Triathlon Mom take 2...

Last weekend, I participated in my second triathlon of the season - Race the River.  This was such a fun event and I was amazed at what I accomplished.  In this race, I was race-testing a new wet suit.  The water was a bit cold, and it gave me a chance to see how the wet suit felt in a race as well as practice in the transition zone.  I'll be needing the wet suit in the Olympic tri in August and I was really glad that I tried it out.  I was able to take almost 6 minutes off my swim over last year...I was off to a great start!

This race has a three-loop bike course which is pretty congested.  It's hard to find your rhythm in the race when you are constantly passing or being passed.  I felt good through the whole bike race though and finished faster than I did last summer.

I was speedy in the transition zone too.  A first-time triathlon-er commented before the race, on my transition zone.  Laughing, I realized that all the tricks I have are because I made mistakes in previous races.  This summer my big addition was an obnoxious striped towel.  It can be hard to find your transition zone {this race had over 800 athletes} so I arrive early to set up and display my obnoxious towel to help me find my spot.

I was off and running ... this race I also decided to try a Sport Skirt and I loved it!  I felt surprisingly strong through the whole race.  My run felt good, my feet felt good and all the aches and pains I have had in training seemed to disappear.  I had fun!

There I am nearly to the finish line.  There was a huge column of fans and athletes lined up to create a chute to the finish line.  It was awesome to hear everyone cheering and I felt great crossing the line.

I ended up taking 10 minutes off my time from last year.  I couldn't believe it!  The training has really paid off.  There are now 20 days until my Olympic tri...wish me luck!

Triathlon Mom...

For those of you who've been reading for a while, you know that I am relatively new to being sporty.  While I have always been active, in the past 5 years I have pushed past merely active and into athletic.  The adventure has been fun and interesting.  I am amazed at how much more capable I am physically then I ever thought possible.  The learning curve on athletic is also impressive.

Over the past month I have been plagued with blisters, sore knees and IT band aches.  Here's the thing, it was never an all-on onslaught.  One day my knee would hurt a bit...one evening my IT band would be uncomfortably achy...I realized I had blisters on my arches that never quite healed.  Each ache and pain was acknowledged but I thought that they were all things that I needed to push past...get through...achieve a new level of endurance and strength.  For me athleticism is much more mental than physical...my body is capable but I am still convincing my brain!

The conversation with my husband started with the blisters.  Several weeks ago I did a swim-to-run brick and inadvertently forgot my socks.  I knew I wasn't going to do a long run, so I thought, "What the heck...I'll run barefooted!" DUMB! Bad Move!  I felt the blisters forming and kept running.  It was a week before I could put my running shoes back on.  Fast forward two weeks...I had a long run planned but ended up cutting it short because I could feel blisters forming and I didn't want to be out of commission for another week.  Kyle asked about the blisters and I said, "You know, I am just waiting for them to callous.  It's just something you have to grit your teeth to get past!"  My cute husband immediately started Googling blisters...

About the same time, I emailed my cousin regarding the IT band.  She's an Occupational Therapist, so the email was along these lines, "I know this is more a PT thing than an OT thing...but what do you know about IT bands?  I don't want to be whiney but I can't seem to get mine to toughen up."  After several emails back and forth, I came to realize that I had an IT band injury...that I was actually making worse by trying to toughen up.

The blister issue came to a head on the same day...they're an injury...one that I was making worse by trying to toughen up!

So...ice and stretching for the IT band...Body Glide and new socks for the blisters...but the biggest thing for me to learn was...it was time for new running shoes!  I had actually run so much in the past few months that I needed new ones!

One week into new shoes...no blisters...pain free IT band and knees!  I am really figuring this sporty thing out!

4 days and counting...

It's almost time for the first TRIATHLON of the season!  Since I have three events this summer, and the first two are sprints, I am not tapering for this race.  I have made a few tweaks to my workout calendar for the week:
Monday:  30 mile bike ride
Tuesday: 1 mile swim
Wednesday: Break day, with a 2 mile walk in the afternoon
Thursday: 3 mile run with lots of hills
Friday: Brick...10 mile bike ride and 2 mile run
Saturday: Swim...I haven't decided which workout I'll do, but it will likely be a 1 mile worth of intervals
Sunday:  My first sprint triathlon of the season...1/3 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run

I am really excited for the race this weekend.  I've had a different training calendar this summer and I am feeling much stronger and more in shape then last summer.  Wish me luck!

Training...

I have big goals of updating the training portion of this blog...see that cutie by the bike in the left sidebar...that's me in the transition zone and it's a link to my woefully outdated training page.  I have resigned myself to the knowledge that the updates won't happen until summer vacation happens...but that's a mere 3 1/2 days away!

Until then, last week was a great week of training...

• I ran a solid 4.5 miles.  That's a bit shorter than my training calendar calls for right now, but it's a faster and stronger 4.5 miles than I have ever run before!
• I did a strong 1 mile swim...I forgot to check the clock when I started but it was right around 35 minutes.  I wasn't trying for a race pace mile, but I felt good all the way through the swim!
• I took one spinning class which tackled some pretty long hills...
• and...I finished a T1 brick on Friday morning!

Last summer I hit a real wall on the run during my first triathlon.  Reflecting back on my training, I realized that I had neatly talked myself out of all bricks.  Not so this year!  My amazing friend Amanda, put together a training calendar for me to work myself to the Olympic triathlon in August.  I am taking each day as she laid it out.  This year I am already going farther, faster than I did last year.  I'm excited to see the changes in what I can talk myself into doing, and how hard I can work.  

