getting into the swing of things

I am in the middle of a much needed recovery week so what better time to go over what I learned from the last 3 weeks of building. Though I say learned but it is more of the things I need to remember as the hours training keep increasing.

It took me 2 weeks to really figure out that I have to eat enough all day and all week. I noticed it the most the 2nd week of the build - I felt tired all week and then I only ate 3 gels and 2 bottle of gatorade for a 3:30 bike ride and I did not eat before the fallowing run off the bike. Needless to say I completely hit the wall during the run. I know from all the training last year that I need a bottle of Gatorade an hour and at least 1 gu or something every :45 - :30 min depending on effort and temp. Part of my issue has been keeping enough gu around for the weekends so I finally just ordered a couple 24 packs of my favorite plain gu and a 6 pack of roctain online. They also sent me a couple Blackberry gels and Banana to try...
With my supplies refilled the fallowing weekend I had the same brick workout but actually ate more during the ride especially. I felt so much better during the ride and most importantly I was able to stay strong on the run off the bike.

The second part of the nutrition puzzle is making sure I eat enough the rest of the day when I am not training to both pre-fuel and recover from training better. I stocked up on strawberry recoverite, chocolate milk, O.N.E. coconut water, healthy snacks and even made my Mom's Lentil soup on Sunday night so I could eat it for lunch all week. Mostly I have just been trying to make sure and eat way more food. I noticed last week that I felt more recovered from the long weekend by mid-week.

Other than dealing with nutrition I have been really working on making friends with my bike trainer at least for my midweek rides. Luckily we have a HUGE projector tv to almost surround myself with ironman broadcasts from tivo and Kainoa has been giving me good interval workouts to keep me distracted. It seems to be helping - bike training seems to be going the best out of everything. I feel stronger every week so I just keep telling myself "I love the trainer".... at least until it is light outside in the evenings then I will let forget all about it ;)

Last but not least training is way easier and more fun with friends - I have been very very lucky to have some wonderful people to train with the last couple weeks. From the group at masters swim who help wake me up at 6a to everyone who has been willing to ride outside for all or most of my long rides and the fun team runs (with treats afterwards) every other weekend. Huge thank you to especially Kyle, Sam, Laurie K. , Joe, Cathleen and so many more - having such great friends really makes training fun and I am looking forward to the next 5-6 months :)

A month of active recovery

I can't believe that it has been well over a month since the Nike Marathon and I know I still have not finished writing the race report - just have had a hard time focusing on it long enough to finish the thing. The time has flewn by with the help of lots of craziness at work and the days being so short already.

After finishing the marathon I have mostly just focused on getting back into a training routine. I talked to Kainoa about the rest of the winter month and what I should focus on ect. My biggest thing was I did not want to just do a race to finish (I just did that) if I race I want to be able to push myself and race. I considered signing up for another marathon but she and Jake (my PT) pretty much pulled a veto on me. Ok so no marathon and there was not really time to recover and train up for a even a fast seattle half marathon. so no major races.Saying that but I did sign up for the 12ks of Christmas just for fun. It is a hilly course and not till mid december so I have some more time. Kyle is going to run the 5k and race Sam and my Mom is going to do the 12ks as well (I love that she is hooked on running now "evil laugh"). So it should be a fun.

I am mostly back to normal-ish training levels of 2-3 days swim, 2 -3 days of strength , 2 bikes, and finally I get to go back to running 3 days a week. I was only running twice a week just to make sure my shin would not have any more issues and it has not :) so 3 days a week hear I come.

It has been good to have a bunch of team events to get out in the rainy/cold weather and get in the longer weekend workouts.

Team Trail Run a couple weeks ago.


Group ride in the rain _ kyle was leading and was almost completely clean while the rest of us were covered in dirt lol


Less hard-core but still fun - Group spin while watching Ironman videos. Some how I managed to make it the full 1:30 though I got really unfocused an hour in...


