Hotlanta

Holy crap it's hot outside. I mean, I'm pretty sure I could bake a cake in our garage right now. At last check, the outside thermometer read 104 in the shade, and 108 in the sun. Despite all the predictions for record highs this weekend, I wasn't too worried about getting my workouts in. I knew today, Saturday was my biking day, and I could just do an indoor trainer ride. I know a lot of biking purists hate the trainer the way I hate treadmills. But in this area, biking can be tricky. I basically have to either stick to neighborhoods, or drive somewhere to ride. So I make good use of the trainer. And Spinervals DVDs. Those are lifesavers for trainer rides.

Of course, it turns out today was actually supposed to be a brick workout. And it might have been cool enough to run if I'd gotten up early enough. Which I was planning to do next weekend, which was when I thought the brick was. Oh well. Going to ride later this evening, and hope I can get a 15 min run in without melting. In the meantime, I'm going to bake cookies. Because that's what normal people do when it's 108 outside right? Turn on the oven.

Do-Over

Last week was a do-over. Seriously. I didn't work out at all. I ate a lot of good (bad) food. I could list all the reasons (excuses) for last weeks lack of everything. Or, I could just call it a do-over, and start again this week. It's Monday, it's a new week, I'm rebooting, and starting over, with a vengeance.

Happy National Running Day!

I run because...I like to eat
I run because...it's cheaper than therapy
I run because...cross country was the only sport in high school that didn't require a tryout
I run because...I want to look good in a bathing suit
I run because...it makes me feel strong
I run because...it's my "me" time
I run because...I like to push myself
I run because...I like to be outside

I run because I need to.

Whatever compels you to run, get out there today and have a great run!

Still baking

Seriously. Can't stop. I will say, that while my baking obsession has previously tended to cupcakes, and sweets, recently I've taken to things like baking my own bread. I can tell myself it's healthy. I'm currently making a 33% whole wheat and 50% white whole wheat sandwich loaves. And since I'm making them at home, I know exactly what's going in them- flour, some kind of fat(butter, olive oil- not at the same time), honey, yeast, salt, water. That's it. No weird preservative, nothing I can't pronounce. I know it's cheaper. One bag of flour- the ingredient that's by far the largest proportion (and I buy the good kind- I'm partial to King Arthur) is the same price as one loaf of decent sandwich bread. And one bag of flour makes at least 4 loaves. Even I can do that math.

I haven't completely stopped baking sweets though. I'm just trying to reserve them for special occasions. I.e.- someone else will eat the majority of them. Last weekend I made some amazing fresh peach cupcakes with a brown sugar cream cheese frosting for a friend's going away party (she's leaving Atlanta for the west coast- I felt these cupcakes were appropriately Georgian). Next up- car bomb cupcakes. Oh yah. You read that right.

On the exercise/workout note- Monday is the start of my triathlon training plan. Absolutely must get back into shape for the summer tri's I already signed up for. Expect more working out, less baking in the future.

My bread recipes have come from smittenkitchen.com and remedialeating.com
Cupcakes are from smittenkitchen.com

Oh, and they're awesome. Anyone can make these breads. It's really not scary or hard at all.

Must. Stop. Baking.

I've been reading triathlon, exercise related blogs for awhile now. They've inspired me, and given me great workouts, and in general, fired up my inner athlete. But recently, I discovered baking/cooking blogs. And we just bought a house. So the combination of first house/amazing recipes has created a major nesting instinct that now has an outlet. This weekend it's pies for Easter (oh, and a chocolate red wine cake, which is possibly the greatest thing ever). At least my family will eat a major portion of the results. Also, have been making homemade burger buns for various spring time cookouts we have cooking out. I have an amazing cinnamon-sugar pull-apart bread bookmarked for the first morning Adam and I have together when he gets back from Cali. Just so others can enjoy the ridiculously awesome recipes:

www.smittenkitchen.com (pies, chocolate red-wine cake, burger buns)
www.joythebaker.com (cinnaman-sugar pull apart bread)


Also,
www.joepastry.com
www.loveandoliveoil.com

What Can Be Learned From a PW (Personal Worst)

So yesterday was the Publix Georgia Half Marathon. I started training for it in January. My last few races haven't exactly been the best efforts. So I was determined to train hard for this one. For several weeks, I stuck to my training plan. And I started seeing some progress. Then, about halfway through February, I stopped training. Not just a few missed runs either. It was a complete grinding halt on training. No I wasn't injured. Just busy. Ridiculously, insanely busy. Yes, if I'm completely honest with myself, not so busy that I couldn't have snuck in a few runs. It started with 5 days in Mexico. We'd planned a trip for a friend's wedding, and I knew this would throw a wrench into my training plan. But it was just 5 days, and I figured it wouldn't be a huge derailment.

