it is all about the legs

*Waring this blog post is the result of not having 2 workouts everyday which results in my ADD side coming out and spending to much time with my iPhone camera

It feels like this week I have spent more time focusing on recovery then actually working out or running. My legs and body were a bit achy after the run on Sunday so on Monday I even broke out the compression socks at work even though I wore a skirt to work. I swear it is the hottest fall fashion trend for 2009.

My only run so far this week was Monday night. I did hill repeat run - 3 x 1 mile - hard effort on the down and steady on the way up. Luckily I live on the top of a mile long hill and even more lucky Kyle agreed to ride with me in the dark. I did a :20 warm up and my right calf had a small tinge and my right hamstring was sore. I moved past it and it really forced me to focus on good form on the down hills so I did not make it hurt more.

Check out the elevation profile.


The funny thing that happened was that as my down hills got slower my uphills got faster and my heart rate never really got as high as I thought it would be. I was pretty tired to start but I was so happy I did it. I felt strong and was really happy with my effort. Afterwards I stretched out and had a small dinner before passing out and going to bed early.

I was not surprised at all that I was very sore on Tuesday morning. I mean I ran hard 2 days in a row. But I was annoyed that tinge in my right calf was still there. I managed to get through my strength workout but went very very easy on my legs. Actually I mostly stretched and did not of the exercises from when I was getting PT.

So on Wednesday morning when I saw Kainoa at Masters swim we chatted about the runs and she pulled my track workout from my training. I was actually pretty bummed. I was like wait wait it is not that bad no I can do it. lol Yeah this is exactly why I have a coach to tell me to stop and not over do it. She told me making sure I am ready for my 20 miler on Saturday is way more important then the track workout. Especially since the last 5 miles I need to run some negatives down all the way to 7:45 m/mi. So I got over it and let go of the idea of running a hard/fun track workout.

This is where it hurt.. (this is what happens when I loose focus in a 5 hour meeting)

Since I had no track workout to do in the evening I came home, had dinner and spent some quality time with trigger point to try and help loosen my legs up. (I fallowed this by falling asleep on the floor at 8:30p because I swear it felt like midnight)

Luckily this morning I had my weekly pilates session with Iron Monique and she said she would also do some ART massage to help me get past this tight calf/shin thing. As expected the ART hurt but she defiantly got a few ropes in my calf loosened up :) I have spent the rest of the day in my compression socks (I wore pants to work at least so I did not look to dorky).
Fingers crossed. I'm actually not that worried it does feel better but I am still wearing compression socks.

Tomorrow morning I have an open water swim and then it is all about getting ready for the 20 miler on Saturday morning (well I have to go to work to). Just have to decide on a good route with an easy last 5 miles so I can push I pace... ????

the bee sting

So yesterday as I was loading the truck to head out to my Mom's garden party I managed to get a bee sting on my toe. I screamed and cried so loud. I had some how gotten a bee between my sandal and my toe and it stung me on the inside of my 3rd toe on my right foot.. I ran back in side screaming the whole way and grabbed an ice cube. I had never had something hurt so bad. The ice seemed to help a little bit. the stinger was gone. I washed it and since Kyle was out on his long ride and the cats were no help at all. I figured the best thing to do was drive to my Mom's house even though it was my right foot and it hurt so much. I wound up crying the entire :15 min drive. Pour Kyle called me and had to listen to me cry after I txt him about it and he was all the way in Issaquah on his bike ridding to my Moms house.
I got to my Mom's in one piece and by now my toe was starting to swell up a little bit. She got me some Benydryl and an ice pack and I joined the rest of the her Garden party in the backyard. The ice helped but it hurt to walk on... so I kept icing it and made all the guests even more scared of bees (sorry Mom).
After the party Kyle drove us home and I put my foot up on the dash. When we got home Kyle went and got some epsym salt for me to soak my foot and some bee sting stuff to help numb it. At this point I could not really move my toes and it hurt to walk so I was limping around. Of course all I could think about was if I could do my bike ride the next day.. Kyle was very good sport and I spent the rest of the night with my foot up watching a movie.

Picture from last night. Both feet were a little swollen from my run but still pretty obvious swelling on my right foot..


