Lake Stevens 70.3 Race Report

 
Doing a race report after going AWOL seems kinda moot, but I’m gonna do it anyway.

First, a half assed explanation. I had to take a break from blogging. That simple. Then when i took my break I realized how much I didn’t miss it. It was a relief to not have to read people’s blogs talked about shit that I didn’t really care about. Sorry, if that’s rude, but that’s the truth. (I realize that my blog fits that description for a lot of people which is totally cool with me. Don’t read it. To each his own. It wont hurt my feelings.) I did start reading some blogs that I missed after a while, but sometimes it’s too complicated to comment on my iPhone so I just didn’t do it. Deep down I think I didn’t want to blog because of the whole, “if someone comment’s on my blog I feel obligated to comment on theirs” when really I don’t need another blog to read. Plus since I started half-iron training I had to start finding triathlon blogs to read to gather information and motivation so my interests in blogs changed.

All this was a half-assed long winded way of saying: I cut down my readership by about 75%. I’m only reading/following 1/3 of what I was before. That may chance at some point, but for now that’s what I can handle.

Onto the race report --

This race took place on August 15, but my husband and I had planned a vacation and literally left our house the next day at 4:30 am so I am just now getting around to the race report. hopefully I didn’t forget too much.

The swim:

The water temp was 72* which was surprisingly warm since we’ve had such a cold rotten summer, but it was perfect for a morning swim. I think my AG was the third to last wave and I didn’t get nervous at all until I saw some of my running peeps and coach that came out to support me. It was such a nice surprise seeing familiar faces! Finally it was time to enter the water. My goal for the water was to go out easy and comfortable. I was thinking around 40 minutes would be a good time for me. I swam to the outside to avoid having to punch somebody in the face for pulling on my feet and dragging me under. I didn’t want to sacrifice having bad swim for a better time (which over the course of the day wouldn’t have meant shit anyways).

The swim was very uneventful. I probably swam about 100 meters long when I realized how far away I was from the buoy when it was finally in my sights, but whatever. After the turnaround the next wave was on our asses (which was 40-45 men) and I picked it up a little just to avoid being caught up in their cluster fuck. Plus we were swimming away from the sun and it felt easier to swim straight.

I was even able to pee WHILE SWIMMING which was a huge deal for me. I’ve never been able to actually do it mid stroke – it’s always at the end of the pool or while treading water.

Swim - 40:06/1:54 pace

T1 -  4:21

 

 

The Bike:

All through training the bike has been my biggest source of contention. 90% of my rides were done solo and/or in shitty cold, foggy, wet weather. Seriously 90%, I can count on one hand the rides when I had company (which I desperately wanted/needed for the bike) and/or decent weather (anything ABOVE 60). I had lots of problems with comfort and nutrition and basic conditioning throughout my training.

One of my biggest concerns was how hilly this course was. I was really worried about it.

Everything was all good for the first five miles. I was feeling great. Getting passed by a shit ton of people, but I knew that was going to happen and I wasn’t racing against them so I really didn’t give it much thought. It was a two loop course and just wanted to take it easy until the real hills started around mile 10. There was a moderate climb around mile 5 and had to give a hard effort. I got a major stomach cramp half way up the hill. I had been practicing my nutrition diligently on all my training rides and had settled on cytomax and fig newman's. They worked great for me until race day. The cramp was with me the whole bike. THE WHOLE FUCKING BIKE.

I had to back off my nutrition which I knew was not a good idea, but I couldn’t continue to eat and drink with the pain. i was pleading for the cramp to go away trying to sit up, bend over, push in my side with my fingers, everything I could think of. It was always worse when I had to climb up large hills. My nutrition totally suffered for it, which means my whole race suffered for it. I even got off my bike at a water station on the second loop and just stretched it out and drank a bottle of water. I was trying to force down some cytomax to keep some calories and sugar in me but it was really slowing me down. I was getting passed by females on road bikes that had no business passing me.

I couldn’t wait to get onto the run.

Finally bike was over.

4:01:44/13.9 mph

I am so NOT happy with this time. Although I wanted to come in under 4 hours, I now realize had it not been for those cramps I would have exceeded my expectations. It turned out that I passed a lot of people on the hills. A LOT. Some of them with ease. I surprised myself with either my climbing abilities or how poor theirs were. Not sure.

The flip side is for every person I passed on the hill, I got passed by twice as many on the descents and flats. I have a lot to work on and I’m glad I was able to see my weaknesses.

T2: 3:17

The run:

Getting off the bike felt good, but I knew I had a lot to make up in terms of nutrition. Plus it was literally in the 90’s. I know a lot of you guys eat 90* weather for breakfast, but not us! There are like 5 or 6 DAYS of the year that the temps get above 90. It’s a runner’s wet dream up here.