But then, we got off the plane on the way home and turned our phones back on to find out my boyfriend's grandma had passed away. So we had to turn around and drive to Illinois for the funeral. So now, we're talking Midwesterners in mourning. Midwesterners (my family is from Michigan so I'm familiar) like to cook meat and potatoes. And they like to turn to food for comfort. So Midwestern comfort food is even more meat and potatoes. So add in another 5 days of eating a ridiculous amount of carbs, and not running.

So now, I get back to work 2 weeks in the hole (yes, if you're counting, there are some extra days in there where I totally could've run. Possibly, I'd gotten a little lazy by this time). So now, I'm working 12-15 hour days for two weeks.

All this leads into a half marathon that I'm woefully under trained for. My training didn't so much taper, as take a nose dive off a cliff. Shockingly, I didn't perform so well. So, what can you learn from your personal worst time?

1. Training is actually important. Yes, that's obvious. Or it should be. Sometimes though, it's easy to fall into a trap of believing that you're fit, and in shape, and can do it anyway (or at least, I do). "So what if I haven't trained, I do this all the time." Not true. It's important to remember that the it's the training, not the racing that keeps you fit and in shape.

2. It's possible to still have fun, and not PR. It's so easy to forget the whole point is to have fun. Yes, sometimes its accomplishing a PR that is the fun. But sometimes, just running with a friend and finishing the race is fun. I ran the whole way (almost, he pulled ahead in the last mile) with a friend, and instead of pushing ourselves, we paced ourselves, talked, laughed, and generally had fun. And I've never felt soooo good to finish a race.

3. It hurts. I've also never been so sore after a race.

So in summary, it's probably better to train properly, even if you're not aiming for a PR. I'm also not saying you shouldn't train at all then attempt a half marathon. Keep in mind, I'd been running for a long time, and holding fast to training plan up until a few weeks before. If I'd thought I couldn't safely complete the race, I wouldn't have run. However, you can run a PW and still have fun and a sense of accomplishment.

One of those weeks

So I've been having one of THOSE weeks. Nothing in particular went wrong. A slight disagreement with something I ate caused me to miss my long run scheduled on Sunday. It wasn't gross, bad sick, just blah.

Ordinarily, I would make up, at least some miles on Monday, my scheduled rest day. But I had to drive to Alabama for work. Didn't get home until after 8 pm due to an interstate closing wreck. Tuesday night was a professional society meeting of which I am Vice President. I really couldn't in good conscience skip the first meeting of the year. 

So finally, last night, I had time to work out. Of course it's raining, so running is out. But I did manage 30 minutes of biking on the trainer. It's something. Tonight is my boyfriend's dad's birthday, which means I can't make it to swimming, but can at least run I'll probably have to cut the run short. But it's something. And at least it's a pretty day. 

The take-away from this week, is that it's still early in my training plan. Missing a couple runs, even long runs won't make or break my race. The trick is to make sure that I get back on track, and don't let one bad week completely derail the following weeks. 

On a side note, I found a great use for that one banana that you never quite get to eat and has turned black (it doesn't matter if I buy three bananas, or five- somehow, there's always just one leftover. Not quite enough for banana bread). 

Banana Corn Muffins (from Cookinglight.com)

Ingredients

• one very ripe banana
• one 8 oz. box of corn muffin mix
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat over to 350. Mash banana. Mix all three ingredients. Spoon batter into muffin pan, lined with paper cups (I actually just sprayed the pan with PAM since I didn't have paper cups- it worked fine). Bake for 20-22 minutes. I would think you could probably use a bread pan too, and it would work fine. Might have to play with baking times a little though. 

Turned out really well. So well that I ate almost all of them. Not my best moment of moderation. 

