“Rest” Week

August was a long, tough month of training but I finally made it to the “rest” week. (FYI – I did manage to complete the 3 hour run Sunday at 7:44 pace which was the last workout of the block). I put rest in quotes because none of Karen’s workouts are all that easy! I love it though…this is what is going to make me a better athlete.

In terms of scheduling, this week was kind of tough. The YMCA decided to close their pool for a week of maintenance. I freaked a little, trying to figure out where I was going to swim. Fortunately, the CNY Tri club has a link that lists all of the local training opportunities in central NY(including swimming) and I was able to find an open pool out at Caz College for my 1000yard time trial. The only downside is that they are only open 6:30a-7:40a. Fortunately the swim only takes about 30 minutes…plenty of time (or so I thought). Had a lifeguard showed up, it would have been plenty of time. After standing in the locker room with 6 other scantily clad women, it was announced that the pool would not open today because there was no lifeguard. AAAAAHHHHH!!!!! Now what? I suppose I could have just skipped it but instead, I searched for another pool. I had to be at work at 10am and still had a 90minute run to get in so it would have to be something open after 7pm on a Friday night! Luckily, the downtown Y was open until 9pm so after work, I headed down there for the time trial.

Considering that I had run 90 minutes around Caz Lake in the morning and then stood at work for 9 hours, the time trial went fine. I managed a 13:11 which was only 2 seconds slower than last month. A solid effort in my opinion. Next up was a 3 hour ride on the Syracuse 70.3 course in the morning.

This was my first time riding the official approved course for the Sept. 19th race. It was tough. The first 10 miles or so are just climb after climb with no real downhills. Eric let me use a ZIPP 808 wheel on the back to see how I liked it. The wheel had a different cassette on it and I noticed it as soon as we did the first climb…I am still not familiar with the numbers and everything but this cassette was not as easy as mine for the hills. This was supposed to be an easy ride but whenever Eric and I get together, it always ends up being hard. Basically me, pushing to keep up with him since an easy ride for him is 22+mph!! Anyway, by the end, we managed the course in 2:44:51. On the 15 minute run that followed, I felt great. Good and strong!! I’m not thrilled with how I felt on the course, but I guess what matters is how I feel on race day. I am not sure how I feel about the race wheel. Everyone says it makes such a difference compared to the stock wheels I am riding but after one ride it’s hard to form an opinion. Eric said I could hold on to it for now and try it on my rides this week.

After the ride, I went to pick up my girls. We headed out for a trip to Beak and Skiff to pick some apples. It was a beautiful day for it and they were picking Paula Reds…one of my favorite kinds of apples! Both Phoebe and Maggie had a blast climbing the ladders to pick the apples, riding the tractor and checking out the beehive in the store. Next we headed to Target for some back to school shopping, Wegmans for some groceries and then home for a bath and dinner. While dinner was cooking, all three of us devoured some homemade guacamole! A great way to end the rest week.

Almost There!!

I am now one day away from completing this endurance block. This has been an extremely heavy week in terms of training. On top of it all, Karen has been in communicado for the whole week while she vacations in Placid. Nice for her, but stressful for me! I have been relying on others to calm my usual training anxieties (did I go hard enough? should my time have been faster? was that a good avg mph for the ride? … ). Here’s a recap of the week:

Monday: 5.5h ride followed by 1 hr run brick. This went really well until I hit mile 6 of the run. Major bonk. I am still trying to figure out what happened. I felt really strong on the ride, especially early on. I drank regularly and followed my nutrition plan same as always. I did not use any electrolytes and I did not have any UCAN left to drink. I wonder if both of those would have helped me.  On the flip side, I always have one bad workout before a big race and hopefully this was it.

Tuesday: much needed day off!!!!!! YAY!!!!

Wednesday: swam at the Y – 2 sets of a ladder. I only had 15 seconds rest between reps but did manage to negative split the 2 sets. I was basically very consistent although a little slower than Karen had wanted.

Thursday: big day! I swam 3×1000 at the Y pool in the morning. I was really good with my nutrition having a chocolate milk and english muffin with nutella after the swim and then some pomegranate-blueberry UCAN before the ride. My mom came to hang out with the girls while Eric and I headed out for a 3 hour brick mid-morning.