IT WAS FUCKING HOT. The run course was two loops of a figure 8. The first four miles of the run I was a mess. A hot mess.

I took a gel and salt tablet right away and waited for the gel to work it’s way into my body. The first part of the loop was ugly, sparse, and no shade. Gross.

Thankfully the waterstops were beyond unbelievable. They had cold hoses to water us down and ice. Oh sweet ice. It was fantastic and I was beyond grateful for that. The hose was so cold it took my breath away but I never wanted to leave it. What struck me was that nobody was running through these waterstops. Including the people who were on their second loop and on their way to the finish line.

Finally I felt the gel work and then I was able to take another one and I was starting to feel decent again. I stopped sweating which I knew was no good, but I was taking in as much water as I could. I was pouring ice down my bra and then eating it.

Gross, maybe. But desperate times call for desperate measures. I thought it was a genius idea.

This was by far the worse run of my life.

In terms of time and pain.

My IT band was killing me and I knew I was going to pay for this run for a few weeks but what are you gonna do. You can’t quit when your 6+ hours into it. I ran (I use the term ‘ran’ loosely here) with a girl who was from Canada and she made me feel better by telling me she usually finishes half’s in about 6:20 and we were going on 7 hours. Misery really does love company.

When I was on the bike I couldn’t wait to get on to the run. When I was on the run I wished I was back on the bike.

2:40:30/12:16 ave pace

It was THE WORST run of my life.

 

 

 

   

It was brutal and I loved every painful minute of it.

Afterward my swimming coach told me, “Sometimes our worst races are the most memorable”. So true. I will never forget that run.

Total - 7:29:56

After the race I had the biggest runners high ever. I relished in the pain and victory. It was pretty awesome. My freinds asked me how I felt and the best way to describe it was, “I feel high.” And I really did.

And I guess I drank enough water on the run course after all because I peed my pants right there in the finishers area. I turned to my husband and asked, “can you tell I’m peeing right now?” and his face turned bright red as he looked away and said, “yes.” I poured a bottle of water over my self to disguise the stream but frankly I couldn’t have cared less.

On the way home the temperature in my car read between 94* – 98*

I love that mother nature dished out shitty weather throughout the whole summer and then bitch slapped me with a race day in the 90’s. What a bitch!

This race will be remembered forever. In a good way.

Special shout out to my girls: Missy, Amy, and KK. Thank you for your encouragement and advice over my relentless emails and nervous breakdowns. I thought of you guys throughout and you helped lift me out of the low moments!  A thousand THANK-YOUS!!!

Peace Out.

Duathlon Race Report

Yesterday (Sunday) i was supposed to ride 43 miles. I was so excited about my route and was planning on 50. Got up a 4:45. Out the door by 6 to meet a girlfriend at the park n ride. On my way there it started raining and by the time I showed up it was pouring and the sky was dark as far as the eye could see. I was so pissed. It’s been raining non stop here. I constantly have to remind myself of why I like living here. It’s really starting to piss me off. It’s never been the rainy this late in the year before. Honestly, it probably wouldn’t bother me as much if I wasn’t riding a bike. I’m sick of being ‘tough’ and sucking it up through my workouts. I want some fucking sun and temps above 55.

After I came home I was going to get on the trainer but as soon as I got on I felt like shit. Mentally. Defeated. The last couple of weeks have been hard without my husband.

Anyway, I decided on a whim to sign up for a duathlon. Why not?

2 mile run, 13 mile bike, 2 mile run. Short and sweet.

A friend of mine was doing it and I knew it would be a VERY low key event so it would give me a chance to practice transitions.

It was a good experience. It rained (of course. grrrrr) on the bike for about 5 minutes, but overall it was decent weather. they offered a tri, but the swim was only 250meters which hardly seemed worth it. The transition area was a total swamp.

what I learned:

• untie your shoelaces. duh. I didn’t bother doing this after the first run so by the time I got to the second run I had to untie them to get them on. Do you guys use those elastic shoelaces?
• less is more in transition
• make sure bike computer is set up. I just got it and frankly have no idea how to use it so I didn’t know what to do when it wasn’t working
• I need to drink while riding. totally dropped the nutrition bag. thankfully it was only a short race.
• I need to get re-fitted. My crotch has been very uncomfortable. So uncomfortable that if it was normal, cycling wouldn’t be a sport.

I didn’t push it. It was all about experience. I have an A half marathon this weekend and I’m pushing for a PR so I didn’t want to screw it up by blowing out my legs for something like this.

