus negating any benefit.

• Forgoing the fiber and nutrients in an apple for apple juice? Come on. And following it up with a big Mott's ad does nothing for their credibility.

• Dry bran flakes and blueberries? Yes, fiber is good, and blueberries are indeed delicious. But dry bran flakes? I might as well just eat the paper out of my study binder.

• And really . . . evaporated milk in coffee? Okay, this is just a preference, but ewww.

I find it insulting that these are being presented as legitimate nutrition tips, especially in a magazine purportedly aimed at active, fit women. In the latter pages of the magazine, they include a continuation of a sprint triathlon training plan. That's awesome; but how are people supposed to do these (or any) workouts on a 60-calorie breakfast? Come on now.

Pacing for an Olympic-Distance Race

As I said in the post below, I am my own worst enemy in terms of getting into my head before a race. And today, you get to come along for the ride!

Next weekend is my first non-sprint triathlon, and I'm getting worried about pacing. For a sprint, I can go pretty hard the whole time. I'd imagine that for my Half-Ironman in September, it will be more of a slower and steady pacing. But what about Olympic distance? Since I've never done one, I have no baseline to use to set my goal paces.

I'm worried that I'm going to go to hard during the bike and crash hard on the run, which would suck, or not go hard enough overall and be left with too much in the tank, and then I'll be disappointed that I didn't go faster.

Seriously, this is a big concern for me.

So what should I do?

Recovery Weeks

I think I have a love/hate relationship with recovery weeks.

I love them because it's a chance to rest and recover (yes, I know, my powers of deduction are simply sensational) but I hate them for two reasons: First, I can swear up and down that I am going to turn to mush during my recovery week. Mush. As in, lose all muscle and fitness I've gained. And if it's this bad during a recovery week, wait till I start to taper.

And the second reason I hate recovery weeks? My weekend long workouts are invariable crappy.

As a point of comparison, last week Speedy and I rode 38 miles, including lots of hills and some Speedy-induced sprints on the flats (Speedy, last weekend: "Hey...you gonna let that guy just pass you like that? You should totally go get him and show him what's up..."), followed by a short but hard run, and felt not too bad. Yesterday, we did 21 miles of flat roads, no brick run afterward, and I thought I was going to fall off the bike. It was so. freaking. hard. And since I'm really my own worst enemy (see point #1 above) (I don't need my competition to get in my head. I do it just fine by myself, thank you very much), the minute I have a bad workout I start thinking I'm getting slower.

Bad swim? Clearly all the work I've done in the pool is for naught, as I am slower than slow. Bad bike? Disregard the months of training I've put in, I'm clearly going to fall over going up the hills during my next race.


Recovery weeks might be good for my body, but they are seriously bad for my psyche.

Epic Battles of Good vs. Bad

The Good: Nice open-water swim this evening.
The Bad: it's probably a little too early in the year to go sans wetsuit, as I decided to do during said open-water swim.

The Good: Fun interval workout on the bike this afternoon; passed another rider and held him off for a while
The Bad: Other Rider caught up to me when I rode over a small stick, which impaled itself into my back tire and tube, puncturing both.

The Good: I (finally) learned how to change a flat a few weeks ago.
The Bad: I learned on my old bike, and the new bike has horizonal drop-outs, making replacing the wheel more difficult, especially when it hasn't been practiced.

The Good: Other Rider was nice enough to stop when he rode by me a second time and helped me finagle the wheel back on. He didn't know how to do it either, but turns out two heads are better than one.

The Good: Yesterday during my ride someone passed me and then slowed down. I was able to pass him and hold him off until I got to my turn-off. It made an easy ride more like an interval ride, but was really freaking fun.

The Good: My rowers made it to Nationals, and are competing this weekend. Whoo-hoo! I'm so proud of them!

Good = 6, Bad = 3. Good wins!!

What's Your Zen?

Good Trails in Philadelphia?!?!

Yesterday, Speedy and I went into Philadelphia to run some trails in the Wissahickon Valley. Philadelphia always boasts about Fairmount Park; it's the largest urban park in the country and it really is a pretty cool place to run and ride. But as we learned yesterday, it's got nothing on Wissahickon.

The last time we went to run in Wissahickon, a few months ago, we ended up on a trail that was closed for maintenance, so we didn't get to see much of the park and ended up running through Manayunk. So our hopes were not too high for yesterday, but my shin has been hurting lately so we went looking for some softer surfaces for our long run. We thought maybe we'd end up on an easy dirt path or something; not super exciting but still a change of scenery.

I love trail running. Love it. Give me some technical single-track any day and I'm a happy girl. But, alas, single-track trail is hard to find in Philadelphia, and the most recent good trail running I've done has been on the Austin Greenbelt or the Berkeley fire trail. Until yesterday.

These trails kicked my ass. We should have known we were in trouble when we first turned onto a side trail (the Yellow trail) and saw it go straight uphill. There were lots of hills, and the trails were rocky and narrow. It was awesome, and I was loving it. We had no idea where we were going, and while we took some wrong turns, we knew that we couldn't get too lost because there are pretty definite boundaries to the park. We saw a few hikers and a bunch of mountain bikers, including some pretty crazy teens bombing down a hill not wearing helmets.

We got to our turnaround, and decided to head back on the Orange trail, which looked (on the trail map) like it might track closer to the water and therefore be flatter. We were so wrong. Turns out there is a pretty darn good reason the Orange trail is closed to mountain bikers. It was still really hilly, and much less well-marked than the Yellow trail. And rocky. As in, giant boulders that we had to climb up and over to find the rest of the trail on the other side. And some of trail went up short but steep hills, so that we had to hold onto tree branches to get up. And halfway there, we came across what looked like a giant block party in the middle of the park. Devil's Pool is a small area where water pools before it spills into the river, and there were tons of people out, yelling, shouting, jumping off of rocks into the water, and just generally having a good time. It was very cool to see, but sort of surreal since it almost appeared out of nowhere in the middle of our run.

It was just a great run, and so unexpected. We had no idea the trails were so tough; some of what we ran on rivaled what we've seen in Austin, which is like my holy grail of trail running. My legs were trashed at the end, but it felt great. I can't wait to go back!

Thanks to new blogger Speedo Guy, I have figured out how to post a race picture. And so, here I am, apparently hamming it up on the run. I swear I was going hard at the time!

Pictures!

Ahh! So there are race pics up, but I can't figure out how to post them or link to them. Any ideas?

The Landlord

Have you seen this yet? Will Ferrell's landlord wants her rent.

It's HILARIOUS:

The Landlord

The (Really) Long Version

The Night Before:
While getting my things together, I found I wasn't able to fit quite everything into my bag.



Fortunately, the dog decided that he didn't want to race, after all.

That Morning:
We left early enough to get to the race just when packet pick-up started, and found that there was (of course) already a decent line. When we finally got to the front of the line, we found that my number and chip had been given away to someone else. So I got everything else and Speedy and I headed out for a bike warmup. It felt good to get my legs going, and when we got back to transition I went back to the registration table. There was no sign of my number or chip, so I had to stand in the day-of registration line to get a new number. This was pretty annoying, because by this time the start time was getting pretty close and I still had to put on my wetsuit and do my swim warmup. When I finally got my new number, I ran back to the transition area, gave the number and race belt to Speedy to put it together, and put my wetsuit on in record time. We headed down to the lake for a quick warm-up, and as soon as I got in the water I heard the announcement for the pre-race meeting. Crap! But all was well and I got in a quick swim warm-up anyway, and was feeling pretty good by the time the race started.

