Ironman Lake Placid - Pre-Race Days

Pre-Race Wednesday and Thursday

By race week I had gotten over my nerves and was starting to feel better after a week of being sick. I was at this point strangely calm leading up to IMLP. All the work was done and I knew I was well prepared. There was nothing left to do but race my race. Picked up Cid from the airport, grabbed some last minute goodies from the store and had lunch with Kelly. It was so nice to sit and get some last minute tips from her – although the only question I could think to ask was what does it feel like after you finish?!? For some reason that, and not the race itself, was my biggest fear.

Thursday morning came and I could not wait to pack up the car and hit the road for my favorite vacation spot in NY. Lake Placid has always been a special place but over the last few years it has definitely occupied a bigger space in my heart as we watched friends become Ironmen there and made some really special memories in a house full of like minded people. After an uneventful drive (except for nearly running into Mark and Emily and then missing them completely!) we finally arrived at the place we would call home for the next 7 days. It was no Taj Mahal (our LP house from the years prior) but the price was right and it had plenty of bathrooms!

Cid and I getting ready to hit the road

We quickly unpacked the car and walked into town to officially check-in and get our race swag! The process was pretty quick and easy, signed our lives away to the WTC, got weighed, race bands on (the guy who did mine said it mace us engaged and meant I had to race!) and picked up our gear bags. We then headed down to the merch tent to get our backpacks (nice work, WTC) where of course I had to buy the name t-shirt. Unfortunately by then it had started to rain so we grabbed some food for Cid and headed back to the house. Back at the house we unpacked some more and made a quick dinner. I went for a quick shakeout run around the lake and spent some time at the beach with Emily. It was just a small core group of us for the first night and it was so nice!

Friday

Friday morning we relaxed before heading out for a quick ride to make sure the bikes were working.  With everything in order (after having Mark double check it for me!), we headed down to check out the expo. I got to meet Mike Reilly and tell him it was all his fault that I was racing and get a quick picture with him.

With the voice of Ironman!

After that the expo quickly went downhill for me. Too much nervous energy and people selling things I didn’t want to think I needed for the race! I grabbed a bagel and headed down to the beach to sit in the shade and relax by looking out over beautiful Mirror Lake. Eventually Emily met me down there and we donned our wetsuits for a final swim. We swam stroke for stroke for a loop of the swim course. Then it was time to relax and pack all the bags! Our house had started to fill up and my parents were on their way to town, so after a dinner of lasagna, I joined my parents and sister for a walk into town to get a breather from the craziness. Friday night it was early to bed after my dad and sister played a quick game of flip cup with my friends!

Post swim with Emily

Saturday – T-1 Day!

Saturday morning I was up without an alarm a little earlier than I would have liked, but oh well. At this point Rachel and Michael had arrived so I met my mom and sisters in town for a big breakfast at the Creperie of eggs, toast and a crepe (plus the pancake that Eric had made me in the am!).

Biting the head off of the M-dot pancake! 

I quickly made my way to the Oval and dropped my bags and bike off, and was able to get a tour of transition from an awesome volunteer. After everything was set, I sat in on an athlete meeting before heading back to the house to get out of the sun and away from all the nervous energy down at the oval. I spent the rest of the day parked on the couch in the living room with my feet up reading a book!

Heading to bike check in!

Before I knew it it was time to get ready for dinner. I figured I would want to eat at home but when I realized my whole family was finally going to be together for the first time since Thanksgiving I threw pre-race superstition to the wind and decided a nice family dinner was the best way to spend the night before the race. Plus, I figured that since I’d eaten out the night before plenty of successful races that this one would be no different. We managed to get a table at the Boathouse, and had the whole bottom deck to ourselves! We felt like we were sitting right on top of the water, and had a perfect view of the swim start!