My mother was a little late arriving so Eric, Phoebe and I went outside to practice transitions. Maggie just rode around the cul-de-sac on her bike watching us. Let me just say that if you have read my blog you know I stink at transitions. Well, I did not perform any better in practice than in the race! Eric wants me to learn the “flying mount” with my shoes rubber-banded to the bike frame. This means I run barefoot pushing the bike and then leap on (without damaging any integral body parts) and get my shoes on and start riding off into the sunset. Eric demonstrated a few times and then it was my turn. Little did I know that Phoebe was watching Eric, also. My first attempt ended with me not even getting my leg over the bike. Next thing I know, Phoebe is showing off doing the flying mount with no trouble. She laughed at me and loved the fact that she could do something I couldn’t. I acted annoyed but secretly I was thrilled at her bravery to try something new and succeed … especially at something mommy couldn’t do.

After a few more tries, I was able to perform the task passably. So then we went to the dismount. Again Phoebe performed it like she was born to be a triathlete. This time, though, I managed to almost look graceful. It will still take a lot of practice but at least I have my own personal live-in expert to help me out!!

Finally, Eric and were geared up and ready to ride. We started at the Nice n Easy and did the Truxton loop (my absolute favorite ride). I finally had a good day and was able to stay close to Eric the whole way. Near the end of the ride, there is a nice downhill stretch where I have always tried to break 50mph. I glanced at my computer and hit 51.1mph!! Then a bee flew into my jogbra, couldn’t get out, got mad and stung me…**OUCH**!!!

We finished 56 miles in 2:39. Both of us ran out of fluids about 6 miles out so transition took a little longer as we downed water before running. I felt super strong on the run and (smile, smile) pulled away from Eric after the last hill. We actually held 7:05 pace for the run …a good solid effort after Monday’s workout.

Friday: a nice swim out at deruyter…peaceful and serene. After a bottle of UCAN, I managed to do my 90 minute ride with tempo intervals. Nothing exciting to report there.

Saturday: and finally…today. I felt terrible starting out as I ran to the track. A 90 minute run with 6x1mi at 6:45 pace with 5 min zone 2 running in between intervals was on the schedule. I didn’t think I’d make it through the first lap but I actually hit every interval spot on. I felt great on the run home as my thoughts turned towards the only workout not crossed off the schedule yet – the 3 hour run at 4:15am tomorrow.

Cazenovia Sprint Tri

 

Sunday I raced the Elite Sprint Division of the Cazenovia Triathlon. This being their 10th anniversary, they decided to host an “elite” start for some top local age groupers. It was a lot of fun racing and knowing where you were place-wise since everyone in the group all started together. Eric Prager was doing the elite race also so we met up in the parking lot and did a short warm-up on our bikes after setting up our transition area. The one thing that stood out was the WIND! 

The race went well and I finished 1st female, 5th overall in 1:14:45. My ex-husband’s brother was racing also so he brought Phoebe and Maggie to watch. They had a blast playing games and climbing on the playground. Lots of other kids there for them to make friends with also!

Swim

Two words…SUPER CHOPPY. My plan all along was to do the swim without a wetsuit. Kona is not wetsuit legal so I thought I should do at least one race without the wetsuit. The 60 degree temp and gusty cold winds had me second guessing this decision. Once I started swimming, though I was plenty warm. The water was so choppy and I had someone hitting my feet the first 100 yards at least. Then I managed to glide in behind someone (thanks mike ) and drafted most of the rest of the swim. The turn after the 3rd buoy was where the water got incredibly choppy and I lost my draft. I just tried to kick it in without swallowing too much water! As I ran up the ramp out of the water, I could hear my girls cheering for me…put a huge smile on my face!

T1

I was ready for this transition. No wetsuit…but I still had a little trouble. I was slow to get the helmet and shoes on and then had a little trouble unhooking the bike. I then had major trouble mounting the bike. The bike mount area is straight uphill and I have never had luck mounting the bike in the 3 times I have done this race. After 3 tries, I managed to clip in and was on my way. Of course, this was after I crossed the mats so it was all a part of my bike time.