My average speed for the bike was 15.6 MPH.

I’m disappointed in this because this was a flat course. The bike is my biggest limiter. How do I get faster?

Also, I’m super tired right now. My legs are fatigued. Is this the result of the duathlon that I didn’t push (in which case I have a lot to work on) or is it just the result of training hard for the last couple of weeks?

(added later – I was thinking about why I’m so fatigued and I realized that I didn’t eat or drink anything until I got home from the race which was like 2 1/2 hours after the race. I am usually very anal about my nutrition pre, during, and post race/workout. I think this is a big contributing factor.)

This week is a recovery week/taper. After this weekend it’s going to be all about the bike!!

Race Report: Hagg Lake Open Water Swim

I use “race report” very loosely here.

Saturday I drove down to Portland to stay with my girl alisa. It was a three hour drive and I arrived around 4. It was the first time meeting a fellow blogger and I was pretty stoked about it. Of course we hit it off and never ran out of things to talk about. We went out for a killer greek pizza and wine. In bed by 10. She was an awesome hostess and made me feel super comfortable to be there.

The plan for Sunday was to do an open water swim. My first of the year. 2000 meters. Then after we were going to do a bike ride. 50 (ish) miles. And then maybe if we were feeling like rock stars a short 10 –20 minute run afterward.

2 words. FUCKING COLD. Not only was it cloudy and chilly outside but after we donned our wetsuits and asked ourselves what the fuck we were doing there in the first place, we finally got in. OMG. Seriously. I wonder what the temperature was. 55* maybe?

It’s even colder than it looks.

 

As soon as I put my head down my diaphragm immediately rejected the notion that I  was actually going to exhale underwater. After several attempts I finally gave up and decided to just deal with it once we got going, hoping that the adrenalin would kick in and my brain would figure it out.

We started out in the middle/back inside. As soon as we started taking off it was a total clusterfuck. (side note – I was totally surprised at how many people were doing the 2000. Maybe there was 120 – 150 of us) Anyways, I immediately hated everyone around me. The woman going painfully slow in front of me, the chick behind me hitting my feet, the guy beside me. All of it. I still couldn’t put my head down enough to get a decent stroke going and I was inside my head so much I finally just swam to the shore (only about 30 meters). I stood there seriously considering quitting. I felt like I stood there for five minutes, but in reality it was probably only about 2. I finally decided quitting would be to hard to live with so I sucked it up and went for it. I just pushed the cold aside and finally began to warm up. It was much more pleasant being away from the crowd as they had all been ahead of me by now. I got going and got into my groove.

About the halfway mark I was over it. Get me the fuck outta here is what I thinking. How badly I wanted to swim back in and call it a day. Could you imagine. No way. I just kept on keeping on. “Just a few more strokes to the next buoy. Ok, the next buoy is just right there, keep going…” So on and so forth. Finally I began the looooong stretch into shore which seemed like it was getting farther away rather than closer. Finally. I could stand up. Done.

My watch time was 46:38

Not bad. Not good. It just is. Overall, very pleased. This was not an easy feat. Anybody that sucked it up and stayed in that water for more than a few minutes is basically a badass because that shit was not easy. Alisa is a super badass and was totally waiting for me when I got to shore and took a couple of pictures of me getting out. I think she had already showered and blew dried here hair by the time I got there!

The plan was to go directly for a bike ride. Thank you portland for being a total bitch and raining on us. We were not feeling that badass. We stripped down to our birthday suits wrapped ourselves in towels and cranked the heater in the car while we make our decision. To bike, or not to bike. While we were discussing our options it started raining. That made the decision for us.

We were super disappointed about that and decided to just hit the trainer for a couple of hours. After stopping for coffee on the way back to her house, we decided just to go for it and get on our bikes (it wasn’t raining at the time we made this decision).

About 7 or 8 minutes into the ride my stomach started cramping up like crazy. I’d never experienced anything like this. it was bad. I couldn't even stand upright. To make things worse it started pouring. pouring is an understatement. One of these issues would be miserable, both was unbearable. Alisa went on ahead, got the car, and came back to pick me up. I literally crouched next to my bike while the cold wet rain pounded me. It was brutal. (btw, Alisa was such a good sport and felt so bad for me she hauled ass to her car and when she came to retrieve me she was still wearing her helmet and shoes! Seriously selfless act.)

Eventually the cramps subsided, but I was really worried for a while there.

I made it home safe and sound, but that was not a fun drive.

NO clue what brought those pains on. It was acute every time I inhaled. The only new addition to my life is perpetuem, but I’m not sure if I even took a drink of it yet. Plus, I didn’t premix it (you can’t premix it because it spoils). I added the powder literally minutes before we took off on the bike.