Unfortunately, while we were waiting for our food, my brother noticed a small fire starting in one of the apartments above main street across the lake. We couldn’t take out eyes off of it as the fire quickly spread to the entire top floor and started to threaten the building next door. At that point, I was no longer thinking about my race at all, and pretty much lost my appetite thinking about someone losing their home/business and all of their possessions. It was terrible, but it also served as a really good reminder to put things into perspective.

Our view of the fire from dinner

After we finished up dinner and snapped a few family pics, we met up with my aunt and cousin who had also come up to LP to volunteer and cheer. (Did I mention my family is the best?). We headed back to the house and I quickly said goodnight to everyone and was in bed by 9, with my alarm set for 3:30! 

Race Day...Continue reading here!

 

Running Israel, Week One

At the end of my run tonight, I came to the realization that I just completed my first 6-run week in Israel (and first since tri training picked up in April). The thought made me smile, and also realize that I wanted to start a little series on the blog. Since this is supposed to be a running blog, and I do want to chronicle my running adventures here, along with all the other adventures, I figured I would just sum up a week of runs each Saturday night.

This week was all about getting to know Karmiel, both through group activities and runs. One of the greatest things about my new home is how walkable everything is. There are sidewalks everywhere, people actually stop for you when you are in the crosswalks, and there is certainly no shortage of hills. On the other hand, its walkability is also a downfall when it comes to being a good running city. Unlike the towns in the US where I normally run, it's not as simple as just running from town to town.

See? Very contained. I haven't explored much outside of the main roads, but looking at the map now I can already see new loops and new ways to lengthen my go-to routes (yes, I have go to routes after only a week). The only other small problem I found was the lack of a flat stretch for speedwork. I got through this week's 5>7>3 intervals by doing them on a dirt path our security guard pointed me to, but I found myself very close to a cow pasture at the end of the first half of the 7 minute interval. Luckily there aren't any intervals longer than 7 minutes on the schedule, but a tempo run on these hills will be a challenge for sure!

So here's what my week of running looked like:

The long run was a little short, but seeing as how I haven't truly done a long run since...(Kevin hide your eyes!) Musselman(?) I didn't want to do too much in my first full week back. It was a solid 4 hours and 8 minutes of running this week and I'm hoping it'll only go up!

I finished my "long" run just as the sun was setting, and I definitely picked the right time of day to run. Shabbat was ending, the city was walking up, there were runners and walkers everywhere, and with the setting sun, I was treated to beautiful views and cooler temperatures. An even better reward? Meeting up with some fellow Otzmanikim right as I finished, and heading out for a post-run chocolate milk.

3 shekel Chocolate Milk in a bag, yum!

We wandered around Karmiel for a few minutes, before ending up at our favorite Falafel stand. Not exactly the best post-run food, but at 6 shekels (the equivalent of $1.50) for the 1/2 sandwich and all the salad you want, it's not bad!

Making it fresh, just for us!

Looking forward to next week and finally getting to use the gym membership we got for just $25/month! The gym has two pools, a weight room and a cardio room. I might do some speedwork on the treadmill to avoid the hills. We'll see, and hopefully I can find a bike!

Detoxed

2011 was a great year—no doubt. Lots of PRs, new experiences and hard work. But in the last month or so I’ve noticed my life has become super cluttered. My car is cluttered, my room is cluttered, and there’s still stuff in the garage waiting to be unpacked from when I moved back to my parents house. It’s all left me feeling pretty unsettled. Not to mention all the junk I’ve been putting in my body, thanks to the surplus of cookies, cakes and other goodies I’ve been churning out in the kitchen.

Now, I’m not usually one for New Year’s Resolutions, but a fresh new year seems like a good time for a fresh start. So I’m putting it out there for all to read (all 4 of you!) and making a commitment. I’m spending this weekend getting caught up on 2+ weeks of laundry, cleaning out my car, organizing my room and ridding my life of excess clutter. I’m also taking the lead of some of the favorite bloggers and going on a cookie detox. No crazy lemon juice cleanses or cayenne pepper drinks for me. Just a solid two weeks of healthy, natural and clean eating to start this year out by treating my body right. I mean, it does a lot for me. Carries me through speed workouts, let’s me beat it up at boot camp and helps me finish triathlons and road races. I've got to treat it better this year (particularly with the Musselman 70.3 on the horizon). As much as I loved the line is Once a Runner, by John L. Parker, "if the furnace is hot enough, anything will burn," I don't think that's a healthy way to treat yourself.