Swim + T1 = 15:17 7th fastest overall, 2nd fastest female

Bike

The bike was uneventful except for the incredibly huge headwind on the ride back to the transition area. There is a climb about a mile into the ride that gets timed and a prize is awarded to the fastest climber of the day. (FYI – the timed part of the climb is short – maybe 50 yards?). I did my best but couldn’t outclimb Julie Rosa – she is amazing on hills! The course has a few other big rolling hills and one really nice big downhill. The highlight of the ride was breaking 50mph on that downhill. (That was my first time going over 50!). Eric passed me after the first uphill climb and then was out of sight.

Bike = 38:50 (22.1mph) 7th fastest overall, 1st fastest female
Hill climb = 31sec

T2

Somehow I managed to have trouble getting my run shoes on. They stuck to my feet because I didn’t have socks on. I told Karen and Eric we definitely need to work on my transitions!!

T2 time = 41sec

Run

Once you exit transition, the run begins with the same uphill that you have to mount the bike on. So, I was not feeling that great during the whole climb. It’s short but not a fun way to start a run after a hilly bike course. Once I made the turn, it flattened out. Where was everybody? I could see someone about 400m ahead but they were so far off that I was in no man’s land. The first mile is basically uphill and I was not feeling that great. Once I crested the hill, however, I started to feel stronger and reminded myself that this was still a race and still wasn’t 100% sure that I was in the lead. The out and back course allowed me to see the runners ahead of me. I must have been moving faster than them because more runners started coming into view. At the turn around, I realized I was in first (5th overall). Eric was way ahead…no chance of catching him (he finished up 2nd). My friend Mike was just ahead of me and I thought I might have a chance to catch him. I really pushed the downhill, passed him (then got passed by some guy running a 17min 5K (HS!!) ) and coasted in to the finish.

Run = 19:57

This is a really fun, well organized event. I’ve done both the Olympic distance and the Sprint and love them both. It is a real challenge with the hills and they have tons of great raffle prizes and awards. I was basically satisfied with my day. It was tough being in the middle of the hardest month of training so I don’t feel this was my best effort but I performed solidly in all 3 events. Can’t complain.

Up next…Skinnyman and I’m All That…

One last thing…I got a facebook message from a friend of my dad’s (pretty cool!):

“Hey, we just saw you on TV. YES network (home of the Yankees) has a 1/2 hour running show every week. Usually they show mostly NYC stuff, but tonight they showed the Chase race in Syracuse. Didn’t show the men winner, but did name you by name and show you crossing the tape. GREAT! By great serendipity, they segued right into the swim start in Kona from last year. Coincidence? I don’t think so!”

Testing at Engineered Fitness

 

Well, after about a week of eating more sensibly, I have been feeling AMAZING during my workouts!! I finished the first week feeling strong and started the 2nd week rested and fueled. Yesterday was a 4 hour bike ride followed by a 90 minute brick. This was one of the workouts I was dreading.

Last year when training for Chesapeakeman, I had a similar workout on the schedule. Scott and I started riding and one hour in, I pulled the bike to the side of the road and started to cry. I was completely broken. We s l o w l y rode back to his place and I collapsed for a 3 hour nap. I do NOT want to repeat that experience.

Anyway, this was the complete opposite experience. I drank some UCAN before heading out then started  slowly, uphill and into the wind. I rode on a lot of the 70.3 course which had a couple of good, steep climbs. After a while I got into a good groove and just coasted along. The time flew by and before I knew it, I was pulling into the driveway after riding 83.5 miles. I switched shoes for the run – goal was 90 minutes at 7:45 pace. I averaged 7:21. I felt completely strong throughout. Today, I took the day off (Karen would be so proud!).

One concern I have had from the start with changing my eating pattern is gaining weight. After our ride last weekend, Eric suggested I come in and get a baseline measurement of my weight and body fat. So yesterday, Phoebe and I drove down to Engineered Fitness, where Eric (Prager) is the President, and had the test done. By the way, Phoebe had a blast playing in the fitness room on the stationary bike, fitness balls, ab cruncher, etc. Her first question to Eric when he was done was when can mommy have this test done again?? Eric did a 7 site skinfold test and then weighed me.