The Swim:
My swim training this winter and spring has made me a lot stronger in the water, and I'm not so worried anymore about being kicked/hit/generally beat up in the water. I started front and center, and while a couple people got out faster than I did and I got knocked around a little, it wasn't long before I found some clean water and was able to pick people off. The swim was a straight out-and-back, and I think I swam more of a teardrop shape around the buoys but still got out of the water somewhere around 10th or 12th place, which was fine with me, even though I think I could have gone faster.

T1 took me longer than planned, because it took me too long to get out of my wetsuit. I've been wondering for a while if it's worth the extra time to wear the wetsuit for these shorter races, because I think I lose more time taking the darn thing off than I save wearing it for the swim. Time: 1:50.

The Bike:
Went really well. I had set myself a goal of 20mph average, and most times I looked at my computer I was somewhere around 21-22. I passed quite a few people, and got passed by a couple hotshots with disc wheels and aero helmets. I drank Nuun and had gels with me but didn't take any. Towards the end, I got passed by a girl who stayed just out of reach until we reached a short climb at an overpass, and I passed her on the hill and was able to stay in front until T2, which went pretty smoothly. My official average was 19.3, but my bike computer recorded the course as being a little long and had my average as 20 even. I'll take it.

The Run:
I came out of T2 neck-and-neck with bike girl, and complimented her on her strong bike and she said she was having fun racing me. That was pretty cool. She and I went back and forth for the first mile or so, but she pulled away and I wasn't able to hang with her. The run was really painful; I definitely went harder on this bike than I usually do during bricks, and my legs were not happy. It became a mental game for me, and I kept reminding myself that it was painful for everyone and that if I wasn't hurting by then I wasn't going hard enough. My goal pace for the run was 8:00/mile. My official average is 7:52, but the run time includes T2, so my pace was more likely something around 7:32, assuming T2 took about a minute.

Overall, I was really happy with my race. I wasn't tapered for the race, and in fact did some pretty hard bike workouts last week, and I still ended up at my bike goal, and beat my run goal. I ended up 6th female (I think) and 3rd in my age group. My age group turned out to be pretty strong this year, and much stronger than it was last year. My time from this year was faster than my time from last year by over 12 minutes and would have won my age group last year by over 5 minutes, and this year places 3-7 overall for the women all came out of my age group. And I still placed in my AG, for the first time. Not bad. And Speedy knocked 3 minutes off his time from last year and got 2nd in his age group!

Me and Speedy, post-race:

I wanted to use this race to measure my speed against where I was last year and see what I need to work on, and it turns out I got a lot faster. I know I need to work on running hard off the bike, and now have some triple bricks in my future (future, of course, meaning tomorrow - ouch!). So all in all, definitely a good race. Whew.

Next up: Philadelphia Olympic!

The Short Version

6th female overall (I think), 3rd in my age group.

Full report to follow :)

Butterflies...

...have taken over my stomach.

Tomorrow is my first race of the season, and I'm absurdly nervous. Why? I'm not sure. I know I've gotten a lot faster, but I'm willing to bet that everyone else has as well. This is a tiny local race. My coach doesn't see this as a big race; he has me training through it, but I'm still sweaty-palms, knotty-stomach nervous.

See, it's the same race I did last year as my first tri ever, so I'll have some real, concrete, same-course comparisons to use to measure my speed. Which is good.

But last year, I just went into these races thinking that if I didn't panic or drown on the swim, fall off the bike, or have an asthma attack on the run, it would be a good race. And fortunately, every race was a good race. This year is different. This year I think I can actually be competitive, especially at the shorter distances, and that has created a huge knot in my stomach. I also feel like I'll have a target on my back, since I'll be on my sweet new bike (whoo-hoo!) and wearing sponsor gear.

I know I have to race my own race. I've set time goals for myself, and if I meet those goals, I should do pretty well based on last year's results. Yeah, I know, you never know who is going to show up, and how fast they've gotten, but I'm hoping that my increases in speed from last year to this year prove to be pretty good. I've put the time in and done the training, and now I just have to trust my training and put my head down and go. Right?

And So It Begins Again...

Exams and graduation have come and gone, and I've had two glorious weeks of sitting on my ass and doing nothing. But, all good things must come to an end, and so I am back in class. Studying for the bar. With 100 of my closest friends, sitting in a dark room for 3.75 hours per day, staring at a videotaped lecture being projected onto a screen at the front of the room.

Can you say snooze-fest? Today was only the second day of class and the guy next to me was giggling uncontrollably every time the lecturer said "duty." Why? Because duty = doody = funny after 3 hours.

Like thousands of other recent law school grads, I am taking a class run by Bar/bri. There is currently a class-action suit pending against the company for violating antitrust laws and charging students a ridiculous sum of money to take this class. Because we don't have any other options, we take the class. And pay dearly (over $2,000) for the privilege of sitting in a cramped classroom, staring at a video, trying not to fall asleep because our only chance of passing the bar is to listen to every word that comes out of these floating heads' mouths. Ah, scare tactics. Mention the bar passage rates, and law students will pay for anything.

Yeah. That antitrust suit is making a lot of sense right now.

You're Not the Boss of Me!!

Well, no, I'm not. But I know a good thing when I see it. And so...

Get thee to IM Able, pronto, for a great post on the Girls on the Run event yesterday.

And, if you're a dog person and looking for a laugh, go here.

Girls on the Run Rocks!

As a member of Team Stayput, I went to a Girls on the Run 5K in Baltimore today. I had the good fortune to travel down and spend the morning with my fellow team members IM Able and M., a local ultrarunner. They made the ride so fun (hopefully they didn't mind that I like to drive fast - oops!), the atmosphere at the race was great, despite some rain, and overall it was a great experience.

Speedy and I took a trip out to San Francisco last May, and I did a Girls on the Run 5K out there with a friend. It was her first race ever, and when we went out to dinner that night she showed up wearing her race t-shirt. That was awesome. The race last year was fun and well-organized, and I was really impressed with the GOTR organization and mission, and by how many girls were out participating in the race. With the minor exception of fewer participants, today's race was no different.

These races have an energy and friendliness that is not present at too many other races. People are cheerful and having a good time, and the biggest concern is making sure that the participants enjoy themselves. The snarkiness and competitiveness that runs rampant at many other races is not there; people are not looking at each other evaluating their probable speed before the race. Instead, it's a pretty supportive environment, with lots of people who are happy to see young girls out being active and having fun. Yeah, it's touchy-feely, but that's what makes it a nice change from other races.