Cupid's Undie Run

Thought for the day

Over the last year or so that I've been training, in the back of my mind, I've always been waiting for that moment, when suddenly, it's easy. That ride where hills feel easy. Or that run that doesn't feel like a struggle. But recently, something occurred to me: it never gets easier, you just go faster.

That's not quite as depressing as it sounds at first. At one point, running a mile without stopping to walk seemed almost impossible. Now I do that without hardly thinking about it. I could barely swim one length of the pool two years ago. Last night I knocked out 2250 yards in an hour. But it wasn't easy. The whole point of training is to push yourself. And racing even more so. When I run a race, I want to feel like I left everything out there. That I gave everything I had. And so, it's never easy. To use an incredibly cliched line, "if it were easy, everyone would do it." If it were easy, it wouldn't feel like an accomplishment. If biking up the hill were easy, flying down the other side wouldn't be so much fun.

So, it never gets easy. That doesn't mean you don't get better. In fact, if you want to get better, then you should make damn sure it never gets easy.

Checking in

Well, my last post outlined some goals for the off season. Frankly, other than the "eat a lot of turkey and pie" goal, I haven't done much to work towards the others. However, I've decided this year to extend my "off-season" a little longer than usual. True, I'm training for a half marathon right now, but I'm considering that my off-season from triathlons. So I found a training plan that includes a fair bit of speedwork. I'm hoping for a 13.1 PR, and to generally improve my running speed.

As far as the strength training goal, I've done zero. As in, none. Not even a token attempt. More on that later.

I've realized that in my last few races last year, I was really just phoning in my efforts at training. That is, training just enough to be able to comfortably finish the race. Which was fine and good for Beach 2 Battleship. That was my first attempt at that distance. I didn't know what to expect. But my half marathons were suffering. I got slower. I realized it's because I haven't been consistent with my training, or putting in the required effort. This year, I've decided to attempt my first full marathon, and concentrate on running. Of course, I will still bike and swim, they just won't be my main focus. I've signed up for a couple tri's this year, but I'm just sticking to Oly and sprint distance. Next year will be for tris.

But this year is for running. I want to get enough faster that if I do attempt a full marathon, I won't be running for 5 hours. To that end, I'm working hard at staying consistent with my training, and sticking to the plan as much as life allows me too.

Shivering in Skivvies

So I decided that I needed something new to do. On my dailymile.com page, the profile page has a little section for goals. My goals for this year included:

-Run another half marathon in the same time or less (accomplished in March- I ran the Georgia half marathon 20 seconds faster than my last one- hey it totally counts!)
-a few sprints (Finished West Point Lake Sprint in June, PT Solutions Acworth in August)
-at least 2 olys (St Anthony's in May and Tugaloo in September)
-Beach2Battleship half iron (FINISHED!!!)

I also ran another half marathon, a 10k or two, and the Warrior Dash. Plus, I'm running the Thanksgiving Day half again this year next week. So, it's not even Thanksgiving yet, and I've accomplished my goals for this year. I'm pretty pysched about that. So I'm setting some goals for the offseason. They include:

-spend some time in the weight room. Like, actually be consistent with weight training. Not just lift weights once a month and count it.
-work on running speed. Like, actually do some speed workouts. Not just throw a fartlek or pickup or two into my normal runs, and wonder why I'm not getting faster.
-Eat some turkey and pie
-Sign up for a few fun races to keep me active enough that the above goal won't be too detrimental.

To that end, some friends and I have created a team to particpate in the Cupid Undie Run on February 11th. That's right. In February (perhaps one of the coldest months in Atlanta) some friends and I will be stripping down to our skivvies and running 1.5 miles. All for a good cause. The race raises funds for the Childrens Tumor Foundation, which funds research for Neurofibromatosis. There is more information on my fundraising webpage: http://hope.cupidsundierun.com/cur/participantpage.asp?fundid=2835&uid=6512 where you can also donate if you care too. Even a small donation will make a difference.

Done and Done!

