Dress Rehearsal

Holy crap the triathlon is coming up faster that I ever expected. Can we hit the pause button on summer for like .02 seconds? Today was my last CNY Triathlon practice before the IronGirl. Let’s just say it made me hope that the saying, “bad dress rehearsal, good show,” holds as true for triathlons and races as it did for dance recitals.

For starters, I almost didn’t even make it to Jamesville Beach today. All day at work I’d been feeling like someone was sitting on my chest, which if you’ve never experienced that, let me tell you it makes it pretty hard to breath. I considered not going but I didn’t want to miss my last chance at a full brick workout. Once I got out in the fresh air I actually felt o.k. It makes me wonder if the super cold, dry AC air at work might be the culprit.

The swim was fine, uneventful, thought I really should have started closer to the front. I felt like I did a better job sighting the buoys today. It makes me feel more confident about going out in the front of my wave at the IronGirl like Kelly wants me to. (Um, can we take one second to note how ridiculous it is that transition closes at 6:30 am, but my wave doesn’t start until 7:40 am…that’s a lot of standing around and nerve build-up time!) So yea, I felt strong on the swim, which is why I really don’t understand how it took me 12 minutes. But anyway…

The bike got off to a rough start. I forgot to put my bike in a low gear and couldn’t make it up the hill so I had to turn around, lower the gear, then restart the bike portion. The ride was fine, fairly uneventful until I reached the turnaround and almost rode into a ditch. I managed to stay out of it though! The weird thing about the bike is that although everyone said biking would be the one thing that made my back feel better, it’s the one thing that bothers it more than anything. So in the interest of not making my back any worse, I tried not to push too hard on the bike. Time: 33 minutes.

As I came down the hill into transition, I didn’t get my left foot out of the clips in time and I crashed into a nice patch of gravel, which ground itself generously into my hand. Welp, it had to happen sometime, right? I just love that it happened right in front of so many people. Oy. Well at least someone was nice enough to pull my bike off of me and help me up. So instead of a quick transition, I ran down to the bathroom and washed my hand off. Once I got the dirt and gravel out it really didn’t look that bad and wasn’t bleeding too badly so I went back, changed my shoes and headed out for the run.

I wasn’t interested in how fast I could do a 5k, so I jogged the course, then kept running to get my time in for Kevin. I felt pretty decent by the end so I actually ran a little further. I think my total time ended up right around 33 minutes.

So yea, if this bad dress rehearsal, good race theory holds true, I should be golden, right? But I’m not holding my breath. No way. In fact, I’m gonna knock on wood and throw some salt over my shoulder, just in case by saying it I’m jinxing myself. Lol, I'm getting loopy. Good night!

A (Wo)man With a Plan

So finally, after way too many weeks of playing at this triathlon training stuff, I bit the bullet and found a coach. We met last Tuesday, put together a plan and having completed the first week I can honestly say I have no idea why I ever waited so long. Totally worth the $30.

So here’s the plan…

Monday: 30-45 minute run, 60 minute bike

Tuesday: Boot Camp, 30 minute run, 60 minute swim

Wednesday: CNY Tri Club (600 meter swim, 10 mile bike, 30 minute run)

Thursday: Boot Camp, Speed Work

Friday: 45-60 minute swim, 60 minute bike (with speed intervals)

Saturday: 18.6 mile bike, 30-40 minute brick run

Sunday: Progressive Long Run (60-75 minutes)

Tired just looking at it? LOL I am! But no, in all honesty it’s great, I feel great and I am really looking forward to putting it to the test at the IronGirl. I did skip Thursday Boot Camp this week since a few people have been hounding me about the intensity of the middle of my week and I was tired. I’m hoping that won’t be a permanent change. I just need to get used to settling down faster on Wednesday night. Doing the whole tri leaves me too wired to sleep. But it’s important to me to get there so I’m going to work on it.

Anyway, I’m starting off this week on a high note: had a great 60 minute run bright and early this morning before my mom and I heading north to Old Forge for some kayaking. I definitely got my arm workout in for the day! I’m good tired and excited to hit the ground running for another strong week. 

Learning Curve

Back at CNY Tri today. It was a world of difference from last week. Not in terms of time or anything. That’ll come more slowly. I just felt so much more prepared. Even though I was still running around like a chicken with its head cut off in the morning while I was getting ready, once I got to the beach it was a relief to know that I had all the essentials.

What was different this week? Well after last week’s disaster of a first try, I headed out to the bike store and bought a new helmet, flat kit and computer with cadence and had my biked tuned up. I also put the water bottle cage on my bike and grabbed some GU to take with me on the bike portion. The other big difference? I found my tri suit! Basement: 1, Elyssa: 1 (still can’t find the flat kit I just bought and had to borrow dad’s).