As Team Stayput members, we had a table with Goody samples and Sharpie markers (what's the connection between Goody hair products and Sharpie markers? The girls use them to sign each other's race shirts). The girls swarmed the table, carefully picking out hair elastics and Sharpies for themselves, and invariably reported that they were having a great time and the race was a lot of fun. As I am usually on the other side of the table, this was an interesting experience. [vent]The people who stroll by the table 20 times, casually lifting a Sharpie/hair elastic for their bags each time they pass, are not nearly as subtle as they think they are. Also, we mean no harm when we ask you, the race volunteer, not to take any samples before the first finisher has even come in. We just need to make sure that we have enough for the racers. Come by later, and if there are extras we'd be more than happy to give you as many as you'd like. [/vent]

It was really a lot of fun. IM Able and M. are very cool and I had a great time with them (and it was nice to spend time with other women who get it, and not feel like you have to explain exactly why it is that you 'exercise so much'). The participants seemed to have a lot of fun, and loved the free hair elastics and Sharpies. The Girls on the Run organization has such a great mission, and gets huge props for getting girls out on a rainy Sunday morning to run a 5K and have them smiling and cheering afterwards. If you get the chance to go to one of these races, don't be scared off by the name. Go and check it out, see the girls out there doing something great, and have a great run. Trust me.

Hill Rides

Speedy and I went out for a hill ride this morning. It ended up being 40 miles (longest ride yet!) with 10 climbs, some worse than others.

For a 40-mile ride, it went by really quickly. The climbs were mostly fun, we were on and off the bikes to go around barriers often, there were tons of other people out (including lots of cyclists, some riding in giant peloton-like groups, all decked out in team kits), and there was a huge regatta taking place, so there was no lack of scenery.

The climbing itself went pretty well. When we did the Taxing Metric last month, Speedy had to wait for me at the top of each hill, while I went 5 mph grinding my way up on steel frame with an 11-21. Yesterday, I took out my new bike (whoo-hoo!) and it was a different story. I was right there with him for most climbs, and felt much more efficient and much less trashed after each climb. Now, part of this was definitely that the climbs weren't as bad as they were at the Taxing Metric, but I think between continuing to get stronger and having a lighter bike, I will be able to climb much better overall. Awesome.

Holy Graduation Gift, Batman!

In a shocking yet awesome display of generosity, my husband got me a freaking amazing and unexpected graduation present. He let on a few days ago that he had gotten me something, which was a surprise in and of itself because I wasn't expecting anything. He also hinted that the gift would be pretty cool, but didn't tell me what it was and didn't really give me any hints that would give it away. I knew he was getting it yesterday, but had no clue what it was. My guess was that it was the classic law-school graduation present, a briefcase.

So imagine my surprise when I walked in from coaching yesterday and saw this leaning against the wall:



Speedy wasn't home at the time but my sister was with me, and not being a triathlete she didn't understand why my jaw dropped and all I could get out was "Holy.....crap." When she asked what it was, I told her that I thought it was my graduation present.

It wasn't long before Speedy got home, with a huge grin on his face. Not only had he gotten me the bike, but he had made a fit appointment for me for today because he knew I would want to take it out ASAP (of course he was right). So I went for the fit today, and it. is. AWESOME. This bike is a 51, while my trusty steel-frame is a 55, retro-fit with things like a forward seatpost and a short stem to be as small as possible. The smaller frame is really comfortable. I love it. I took it out today and it's like butter.

Oh, and when we went to the bike shop a couple nights ago to ask about wheels, they knew about the gift and totally didn't let on. They rock.

I'm in shock, still. I didn't expect anything, much less a freaking awesome tri bike.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Someone pinch me.

Wheel Shopping

We went to the bike store last night to ask about my rear wheel and what they thought I should do - fix it, replace the wheel only, or replace the whole wheelset?

So the guy at the store, who was super-helpful as always, had a few suggestions. He nixed the idea of fixing the cracked hub; he didn't think it would be worth trying to find a new hub and getting it fixed when a new rear wheel wouldn't cost too much more. So he suggested the Mavic Aksium, which is Mavic's entry-level wheel and about $140. He then went on to give me some more options, including the Zipp 404 and the Mavic Cosmic Carbone, both of which are more than ten times what the Aksium costs.

Now, don't think I didn't oh-so-briefly consider it. The idea of riding Zipp 404s is really freaking appealing. But really, I'm not riding a P3C or anything like that, I'm riding a second-hand steel-frame bike, and the Zipps and Mavic Cosmic Carbones are nearing 3x what I paid for my entire bike. If I actually had disposable income that would allow me to really contemplate buying one of those wheelsets, I'd be so much better served putting the money towards a new frame, right?

So I'm getting the Mavic Aksium rear wheel, and it will certainly serve me well for the rest of the season and on the trainer this winter. It won't match my front wheel, but that's okay. That just means I have to go fast enough that people won't notice my wheels :)

And maybe once I start working and (gasp!) getting paid, the new bike and wheelset will be a more realistic option.

Rear Wheels

I'm going through these things like they're candy.

I had an old but fairly nice set of wheels, which came with my second-hand bike. The rear wheel went out of true, so Speedy brought it over to the bike shop, where he was told by the fairly surprised mechanic that the hub was actually cracked, and since it's an older wheel that's no longer made, finding the replacement part would take some effort. (This also explains why my last trainer ride was so crappy; the wheel was rubbing against the brake the whole time.)

So, for the long ride this weekend, we swapped the cracked wheel for my trainer wheel, which has served me well thus far. But, lo and behold, 28 miles into a 32 mile ride I got a flat. Fortunately, it wasn't a blowout or anything, but a slow leak, enough that it had to be changed before I could continue. Which brings me to...

Changing a flat tire in a gravel patch on the side of the road is a whole hell of a lot different than changing a flat tire in your kitchen. Especially when there are two people watching you and waiting for you to finish.

Needless to say, it didn't go quite as smoothly as I would have hoped. I promptly overinflated the first tube, which exploded with a spectacular bang. By this point, the nice guy who had latched onto Speedy and my wheels for the first part of the ride took over and ran a quick Flat Fixing 101 clinic for us. He got the (now-shredded) tube out and a fresh one in in just a couple of minutes, and we were back on the road. No problem, right?

Two miles later, BANG! My tire goes again, and this time it was a blowout. Yikes! Fortunately, it was the rear tire so I didn't lose my steering or anything and was able to stop safely. It took a little longer to get this flat fixed, because it seemed that the problem was with the wheel itself and the way it was rubbing against the tire valve. But, after a little while longer, and all of the cartridges and tubes that all three of us were carrying, we were back on the road to finish out the last 2 miles of our ride. Whew! We got back safe and sound and no worse for the wear. My rear wheel, on the other hand, will be getting a good once-over with some sandpaper and may be heading back to the trainer soon, if I can find a cheap-enough replacement rear wheel or wheelset.

So flatting at any time sucks, but this wasn't too bad. It was a nice day, we weren't in a huge rush, there was someone more knowledgable than us who was totally willing to teach us, and we all finished in one piece. And now I'm much more comfortable with fixing a flat. Not bad, not bad at all.

My Newest Obsession

I can't get enough of Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream ice cream. It's so freaking good. It's vanilla ice cream, with chocolate-covered waffle-cone pieces and caramel swirls. It's awesome, and I just bought another container tonight and it's a struggle to put the spoon down.

It is excellent. I highly suggest you try it. Like, now.

Feed Me! (aka Nutrition Questions)

Okay, I have a problem. I like my Gatorade and gels, but it's just not working for me anymore.