A mystery for sure. Hopefully it never happens again.

Overall, meeting with a good friend and successfully completing a seriously challenging event. Successful.

Time Trials, Bricks, Race Report

Yep, I’m definitely in triathlon training mode. And I love it. Seriously, why did it take me so long to jump on the multi sport bandwagon?! My body is responding to all my workouts so well.

Here’s the latest:

Time Trials. So I did two time trials last week. One for the bike, one for the swim. Yes, I realize these should have taken place the first week of training but whatev. It is what it is and better late than never.

swim – 3 x 300 (:30 RI)  

300’s – 5:41, 5:38, 5:39

So I tried to stay relaxed, but I think l was supposed to push it a little more. I don’t know. I’ve never done a time trial before.

This averages out to: 1:53/100 meters

Wouldn’t it be sweet if I could get that down to 1:35

bike – 25 miles

There is probably a much more scientific and clearly defined way to do this, but I just went to a flat section of road (in my case a paved trail) with as little stops as possible and rode out and back for a total of 25 miles.

12.5 miles – 14.3mph, 14.8mph

I thought I was pushing it a lot more on the way back, but my heart rate was the exact same for both splits so maybe there were just more stops. Anyways, I’ll come back to this same trail and do it again in a month or so and see how I’ve improved.

Wouldn’t it be sweet if I could get that up to 19mph

I also immediately went to my bike shop and got a computer so I can figure out this cadence biz. I know I’m totally inefficient on the bike and that needs to change.

Incidentally, this was also a brick workout because I needed to run 30 minutes w/ 4 stridouts. My first brick of the year. Super successful. It’s so hard to run slow when you get off the bike because you go from fast to foot. Totally deceiving. I kept trying to slow myself down, but it was hard to do.

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Totally changing subjects now. Sunday I had a race. A half marathon in preparation for my A Half coming up in a couple of weeks.

I’m so happy with my performance. Especially coming off a week where I did my first 50 mile ride only 3 days prior.

The quick version:

My coach was very specific with where and when he wanted me to hit my splits and it was all based on the course specifics (he is super familiar with the course so he knew it like the back of his hand).

Basically the first 5 miles easy. The next 3 miles an nice flat stretch – drop the pace. Super super slow on a big downhill (he actually suggested that I WALK down it so I could save my legs. I was like. Um, no. So we compromised and I told him I would go down super easy and relaxed). Then run strong back UP the hill and finally drop the hammer in the last 5k.

I knew my body was feeling strong, but I wasn’t really expecting the results I got.

5 miles – 10:06 average pace

felt super easy. Surprised even myself as I was thinking this would only be about a 10:30 pace

5. 73 miles – 9:31 average pace

I dropped the pace to a nice comfortable tempo pace. I knew there was a large downhill and uphill coming so I was just enjoying the flat stretch while it lasted. Still feeling good. No GREAT.

At the end of this 5 mile section, was the downhill/uphill. I cruised down comfortable concentrating on relaxing my arms and jaw. Then we had a nice flat section before we started our accent. Honestly, I didn’t think it was a bad hill at all. It was one of those long gradual hills and I passed so many people. I couldn’t believe it. My confidence was at a all time high.

Before hitting the last 5k, I wanted to make sure my heart rate had recovered a little from the hill to give me a strong finish so I actually didn’t get a whole 5k.

2.4 miles – 8:15 average pace

I must disclose that this course had a sweet downhill finish so that helped A LOT in getting me that 8:15 finishing pace. BUT I sprinted past almost everybody in the last 800meters and I still had more in the tank.

13.19/2:05:29/9:31 average pace

Major success all around! Yep, this triathlon gig is good for me.

50 mile bike ride

Original title. I know.

I just finished my first 50 mile bike ride.

This is what I figured out

 

Terrain:

• I think I live in the hilliest city in the world
• The race course is also hilly, so I just need to embrace this, be thankful, and quit bitching about it
• I had to dismount twice (within the same few miles) for a monster of a hill that had a few spots to catch my breath on, but ultimately I just couldn't make it up the whole thing.
• Most hills look worse than they really are
• I rode two long streches of road twice each because they had nice shoulders, but mentally it was challenging. Next time I just want to do an out and back, or a loop.

Nutrition:

• I made a major mistake of bringing a ton of protein, but barely any carbs
• Next time I’m going to try pieces of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the first half. I don’t think my body will like taking in nothing but perpetuem and gels for five to six hours straight. I need sustenance. Just need to figure out what it should be. Any other suggestions for this? please please pretty please.