Luckily the swelling has seemed to go down some this morning. Though it is still really stiff and hurts to walk. So I have a little limp. I think it will fit in my bike shoe for my ride tonight :)


Hopefully by tomorrow it is completely gone so I can run 10 miles on it. fingers crossed

focused

Training has been going really well the last couple of weeks. Still lots and lots of base work so it has been rather uneventful. I am finally getting to do some zone 4A work on the bike - mostly hill repeats to help build up my leg strength which I LOVE. I'm starting to feel stronger and can tell all the base work is helping. My swim is also coming along very nicely - though I can't wait to swim in open water again - I am so sick of the walls.
I would just say I'm mostly just heads down focusing on what I need to get done to feel ready for Hawaii 70.3 at the end of May. I am doing the Vancouver half marathon before then but it is not as big of a focus for me this year. In preparation I have made some small changes for the next 43 days.. I am doing pilates twice a week (instead of the normal once), cut out processed sugar as much as I can manage, and really focus on recovery after every workout including both nutrition and stretching.
I also got my hair cut - I know it seems random but I seem to do this every year in prep for summer racing. I had it cut so that it just barely fits in a ponytail. Already it just feels lighter and is way easier to deal with.

And with that I'm looking forward to another weekend full of long workouts in the SUN. Yes the weather is finally starting to cooperate. Happy Training :)

time to think

Even with work stress at a high I was able to start to get on track with my training last week. I did substitute runs for bike rides since my right foot is STILL bothering me but overall by the weekend rides I was feeling good. Then Monday I hit a wall and got the flu and have done nothing besides nap for the past 3 days.
Since all I have been doing for the last couple of days is laying around and watching Ironmans I have been thinking about 2008 and my strengths and what still needs more work and how that plays into my goals for 2009.

The strengths:
I ran a 1:45 at the Vancouver half marathon.
My bike skills have improved a lot, I actually prefer to be in my aerobars.
I managed to stay injury free most of the season with the help of pilates and both ART and deep tissue massage.
Had an overall good race at Vineman 70.3 with a 5:52:37 and got a slot for the Ironman World Championships 70.3.
Was in the top 7 in my age group at some local sprints and my first olympic distance triathlon.
I had a pr swim of 38:17 at Ironman World Championships 70.3.
Consistency in training - I'm really good at getting my training in and fallowing my coaches instructions.
I really worked at finding what is right for me - I had a hard time deciding to change coaches mid-season but it was what I needed to do.

Things to work on:
I struggled with nutrition on the run on the 70.3 races - tend to stop eating the last 7 miles or so.
Overall strength - my upper body is just not strong enough, and my legs could be stronger as well. Pilates has helped a ton with my core though.
Need to not make assumptions about what I can and can't do.
Confidence/mental - I struggle with being intimidated and trusting my abilities and strengths. I know I can keep going but I have a hard time believing I can go faster.

Goals/plans for 2009:
To stay positive and believe in myself
I have already added in 3 days a week of a circuit style strength training workout
Run a sub 1:40 half marathon and run a 1:50 off the bike in a 70.3 race
Swim goal is to be able to go hard off the start line and continue getting faster - my form has already improved a lot and masters is helping push myself
A sub 3 hour bike in 70.3 race and be brave enough to go faster on the downhills
Eat healthy and eat enough
Overall build speed and strength to take into next year to do my second full ironman

Overall I'm happy with 2008. I grew a lot as a athlete and feel like I have only scratched the surface of what I am capable of. I'm excited about 2009 and 2010 for that matter. Now if only I could get over this stupid flu already and get back to training.

random thoughts

I'm sitting with my feet up waiting for some laundry to finish so I can prep for a 5k "fun run" in the morning.. it is snowing outside and we are watching the NBC broadcast of the Ironman World Championships on tivo of course. I know it is completely not politically correct but I wish they would show more of the top age groupers and less sap stories. They always talk about they same stories and I would love to for once hear about the age grouper that have a day job, a family, squeezes in training and is freaking fast. Those are my heros and their stories are what motivates me. The pros are fun to watch but in more of an unreal sort of way. So the sap stories are great some of the time and a lot of people love them but I really want to hear and see the people that worked their ass off to qualify - they deserve just as much attention and I want to hear their story.
I do like they focused more on the navy seals this year which was pretty cool.

Ok I'm done with that.. just had to say it.