Here are the results…
Calf – 7.5
Thigh – 9.125
Suprailiac – 10
Abdomen – 8.75
Tricep – 6.125
Scapula – 7
Chest – 2.875

Average body fat – 13.04%
Bodyweight – 132.75
Lean Tissue Weight – 115.49

Women have an essential body fat percentage 10-15% with elite female athletes falling right in that range. Eric said that 13% is EXACTLY where I want to be. Now we will retest in a month and see what, if any, changes occur. For now, I am going to continue with the new eating plan…and am thrilled that I don’t have to give up my cookie cakes or dinners out with wine and dessert … TY TPC

UCAN

My first “freebie” came in the mail yesterday. I got a package of samples from UCAN … a new sports drink that was developed with a modified corn starch to provide long lasting energy. Please visit UCAN to learn more. Basically it comes as a pre-workout drink in lemon and blueberry pomegranate and a post workout protein drink in chocolate and vanilla.

So 20 minutes before my run this morning, I mixed up and drank the lemon drink. My run was to be 90 minutes at an easy pace with 5x1mile repeats at 6:45 pace. (btw, I bagged the run Wednesday after the swim because I was just too tired and hungry. Eventually I will hopefully learn that I need to eat between swimming and running). I was really amazed at how great I felt during the run. It was really gentle on my GI system too. I didn’t get any indigestion or aftertaste which was a nice change from some of the other sports drinks or pre-workout foods I have tried. After the run, I used the chocolate post workout powder mixed into skim milk and drank it on my way to work. So easy and so little time required…perfectly convenient for me!

I spoke with my contact at UCAN after the workout and got some more clarification on how to use the product. Apparently the modified corn starch sustains energy by encouraging fat burning and lasts for over 2 hours. This means that on a long run, no need to carry anything but water. He said Meb Keflezighi drinks it before his marathons and then just drinks water during the race.

After hearing that, I decided to try it out on my 2.5h long run. IT WENT GREAT!!!! I was really excited at how strong I felt during the run today. Sunday I had a 1.5hour long run that ended up very slow because I felt lightheaded by the end. Today, I negative split the 4 loop course. I ran the 1st half at 7:46 pace and the 2nd half at 7:14 pace feeling stronger as I ran further. I drank the blueberry-pomegranate drink right before heading out and was able to go the whole run with no gels, bars or sports drinks. My stomach felt good and my legs felt even better – no “dead weight” feeling like I have been having on runs in the previous weeks. I ran 20.2 miles in 2:31 (7:30 pace). I was psyched!

Tuesday I have my next super long brick workout (4 hour bike, 90 minute run). This will be the next test for UCAN! I am excited to see how it goes…

Hills and Wind

I was able to hook up with Eric, a friend of Karen’s, for my long ride this week.  Since I always ride the same route pretty much, I decided to let Eric pick where we would go. Never again! We were to meet at his house and ride out to Marcellus, Skaneateles, Auburn then Geneva and then head back. We chose this route over the pending Syracuse 70.3 course because it would not be as hilly.  He said it was a basically flat ride with some gentle rolling hills. He lied.

We headed out at 9:15am, planning on riding 97 miles in about 4.5 hours. The first 6 miles were up hill into the wind. And since we were riding that direction for the first half, we were going to be into the wind for the next 2 hours. Long story short, there were LOTS of climbs, lots of wind and lots of mumbling comments like…what is with this f’ing wind and why the f*** are we doing this ride and I hate you Karen and Eric. Finally we made it to Geneva, turned around, and somehow we managed to be headed into the wind again. Many more comments… a little louder now.  I did manage to do a lot of complaining about the course and the wind in between gasping for air. Basically, the ride just hurt. I am seriously wiped out physically and emotionally and this ride turned into just getting through it rather than how well did I get through it.  We finished in 4:50…just around 20mph…and then Eric left me alone for my run. I negative split the 30 minute run which was the main goal. I actually felt pretty strong on the run which gave me some confidence.

