Jul 27, 2008

recovery week 1

So lets see Monday I was sore and tired and then spent the entire day in the mini driving home. I think the full day of driving wore me out almost as much as the race.. Luckily Kyle and I stopped every couple of hours to stretch our legs and switched off driving so nether one of us had to drive for to long. We got home at about 12:30 in the morning which sucked - we left everything packed in the car and went straight to bed.
Tuesday I was completely useless. I wore myself out just unpacking the car and then I think I took a nap every 4 hours and was in bed by 10pm.
Wednesday I went to the Orthopedic to have my right ankle looked at - it has hurt and has limited range of motion when I point my toes for a while now and has just not gotten better. Luckily no cracks or anything but I did wind up getting a cortisone shot - which hurt the rest of the day. Fingers crossed in a couple of months it will be all better and I won't have to go back for any further examinations. Then I went back to work but really I was just surviving on coffee/caffeine. I considered doing a work out of some sort to stretch out but instead came home and took a nap and then was in bed by 10pm.
Thursday I woke up early and got myself to pilates for a little help loosening up. My entire body was tight so Monique went easy on me and really focused on stretching out. I only had to have one cappuccino at work. As soon as I was off work I came home and once again took an hour nap then preceded to chill the rest of the night.
Friday I slept in till 7am but after work I went for a 20 mile bike ride - nothing intense just nice and easy. It was funny about half way i started to feel so tired I struggled to get my water bottle. It was kind of bad. I made it back home but I think it was my slowest 20 miler in a long time. Ah well my heart rate barely climbed out of zone 1 most of the ride so slow is to be expected. I immediately took a nap in the warm evening sun before going to watch some track racing down at the Velodrome with Kyle, Col and Bryan.
Saturday we woke up only early enough to watch the Tour de France final time trial stage before heading to Green Lake for a swim. We met Monique at the boat house - it was her 1st open water swim of the year and crazy girl has an Olympic tri next weekend.. ah well Kyle and her both swam circles around me. We swam for about 20 minutes. I actually felt pretty good and my ankle did not hurt to much at all. When we were getting back on the dock both Kyle and Monique declared they think I need more upper body strength to get more power out of my stroke and thus swim faster.. I guess that is what I get for being a skier all my life (strong legs and wimpy upper body). I took a nap while Kyle got his hair cut or something. Later in the evening for the first time in I can't even rember Kyle and I went to a movie - we saw wall-e. Yes I know it is Disney but it was really good and has a great underlying message.
Today (Sunday) Monique and I had talked about doing a run around green lake - she said something about 8 miles - haha.. In the end I decided not to run myself into the ground and instead I went for a nice 5 mile trail run. I love doing trail runs as recovery runs because I completely ignore my pace and just enjoy myself. Mostly I focused on not running through horse poop but I had fun all the same. Afterwards i found myself laying outside and took my second nap of the day ;)

So I think I averaged at least 1 nap a day - which says something... I'm expecting to slowly ween myself off the evening naps and be back to somewhat normal in the next week or so. But at the same time I get to enjoy another week of recovery :)

Jul 20, 2008

Vineman Ironman 70.3

The morning started at 4am - well I woke up around 3 and tossed and turned. We got to the race start early since Bryan had the first start of the group at 6:45 am. My start was last of our group - 8:14 am. My wave was actually kind of small - or at least it felt smaller than some of the others looked. I had tons of time to even go back to the car to get tape to attach my gels to my bike with - and to stand around freezing in my wetsuit. It was cloudy and cold in the morning - even a little misty at times.

Bryan started while we were waiting in line for the porta potties, then Col, Marissa and Kyle started in the wave ahead of me. Finally it was my turn - they had to give some extra time because the inflated arch above the swim entrance deflated - blocking some girls from getting in the water... So I treaded water a couple extra minutes treading water and got a little cold even. Finally I was off. The water was a good temp, kind of mirky ( I could not see the bottom even though it was between 3-10 ft deep the entire way). I was able to get into a good rhythm right away and just cruised along. I stayed off to the right edge of the wave - had open water almost the entire swim. I had girls from my wave around me the entire swim and then a little before half way the guys from wave behind started to catch me (totally expected). At half way we got to swim with the current which felt awesome. So all and all a good swim - felt strong the whole way and did not swim to much extra.
I got out of the water and had a good transition. Went with out gloves or arm warmers even though it was chilly - I knew I would warm up in a couple miles and just tuff it out till then. I was happy because I came out of the water with a lot of other girls from my age group.

Got up on the road and headed out on the bike. Took it easy - just wanted to warm up and get going. I kept my heart rate low and my cadence high and as I expected I was warm with in a couple miles. There was a crazy right hand turn that was over 120 degrees which was not as bad as it looked but I still went very conservative. Fallowed by the steep little climb I was defiantly warm and started getting in to a rhythm. The course is full of pretty mellow rollers - almost flat compared to the rides around Seattle. I focused on keeping my cadence up around 80-95 rpm while still keeping my speed up above 19 to 20 mph. It was kind of hard to stay on track with my nutrition plan because it was so cool it did not make me very thirsty - but I forced myself to keep drinking and ate my 3 gels. The main climb was around mile 45 and I felt good the entire way - it reminded me a lot of the stair step hill that is part of the Beaver Lake Sprint. The sun finally started to come out and warm up and I made sure to eat.