So here’s to kale smoothies*, keeping up with the laundry and a happy, healthy 2012. Would it be inappropriate to wish you all a l’shana tovah?

*Don’t knock it before you’ve tried it—it’s delish!

It's the Little Things

Sometimes it's the simplest little things that make you realize all the hard work is totally worth it.

I've always liked how running helps me clear my head, and I like long runs even more since it's even more time for all the weird thoughts running through my head to sort themselves out. Green Lakes was quiet, peaceful and as always, beautiful at 8 am this morning. Even with the 70+ other runners, it was the perfect mix of supportive nods, smiles, good mornings and solitary running time.

At one point, running all alone on a stretch of road completely surrounded by trees, I saw a deer standing in the road about 20 yards ahead of me. It just looked up, stared me down, then calmly turned and walked into the woods. At other times there were beautiful views of the hills around Syracuse, leaves just starting to turn. I can only imagine how beautiful it will be 2 weeks from now when we hit the park again. I'm going to be sure to bring my camera.

But the one thought that made its way into my head and stuck there today, was how good I felt on this run. It occurred to me that this is what Kevin's running program is all about. Sure, the seemingly endless lists of people PRing are wonderful, and I'll fully admit to feeling my share of pride every time I crack another one or hear of someone else smashing one of theirs. But the way I felt this morning? Like I could run forever? This is why you put in your time day in and day out, week after week. When your base is big enough, strong enough that you feel really, really good out on a long run. It totally makes the hard work worth it. No crowd cheering at the finish line necessary.

Even when the elevation profile of said run looks like this:

Fall Favorites...And Did Someone Say Marathon?

Things I love about fall: crisp mornings giving way to warm afternoons, bright blue skies, temps that call for runs in tights and long sleeves, pumpkin anything (lattes, muffins, you name it) and soup bubbling away on the stove on a Sunday afternoon.

It’s always a crazy time of year for me but I love being busy. It’s taking every ounce of willpower I have to fit 6 days of running in a week. Wait. Willpower is the wrong word. I want to run, and I’m full of fresh inspiration to get my miles in now that I’m set on this Marathon thing (and I’ve just decided that from now on that word should always be capped).

On another Marathon note…Tel Aviv Marathon? Sounds perfect for me. Flat, fast, in one of my favorite places in the world. But if I’m going to travel do I want to go somewhere I’ve never been? Or is the comfort factor a good thing?

Ok. Sorry about the tangent. This Picking A Marathon thing is consuming me. It seems like Such. A. Big. Deal. But really, why does it feel that way? I don’t think I’m being very picky, I’m fully committed to doing it, but nothing feels “right.” I keep thinking if I just keep looking I’ll find something better. But really? Better is anyone’s guess at this point. It’s too far out to know if the weather is going to be ideal, and everyone’s race experience is so different. One person’s too crowded could be another’s lonely.

Oy. So anyways. Back to the reason it’s been difficult for me to squeeze my runs in. (Difficult yes, impossible, no. I haven’t missed one yet. Success!) I’m up at 5:15, at work by 6:30. Leave the office at 3 and head over to the high school. Coach from 3:30-5:30. Monday and Wednesday I like to go to Boot Camp at 6. So I can squeeze in the first 10-12 minutes of my daily run between practice and Boot Camp, then I count the time we spend running during class, then I head out from Inertia at 7 to make up the rest of the time. Home by 7:30 to make dinner, shower and crash. It’s not ideal but it works.