Here's the issue and some background info. On Thursday, I cramped up during a swim. I thought it was just a fluke thing, maybe my wetsuit wasn't fitting right or something, so I didn't do anything to address it. During my brick on Saturday, I got a splitting headache while on the bike, and was feeling a little nauseated as well. This wasn't the first time I've gotten terrible headaches during a long bike. And then yesterday during Broad Street (10-mile run), I felt my legs cramping during the last 1.5 miles, and had to keep moving after the finish to stave off what I knew would be awful leg cramps if I stopped.

During Saturday's workout, I had diluted Gatorade in my bottles and had a gel (Raspberry Hammer Gel) after about 45 minutes. Speedy thought maybe the headaches were from a salt deficiency, so I had two Endurolytes during 'transition' and headed out for a short run. My headache seemed to go away and the nausea passed as well, leading me to think that there was something to the sodium deficiency theory.

During Broad Street, I had mostly water, plus a Rasperry Hammer Gel at about the halfway point and some sips of Gatorade at around mile 6 or 7.

I'm looking for some advice. My nutrition strategy, which is not even a strategy but more of a 'what do I feel like drinking today?' method, is not working anymore. What works for you, nutrition-wise? I tried Accelerade (orange) and thought it tasted awful. I'm not sure I could stomach it during a workout. I've heard good things about some different products, including Heed and Perpeteum, and Amino Vital, and also other flavors of Accelerade. Nuun looks like it could be good for maintaining the electrolyte balance, but it has practically no calories, so even if I try that, I need something else for calorie replacement. Same for Endurolytes. The problem is that this stuff is not cheap, and I don't really want to go buy five hundred different things only to find that Product X is gross or Product Y upsets my stomach. So for now, I'll ask those who have gone before me: What do you use and why? Where do you get it?

No More Pencils, No More Books!

Wow, what a great weekend.

Thursday: First open-water swim of the season! Did ~2000 continuous yards at a local lake. The water temperature was cool but not unbearable, although there were some cold spots that took my breath away, even with a wetsuit on. It was GREAT to get away from staring at the black line in the pool. My calves cramped up pretty badly though, which was a bummer, but the rest of the swim was great (more on that in a later post).

Friday: My sister's 21st birthday, celebrated with our siblings, cousins, and friends at a local bar.

Saturday: A Cinco de Mayo party, followed by a brick. While quesadillas, taquitos, and margaritas may not be ideal pre-ride fuel, it worked well enough. The brick was supposed to be in the morning, but was pushed back since we overslept after Friday's festivities.

Sunday: Broad Street Run, with 17,000 of my closest friends. I thought it was a great race, but I was just looking for a fun training run, not a PR. If I had been looking to test myself, I probably would have been unhappy with the craziness.

And.....Breathe.

That's all, folks. I no longer go to law school.

I went to law school.

All I have to do is put on the cap and gown and collect my diploma. Oh, and study for the bar, but I'll worry about that in a few weeks.

For now - ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Bailing Out on Workouts

Today, I did something that I haven't done in a long long time. I quit in the middle of a workout.

Actually, saying it was the middle of the workout is really generous. It was more like 600 yards into a 3000-yard swim. I did my warmup, and got going on my main set, which started with 10x100. It was just too much. I got through 2 of them, flailing around, exhausted, and feeling the lactic acid already building up, and I knew it was going to be bad. I was in the shower before I consciously realized that I had quit on a workout.

I'm okay with it, though. The extra rest day will be good, and once finals are really over (probably tomorrow), I can refocus.

Why I Don't Set Time Goals

I don't set time goals because I chronically underestimate what I'm capable of doing. On the way to the race on Friday (it was a running race that my coach wanted me to treat as a time trial), we were discussing our goal paces, and I said I'd be happy with an 8:15 average. This time is pretty similar to what I did for a 3-mile time trial when we went to Austin, and I wanted to factor in the longer distance and the general exam-time fatigue. I thought it was a good goal, maybe a little conservative, but safe.

I blew that out of the water. I went 7:50/mile, a pace that was somewhere on my radar screen as a good goal pace...for August. Not for April.

At this point, I am beginning to think that any time goals I set are going to be way off, at least until I get a better idea of where my speed is right now. I'm definitely faster than last year, and I think I need to get some racing experience in before I try to set targets, otherwise it's all just shots in the dark.

But - 7:50? I was psyched. I've never gone sub-8, and certainly never for four miles. Yay!!

One Down, One to Go

Only one more exam and I'll be done!!

Training has taken a backseat for the past week, unfortunately. Hard workouts became easy, and easy workouts became...well, not at all. But all in all, I've only skipped one workout, and I've got a time trial tonight at a local race. It should be a fast crowd; the race is put on by a local running club and tends to bring out the hotshots. So I'll have some inspiration to try to go fast (well, fast for me. They'll all be done and eating pizza by the time I cross the finish line).

Tomorrow and Sunday bring my favorite workouts of the week, my brick and long run.

And by the middle of next week, I will be 100% done with law school, I'll be able to get things done around the house, and I will have more time to coach (and be out in the sun and have a general good time with a great group of high schoolers), and of course train more. I can't wait.

Goooooaaaalllllllllllls!! (Take 2)

It's Finals Time! That means fewer and more scatter-brained posts, lots of stress and not so much sleep, and my poor husband really being awesome about making sure I still take care of myself. Well, usually - he finally wised up and this time, scheduled an international business trip during my reading week. Only took him three years, but he has finally fled the country during my exam time. Smart guy :)

Going along with the 'review and evaluate' theme of finals, and possibly taking it too far, I thought it would be good for me to re-visit the goals that I posted back in October, right around when I first started blogging. At the time, I was dealing with a fairly severe foot injury, but looking back at my goals, I think I did a good job of making them realistic for where I was physically and mentally at the time. But since then a lot has changed. My foot is 99% healed and no longer limits my activity in any way, and I am training way more than I thought I would be right now.

Here's how it's played out so far:
1. Get healthy. Without this, none of the others are possible. Done and done.

2. Rebuild the huge base that I had before I was injured. I think this has been achieved. My training volume right now is far above where it was last year.

3. Continue swimming regularly (though not the 5-6 days a week I am doing now) This one has sort of been met. As per my coach, I am only swimming 3 days per week, but I am doing 2500-3000 yards per session, so I think my weekly yardage is probably the same. That said, I think I benefit a lot more from frequent shorter swims than I do from fewer but longer swims.

4. Do Spinervals at least once a week until January, and then at least twice per week. This one went out the window the minute I got a coach. I haven't done a Spinerval since January, and in fact I haven't done much skill work at all, so it will be interesting to see how things play out. If I had my druthers, I'd be doing lots more one-leg drills and such, but for now I'm going with what my coach tells me.

5. Start doing running speedwork. I am the queen of the base-building aerobic run, but it's time I face the fact that that won't help me get faster. Oh, how I love my long slow distance runs. My coach, on the other hand, thinks I should only do them once a week. :) He's added in some tempo and interval work, and it is already paying dividends.

6. (maybe) Get a coach to help me achieve these goals. Well, yeah, this one happened, and it turned out to be a great idea. I lovelovelove not having to create my training schedule, and when something goes wrong or I need to change things around, it's not the giant stressor that it once was.

It's time for new goals. I think I need more specific time goals this time around, for starters. I've got nothing specific yet, though; that will come. Some goals will be public and some will be private, more of the "goal that dare not speak its name" type, the kind that I only whisper to myself during my hardest training sessions.