Eric actually was awesome during the ride. I felt terrible because I had told him that I had done a 21mph 95 miler the week before. I like people to know ahead of time what I can do so they can make the decision if they want to go with me or not.  He is a super strong rider and I didn’t want to hold him back. So when I was struggling at 19.5mph on the way out, I felt terribly guilty about screwing up his workout. He said I didn’t and he was fine going my pace but I still felt bad. Anyway, he gave me some pointers on climbing the hills and is confident he can get my bike time down 5-15 minutes depending on the course. So hopefully he will ride with me again!

This morning I was planning a nice 70 minute swim out at Deruyter. I was picturing a nice smooth lake on a sunny day. Well, I awoke to torrential downpouring rain and high winds.  “The (lake) was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli!” LOL!!!  I managed to complete the swim but was starving and exhausted by the end. It was sooo choppy! I had waves breaking on top of me.  All I could think was that if it was going to be like that at Kona, it was going to be a loooong day!

Now it is on to Sunday…a 3 hour run that I failed to talk Karen out of. Then Sunday night a bunch of my girlfriends and I are headed out to the movies to see Eclipse. I have not become obsessed with the series but a night out with the ladies…who can pass that up? I hope I can just stay awake!!

Du the Lakes Duathlon

Week 1 of my bike block ended with my first duathlon ever.  It was a very tough week with lots of miles on the bike and I was super tired by Saturday night.  The girls had been with their dad all week for spring break and they were wiped out too.  So much so that Maggie fell asleep under her bed at 5pm on Saturday.  I tried to wake her for dinner but she was out.  So, Scott lifted the bed, got her out and put her under her covers for the night.

At 1am, Phoebe came in to my bedroom to tell me Maggie needed me.  Phoebe went back to sleep but Maggie was wide awake.  She chatted with me for at least an hour and then told me she needed “brefast”.  I got her some cereal, set her up with a video and I went back to bed.  Then she came up to tell me she needed another video. I got up again and got her another video.  Finally by 5am I got back to sleep only to be woken up by the alarm at 6am.  Not the best start for race day but what can you do!  Of course, when we came downstairs, Maggie was curled up asleep on the chair in front of the TV.

OK – back to the race.  Rain was predicted but held off for the entire race.  It was about 50 deg and perfect racing weather.  We met the babysitter at the race, got our race numbers, set up our transition and were ready to go.  Scott was in wave #2 with me.  It was fun starting together.  We led our wave for the 1st 200 meters or so and then Scott took off ahead with a few other guys.  Karen’s plan for me was to take it easier on the first run and 1st half of the bike then work it for the 2nd half of the race…unless I was way out in front. She told me to shut it down and conserve my energy for the tougher workouts coming up.  I did not wear the HRM but went out at what felt like tempo pace.  I hit the first mile in 6:17 and the second in 6:23.  I felt extremely relaxed.  I could see Scott the whole time and just kept him in my sights.  I finished the run in 19:46 (7th fastest OA and 1st fastest female).  I later found out that the guy that came in 2nd overall was using me to pace himself on the run.  I thought that was totally cool that I am considered strong enough for a guy to pace himself off of me!!

Next transition – UGH!!!  Scott and I had horrible transitions.  We decided we definitely need to work on that.  I was 41sec and he 46s (16 and 26th OA). We lost a good 30s right there.

I mounted my bike right behind Scott and we took off.  Again, I could see him during the whole ride.  I just tried to stay close.  The ride felt great.  I just focused on staying strong.  In the back of my mind was that 2nd run that I still had to do.  Only 1 rider passed me during the bike portion.  He joined Scott and 1 other guy as they battled each other.  I was really encouraged that I was able to stay so close to them…even closing the gap a bit on the bigger climbs at the end.  Unfortunately, the guys pulled ahead of me on the downhill (I think because of their weight!!).  I did still fly down the hill into transition. I finished at 22.2mph (7th fastest again) – huge for me!