It also means that I’m going to be floating my rest days around based on our meet schedule. I got really used to speed work Thursday, rest day Friday, long run Saturday and loved how I felt rested and ready to run on Saturday. Last week was perfect since we had an away meet on Friday. I’m hoping I might be able to fit 40 minutes in before our home meet this Thursday since it’s not till 5, which will mean I still get to take Friday as a rest day. So it’s all good. I’m learning about flexibility and there's no pressure right now since I'm not officially training for anything. It also makes me glad that I'll have from November to January to slowly increase my daily minutes without increasing my long runs. Then come January it’s officially Time To Get Serious, a.k.a. Marathon Training Time! I can’t wait!

Goals, Commitment and a Super Awesome Un-Recipe

I didn't do any writing this week, but I did do a ton of thinking.

And I'm feeling like I can say I have a rough idea of what my goals are for this coming year. I really have to look at a calendar and see if it is at all feasible, but this going to be the year of go big or go home. Either that or I just have no patience and a need to do it all.

In the past, I've never given the marathon much thought at all. If someone mentioned it, I'd say, "no way!" as fast as I could. But the hype around Boston Marathon registration week was enough to get me curious. I know they are dropping the qualifying standards by a lot for next year, but I was curious. I guess you could say I got bit by the BQ bug. So I plugged my most recent 5k time into the Runner's World SmartCoach app, added my weekly mileage and requested a moderate training plan. (I'm not planning on using it, it's just a neat app that will give you a fairly accurate estimate of how fast you can expect to finish based on prior race times). It spit out a 3:33:00. So I looked up Boston's age-graded qualification chart for the 2013 race, and sure enough, for 18-34-year-old females, you need to run a 3:35:00 to qualify.

That was all the motivation I needed. Just to know that I could be close, was enough to push me to try. I also have no doubt that thanks to Kevin's training, I'll be faster before I even start to seriously train. So barring any thing weird, my goal for my first marathon is going to be to qualify for Boston. Go big or go home, right? Kevin is pointing me towards an April/May race, specifically two over Memorial Day weekend. Vermont City or Ottawa. I'm heard good things from people who have done Vermont City, but Ottawa sounds great as well.

So a May marathon is on the calendar. But I'm going big this year so I think a half Ironman is going on as well. I'm leaning towards the Timberman in New Hampshire. It's late August, so it's enough time that I can still do Iron Girl and maybe one other, even after taking some time to recover from the marathon. I don't know. I also want to do Israman in 2013, and thought that having that be my first 1/2 Iron would be really symbolic and meaningful. Who knows? That one is still a ways away and there are a ton of logistics that go into that one. Including getting my bike to Israel and the small problem of training through the fall and beginning of winter.

Ok so those are my big rocks for this year. What's on your list?

Oh! And that Un-Recipe I promised? I'm currently obsessed and it's super healthy to boot.
Baked Tofu!
Drain and rinse a block of extra firm tofu.
Lay a towel on a rimmed dinner plate, set the tofu on top, then cover with another plate and something heavy on top (a can of pumpkin is perfect). Leave it for 30 minutes.
Mix up a marinade. I started with about a 1/4 cup of low sodium soy sauce, some Garlic Expressions Dressing and Peanut Sauce. (It was delish, especially with the sesame seeds we added before baking, but a little to salty for my taste.) There's a batch with Dino BBQ sauce marinating in the fridge right now.
You can use anything you like. Olive oil, salt and pepper would be good, too.
Let the tofu soak up the marinade for a least 30 minutes. (Overnight works, too)
Cover a baking sheet with foil and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Lay the tofu out on your baking sheet in a single layer.
Bake, flipping every 10 minutes (I'm not sure this is necessary but the recipe I reference said to do it), for anywhere between 20-45 minutes. It gets chewier and denser the longer you cook it. That's it!

It is great for snacking on (my sister and I finished a whole brick today), salads and I imagine it would be great in a stir-fry, too. We didn't have any left for that! I'm going to make a sandwich out of the BBQ version that's marinating now. Let me know if you try it and what you marinated it in!