As far as training goes right now I'm mostly in recovery mode - both mentally and physically I need a break so the month of December is very light on swim, bike and run. I have started some strength training and have been told that of all my workouts those are the priority at this point while everything else is flexible till the end of the month.
I would also like to start adding in some cross training in the snow as soon as their is enough in the mountains. I did not buy a ski pass this year for the first time ever which is kind of insane but i would like to get more into skate skiing and snowshoeing. I may not be as into downhill skiing but I still LOVE the snow and need my winter fix.

In other updates I have decided my focus for next year will once again be half ironman distance races. After talking with my coach a bunch I'm going to do 2 half marathons in the spring, then an early season half Ironman (Boise looks like the main contender), do a few local sprints mid summer, then another half ironman in late August or so. Then to finish the year off I'm going to do a fall marathon to start building up to do a full Ironman in 2010. So that is the over all plan.

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.

mixed

It has been a couple a weeks since I have felt like posting anything.. I'm not totally sure why but I have just not been motivated to blog much - I have been using twitter and brightkite though - it is easier you only get 140 characters. I have been training and feel strong. Mostly focusing a lot on the bike and then running stronger/faster off the bike - since those felt like my weaknesses in Hawaii. So far so good I seem to be training at my usual race pace with out to much effort and have added a bunch of speed work.

My training was a bit weird/light last week because we left on Thursday for the East Coast to go to a memorial service at West Point. We managed to get a long run in on Saturday but it was miserably hot and muggy. I felt like I was in a steam room - I don't know how those cadets do it. We did not know a lot of options of where to run so we ran from our hotel to the the West Point post - luckily they let us run through the post - we carried ID for the security process. It seems pretty flat in a car but it is defiantly not - you are either going uphill or down and it felt like mostly up. Crazy enough it felt like the run in Hawaii - my legs felt heavy and I wished I had a cup of ice the entire time. But in the end some how I managed to still averaged under a 8:20 min/mile pace..
Other than the run the weekend was filled with trying to survive the time change by taking naps though out the day, spending time with Kyle's family, learning about West Point and Franklin D. Roosevelt and lots of time in a car or waiting for a plane... I got home last night at 2:00am because our flight left over 3 hours late - half of which was while we sat on the runway at JFK... it sucked big time.

On another subject - I have to admit I'm not all that excited about Vineman 70.3.. I think right now I'm only really looking forward to seeing my Dad and/or my Dad getting to see me race. I'm especially not looking forward to driving all the way down there and back. Kyle is about 90% sure he will not be doing it because of the heat - his doctors said no more hot races after getting heat stroke in Hawaii.
It has gotten to the point I have even been considering doing Lake Stevens on Sunday instead of Vineman... I mean with all the travel I wound up having a pretty light week so I could just continue this week as a taper instead of a final build week.. hmm it is very very tempting esp since Kyle is doing the race and our family is already coming out to cheer for him - they could cheer for me as well - my Dad may even be up hear as they are escaping to Seattle from the bad air quality in the bay area. we will just have to see.

in progress

It has not even been almost 2 weeks since my last race and I only have 9 days till we leave for Hawaii for my next race. Happily I am starting to feel about 75% recovered and even better I feel like I have been getting some good training in this week (with out over doing it).
I'm especially looking forward to some long training the next couple of days in 80 °F weather. Actually I'm thinking of leaving work early tomorrow (Friday) to go do a long ride in the heat and then do my long run on Saturday again in the heat. Then I can go skiing on Sunday (yes I know how weird that sounds). The only downfall of this plan is that I can't find anyone else who can go ride long tomorrow so I would be riding alone - not a deal breaker but not as fun. The other thing is that it is Bike to work day so I feel compelled to ride my bike...
In other thoughts - I can't believe the airlines charge sooo much to bring a bike. Last year it was $85 and that was dumb now it is $100... I could understand if it was by weight but Kyle and I can pack our bikes and get the weight under 50 lbs but no I guarantee we will still get charged the stupid fee. Way to support healthy lifestyle - right... But since we can go up to 80lbs believe me we will - get our money worth.
I have started my packing list, things we will need to buy once we get there, fun things to do list, and of course my all important race plan - none of which are completed but I have general ideas and maybe a few details..
ok that is all for now.. we will see if I decide to do tomorrow..

2 out of 3

Last night I found my car key - clinging to a magnet in one of my purses... Then this morning I found my camera in the back seat of my car. Now if only I could fine the cell phone I misplaced.

Before

After - straight

After - normal curly