The public goals are well and good, and I like the accountability of putting my goal of 1:xx/100 (whatever that number will be) out there for all to see (and the excitement and confidence that comes with meeting the goal), but I find it's the private ones that really get me going.

They're also the ones that really scare me - in fact, they terrify me. Sometimes they make me think I'd be better off curling up on the couch than racing, because what if I don't meet it? Or worse, what if my goal was so unrealistic that had I told anyone about it, I'd look like a fool? But that hasn't stopped me. I set some of those goals for myself for things in law school, and have met almost all of them.

And really, the feeling of meeting those private, unspeakably bold goals is so deliciously satisfying that I want to feel it again and again. No matter how terrifying it seems right now.

Getting My Act Together

Okay. So. At the moment my stress level is pretty high (yes, even higher than usual) and I think that's what is leading to my general malaise. That, and a lack of sleep. Together, they equal crappy training for a few days but it's not the end of the world. Especially after reading the race reports from IMAZ this weekend, I am feeling more inspired to suck it up and get my shit together. Right Now.

Okay, tomorrow.

Photo!

After much anticipation, here is the photo from this weekend. I am on the right, and IM Able is on the left:

Taxing Is Not Just A Day

About the 50K ride this weekend:

1. The "Taxing Metric" ride name does not, in vivid contrast to my pre-ride belief, refer just to its proximity to tax day.

2. If I had known that there was approximately zero flat road on the route and lots and lots of hills, I would have replaced my 11/21 cogset with a 12/25. Instead, I got a lot of practice grinding up the hills out of the saddle, while my husband, on his new carbon road bike, waited patiently for me at the top of the hills. Well, mostly patiently.

3. Descents at 30 mph on wide, smooth, lightly-traveled roads are slightly terrifying but tons of fun.

4. Trail mix is never as good as when it's at a rest stop or post-race food station. In fact, the best trail mix I've ever had was during a 10-mile trail run up and down the side of a mountain outside of Santa Cruz, CA. It was like the food of the gods. Likewise, hot soup after a cold ride is awesome.

5. A good way to get lots of funny looks is to do a transistion run after a group ride with a bunch of roadies. Running? Why would you want to do that?

6. I had the chance to meet a fellow blogger and Team StayPut member, IM Able, and she is so nice and quite cute, if you don't mind me saying. She is also a total badass - she decided to make this ridiculously hilly 50K her first ride off the trainer! I think my first road ride was about 10 miles on super-flat roads. I am looking forward to being her teammate and cheering her on during her quest for IM Wisconsin.

I Found Some Fast

I think it was hiding, but I saw a little of it during my recovery week last week. Today, it was definitely there. Today was my longest swim yet, and made my goal of a 10,000-yard week actually seem attainable, although I don't think it's going to happen this week. Either way, my arms are about to fall off.

The main set was 500-400-300-200-100 descending, which I was able to do, and banged out a 1:25 (!!!) for the 100. That was followed by 2x400, which were really boring and long, and I finished up the main set with 5x100 at race pace, which I was also able to do descending (1:35 for the first, 1:29 for the last). Go me! I figured my 5x100 would be somewhere around 1:42s, so I was totally psyched to see a 1:35 for the first, and at a not-crazy intensity level. At that point, I figured I should really go for it for the remaining four. Let me tell you, I have never felt lactic acid in my shoulders like I did during the last 2 100s. Ouch! But I was able to get the times I wanted, which was great.

I don't think I could have designed workouts on my own that would have gotten me to this point, much less getting me to this point in April. Hopefully this will all translate to faster race times.

Getting faster + not having to come up with my own workouts = getting a coach was a good idea. Hopefully.

Holy Calories, Batman!

I generally try not to worry too much about what I'm eating. Usually, I think that my eating habits and training balance out enough to create a decent equilibrium (except for my pizza habit; I really need to work on that). But I had a terrible realization today: one of my favorite mindless snacks, Rold Gold Sourdough Pretzels (the really yummy and salty thick ones) have 100 calories EACH.

Yes, each.

So my 2-3 pretzels each afternoon = 200-300 totally worthless calories. Now, I realize that 200 calories isn't going to be the end of me, but these pretzels have been my go-to 'healthy' snack when I wasn't feeling like eating an apple or something. Healthy? Not so much.

[plaintive wail]Now what am I going to do???{/plaintive wail].

General Malaise

I have three weeks and counting left of law school. I can't freaking wait to be done. Can't. Freaking. Wait.

Last week was the most training I think I've ever done, leading into this week as a recovery week. According to TrainingPeaks, which knows all (as long as I remember to tell it), I trained ~10 hours this past week. That's a freaking lot, and my Half-Ironman isn't even until September! As you can probably imagine, my legs are shot. My coach timed this recovery week very well; I didn't need it last week but he upped my volume just enough that I couldn't have done another week at that level.

It's funny how perspective changes, though - when I told Speedy that today's swim workout was only 4x400 and should go by pretty quickly, he thought that was pretty funny because only a few months ago 4x400 was a good long swim for me.

Meanwhile, I am eating everything in sight and my appetite is showing no signs of abating anytime soon. My coach reminded me that I "shouldn't neglect getting enough nutrition this week, even though it's a recovery week." Uh, yeah.....that's not likely to be an issue.

New Bike Fit and Long Rides

I got my new bike fit all worked out. It's great, and so much better than before. Speedy and I went out for 20 miles on Thursday and 27 on Sunday, and both rides were great.

Okay, I'm full of crap. The position was very good, and felt strong and just so much better than before. I can handle the bike better now, and it's easier to stay aero for long periods now that I don't feel like I have to hold onto the aerobars for dear life, and I love the narrower handlebars. But...

The ride on Sunday was terrible. We went to check out some roads out by my parents' house, and while we were able to stay on basically the same road the whole way out, the pavement was in such bad shape that both of us kept getting bounced out of the aerobars. Trust me, no amount of chamois cream/bike shorts/properly-fit saddle could have made that ride more pleasant. The road was awful - not in bad shape per se, but just very very rough. Add in a headwind on the way out, and I was sitting there grumbling just about the entire time, "This is just fucking great. This road sucks. When are we turning around? What the hell, why won't he get out of my way so I can just freaking blow my nose already. Fuck, fuck, fuck." Replay something like that over and over, and you have my train of thought for the whole way out. I generally don't say the f-word (see?), unless I'm on the bike, in which case it's just about every other word out of my mouth. At least on the way back we had a tailwind.

I Dropped Off My Bike

for my fit today. The components are being installed, and I'll go for the fit itself on Thursday, just in time for my next scheduled ride. Whoo-Hoo!!

And to show some love to my trainer bike as well, my husband/bike-mechanic-in-training replaced my old worn-out squeaky chain with a brand-new one. My ride the other night was glorious. Well, as glorious as a trainer ride in March can be, anyway. But it was definitely nice. :)

Jolly Ranchers

I love Jolly Ranchers. Especially the red ones, and of those, I think the cherry are the best. I bought a bag this past weekend, and ate four last night. Not over the course of the night, but over the course of about 45 minutes. If they were cigarettes, I would have been chain-smoking. My teeth hurt.