T-minus 2 Days!

i.e. taper week. Yikes! Tapering is making me crazy! I’ve been second guessing all the hard work I put in and using every last ounce of willpower not to try and a squeeze in just one more run. But I’ve been good. I’ve been taking it easy, drinking lots of water and watching videos on how to change a flat tire.

But still, I’m freaking out a little bit. I’ve been saying all along that I have a couple of goals for this race. The ones I can control? Finishing the swim in 10 minutes, making smooth transitions, doing the bike course in sub-55 minutes and running a sub-25 minute 5k. My overall time goal is 1:35:00. But I’d like to be closer to 1:30:00. That’s all fine. I’m trying to be confident in the time and work I’ve been putting in the bank all summer. But there’s a nagging goal in the back of my head that just won’t leave me alone. I’d like to place in my age group because eventually (not this year) I’d like to qualify for an age group spot at the short course nationals.

It’s my competitive side coming out, but I know that I can’t control what anyone else does out there. So I know I just need to go out there and do my best, but I’ve been wasting energy worrying about the what ifs. I’ve been eating, sleeping and breathing triathlons for the past 5 weeks, but I worry I started too late. I’ve been worrying about getting a flat, my shins cramping, rain, swimming off course, and just plain bonking. The worst one though is that I’ve been worrying about letting people down.

Not that there is anyone in the world who would be disappointed in me, unless I quit. And that would be hella lame. And not happening. But as much as I love hearing from people who think I’m gonna kick this thing’s butt, it still makes me a little nervous. But on the other hand it fires me up, so I’m hoping that once that starting gun goes off, all that will stop mattering and I’ll be able to just focus on doing what I know how to do and doing it well.

I’ve been bringing back the old visualization trick. It used to calm pre-gymnastics meet jitters, so I’m hoping it works here.

I’ve been looking forward to this for so long. I can’t believe it’s here already. Despite the nagging voice in my head (it’s the taper talking), when it goes quiet for a minute I’m actually feeling pretty darn confident. I can’t wait to get up at 4 am on Sunday. Keep your fingers crossed for dry weather!

One Week!

Can someone tell me where the whole month of July went? And while you’re at it, what happened to June? Somehow the triathlon is only a week away. It’s not like it really snuck up on me…I’ve seen it get closer on the calendar every time I filled in another day’s workouts. But somehow I’m shocked that it’s only a week away. And yet, I’m hoping this next week just flies by. Luckily it’s busy and I have something almost every night after work to keep me from going stir crazy during the taper.

It feels good to know I’ve put in as much work as I have towards this race. But it also makes me anxious for race day. There are a lot of what ifs floating around in my head. But there’s nothing left to do now but rest my body and get ready mentally. (Oh, and practice transitions. My neighbors probably think I'm nuts, riding circles around the street with my feet out of the shoes)

So my goal for this race is to come in under 1:35. But I have a reach goal, too. I’m just gonna put it out there for everyone to see: 1:30. I think if I’m feeling good on Sunday morning it’s seriously doable. But I won’t be disappointed with 1:35 either.

I'm just getting super excited and jittery even thinking about how close it is :)  

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!

Play Like It's The Last Time

Our gymnastics team had a quote that got passed around a lot, then took on new meaning after we were cut. Who could have ever known how meaning full that third sentence would be to us all?

Believe in you. Trust in us. Play like it’s the last time. Enjoy the ride.

I have no idea where it came from. To be honest, since I graduated from JMU it’s not something I think about very often. But after an amazing reunion this weekend, I was reminded of it and some of the other quotes we loved so much.

“I don't remember how we happened to meet each other. I don't remember who got along with whom first. All I can remember is all of us together...always.”

“From the outside looking in you could never understand, and from the inside looking out we could never explain.”

Forever a Duke.