Misc:

• The typical sore spots (vaj-jay-jay, neck) didn’t start getting sore until around mile 40 which means the threshold for uncomfortableness is rising. yay.
• I really really need people to ride with. That was lonely.
• The onset of a bonk on the bike is FAR more dangerous than while running
• Intersections on a hill can suck it
• Why do some people not give you any room even when there is no oncoming traffic?

Stats:

• 49.37 miles/4:03
• average moving pace was only 12.2 but I wasn’t focusing on time.Simply on getting it done. Hopefully this will come down as I get stronger.
• 2501 ft in elevation gain 
• This is according to Garmin and sometimes I really wonder about the accuracy. Today, I believe it.
• 140 av bpm

 

Weeks 1 – 3: the short version

wOw. Time flies when your training. Here is my lame attempt to recount the first three weeks of my Half Iron Training.

Week 1: This isn’t too bad. I love swimming and I love running. What’s a couple of extra spin classes thrown in the week. HA! Fortunately, the plan I’m using starts out with  VERY low volume swimming. As in only 1000m three times a week. I compromised and made the main set 1000m and only a few hundred meters for a warm up/cool down/drills. For me it’s just not feasible to do a solid workout within a 1000m and still get in a proper warm up and cool down. Anyways, week 1 success.

Swim – 3600 meters

Bike – 50 miles + 1:15 spin class

Run – 24 miles

Week 2: Hindsight! Definitely feeling the training volume in week 2.  Respecting the training and pulling back on my running mileage. No need to burn out. I think my heart rate is starting to decline which is something I’ve wanted for a long time! Realized this week that I need to start eating WAY more calories and drinking only water during workouts is not cutting it.  Starting to focus on nutrition. The requirements are quite different from marathon training.

Swim – 4200 meters

Bike – 30 miles + 2 x 1:15 spin classes

Run – 14 miles

 

Week 3: Found PERPETUEM. Love It! Saving grace. Finally getting the hang of all the variation. I can’t wait for next week. Recovery week :)

Swim – 4850 meters

Bike – 62 miles + 1 hour spin class

Run – 18 miles

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Today I ran in the Tacoma City Half Marathon. I wasn’t racing it, just running it to ‘remember the distance’ a little. There was no expectations, no time goals, no pace pressure, no nerves, no multiple poops (just the standard one), no stress. It was so much fun. I took the time to thank and acknowledge every volunteer and give lots of encouragement to the other runners. I had a great time. It’s something I really need to do more often to remember why I do all this in the first place: Because I Love It!

It was also a good time for me to test out my new love, aka Perpetual. I took my handheld and just sipped on it all the way through the course. I almost took a gel around mile 8, but it was more just to see how the cocktail would mix with a gel. Anybody have any experience with this? Does it cause tummy issues?

I also ran by heart rate (and feel, but mostly heart rate). I kept it in the 150 – 160 (which is Z2 for me – yeah, high. I know.) Anyways, I pushed strong on the hills and then brought my HR back down on the other side. It was actually kind of, like a new game. I also really liked that my garmin screen wasn’t locked on my pace and I could just let it go. I had lots more in the tank after finishing which was part of the goal.

Time - 2:13/10:11 pace (unofficial)/166 ave bpm

It’s all about the bike

This is the first week (of 18) on my 70.3 training plan. Truth be told, I could complete the swim and run portions today without any problems. Obviously I’m not in the optimal shape but I could complete it comfortably without any extra training.

The bike. Not so much. This is a totally new activity in my repertoire. Actually, I’ve been scared shitless about the bike. Until today. Today I had the ride of my life. What an awesome ride on my sweet ass Orbea. Seriously. It could not have been any better. I was so nervous about the first ride out on the streets, but everything was glorious.

I have had major hang-ups about the bike because when I lived on the East Coast where drivers not only don’t appreciate cyclist, but they actually carried a serious HATRED. As in one girl who trained with the tri group I joined actually got a bottle thrown at her by a driver. WTF?! I only rode a few times and every time I literally feared for my life. I dropped cycling like a bad habit and took up mountain biking. Much better.

Now here I am again, committed to complete a Half-Iron only now I have all these metal blocks about how awful road riding is. I'm so glad to report those mental blocks have been significantly reduced. I met up with one of the wives from the convention (from my husbands work) I went to a few weeks ago. She and a few of her girlfriends ride every Wednesday and I knew it was now or never. I was so freaking nervous.