I have also been thinking a lot about what other races I want to do in 2010... Right now it sounds like some run races to start, Wildflower half ironman, IM CDA of course, maybe Ironman Boulder, or something else in August and some local sprints. Mostly my focus is what it will take for me to be prepared for IM CDA. I feel good and ready to start the training but Kainoa does not want me to burn out sooo the rest of Nov and Dec will be mellow and relaxed and in Jan will start to get a bit more focused but nothing to long or intense yet ;)

If you went to starbucks.com a couple of weeks ago you would have a seen a video about how much Kyle and I like Starbucks Via. The funny part was that Kyle talked way more then I did but they would up using more of me - guess it helps to work with them. Anyway I guess it is my 5 seconds of fame.

revising goals

The past couple weeks have been a challenge for me both physically and probably more mentally. It all started with a twinge in my right shin after a recovery week run that never went away or got better the last couple of weeks. First I got some xrays that showed no problems but after still feeling pain on a test run last week my coach was able to get me a appointment with a great ortho - Dr Marla Kaufman at the UW on Friday. She set me up to get an MRI on Saturday morning - which I have to say was one of the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I am not good at being still - all I wanted to do was wiggle my toes. I had to wait till Monday for the fallow up and find out the results. So I spent the rest of teh weekend trying not to think about it.

I spent the rest of the day Saturday on my bike and had so much fun I just kept ridding until I got hungry and had Kyle meet me at the dairy freeze in North Bend so that my scheduled 3 hour ride did not turn in to 6 hours...

Mid ride I decided to fallow some route markings just to see where they went.

Happened to find some members of "The Herd" and rode with them for :30 or so


View from the bridge on Tolt Hill Road


The old trains in Snoqualmie WA


In North Bend, WA


Sunday we went up to Widbey and while the guys went fishing I rode support for my Mom during her long run (13.5 miles) and she did so great. Made me so proud she is my Mom and how healthy she is at 59 years young :)


The guys caught 2 Coho Salmon - Jerry showing them off.


Kyle & I enjoying the sun


The weekend was so much fun it was not till Monday morning when I talked to Kainoa before the start of masters swim that it kind of hit me. She mentioned that Nike might just not happen... My heart seriously dropped to my feet. I knew that was an option just had not really heard it or said it out loud. The rest of the swim workout and the morning till my appointment at 11:20a I was completely distracted and so nervous for the results.

I was beyond relived when I finally got to find out that the MRI showed no signs of a stress fracture or any tearing in the tissue. Dr Kaufman walked me through all the images from the MRI and what she would be looking for and did not see. Then we talked about next steps. I got a prescription for Physical therapy and massage. I would need to do ice massage twice a day, deep water running, the exercises from PT, keep my fitness up with cross training and at the same time rest my shin. She told me the Nike marathon was still a big maybe and all depended on how things improve or not in the next couple of weeks... Afterwards I talked with Kainoa and she agreed still not sure if a marathon was really an option at this point but agreed to see what Jake (my PT) said about it.

So yesterday I had PT - Jake thinks that as I thought probably running with bad form on my last long run took my shin over the edge in combination with my right hip could still be stronger and lack of flexibility in my feet (especially my right). He also said that if I threw out all my time goals and wanted to still finish the marathon I could probably do that... But that it would probably require a walk/run plan to prevent any pain... hmmm

It was really hard I already gave up on a Boston qualifying time last week after I had to take 2 full weeks off running.. But a walk/run marathon with no time goal at all will be a HUGE mental challenge for me. I am MUCH better at pushing myself and going hard then at going easy and being smart.

If it were any other race I would probably say screw it and not do it but this race means a lot to me. I talked my Mom into doing it as her first half marathon on her 60th birthday. Yeah I know it is more about her doing it but it was meant to be something we both did together. Not to mention I really don't like the idea of not doing a race I signed up and spent money on - I also want the Tiffany necklace and always need another finishers shirt.

So goodbye Boston (for now) and lets just hope I can start running soon so I don't have to do to much walk/run stuff on race day. I'll do it if I have to but would much rather just run even if it is slower than I had been training for before this whole thing started. The new goal is just to be able to run...

20 mile run

To be completely honest I was a bit nervous about this long run all week. I was not really sure where to run and how it would go since it was so long after a full week with lots of running already. Last night I prepped and planned. Kyle had offered to ride support for me but he had to work ski bonkers around 10 am and to be honest I wanted to sleep in so I decide I would do 2 loops of a 10 mile route. I needed/wanted hills so I figured out how to make my 7 mile hill loop into 10 miles and then I would be able to refill my hand bottle and grab more Gu.