Last year I had a goal...I achieved it but not with the strength I was hoping for...it was tough to finish both triathlons.

This year I have a goal and a plan...already I am faster and stronger than I was at this point last year.  I can't wait for the triathlons this summer...I'm gonna rock!

January Workouts...

January is a notoriously difficult month for me to work out.  For most of the world, resolutions are set in January and the gyms are crowded.  Most people get their best workouts in January.  Not me.  This month it's hard to wake up.  Hard to get out of bed.  Hard to head to the gym in the dark.

To keep things interesting, a friend of mine helped me create a few swimming workouts.  It's much easier to spend the time in the pool when you have a specific workout, rather than just swimming laps.

This is the workout I did today:

* Warm up - 400 m

* Pyramid (15 seconds of rest between each set)

   - 4 x 50 m

   - 3 x 100 m

   - 200 m

   - 3 x 100 m

   - 4 x 50 m

* Drills - 50 m each - swim, kick, pull, swim, pull

* Cool Down - 200 m

How do you keep your workouts interesting?

Running Workouts...

I am learning to love running!  One of the keys to this adventure, for me, has been finding different interval workouts.  Keeping focused on the interval, and changing the intensity of the treadmill, has helped me run farther and faster than I have in the past.  I found some ideas for intervals and adapted them to work for me.

3-1-1...These are fun intervals to run because they are so short.  I really have to pay attention to the clock on treadmill, so I am not paying attention to how I feel.  When I started 3-1-1's I chose a slow, a moderate and a faster pace.  I ran 3 minutes slow, 1 minute moderate and 1 minute faster.  Now I run 3 minutes at my moderate pace, 1 minute faster and 1 minute even faster.  This would work with the incline also.  Run as many intervals as you can.  You can also bookend the intervals with a 5 or 10 minute run at the slow or moderate pace.

Ladders... Again I choose 3 different levels to run at.  In this workout though, I run 5 minutes at each level, up and down the ladder.  Before I start running I decide how many rungs I am going to run, or how many miles I will accomplish before I finish.  For me, I need to decide on the distance or the time before I start, then I can hold myself accountable to finishing.

Bumps...I think I made this up, and it happened because I misunderstood a friend (who is a runner...a real runner) talking about tempo runs.  So I started out thinking this was a tempo run, and when I learned that I was wrong, I decided to call it a bump run because I liked the workout!  I choose the level that I am going to start my run.  Every 10 minutes, I bump the intensity up by 2. 

The end result of all these workouts, is that I actually like running!  I'm having fun challenging myself with different combinations of intervals and the intervals keep the run interesting.  Please remember that I am not a professional runner, so if you are going to try these use your own sense of what is right for your body.

Happy Running!

Triathlon Training...

I ran my first triathlon two summers ago and I was hooked!  For someone who wasn't sporty growing up, the idea that I could...that I did...finish a triathlon was amazing.  Last year I focused on biking and swimming, and in my two races last summer, these events felt great.  I actually swam and biked better than I had the previous summer.  

Running has been a bit of a challenge for me and I decided to be more intentional in training this year. In the past, I would just run.  I didn't really have a sense of how to train so, I started doing some research.  This article was in last month's Shape Magazine.  Interval training is something I've done with both biking and swimming, but I needed help in figuring out how to get started with running.  

Moving inside to run on a treadmill makes the intervals a bit easier to track.  The interval workouts also, keep the treadmill interesting and are starting to really push my running.  I can already run longer than I could and I am pushing the pace too.  Knowing that so much of sports, especially endurance sports, is mental I have also banished any negative ideas or thoughts about running. My new mantras...I like running...Running makes me stronger...I'll feel great when I'm done! (Sounds cheesy, but it works for me!)


I am excited to be training for three triathlons next summer and excited about being a better runner.

How do you change up your workouts in the fall and winter?

Sporty Mom...

Just two weeks ago, I completed my first triathlon of the season.  Yesterday I ran in ...

Race the River

It was a great experience...my family was on hand to cheer me on...

I swam hard for the 1/2 mile swim...

My bike ride felt really strong...

My transitions were speedy...

I ran my best...still not my favorite event, but my father-in-law makes it look great in the photo...

And I ran into the finish with all I had left...

It was a good day!

Valley Girl Triathlon...

My first triathlon was last year and I loved it!  It was an amazing feeling to "find my sport" in my 30's after living a fairly un-sporty life.  Now I am sporty and it's so much fun!  Today was my first triathlon of this season - Valley Girl.  This is a race that is literally held in my backyard - I rode my bike to the transition zone.  There were so many women I knew competing that the environment was really fun and positive...very inspirational.

My race started in the lake...isn't it beautiful?  The water was wonderful!  I swam 1/3 of a mile and felt really strong.  One thing I need to work on is staying on the course...I kept swimming to the right and ended up spending time to get back in track.  Swimming is a lot of fun though and I tried to remember to enjoy the temperature...it was the only time I wasn't toasty all morning.

I ran out of the water into the transition zone to get my bike...

...and set off on a 12 mile bike race.  I had personal best records in both the swimming and biking this morning...yay!

Back into the transition zone and it's a quick change into my running shoes.  I got new elastic laces and they worked really well to get my shoes on quick.  I headed out for the final leg of the race...a 3 mile run.

Running is my nemesis and I didn't have a PB race this morning but I did find my great friend Tessa during the run and we finished the race together.  We've been training together and work out together most mornings so it was really great to be able to finish this race with her!

And I am a finisher!! I felt strong through most of the race and I had a great time.  I really love triathlons and I love feeling sporty!