I was about 30 seconds faster on the swim (not too bad for just a week!) and swallowed WAY less water. Granted I swallowed a ton of pool water yesterday, so maybe I had just reached my quota for the week. I could tell when I got out of the water that I had worked harder—I was more out of breath on the run up to transition.

The bike was tons better than last week (no flat tires, I had water and I had the computer to keep me on track). I knew I was supposed to be keeping my cadence around 80-90 RPMs and really thought I was nowhere near that. I love that computer. I was right where I should be the whole time and wound up averaging 20 MPH. Yay! At that pace I’ll finish the IronGirl about 15 minutes faster than last year.

The run was the run. I finished the 5k in about 25 minutes, but kept running to get in my daily minimum of 30 minutes. At first I couldn’t really feel my legs so it felt like I was floating along. That didn’t really last too long, but they never turned to lead—victory! I did realize I should probably carry some water with me on the run.

The best part about these practice races is being able to figure out what worked for me and what didn’t. Yes to GU, but I need to find somewhere to store it other than my bra. No to my good water bottle not fitting in the cage! Luckily I had a smaller one but I was scared it was going to fall out since it fit really loosely. Even the little things, like preferring the thin Under Armor socks I wore last week to the thick Puma ones I wore this week. I also realized I need to bring a smaller towel for wiping off my feet. Standing on the big beach towel didn’t really work for me.

Oh, I also met with the tri coach yesterday. I have a whole plan worked out and I’m really looking forward to following it. So far so good! I’ll share more details tomorrow, but in the meantime you can check out her blog here.

5.5 Week Checkpoint

With just over 5 weeks left until the IronGirl, I’m realizing it’s time to get my but in gear in terms of triathlon training. Heading out for a bike ride after work just because I feel like is definitely not going to cut it, especially if I want to do well this year.

So last night I headed to my first CNY Triathlon Club training race and boy did I learn a lot. To say that it was a disaster might be a stretch but it definitely didn’t go well. In all honesty though, it was still a blast and a great learning experience. I feel really lucky to live in a community that has so many great resources for training. We’ve got Kevin’s running program with 200 runners, the CNY Tri Club has over 900 members, the swim clinics at the Y, and too many group rides going on every weekend to name.

Photo Credit: Syracuse.com

It’s also way better to know where I stand with 5 weeks to go then to find out the week before like I did last year. That all worked out in the end but the goal this year is to do better.

So what happened? Well let’s start with the fact that the air temperature was only about 64 degrees and it was completely overcast. Exactly the type of weather that makes you want to get in a lake sans wetsuit, right? I wish you could have heard the running commentary going through my head the whole time. Every thought from, “what the hell am I doing?” to, “hey, this isn’t so bad!” and, "OMG I just drank a gallon of lake water I hope this isn't as dirty as Oneida Lake" went through my head at some point or another. It wound up taking me 13 minutes, 35 seconds. Not terrible, but not great either. At least I know that I have some work to do.

Out of the water, up the hill to the transition area, I didn’t feel too bad. I probably could have gone out harder in the swim, but for the first time the effort level was probably right. I threw on some warmer clothes, put on my bike shoes and headed out. Running to the mount area on the bike shoes wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. But unfortunately the bike portion kind of went downhill from there. I was literally getting passed by EVERYONE. I felt so slow and sluggish. My quads were pretty tired from the beginning and I couldn’t figure out why. It was only a 10 mile bike but it felt like FOREVER until the turnaround. The first half took me about 25 minutes. Not great, but it there were a lot more hills than the IronGirl course will have. I finally made it to the turnaround and was feeling pretty decent as I headed back when disaster struck in the form of a pothole. Yup, you guessed it—major flat. Bummer. The bigger bummer? I was still 3 miles from the beach and I didn’t have a flat kit. Needless to say that’s my first stop after work tonight. Luckily, three of the nicest women I’ve ever met stopped, offered me tire irons, spare tubes and a CO₂ kit. It was good practice for all of us and I am so grateful to them for their help! Thanks a millions Kristen, Kelly & Denise! I’m sending lots of good karma your way :)

Image from here...I wish I'd been carrying a cell phone!

I finally got back on the road and headed back to transition. I forgot to stop or even look at my watch when I got the flat so I have no idea how long the bike took. I had pretty much decided not to run, but when I got back a woman I had met earlier in the night was waiting for me. She introduced herself as “Crazy Hardcore Lynn.” Love it! Well CHL told me I should run, so I ran. I wasn’t about to be outdone so I had to prove my hardcoreness (if that’s a word).

I’m really, really glad I decided to run. It proved to me that I have the run fitness and that all the hard work I’ve been putting in with Kevin is really paying off. I only ran for about 20 minutes, but I felt really strong and my legs felt surprisingly fresh. It was a great way to end the night and an awesome confidence boost.