Transition sucked again and then it was on to the final run.  My legs felt awful!  They were dead…I couldn’t believe I had 3 more miles to run before I would be done!  I dug in and shuffled along.  I passed the rider that had passed me just as we passed the playground.  Phoebe came out and gave me a high five and even ran with me for a bit.  Maggie yelled go mommy and that put a smile on my face for the remaining 2.5 miles!  I hit the first mile in 6:20 – just seconds off the first run.  I was psyched.  Even though I felt bad, I was still pushing a good pace.  I caught Scott with 1 mile to go.  After that there was no one in sight so I just took it easy…still running hard but not killing myself.  I finished that run in 19:58 and place 4th overall, 1st female.  As I crossed the finish line I could see Phoebe out of the corner of my eye with a huge smile and arms out ready for a hug.  I am so glad they were able to come watch me race.  It is just more fun when they are there.  Scott came in 12 secs behind me for 5th overall.

I was happy with my race.  I don’t feel I went all out on any part but gave myself a good workout.  Obviously the transition times were my downfall here.  I can’t afford that in Texas.  I spoke with Karen about the race and she was extremely pleased.  She said her area of expertise is transitions so we would work on those asap!!  Scott compared my results to the National Duathlon Championship Race that was held the same weekend and with the same times, I would have place 1st age group and top 5 overall.  Pretty cool for my first duathlon ever!

The Du the Lakes Duathlon was an extremely well organized race.  This was its first year and the race directors put on a great event.  I will definitely plan this race again for next year.  Hopefully they will draw a larger crowd with even stronger competition.

Scott had to return to Virginia that evening ( ) so we headed out for an early dinner at Dinosaur BBQ.  Major protein replacement!!

Only a Workout . . . Right?

Wow – I just realized it’s been quite a long time since I have blogged.  So much has been going on that I just have not found the time to sit and write.  Don’t worry, I have been fitting in the workouts though!  I finished month 2 (week while I was out visiting some of Scott’s family in Seattle. Lots of good food and good wine (but that’s a story for another blog ).  The tests at the end of the month went great! I am definitely seeing improvements already.  Both the swim and the run were faster than last month and my heart rate was 7bpm lower during the run (so I am running faster with less effort!).  I am still on the trainer indoors for the bike so I am not sure how my fitness is doing in that discipline.

Karen now has me doing a “run block.”  Which basically means that I am running more than swimming or biking for the next 3 weeks.  I only had 2 bikes and 3 swims this week but 5 runs.  One of the runs was a “2-a-day” session designed to keep my effort up but stress on the body down.  I ran this with Scott out in Seattle…it was tough!!  We ran the first workout in the morning…60 mins at 6:55 pace.

Then we all had a brilliant idea…lets go to SkyHigh Trampoline and jump on the trampolines for an hour.  This place was so cool! It is basically a warehouse filled with billions of connected trampolines (no, not billions ) and a big foam pit.  You just go jump and jump and jump some more!  We went with Scott’s 4yo niece and 2yo nephew.  What a blast!  I even broke out some old gymnastics tricks – even doing a double front into the foam pit.  The kids were so hot and sweaty when we were done (yes, I am including Scott!).

Later that afternoon, we went out for the 2nd session.  I have never done “2-a-days” so this was going to be a new experience for me.  I was not sure at all how I would feel.  Of course I’ve run and swim, or run and biked in 1 day so I figured I would make it – but how much would it hurt?  The workout was to run 50 minutes at 6:45 pace.  Scott and I finished together at 6:42 pace.  The 10 minute cool down lasted forever but we had made it!  It was easier than I had thought but still a tough workout.

Today I had the dreaded treadmill workout scheduled.  Due to the traveling this week, I had to swim 3 days in a row.  Today was the 3rd swim and I decided to do it before the run.  I was sooo tired in the pool.  My arms and legs just had that numb feeling you get when the bloodflow is sluggish getting there.  I made it through and hit the times I was suppsoed to but was obsessing about the run during the whole swim!  I got out of the pool, decided I was going to finish the workout no matter what and headed up to the treadmills at the Y.  I ran 5 mins at 8.6, 5mins at 8.9 and 10 mins at 9.2.  I had 5 mins of ez jogging before repeating.  I felt pretty strong and thought I had a good chance of making it.  I started the next set and felt really good.  I did the 8.6 then the 8.9 took a deep breath and started the 9.2 (6:31 pace).  The first 5 minutes seemed really tough and I decided to make my goal just making it further than last time (5mins).  Every minute that went by after 5 minutes, I had the same thought – just make it 1 more minute.  I did that all the way to 10 minutes!!!  I have had this awesome feeling of accomplishment all day.  Yeah, it was only a workout but hey, whatever lifts your spirits and makes you feel good about being you…right?