We rode for ~25 miles (I forgot to start my Garmin and missed out on the first few miles). It was HILLY. Actually, I don’t know – Is 1,270 ft of elevation gain hilly? Maybe it’s not. I have nothing to compare it to. I just know my quads were cashed toward the end. I admit I even had to walk it up one hill toward the end, but I don’t feel to bad about it since I was the only one with a compact and seriously ran out of gears. Could. not .push. it. any. more. We took it nice and easy on the flats.

My hope is that over time, I’ll be able to spend more time in each gear. That will happen right? Is that the natural progression of improving on a bike? Now I totally understand the difference between a compact and a triple.

I’m posting my Garmin link for all to see:

Untitled by klbarrett at Garmin Connect – Details

My calories burned is almost equal to elevation gained. I wonder if that’s correct.

Cheers and good luck to all those running Boston!

Catch up

why do I always feel like over the last couple of months all my titles have been related to catching up….

• My in-laws were in town over the last few days. They left yesterday. They are great people and I am very lucky. Why do in-laws always think they know your husband better than you do?!  Yes, I understand you’ve known him his whole life, but I am his wife.
• I had a 10k over the weekend to close out my short-course racing season. It went ok. very windy, but a great FLAT course. I ran it as a tempo run instead of a race. I’m ready to move on to longer distances.
• and tri training!
• Hubby leaves  in a few days.
• BOOOOOOOOO

 

Tara from Colorado Runner is having a giveaway. Ryder eyewear. I want, no NEED to win.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten lots of things I wanted to mention, but that’s always how it goes. I need to keep a pen and paper handy to write this stuff down and not forget it until after I hit the publish button.

Have a great day everyone.

Catch – up w/ short race reports

Where to begin? So far behind on blogging. I think I’m just gonna mark ‘all as read’….I’ve been trying to get caught up for days now and it’s not working. It’s way to hard for me to keep up with following everybody I want to follow so I might need to make some adjustments :(

Couples Retreat

The conference in a word: AWESOME. I met some amazing women! It was so wonderful to be surrounded by other wives who have to deal with the same issues regarding our husbands absence. So redeeming to know that the feelings and frustrations I have are all totally normal. No need to explain anything with them. I imagine this is what support military wives get from their peers. They are very fortunate for that! Some of the women live somewhat close (within an hour or two) so we can actually get together when our husbands are away. We also started a group on facebook…..fun times!

It was non-stop fun. There were things planned for us everyday away from the lodge. We had a party bus. You know with open seating, backlights, and tinted windows (even a mirror on the ceiling – holla). The bar was stocked full of wine which we started drinking every day around noon and by the time we got back, we were pretty much loaded. The guys were in classes until 6 and we would come back and meet them for happy hour (at the lodge). The poor men. Our arrival was the highlight of their day….

 

SERIOULSY GOOD TIMES ON THE PARTY BUS!

We were there for 3 full days:

Day 1 – Nike employee store. Everything was half off. I only spend about 200$ but I got a crap ton of stuff.

that gym bag. LOVE. Sorry if you don’t like pink, but this bag is sweet. My number one item on the list was a new gym bag. Score.

Also scored – three casual tees, 1 pair of running tights, 1 nice tech shirt, sweatshirt…..might be forgetting something?

Day 2 – museum/WINERY. Um, can you imagine how loaded we were after spending all day wine tasting. Yeah. I bought 3 bottles – cab, cab franc, and merlot (all reserves). My mother in law is coming into town this weekend so I’m excited to open one.

Day 3 – spa. I got a deep tissue massage. It was perfect. The girl who administered was a triathlete. Score! So many knots. She worked me over big time. High standards for my next one.

Misc. – I also won a $60 bottle of wine and a $70 bottle in a trivia game and Monte Carlo night respectively. I wonder who I should drink these with?

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I’ve also had 3 races the last 3 weekends and I’m exhausted. One more this weekend and then I can switch gears to half marathon and half iron training.

race #1 March 13 – 5k PR (26:10)

race #2 March 21 – The big Climb (15:38)

The big climb (racing up 69 flights of stairs):

The time wasn’t what I was looking for, but I pushed hard so it is what it is. I didn’t really train for it (besides running) and my legs were feeling it half way up. The real issue was my lungs. This was a major lung burner! Once I got to the top, it took about 15 minutes for my lungs to feel normal again. Crazy! I’ve never experienced that before.

 

 

 

   Team Brady Bunch: Pre climb

Post Climb w/team mascot – Brady :)

race # 3 March 27 -  5k (26:35)

overall – 45

div place – 2/54

sex place – 12

Obviously with that time and those stats this wasn’t a very fast group. I hated the course. How many turns can you get in a 3 mile radius? Apparently, a lot. There were two hills (hills by 5k standard) and part of the course was gravel. WTF?!

 Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Untitled

Can’t win em all I guess. It was a shitty feeling in the last 800 meters when i could feel myself slowing down and not being able to do a damn thing about it. Got chick’d by two girls and had no kick. I can’t say I could have dug any deeper or tried any harder. I left it all out there. I just didn’t have the juice for a PR.

I’m fine with it.

 

 

already tired at the end of warm up – not good. 

start 

just got chick’d. Puke starting to rise.

Sorry about the long post. I tried to entertain you with lots of pictures. LOVE.

Peace Out

I forgot to mention that I’m leaving town this week for a couples retreat. Jk. My husband’s company is having a conference at a very beautiful and kinda expensive place called, Skamania Lodge. Their restaurant is supposed to be top notch. 

Hello Columbia Rive Gorge. Hello Spa. Hello open bar. I’ll try to be a good girl. No promises. Hopefully there’ll be some cool wives since the men will be in conferences all day…..(hubby not as excited about this trip as I am). The best part is we don’t have to fly out like all the other suckas. We get to road trip. Love.

p.s. I’m telling you this because I’m not sure what the blogging availability will be. I’ll have my iPhone, but I’m not sure what the service will be like and some peoples blogs are more difficult to comment on with my phone……I’ll try to read, but might not comment.

Have a GREAT week peeps.

Race Report: St. Patty’s 5k

Pre-race:

The day before the race I pounded water, ate no refined sugars and stretched out a ton.

My coach gave me the game plan: first half a comfortable tempo, the second half concentrate on passing people left and right.

The start wasn’t until 9am and it was only a few minutes away so I had a nice leisurely morning. I was Out of English muffins (which is so unlike me since I’m very anal about my food intake when it comes to my workouts/races) so I substituted a piece of whole grain bread and I didn’t get my panties in a bunch like I normally would have. Surprisingly, I was feeling super cool calm and collected considering how much importance this race was going to be, starting out the race season and all.

I knew the start was going to be an absolute cluster*uck because of the ingress/egress situation so the plan was for my husband to park at the turnaround area (or what I thought was the turnaround) and I would warm up by jogging to the start and then cool down by jogging back to the truck afterwards thus steering clear from the crowds.

I jogged an easy pace to the start, working in some plyos and strides to warm my legs up.

Warm up – 1.99 miles – legs felt solid (notice 2 mile warm up not the 1.5 it should have been if I judged the turnaround correctly. dumbass.)

The Race:

So I totally underestimated the pack. 5k’s are such a mixed bag and I never know where to start. Usually I shoot for the middle-back of the pack, but this time I just jumped in at the back and that was a total mistake. I lit

erally spent the first 800 meters dodging, sprinting around, dodging, jumping curbs, accelerating, slowing down….you get it. So many walkers and slower joggers.

I wanted to go out at 8:45 – 8:50 pace, but after I was able to find a spot in the crowd where I wasn’t vying for position I looked down and saw 8:30. I felt good so I held it there wondering if this was going to bite me in the ass 10 minutes later.

At the turnaround I was disappointed to see that I totally misjudged it and my poor husband was no where in sight because I told him where to be. FAIL. I felt horrible because I knew how horrible he was going to feel. That lasted for about six seconds and then I laid down the hammer. I started passing people left and right. It was awesome. My pace only dropped down to 8:24 but I was running hard. I had my iPod, but I wasn’t even listening to it. I was in a zone. It was awesome.

I had about 1000 meters to go when my legs were trying to crap out on me. I had to do some serious gut checking to keep them moving. About 600 meters from the finish there was an incline that toasted my legs even more, but I was banking on the downhill to charge into the chute. Unfortunately there was a headwind on the downhill so while it wasn’t totally negligible I didn’t get to fully reap the benefits of the up hill. The chute was right there and I really wanted to engage my final kick but I couldn’t do it. Until I was passed by female blur of green. That inspired my kick and I sprinted past her into the chute.

3.12/26:09 /8:23 average pace

Post – race:

I took a 10 minute rest. Chatted, hydrated then started the trot back to the truck. It was a good day!

Total for the day: 6.99 miles

Questions and reflections -

• If I had a kick at the end, does that mean I didn’t run hard enough?
• This gives me major confidence going into my next 5k in two weeks. One, I’ll hopefully have no hills and two, I’m reminded of what my body is capable of.
• Next 5k is going to be Sub 26 FOR SURE! All balls to the wall!
• I should have indulged in an ice bath. My legs are hurting today.

 

LiveJournal Tags: 5k race report,St. Patty's Day 5k

Wills and Won'ts

I will be racing a 5k Saturday.