I am writing this on the OTHER side of the finish line of a 70.3 mile race. I can't even begin to tell you how good that feels. Saturday was the Beach 2 Battleship half iron distance race (there was also an iron distance event for the truly crazy people). I completed it in 7 hours 44 minutes and 44 seconds. Not a groundbreaking time by any means, but certainly within the realms of respectibility and as my only goal was the finish, I'm perfectly fine with it. In fact, I'm pretty esctatic. I keep having to tell myself over and over that I did it. I actually did it. I felt pretty good afterwards too. I mean, obviously, I was tired. A little stiff and sore. But I felt pretty good. I was able to sit and relax and watch football with my boyfriend, who gave up watching the first half of the UGA-Florida game (well, he was streaming it on his phone) to be at my race for my finish- if that's not love, I don't know what is. Anyway, what follows is my official race report of my first half iron distance race.

Pre-start: All the half distance athletes gathered at the half start for the usual pre-race activities (National Anthem, etc.). It was very cold and windy, with a gray, overcast sky. We were all shivering in our wetsuits, dreading getting in the water. However, the announcer kept assuring us the water was warmer than the air (he was right, but it was still tough getting in). I was fortunate enough to meet a fellow Trifueler, Amphibious Triton (I feel bad that I didn't catch his real name) before the start.

Swim: The swim was a picnic. Especially compared to my last Oly swim, where I had a tough time. The swim took place in a channel, with an incoming tide, so the current was crazy fast. The buoys had drifted some by the time my wave went, so we went off course a bit. Not too bad though, and my time was still pretty fast (for me). My goal for the swim was to stay relaxed and calm, after my last Oly swim. I had no problems accomplishing that, and beat my expected time by about 15 minutes (all the current :) ). It was cold getting out, but they had hot showers set up on the run to Transition which was super awesome. Swim: 35:52

T1: It was a long run to T1, although that doesn't really explain my extraordinarily long T1 time. Mostly, it was long because I made the decision to change into bike shorts, and a dry top. Which I'm extrememly glad I did. T1: 15:48

Bike: This was the toughest leg for me. The bike is my weakest part to begin with, and this was a tough bike, and I hadn't trained the way I should have going into it. Terrain wasn't the difficult part, it was pretty much flat. A few bridges consisted of the only up/downhill sections. However, it was windy. Very, very windy. It was also cold, and wet for the first 2/3 of the bike. My mental state for that first 2/3 was bad. I was so miserable. However, there are two bright points I took from the bike. One, no matter how dark my outlook was, I never once wanted to actually quit. I questioned my sanity more than once, but I think that's a part of the sport. The other thing, is that I figured out the best way to know when to eat/drink while on the bike. This may be obvious for some, but it was definitely an "AHA!" moment for me. Basically, whenever I started feeling like I couldn't do it, and that I was the most miserable person ever, meant that my blood sugar was dropping and it was time to eat. As soon as I took a gel, or a Honey Stinger Waffle (best thing ever if you've never tried them), I felt better. I might've still been cold and questioning my sanity, but I didn't hate life anymore.

Then, after all that, around mile 37, the sun came out, and the course took a turn so that FINALLY, the wind was at my back. Suddenly, I was hitting 19, 20 mph without any effort, my fingers were warming up slightly, and I was heading back toward T2. The next 19 miles flew by. Before I knew it, I could see the Battleship. At that point, my only thought became, "How the hell do I stop my bike, unclip and get off without falling?" I was seriously concerned. I was so frozen and stiff, I wasn't sure if I could do. I did manage to not fall, though I probably looked a little shaky. Bike: 3:58:21

T2: The wonderful volunteers took my bike and racked it for me, and handed me my T2 bag. My friend Becky, was doing the run leg of the race as part of a relay (my parents were legs 1 and 2- so proud of them too!). Becky kindly sacrificed not only her time, but the whole team's time to wait for me to come in, since the relay teams had started in a much earlier wave. Their T2 time was over an hour, not out of nessecity, but because Becky was determined to wait for me. T2: 4:20

Run: Becky stuck with me during the whole run, walking when I needed a break, encouraging me when I needed it, and basically keeping me moving forward. I'm pretty sure I could have finished without Becky, but I know for sure that I would have been much slower, and miserable. I actually felt pretty good for the majority of the run. Having someone to run with certainly helped the time go by. The aid stations were every mile, which really helped break up the race too. Running through downtown Wilmington by the river was a blast, tons of people cheering us on. The volunteers were great throughout the run. The best part was seeing my parents and boyfriend, and another friend three times during the run. Once at T2, once through downtown, and then again through downtown on the way back in. Well, ok, maybe the best part was actually crossing the finish line. I thought I was going to cry, I was so happy to have finished. I didn't, mostly just because I felt dazed. Run: 2:50:25