The Road to Buffalo Springs

I am now into the 3rd day of the training on the “Road to Buffalo Springs”.  The email from Karen came while I was celebrating the New Year in Virginia.  Scott laughed at me because I was like a little kid on Christmas morning when the e-mail came.  I was super excited to see what forms of torture Karen had devised for me for this first month of 2010′s program!  Unfortunately, the microsoft excel file would not open on Scott’s computer.  I was beyond bummed.

Finally, after returning home on Sunday night (at 12:30am in a snowstorm…with the driveway covered with waist deep snow…and after I snow-blowed the driveway at 1am so I could get the car off the road) and a frantic call to Karen Monday morning becuase the file wouldn’t open on my computer either, I got the file to open and was able to view the workouts.  I was a little overwhelmed at first, stressing about how I was going to fit these workouts in.  3 swim workouts, 2 lifting sessions, 4 bike and 4 run workouts plus 1 rest day to fit into 7 days along with a 32 hour work week and being a single mom…WOW…no wonder I was stressed!  After some figuring, I felt a little better.  I managed to somehow schedule all of the workouts in.   Sunday I will know if I was able to do them.

Monday I decided to do my workout at the Y.  I had to ride 105 minutes on the bike.  By the time I finished I looked like I had just stepped out of the shower (but definitely didn’t smell that way!).  A woman came up to me and said she just told her husband that she’d never seen anyone sweat as much as him until she saw me!  I was so proud .  I was seriously wiped out after that ride.  I made sure to drink my chocolate milk after – Karen’s recommendation for a cheap post-workout protein replacement drink.  Tomorrow…my new favorite of the 3 disciplines…the pool.

Today I spoke with the race director for Buffalo Springs.  He did not do much to assuage my fear of the difficulty of the course.  He admitted the course was beautiful but definitely tough…lots of short, steep hills on the bike and a few also on the run.  He said to be ready for hot, dry heat and reminded me that Lubbock is at about an elevation of 3200ft.  He also said that the race attracts top competitors and always has stiff competition.  Kona is going to be a lofty goal but I am still going for it – I am confident Karen will find a way to prepare me for these conditions!

Ready To Begin

Got a call yesterday from Karen.  She is working on the 2010 program and I couldn’t be more excited!!  She said she was looking at the past year’s results from Buffalo Springs and thinks I have a good chance to qualify for Kona.  It is going to be tough, though – I have to win my age group to get the spot.  There is no consolation trip for 2nd place.  I am anxious and not sure if I am good enough.  These doubts are what help me to push myself, however.  So sometimes a little doubt (for me, at least) is a good thing.

We are planning on starting the program January 4th (Monday!!).  I will be happy to be back on a schedule instead of waking up and deciding what to do that day.  Having a coach keeps me so much more focused.  She also is planning on getting me in to a friend of hers to test my fitness levels in all 3 sports (although according to the Wii my fitness age is 44!!).  I will definitely blog about that experience!  She wants me to get a heart rate monitor to help keep my workouts easy on easy days and hard on hard days.  She says I go too hard all days – oops.  I should be getting my workouts for the month this weekend .

On another note, Christmas Day, Scott and I took my new bike out for a spin on the roads.  Note to all – make sure all screw and bolts and whatever are tight before you head out.  We got about 4 miles in and my seat sank down.  I had to do the ride with my knees coming up to my chest.  (By the way, if you want a good quad workout…).  Other than that obvious discomfort, the bike was AWESOME!!!!  It rode so smoothly and I felt so much power going uphill.  I was a little shaky at first because the geometry is a bit different but by the end I felt much more comfortable on it and cannot wait for spring to take it out again!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

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