I will forget about the minor meltdown I had earlier this week and concentrate solely on my running goals Saturday.

I will pound water.

I will fuel myself properly in anticipation of a PR.

I will forget about that shitty windy rainy run I just had.

 

I won’t let negativity ruin this race

I won’t let the last couple of months of training go to waste

I won’t forget that I am capable of reaching these goals:

 

 C Goal – Sub 27:07 / 8:43 pace (current racing PR)

B Goal – Sub 26:24 / 8:30 pace (current PR in training last fall)

A Goal – Sub 26 / 8:20 pace

LiveJournal Tags: 5k goals

HELP

Do you wanna hear something really cool?! My husband has been skating – like really skating. A lot and hard. It’s been so cool to see him do workouts that he actually enjoys and happy to do. He even woke up at 4:30 this morning to go to the rink for skate and puck time. Usually he drags himself out for a run, but he doesn’t really enjoy it (at least not like me).

Yesterday he came home from the rink after skating for like an hour and a half (I’ve seen him skate he’s good. He can really skate hard so I equate this to running for a hour and a half with a solid hour of speedwork). I’ve even been making him take ice baths!

The best part is – he actually is reminded again of how tired the body can get after a couple of solid workouts. He’s a hard worker, don’t get me wrong (in fact that’s one of the many reasons why I fell in love with him), but it’s a different kind of tired when you’ve given all you got in a workout, you know. Now when he’s busy working around the house on his projects or tootling around the garage full of energy, probably wondering why my lazy ass has been laying on the couch for an hour with my feet up indulging in some fist pumping – he gets it.

Sunday we actually spent a few hours RELAXING on the couch and watched 2 movies. We would never do that otherwise.

I’m loving it!

 

Ok, so I need a kick in the ass. Sunday I was supposed to go for a bike ride which would have been only my second outdoor ride on my new bike. Yikes! I’ve been riding on the trainer 2x a week, but I need to get outside. The bike is my biggest limiter (BY FAR) and I’m starting to stress out a little.

Please experienced triathletes – put my mind at ease, or kick my ass. Whichever I need. I’m requesting brutal honesty here. I can handle it.

This is the rub – I’m struggling between what’s healthy base training and what’s too much for RIGHT NOW.

My race isn’t until August 15 – Lake Stevens 70.3

That’s SIX MONTHS away.

I have been swimming 2x/week, riding the trainer 2x/ week and doing some weight circuits 2x/week . (These workouts are all based around my running calendar – see below).

I am worried about burnout. That is a lot of workouts to do all week long. Especially since I’m not officially “training”. And especially since my running load is very intense.

I’m really just stressed about the bike. I could do the swim and the run tomorrow if I had to – but the bike is my limiter.

Where should I be in terms of bike fitness right now?

 

This is my running calendar for March:

It’s all focused around short races (for which I have big goals to be posted about later) and then finishing it off with a 10k the first weekend in April.

Then my focus will shift to half marathons with my “A” half marathon being on June 6 – North Olympic Discovery Half Marathon 

Is it OK to take it easy for the month of march (until my last 10k in April)…….Why does that idea stress me out? 

Still no drinking. Can you tell?

Technorati Tags: bike,meltdown,stress,overworked,Lake Stevens

A day in the life…

I’m testing out Windows Live so you guys get a crap ton of pictures so I can see how it works. Win:Win :)

This is what Will Run for Wine did Friday……

The major objective was to get some new hockey skates for hubby. For this we had to drive North.

 

 Toll Plaza at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. (toll is worth the the price to live in gig harbor. no complaints here!)

On the other side of the bridge. Heading to Seattle (ish).

 

Mandatory coffee stop before Bitchy McBitch comes out.

 

Hockey shop was a bust. No shoes.

But since were here, now we get to go to my stores :)

 

 I’m looking for a design for a new dresser that my hubby is going to build for me. Among other things……

…and also desperately need new bike shorts….

My favorite place in Seattle.

My hubby’s favorite place….

Stop for coconut water. They were out of original so I have to try mango….

 

Got home. Took nap. Go out on date. Dinner at our favorite pizza shop, then bookstore.

The seasonal pie – it’s like a salad on a pizza. SO good. pesto sauce, pancetta, fennel candied walnuts, sun dried tomatoes, red wine vinaigrette, topped with arugula.

The next morning hubby went to a different skate shop and got his skates:

 

 Hockey skates are far more expensive than running shoes!

THE END.

 

Everybody must now go RIGHT NOW and download Windows Live Writer. It will change your life! And you can thank Aron and Niki. THANK YOU ARON & NIKI!!!

LiveJournal Tags: pictures,a day in the life