Elevation of the full 20 mile route


Now compare to the Nike Marathon Elevation (see why I wanted to make sure I ran some hills)



In the morning I kind of stalled even more, took my time getting everything ready and waited for my breakfast to digest a bit. Really I was just nervous and unsure if I could really run as fast as I wanted to.

First I had to put enough music on my iPod Shuffle to get me through the run. I wore my favorite Sugoi tri shorts (shorty short 4") that I have worn so much they so broken in/comfortable but still stay in place and a Sugoi fizz tank. I also decide to run no socks because the last time I wore socks I got more blisters than when I went without (I know seems weird to me to). I made sure to use TONS of bodyGlide on my feet and where the Fizz tank always seems to chaff under the arm (sorry but stupid place for a seem). I thought it was cold so I grabbed arm warmers but with in a mile I was burning up and they went in the pocket. I even remembered to weigh myself - 133lbs pre run. As far as nutrition went for the first loop I had a plain Gu at mile 2, 5, 7, 10. I would have liked to have gatorade but my hand bottle does not seem to seal anymore and it makes my hand sticky so I went with plain water. I also took 3 sportlegs and 1 salt cap.

Finally around noon I got my butt out the door and started running.

The first couple of miles I realized it was not that cold and it actually was warm and rather muggy. My legs felt pretty good but i had a hard time finding the right rhythm. To be honest my head was not in the best place today. I had a very hard time trusting myself and just running. I kept over thinking everything and almost running scared that I would not run fast enough. So the entire run I was fighting myself and my legs. I knew I wanted to run the 10 mile loop in about 1:25ish. As always I went out very strong running sub 8 min mile pace and slowed to about 8:30 pace on the hills. I was very happy when I finished 10 miles at 1:22:11 ahead of my goal time :)

My personal aid station.


I emptied my pocket of wrappers and grabbed the rest of the Gu's I needed for miles 12, 15, 17. Drank some Gatorade Endurance, refilled my hand bottle with water. Took 2 salts because I was sweating so much - I felt like I had gone for a swim I was so sweaty. I also decided to put on a very thin pair of socks because a spot on my left heal felt like it might have been forming a blister.. Of course I also had to txt Kyle and let him know I was half way and post it on twitter/Facebook (yes I am a super dork). I joked with Kyle if it was ok if I could take a nap before doing the 2nd loop... It really was very tempting.

Once I was refilled I was back running in a couple minutes (yes I stopped the watch/garmin since it is just a training run). The first couple of miles my legs did not want to run as fast as before but at least they stayed under my goal pace. As expected the 2nd loop was harder. I started to feel more tired though my legs actually still felt pretty good and continued to the rest of the run which was wonderful. At this point my entire take was sweated through and I'm sure all the people staring at me were wondering how I could sweat so much when it was not that hot.
Since my legs actually felt pretty good I managed to keep pace with the first loop and actually ran the hills a couple of seconds faster. Though I to do that I had to yell at myself a bit more. I was glad I wore a bracelet from the IMC crew that said "Toughen the Fuck up" and I repeated that to myself a lot, that and "pick up your feet", and generally tried to think of what Kyle would tell me if he was there. I would have also expected my heart rate to go up because I felt like I was having to work harder but actually it stated about the same..

The last mile is flat and I pushed myself to make sure I made my goal time. Now saying that I am horrible at math so I finished the 20 miles at 02:44:07 (4 whole minutes ahead of my goal time). The last mile I ran in 7:41 lol. No surprise as soon as I got to my drive way I just laid down and stayed there for about 10 minutes (or so it felt). I only got up because Toko (my cat) was meowing so much from the window. So i moved inside to the living room floor, laid down a towel and proceeded to fall asleep for an hour or so. I blame Toko because he curled up next to me and just purred.