In related news, I remember clear as day the first time I ever heard the f word. I was in elementary school, probably fourth grade (it was a sheltered existance), and while standing in line for recess a classmate turned to me and said, "Want a Jolly Rancher?" Of course I did! So I said yes, and she told me to put out my hand, so I did. She laughed, slapped it, and said, "Go fuck a farmer."

Ahhh, kids.

Happy Things

This weekend has been a great reminder of the happy things in my life. My good friend got married last night, and she looked gorgeous and glowing, and her husband looked happier than I've ever seen him. She's been nervous about the wedding for a while, because she wanted everything to go *just so,* and it was perfect. They were surrounded by friends and family, all of whom wanted nothing more right then than to see them happy and healthy for a long long time. And that was awesome.

And then today was a baby shower for my cousin, who is having her first child in April. Much of my family was there, and my cousin looked happy and much more comfortable than the last time I saw her, when her pregnancy was really taking a toll on her. Today, she looked (more) rested and seemed to be in a really great mood. And her son made out like a bandit, too.

Tomorrow is a long-delayed birthday celebration for Speedy with his family.

Add in some training, and it's shaping up to be a crazy but great weekend, full of reminders of those things in life that really bring joy to those around you. Not often do they all come together like this, and I plan to enjoy it as much as I can.

An Open Letter to My Shins

Dear My Shins:

You and I have been together for a while. Although I generally try to take good care of you, I will admit that in the past I have treated you poorly on occasion, by doing things like long runs on concrete or buying a pair of running shoes at Kohl's because I liked the way they looked. But you didn't take any of my crap, and quickly let me know what was acceptable and was was not.

I listened. I did, really, which is why I now buy my running shoes at real running stores. But this time I wanted to save some money, so I bought the same model online. You understand, right? It's the same shoe, in the same size, I just saved $20. I still bought the nice cushioned shoe you have gotten along with so well over the past few years.

So I don't understand why now, after all this time, you're going and developing shin splints. I am wearing the right shoes, and I've even started icing you and taking Aleve. Can't we just agree to get along until at least the end of the summer? I have been doing well with my training and I don't want to back off now, especially since my first race is a 10-mile road race. Besides, my foot and ankle kept me out of racing in the fall. You should pow-wow with them; they will tell you how unhappy I was - I made them do physical therapy and all. I didn't take their crap, and I'm not going to take yours either.

Now. Please stop screwing around and stop hurting on my runs. If you want, I can even bribe you with ice massage.

Thanks for your time, and I look forward to working with you in the future.
Sincerely,
Cheaper Than Therapy

Bike Fit

I learned a lot at my bike fit today. Like, for example, that the bike I bought second-hand, having been told it was a 53, is actually a 55. Which is way too big for my 5'6" frame. No freaking wonder I felt so stretched out all the time. But the fit was awesome, and we're going to make lots of changes to my setup, including:
- replacing the old seatpost with a forward seatpost;
- replacing the too-wide handlebars with smaller ergo handlebars;
- putting on new, fully-adjustable aerobars; and
- replacing the stem with a shorter one.

It's a lot, but I can't freaking wait for everything to come in. Unfortunately, it probably won't be till the end of next week. But while I was at the bike shop, they set up a fit bike with an approximation of my new fit, and it was great. It will definitely be an adjustment, because I've been so stretched out and this new fit is much more compact, but I think it will also be much more comfortable and hopefully faster. I am as excited for this as I would be if I were getting a whole new bike. I can't wait!

We're Home

Things We Did In Austin:
- ran a good long trail run on the Greenbelt;
- got in a few shorter runs at Town Lake, including a time trial that led me to believe that I actually am getting faster;
- ate lots of Mexican food, including the best chicken fajitas I've ever had;
- visited the tri and running shops, and found a very cool place called Bettysport, where I spent more money than I probably should have;
- got lost a few times;
- had a great time; and
- started planning our next trip down there.

Things We Didn't Do In Austin:
- swim in Barton Creek Pool. It was closed due to the torrential rainstorms. That's okay, it can be a reason for us to go back.
- see much of SXSW, due to poor planning on our part.

I Love Austin

...and I want to move here. Right now. Do I have to get on the plane to go home? Can't I just stay here? I can be one of those "went on vacation and just decided to stay" people. It would be awesome.

You Ironmen Are Amazing

I got to thinking about this during my swim this morning. I had to do 6x400, which is a super-long set for me. It wasn't going as well as I would have liked, and I was getting bored. And then I realized that my measly little swim this morning was nothing compared to what people training for an Ironman do every day.

Really. I have such respect for anyone who can train for an Ironman. I don't care how fast you are; if you're putting in the time to train for an Ironman I think that's awesome. I'm only training for Olympic distance races right now, and my Half-Ironman isn't even until September, and I am practically falling over at the end of each training week. I can't even contemplate training at the level that some of you are at. I think you guys rock.

Reason #283 My Coach Probably Hates Me

I don't like the cold. I know, I sound like a broken record. But really. It's March, people! What's up with the 40-mph wind gusts? Yes, I know, I know: 'Suck it up, princess."

But there's hope on the horizon! Not only does DST start this weekend, but on Saturday I leave for 4 days in (hopefully warm and sunny) Austin! I can't wait!

3000 Yards!

I officially did my longest swim ever yesterday. It was 3000 yards. Go me!

I had a 2300yd main set, and did 300 for warm-up, so I figured I'd stay in the pool for a 400 cool-down to get to 3000. It was awesome. And someone (who clearly doesn't know much about swimming, thank goodness) asked me if I was on a swim team! I told him that I was not, but the mental push that that gave me helped me drop a few seconds off my dragging-my-ass 50s at the end of a 4x500 workout.

Also, last week my coach mentioned to me that I stopped kicking when I breathe (who knew?) and that I should focus on kicking through the whole stroke. I did that today and definitely felt more efficient.

I love setting new milestones. It's great to actually see the training working, and I'm starting to get pumped for racing to start. I can't wait to see where I am this year compared to last. Hopefully it'll be an improvement!

New Layout

So I sort of figured out the new layout. What do you think?

Outsmarted By A Dog

I locked myself out of my house tonight.

Well, okay. I didn't lock myself out, per se. My dog locked me out, when I went to take out some cans for recycling. She jumped up on the door to see just what I was doing outside, and in doing so shut the door. And I was locked out.

My friend has a key. But my phone was inside, and I don't know anyone's number - they're all stored in my phone. Not super helpful in emergencies like this.

So being locked out, I started thinking about the best way to get back in. My first thought was property damage (natch). So I tried to kick down - yes, I just said I tried to kick down - our back door. We live in an old house, and I would like to report to you that those old wooden doors are actually pretty damn sturdy. The plaster around the doorframe, not so much. But no dice. So then I tried to put a brick through a pane of glass in the door. After all, replacing one measly pane of glass is a lot cheaper than replacing a whole door, right? Well, the glass is also pretty sturdy.

I finally did what should have been my first step - went next door and called Speedy. He had the brilliant idea (which is why I should have called him first) to use my neighbor's ladder, climb onto our porch overhang, and go in through an upstairs window. Fortunately for me and my non-handy self, cooler heads prevailed and my neighbor suggested I go out his window to get to mine (we live in a twin). So he and I are standing on our porch overhangs, basically breaking into my house. Fortunately, this time it worked, and even more fortunately, no police cars drove by as we were doing it. Of course, I had to push my dog back inside when she jumped up on the upstairs window to see what was going on and why I was outside.