But it’s that first one that’s been stuck in my head all day. Play like it’s the last time. Enjoy the ride. It has always carried a ton of meaning for me, but now it might have even more significance. It’s not a quote we came up with after we were cut. It’s one we always tried to live by, since as a gymnast, you never knew when your last chance would be, so we always did our best to leave it all on the floor. It’s how at our last ever gymnastics meet, we were able to hit 23 for 24 of our routines that day. Ask any gymnast, 6 stuck beam routines as a team doesn’t happen often in a meet situation.

So with two weeks left until the triathlon, I’m going to play every training session like it’s the last one and I’m definitely going to enjoy the ride. And then? On race day? It’s only fitting for the race plan to be leave it all out on the course. I need to set a time goal. Realistically, I’m confident I can go under 1:35:00. I’m tempted to make my goal 1:30:00.

Leave it to a weekend full of good friends, good memories and way to much food and wine to bring me back to my training with a renewed focus. I guess it makes sense though and the timing was right. The end of my gymnastics career was when I chose to start running. The weekend came at the end of my easy week, right before the start of my last hard week. A week from today I start to taper. I’m already going crazy thinking about the taper. I’m not going to know what to do with myself. Anyone have any suggestions? How do you deal with all the free time and excess energy during a taper? This will be the first time in a while I’m truly tapered. For the last couple of road races I just took it easy the day before. Help!

Just a Little Competitive

If you know me, you know I can be a little bit competitive from time to time. Ok. Maybe more than a little. But I'd like to think it makes me push myself a little harder when there are other around that I am striving to keep up with, instead of being competitive in a bad way.

It's been the story of my life for as long as I can remember. I've always had to work for things. The things I love to do don't come easily to me. But I'm glad they don't. For me, the challenge is part of what keeps me interested. If I don't need to work at it, chances are I'll get bored with it fast.

But every once in a while, I've got to admit, it is really nice to be the 'best' or the fastest at something. Now I know best is a relative term. But I was out in front of the workout this morning instead of bringing up the rear and I have to admit it felt really good :). Would I have gotten in a better workout if there was someone out in front of me that I needed to chase? Maybe. But there were two people right behind me and I think that was a pretty good push. It was a nice confidence booster going into an couple of easy days (which are really hard for me to let myself take).

Regardless, I am SO glad I got my but out the door at 5:15am and got my speed work done for the week. I'm just sitting in my kitchen now and I'm sweating. I can't imagine trying to get that workout done tomorrow night when the temperature is going to be approaching 100. So the schedule rearranging was totally worth it. And thanks to the swim getting cancelled at the beach tonight, I even got in a boot camp workout :) All in all, a really good day :)

Now if only I could figure out where to squeeze in that swim/bike workout I missed tonight.

Weekly Wrap Up (Week 2)

I’m doing away with the training log page on this blog until I can figure out a better way to format it. The table thing just wasn’t working out. So until then, I figure I should sum up the week with a post so I’m at least keeping track of my totals.

I’ll be honest with you—the numbers are a little scary this week. Oh, they’re ok on their own. But when you add them all up and remember that I work 40 hours a week, too, they're a little crazy. But I love it. It feels like such an accomplishment and I haven’t even done anything yet.

Running: 3 hours, 45 minutes

Boot Camp: 2 hours

Swimming: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Biking: 3 hours, 23 minutes

Grand Total: 10 hours, 43 minutes!

The number won’t be as high this week, as I finally get a little bit of rest at the end of the week to let my body recover. Then I ramp it up for one more week before it’s time to taper for IronGirl. Wow. Typing it out like that makes it seem so close! I know it’s three weeks away but I have a feeling those weeks are going to fly.

I’m glad we built the schedule up this way. It means I can head down to my gymnastics reunion and concentrate on having a good time with friends I haven’t seen in forever instead of worrying about fitting in a couple hours worth of running and biking. Speaking of…I should probably get to bed since I have to squeeze in two workouts before work tomorrow (an hour bike and a 45 minute run) because I’m coaching after work and can’t split them up.