It felt like it took forever to get though the town to get to T2 but eventually I did. I thought it was kind of funny that the part of the rack that I had my shoes was empty of bikes (the other end was full). So I got in and out of T2 with ease and was off and running. My toes were still cold and numb so it felt like I was running on stumps for the first mile or so.
I saw my Dad and Nadine on the way out, then saw and heard Bryan coming in to the finish. The course starts off deceptively flat - it is like you turn a corner around the 1st mile then the rest of it is all either up or down. I managed to keep my pace around a 9 min mile or so. It was getting hot so I made sure to get water and/or Gatorade at the aid stations. I would have LOVED to have a cup of ice or a cold sponge but noo they did not have either. So I just dumped water on my face/head to cool off a bit. I saw Col when I was around 3 miles, then saw Kyle around mile 4.5 or so. I was sooo relieved he looked way better than he had in hawaii. Somewhere I think around mile 6 when I was eating a gel Marissa passed me saying she had to make up for her swim time. I considered trying to stay with her but instead just kept her in sight.
I did not look at my overall time till I was past the turn around - at that point I knew I would make my goal of sub 6 hours and then wanted to make my run sub 2 hours. I still walked a few steps in the aid stations so I could liquids but other wise I kept running. My legs felt a tight and heavy but that is what always happens. I kept a closure eye on the time the rest of the way back just to be sure. Again the last mile was flat which was perfect so I picked up the pace as best I could. I knew I had made my goal and felt so happy running through the finish. Kyle, my Dad and the rest of the crew was all there cheering.

My final official times were:
Swim 00:42:22.7
T1 00:03:22.6
Bike 03:05:16.8
T2 00:03:07.7
Run 01:58:27.8
Finish 05:52:37.5

I am extremely happy with my race, my times and how I placed in my age group. I stuck to my race plan and had fun the entire day. But the day got even better.. We went to the awards ceremony and in the end there were 6 women roll down slots for Clearwater and I was the fastest in my age group still there.. So I get to go to Ironman World Championship 70.3!! Then there were 3 slots for the men that rolled and Bryan and Kyle got 2 of them. It was a very good day :)

Jul 13, 2008

Carnation TT long course

I decided to do my first time trial - the Carnation long course time trial. The course is pretty flat or slightly rolling with a lot of false flats so it was the perfect opportunity to get some more aero training in while also practicing race pacing and mental strategy.

It was a gorgeous morning - okay maybe a bit warm but not to bad. I warmed up with a 10 min run and the a 10 min spin. I did not bother with the trainer because it just seemed like a hassle when there was plenty of road to ride on.

There were not a ton of girls but I was the only one to register on the day of race so I was the last person out of the start - it was actually a huge comfort to know the sweeper car was right behind me. I knew my race plan but was still a little nervous about getting out there. It was also a comfort that I knew everyone running the start - the guys from Speedy Reedy and Kainoa.
I started at 9:03:30 on the dot. I tried to go easy the first 10 miles or so - which for me means keeping my heart rate under 170 bpm while I kept my cadence up around 90+. It was hard not to overdue it but I knew it would pay off later. Since it was so warm I made sure to take a sip off my aero bottle every couple of minutes - I was sweeting like crazy caught myself wishing there was an aid station with ice cold water to pour on my head.
I was kind of surprised that I was able to keep my speed but between 18 and 21mph but it just made it more fun. I stayed focused and positive the entire race. I only looked at my speed and cadence and nothing else. Just kept after it and did not give up.
With in the last 5k I saw a girl in front of me so it was the perfect motivation to pick up the pace and catch/pass her. I passed her at about 1k to go and was able to pull out a little sprint to finish strong.

In the end the other girls/women kicked my ass but saying that I think I was one of 2 that were not on a team so they should kick my ass. No matter what I am ecstatic with how I did - I accomplished all of my goals for the day and gave myself a huge confidence boost going into Vineman 70.3 next weekend.

Official time 1:18:09 for approximately 46k (28.5 miles) :)

Jul 9, 2008

something clicked


I'm not sure why but last night I had one of my best swims in a long time or at least it feels that way. I swam at green lake after work with Marissa. Right from the start I felt relaxed and smooth in the water.. and the best part is I had fun. It completely reminded me why I do this stuff in the first place - because it is FUN. I have no clue how far I swam or how fast - we swam on time - 35 min total and I could have kept going if it was just me. It only added to it that the weather was really nice yesterday, the water was actually kind of choppy but no big deal and the water was a good temp (though I actually got sort of warm in my wet suit by the end). It was a great swim and exactly what I needed.

Jul 1, 2008

sticking to it

I'm not going to do Lake Stevens.. I'm going to stay with Vineman. It is the race I have been training for and I just decided I should stay with what I had planed and I need to finish what I started.
Kyle on the other hand most likely will not do Vineman because of the heat - knowing him if he is not going to race it he will not be going anywhere near the race and will probably need to stay home so he does not decide to do it. So the logistics of everything is up in the air. But this weekend I will not be racing I will just cheer for Kyle and do my final build week before tapering.