So in the end, all is well, I am inside before it gets really cold tonight, and property damage is minimal. All in a recovery day's work.

Can You Tell It's a Recovery Week?

Okay, so I tried to change my blog layout and all, but I lost my race schedule table; apparently the HTML doesn't convert. Any ideas how I can get this to work?

I Love Warm Weather

And I'm so desperate for it to be warm that 50 and sunny counted as 'warm' today. It's so great to feel the warmth of the sun, and see people out and about without heavy coats and without the scowls that seem to develop after extended periods of really cold weather. And today, I ran in shorts. I saw some other runners out in long pants and winter hats, and all I could think was, "What is WRONG with you??" This relative warmth is not supposed to last for too long, and I'm sure I'll be all bundled up for my run this weekend, so it was great to enjoy it while I could. I can't wait for summer.

I was totally dragging my ass during Wednesday's swim, and I couldn't figure out why. Getting myself onto the trainer that evening was pure willpower and nothing else. I couldn't figure out why I felt so tired. Then I woke up on Thursday and felt awful. Sore throat, headache, just general yuck. After being up for a while and trying to get my act together, I finally decided it wasn't happening. I skipped my classes and went back to sleep for FOUR hours. I don't think I've taken a four-hour nap since I graduated from college. Today was slightly better, I've actually been vertical for much of the day.

The thing that really stinks about bugs like this one is the mind games they make me play. As a triathlete, I of course think that taking 2 days off in a row puts me in the fast lane to Sloth-ville, and my body is going to turn to mush, with all my hard work for naught. I might as well sell my bike and just take up residence on the couch, eating Doritos and drinking beer. It's the classic angel-and-devil-on-the-shoulders situation, except it's unclear to me which is the one saying "You need to rest in order to recover!" and which is saying "Suck it up and train through it!" I keep thinking "Well, maybe I could go for a swim; I was only supposed to do 10x100 today, I can get that done." And then I get up from the couch, my head spins, and I sit my ass back down for another few hours.

Here, Fishie, Fishie

Today, during my swim warm-up, another girl got into the pool. Now, I know this doesn't sound like a big deal, but there are very few young women who actually swim at the pool at my gym. There are quite a few older women who water-walk, and no shortage of women who want to kick you out of your lane so they can do aquarobics, and even some young women who get in with their friends or significant others or whomever and splash around and giggle. Because, you know, when I'm swimming laps I really want to watch the two people in the lane next to me flirting and grabbing and all. But I digress.

So today, I am finishing my warm-up, taking my sweet old time, and this girl gets in and starts swimming. Really. Flip-turns and all. Of course, this totally piques my interest, so I'm all trying to look without really looking, and of course I'm trying to figure out which one of us is faster, since I'm absurdly competitive like that. So I start my main set of 8x200, and I'm barely paying attention to the swimming. Instead, I'm single-mindedly focusing on holding her off. I had to nail those flip-turns, and if she was getting down the lane in 18 strokes, I had to do it in 17. Meanwhile, my sets are just flying by. By the time she got out, I had gotten through six intervals, all relatively fast and consistent, and had hardly even noticed I was swimming.

It. was. awesome.

I was still comtemplating the awesomeness that was my distracted workout during my seventh interval. Meanwhile, lo and behold, Speedy showed up for his swim, so he was around for the eighth and final. This workout went so quickly that the only reason I know I did eight intervals is because my watch tells me so.

Add to a great swim workout a delicious and over-eaten dinner at The Melting Pot, and it was a good day.

But I Like My Toxins! With Two Olives!

I think Ugly Betty is one of the best shows around. It's absolutely hilarious. Characters, plots, writing, everything is awesome. Seriously. I don't like telling people what to do (yeah, right, who am I kidding?) but if you don't watch it, you totally should. Now.

Wake Me Up When It's Warm.

I've been feeling uninspired lately. I think it's the cold weather. I don't do well in the cold; I just want to hibernate. Speedy thinks my hibernation instinct is the reason I like to carry large handbags, that way in case I run out of food I have enough room in my bag and can just dig in for a Clif Bar or apple or meatball sandwich.

In about a month, Speedy and I are traveling to Texas for my spring break. With the current 10-day forecast listing nothing above 35 degrees, I can't wait to go somewhere warmer for a little while.

My coach has raised my swim volume in the past few days. It went from 1200-yard main sets to a 2200-yard main set. I actually called him to make sure it wasn't a typo, but no, it wasn't. And I used my new alphabet counting method to count the laps, and it worked great once I figured out how to count. So my coach wanted to know how it went, and I told him I thought it went well. I was tired by the end, but overall, for doing the longest main set I've ever done, I felt great and I told him that. To which he responded, "Good. So we'll keep your long swim at 2500-3000 yards for now, until we start to build the volume in a few weeks." I think I'm in trouble . . .

Kids Today...

I am an assistant coach for a local high-school crew team. I have some very fun times with the crazy kids I coach. I also have conversations like this:

Rower: Remember that exchange student from last year?
Me: Of course
Rower: So, is she in France or in America? Because she friended me on Facebook.
Me: I think she's back in France; how does her friending you affect where she is?
Rower: Well, I mean, Facebook is a .com site, and if she's back home, can't she only access .fr sites?
Me: [Thinking, ?!??!?!???] Well, the countries all have tags that indicate where the site is, but you can access them from anywhere. You know, as in the World-Wide Web?
Rower: Ohh, so like Australia is .aus? That just means where the site is?
Me: Exactly, or .uk or something like that.
Rower: No, I'm pretty sure Australia is .aus.
Me: [shaking head] No, I meant that was just another example. But yes, she can access Facebook, even though it's .com and she's in France.
Rower: Ohhhh. Cool!

This particular rower is a great girl. I've known her for 3 years now, and she's fun and smart and a little crazy. She's also probably got the least common sense of anyone I've ever met. But really, conversations like this are why I love coaching, and I'm going to miss is next year when I get to the real world.

Counting Laps

There's something you should know about me: I am really bad at counting laps.

In the past, I've let myself believe that it's because I'm busy, or fried from exams, or whatever the case may be. But I'm running out of excuses.

Yesterday I was supposed to do 2x400 (yeah, short workout, I know - my coach has really backed off on the swim volume) and I think I did a 450 and a 350. Today was a 1000yd time trial. I came up with a brilliant plan. Instead of counting the yards, I would go by letters of the alphabet. So 1000yds = 10x100 = 10x4 lengths = 40 lengths = 40 letters. Which means I had to go through the alphabet once and then around again to H. So I'm swimming along, all proud of myself for my brilliant plan, which was clearly brilliant because it was working so well. I didn't lose count at all. I get done, all proud of myself for counting correctly (what am I, 3?), look at my watch, and realize there's no freaking way I went that fast, even with my recently-found speed. That's okay, I thought, I'm probably only off by a little.

When I got home, I sat down to figure out exactly what happened. Turns out my brilliant plan would have been more brilliant if I had gone through the alphabet correctly (again with the apparently regressing to age 3). So 40 letters is not once around and back to H, it's once around and back to N. Which means my 1000yd time trial was actually only 850. Crap.