A Quick Status Update

Ok, so I'm knee deep (or 10 days) into this training program. And man am I looking forward to the rest/easy days I'll have next week. I'm seriously earning them! I love how having a plan is keeping me so focused. I know exactly what I have to get done each day and I'm doing it. Succeeding in that makes me feel so accomplished. Even when I'm tired, I buckle down and get the work done and I (almost) always feel better for having completed it.

Take last night—I have never seen the water at Jamesville Beach so choppy. I've also never swam in water that rough. But I dove in and did it. It certainly wasn't pretty. I switched from freestyle to breast stroke pretty frequently and kept stopping to find the buoys. I also swam around the wrong buoy, so I went further than 600 meters. It took me about two minutes longer than normal. But from there the rest of the triathlon was great. I felt decently strong on the bike (just a little sore) and great on the run. I was trying to take it pretty easy and just get my 30 minutes in, but I finished the 5k in about 24:30 and jogged out the last few minutes to get to my daily run minimum.

The thing I've been noticing about the effect all this training has been having on me? It's on my mind more than my body. I feel really peaceful about things that are going on in my day-to-day life. A stressful project at the office? I can leave it at work and it doesn't bother me at home. I think I'm actually becoming a better problem solver, too. Things happen and I take care of them. If they don't go my way then so be it. I'm really enjoying this new me that doesn't stress over every little minute detail of who said what and what did they mean and what do they think of me! (Does that make any sense?)

There's just one small problem...I've been noticing that my calf is starting to twinge like it's about to cramp up. It happened in the pool on Tuesday during a hard sprint and again tonight during speed work. So I just had a banana, a sweet potato and a glass of coconut water for dinner. I'm going to be more aware of how much water I drink each day, too. I know I've fallen out of my old gallon-a-day habit. Does anyone know of any other calf cramp remedies? I'm going to try rolling it out on a frozen water bottle. But I'll take any suggestions you've got. I want to nip this right in the bud before it become a problem!

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.

Eat, Sleep, Work, Workout. Repeat!

Anyone who knows me knows I love food. I love to cook, bake and of course, eat. For the most part I eat pretty healthily. Just the thought of fast food makes me want to vomit and anyone who has run into me at Wegmans has seen all the veggies and Kashi products in my cart. I also have a VERY healthy appetite. Ever since I started working full time, I’ve had a meal plan pretty well worked out and it seemed to be working for me. I knew how much to spend on groceries each week, what to pack for lunch and was pretty much maintaining my weight.

It worked for me without much of a change even when I trained for the triathlon last year, took time off when I was trying to figure out was wrong with my shins and even when I started Kevin’s running program and added an extra 2 days of running a week. Well that all changed this week. Looking back at my log, I guess I did up the intensity a ton. But I never expected what happened next. I was hungry ALL the TIME. I wasn’t sleeping well and when I finally did fall asleep I was waking up in the middle of the night, still hungry.

I’d heard about waking up hungry from people I know who have done events like the IronMan, but I guess any increase in training intensity can cause it.

So for the first time in almost 2 years, I’m changing my diet. I stocked up on lots of good, healthy protein and even bought a loaf of bread (something I can’t remember the last time I did). I guess it’s not really huge, but I definitely spent a lot more money. I think having healthy snacks planned and portioned to bring to work and eat before I head out for evening workout should help with the insomnia. I guess I’ll know by the end of the week if it’s working or not. I’m going to weigh myself tomorrow, then again on Friday. If it changes a lot or if I’m still not sleeping well, I’m going to have to reevaluate, but I’m going to give it a full week.

I’m also meeting with a triathlon coach on Tuesday to develop a plan for the rest of the summer. I’m really excited about having a plan to follow instead of making it up as I go along. I have a good feeling about the races I’ve chosen and even the way I’ve been preparing so far. The only thing I’m tinkering with is whether or not to officially join UAST and pick up a 3^rd race. It would be really cool to get ranked and even try to make it to nationals. Can you hear that inner competitiveness screaming from where you are? But anyway as you can tell I’m pretty torn about it. Should I go for it?