Eventually i woke and txt Kyle - he had already txted me asking if I was done yet. oops Eventually I got up and weighed myself - 131 lbs post run (lost only 2 lbs). Then I had my favorite recovery drink of strawberry Recoverite and chocolate milk and Kyle brought home 2 bags of ice for me to take an ice bath :)

So some overall lessons.. Trust my legs and relax about times/pace I can do it - no need to run scared. It is not arm warmer time yet. BodyGlide is a good thing because I got no chaffing or blisters :) My nutrition went really well plain Gu and 1 Roctain Gu half way for some extra caffeine. I need to continue to work on my pacing I seem to go out pretty harder then I need to. It is defiantly time to wash my Newton shoes they smell HORRIBLE and even made the socks I put on dirty. At this point I need to just keep after it - I am getting stronger and within my goal pace for the race in October.
Finally my reward a yummy Trophy cupcake called snowball (Toko thought he should get some to).

when did it get so dark

I was hoping it was fluke last week when I woke up at 5am to get back into going to Masters swim.. but to my complete disappointment it was even darker this morning and raining. It was almost like the middle of winter (except that the window was open). So it has started we are loosing daylight hours. And it is not just in the morning last night I finished my run in the dark and it was only 8pm. It seems it is time to start getting used to training in the dark again- dig out the reflective stuff and the blinky lights and start drinking MORE coffee I guess.

It was an weird masters swim for me. Since it is a recovery week I appropriately feel kind of tired so I did not expect much in the pool this morning. I got there and actually did the full 700 yrd warmup (I never do the warm up) and since the first set had kicking I offered to lead (I love kicking - all those years skiing help). It was something like 6x150 with evens 50 kick, 50 drill, 50 swim, odds 150 stroke, 150 swim. I was surprised I felt pretty good and pulled away from everyone on the kick and then managed to hold them off the rest.. By the 6th one though I felt tired so I asked Greg to lead for the first 400. But 300 in he pulled off and told me to go ahead.. oh well the draft was nice while it lasted. Next up was 2 x 400 fast.. No one jumped at the opportunity to lead so I went with the warning I'm horrible at counting and not sure how fast I would be. I have no clue where it came from but I pulled away from the others and felt really strong. And of course I lost count and found out that we did 450 oops. oh well. I'm not sure I could call the second 400 fast but it was at least I stayed focused and kept the intensity up and pulled away from the others. The rest of the workout was kind of the same..
I guess I am kind of shocked I have never pulled away from anyone in the pool especially at masters. Maybe it was just the Via and chocolate milk but I drink that before all my morning workouts. Well and to be honest a few of the usual people who lead where not there this morning but they have also been moved to another lane a lot lately. But fingers crossed I can keep it up and it was just not a fluke.

race eve

I know I'm behind on the rest of the week here in Hawaii but just wanted to give a quick fast forward.. Tomorrow is Ironman 70.3 Honu. I feel ready. I have had a great week to get used to the heat and enjoy the island.. Today i spent the day doing all the checkins - first registration and T2 (run stuff). Then We checked in the bikes and finally the athlete meeting. They joked about how much hillier the run course is this year with 6 miles on grass in the golf course (used to be only 4 miles). oh well good thing I have been running so many hills teh last coupel of months.

The weather men are saying no winds and lots of sun so I will defiantly be drinking a lot of fluids and taking my salt every :30 min.. oh and tons of spf 70 sunblock. But I am much happier with a calm swim/bike and hot run :)

Ok so I have set my alarm for 4am - James and I want to be at the start around 5am so we have tons of time to do what ever we need to do and not feel rushed in any way. The race starts at 7am Hawaii time (10am Pacific). My bib number is #1216 and as is kind of usual with ironman races they have live tracking online at Ironman.com.

night night

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 :)

masters swim

It has been 3 weeks since I have made it to my coaches 6am master swim. Ok so one week I was sick, the second I was recovering from being sick and still felt tired so I focused on sleep and swam in the evenings. But this week I have no excuses I ignored my alarm on Monday and did not even hear my alarm this morning. I'm very frustrated with myself about this. I really want to go to masters - over the past year it has helped me get faster, stronger and it is way more fun than swimming alone. I'm sure it is something like my body is telling me to sleep more but come on really I just need to get up and do it. I don't feel on my schedule - I prefer to work out before work - just makes me feel better about the day kind of thing and I'm usually more focused. So now I'm extra frazzled because last night i even set out my clothes and had everything ready to go but I woke up and saw that it was all ready 5:45 and I have to leave the house at 5:30 to make it on time. So now I have to find time to swim and run today when really I should have already have swam.

ok that was kind of a vent.. I guess I will try again on friday morning. wish me luck

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.