Go me.

Heartrate Training

My coach has requested that I get a heartrate monitor. Since it's now my job to do everything my coach tells me to do, I got one. He didn't tell me that HR training sucks.

As IM Able put it, "Trying to run in Zone 1 is nearly impossible. Zone 2 should be reserved for inside, out of sight of neighbors or other friendly runners. Lock the doors, pull the shades, it's time for a recovery run. Backwards." Thank you, IM Able, for putting into words my exact thoughts.

I do a good portion of my running with Speedy. He is, as the name may imply, speedy. I am more along the lines of Pokey. Running with Speedy makes me run faster, but as I am discovering, running with Speedy and running in Zone 2 are mutually exclusive. It's one or the other. Unfortunately, I think if this coach thing is going to work out, I need to train properly. Which is to say, slowly.

In other news, working with a coach is interesting. My volume this week is way down from where it was with the online training plan, but I'm confident my coach has a plan. Not sure what it is, because he only gives me one week at a time, but it's there. I think.

Oh Here It Goes!

Dear Registered Triathlete/Duathlete:

This is your confirmation letter indicating we received your mail-in application for the following 2007 events:

DDT half

First Day

Today was my first training day with my new coach. I'm going to get faster. I will definitely feel like hell getting there.

Today's workout was to set my LT threshold, so the plan was to run as hard as I could for 45 minutes. And as the self-professed queen of the aerobic base-building run, this is certainly not something in my comfort zone. Yeah . . . ouch. But, that said, I am 100% sure that it will be worth it in the end. Painful, but worth it.

I Did It.

I sent in my Diamondman registration.

That's all.

I Am So Lame.

So I've been following this training plan for the past month or so. While it's had the desired effect of letting me train without having the come up with my workout schedule, it has also apparently made me stupid.

I was all set to go to the gym and swim this morning after class. I get there, and get my things out and am all ready to get changed, but first I wanted to review the workout. But when I looked through my bag for the printout, it wasn't there. I must have left it on the table this morning. Oh no, the horror! But really, it totally threw me off.

I stood there looking at my swim gear for a while, contemplating my options. I knew I was supposed to do 2500 yards, but the idea of coming up with my own 2500-yard workout practically threw me into a panic. I actually considered driving home (about 10 minutes each way) to get the workout. Then I thought that I could just go home, and come back later to do the workout. I thought about asking the front desk folks if I could look it up online. I might as well have put a sign around my neck that said, "My training plan has made me stupid. Can you help me?" Finally, though, I called Speedy who humored me and read me the workout over the phone. Now that I had been told exactly what to do, I could finally get in the pool. Whew. That was close.

Race Registration

I actually haven't yet registered for Diamondman. I don't think it's going to sell out soon, so I'm not super worried. But to secure myself a spot, I went on the Piranha Sports site to register tonight. The registration instructions: "Print application, fill it out, and mail it in." Wait . . . what? Print? MAIL? What is this? I've clearly gotten spoiled by online race registration, which makes impulsive decision-making much easier. Now I have to plan in advance, take the time to fill it out, and track down my stamps. Okay, it's not that bad, but still. Online registration isn't exactly cutting-edge technology anymore, people.

Swimming

Last weekend I went to a stroke clinic put on by my tri club. The coach gave lots of good instruction, and I was all set to apply it today during my swim (yes, this is the first time I've been in the pool since last Sunday - oops). So I get in and start warming up, and I'm feeling good. Strong. Tired, since this weekend's workouts consisted of a 90-minute brick on Saturday and a long run on Sunday, which are fairly long workouts for me at this time of year, but strong.

I timed my sets, which is sometimes a good idea and sometimes bad, depending on whether I'm going fast. Today's set included was 3x(100 easy, 4x50 fast). On the first 100, I somehow knocked like 7 seconds off of my previous best 100 time, and felt great. I was shocked to see that I had gone so fast - I thought maybe I had started my watch late, but I'm pretty sure that was an accurate time. So that rocked. But the workout went downhill from there. I couldn't get my act together on the fast 50s, and I was sloooooooooow. Apparently focusing on going fast wasn't working for me today, because when I tried to focus instead on staying long and pulling hard though the water, instead of focusing on the speed, I got faster. Seems that there's a lesson in there for this grasshopper.

In other news, I think I'm going to get a real actual live coach. One of the founding members of my tri club is trying to get his coaching business off the ground. He seems really knowledgeable, and is in fact a Level 1 coach, but because he's just getting started his rates are awesome. So my online training program has served me well for the past month, but I think it's time to move on. Yay!!

70.3, Here I Come.

I hope I don't get sued for using the 70.3 designation for a non-IMNA event. :)

I'm going to do it. After reading others' blogs, especially those who are training or have trained for full Ironman races, I can get off my ass to do a half. The swim will be okay (although probably not terribly fast), Speedy has agreed to do my long training rides with me, and I was planning to do some late-season half-marathons anyway so my run training should be sufficient as well. Really, though, I'm sort of "Holy Crap!" about the whole thing, and I don't know how all you Ironmen do it.

Classes have started again. I'm loving my schedule for this semester. I am taking two 'real' classes, and am enrolled in a clinic, where we provide representation to community members. Students practice under the licenses of the profs, so we get to do everything related to the cases, including court appearances. I'm pretty psyched about it. I get to start off by going to traffic court with my sister next week (actually, she's not a client of the clinic, she's just a moron who waited 6 months too long to get her car inspected).

And I had a chat with a friend with whom there's been some tension lately, and we seem to have worked things out nicely. All in all, not a bad week.

What Do You Know About Diamondman?

I've heard different opinions, ranging from that it's not well-run and it's a bad race for a first half-Ironman, to it's a fine race. Has anyone done it or heard anything about it? What do you think?

Race Schedule - Advice?

I posted my tentative race schedule. I say tentative because it will change, the only question is how. I'm considering doing Diamondman in September, which would knock out the North East Oly and probably the Distance Run as well. This is a big step for me, but I think I'll have the training time available to do it. Anybody have any advice/ideas?

Back In The Saddle

Thanks to some quality time with my training plan and some less-than-subtle motivation from Speedy, I am finally feeling more motivated to train. I've gotten in some good workouts in the past week, and the laziness that went along with the holidays seems to have subsided. It's about time, too - school starts again on Monday (my last semester as a law student!) and I start working soon (my third, and likely last, year as an assistant coach for a local crew team) too. So it's about time I get my ass in gear.

I think the training plan is going to make me faster. It's certainly nice to not have to worry about what I'm doing on a given day, because it's already set out for me. That takes away a lot of the stress for me, because I don't have to worry about getting in enough swims/bikes/runs/lifts any given week, as someone has already done that. And it includes the speedwork that I am less inclined to do when I am doing my own schedules. And bricks. Starting today. Yikes! If I were doing my own schedule, bricks wouldn't even be on my radar screen for another month or two, at least. I think this plan will prove to be a good thing.

I will start posting more soon. When I'm in school, I sit in front of my computer practically all day. When I'm on break, I generally try not to spend tons of time using the computer. But school starts again soon, so I'll be posting more frequently. I know, I know - please, try to contain your excitement. :)