Before the race, I really didn't want to set any time goals for myself. Due to work, and other life events, the month of October was really bad training wise. I basically ran a half marathon on Oct. 2, and then ran once two weeks later. I was traveling, doing field work, helping my boyfriend with the house he just bought. Because of all that, my only goal was to finish. To do that, my individual goals were to stay relaxed on the swim, take in proper hydration and nutrition on the bike, and just survive the run. However, I did have some super secret time goals that I barely even admitted to myself. I wanted to be at or under 4 hours for the bike, and under 3 hours for the run. Which I actually did. So, I'm pretty happy. Another 70.3 is definitely in my future, although, because of the time commitment for training, I think I'm going to limit the long course races to every other year, and then pick a cool location for a vacation. B2B was a great race, I recommend it to anyone. The logistics are complicated, but the race is well run and everything went smoothly. It's a cool town, and we got free tickets to tour the battleship North Carolina, which was a lot of fun. I'd do it again, but I kind of want to find a different vacation locale for next time. But who knows? We'll see.

Oly No. 2

So, last weekend I did my second Olympic distance race this year. (Refresher: Oly No. 1 was St. Anthony's). It did not go as well as I'd hoped.

For some perspective: St. A's was flat flat flat. The Tugaloo Triathlon was in North Georgia. Not quite in the mountains, but close enough. I have been preparing for Beach 2 Battleship, which is described as "pancake flat." So I haven't been training hills. Also, the St. A's swim was shortened by 500 meters due to conditions. So, before even racing Tugaloo, I knew I couldn't objectively compare the two races. Still, with my increased training for B2B, I hoped for similar results.

Let me also add that the week before the race, I had an extreme forced taper due to field work. So, with my excuses properly logged, here is my race report.

Swim: With a water temp of 75* the swim was wetsuit legal. However, I decided not to wear mine so as to not have to mess with taking it off. Bad decision. The couple minutes in transition would have been more than offset by having a better swim. The water temp actually felt great, but for some reason, I just could not relax or get into a rythym. Kept feeling like I was hyperventilating. I don't think it was due to the water temp, but can't rule it out. I think I just couldn't relax. I did love the time trial start though. 42:51 (St. A's- 22:53 - again, 500 meters shorter, but still, much faster pace)

T1: Longish run to transition but not too bad. Took a minute to catch my breath from the swim though, so a little longer than I would have liked, but overall, shorter than I thought. 2:46

Bike: Here, I actually felt good. As I said earlier, I haven't been training hills, and this was a very hilly course. So I sat back and took the hills easy. The first 15 miles flew by, and the next ten weren't bad. However, it's here that I believe I made my main error. I had one bottle of water, one bottle of Nuun, and one gel. In hindsight, I needed quite a few more calories. 1:41:55 (St. A's- 1:31:51)

T2: Nothing major to report- except that another error was made here- I'd brought my compression calf sleeves as they help big time on the run with the shin splints I sometimes get running off the bike. However, I decided not to waste the time putting them on, as I've been doing bricks recently, and felt fine. Bad idea. 2:26

Run: Felt great off the bike initially. Settled in at a moderate pace. Just took water at the first aid station right outside of transition, and at the second one, around mile 1. They were serving gatoraide, which is too sweet for me, and leaves bad taste in my mouth. Just after mile one, my left calf and shin decided to imitate a rock. Granite. Maybe gneiss. A very hard rock at any rate. Slowed to a walk to try to walk it out, could barely even hobble. It hurt so badly I started crying, sat down on the side of the road, and contemplated dropping out. Spent a couple minutes trying to massage my leg. It loosened up a smidge, and I walked/hobbled to the aid station at mile 2. It didn't get better, but it didn't get worse either. I took some gatoraide and some water, and told myself I'd get to mile 3 and decide. Around mile 3, things started to finally loosen up a little. Still painful, but I decided I could tought it out. Even if I had to walk/hobble the whole way, I would finish. Some more gatoraide and water at the next aid station, and I was finally able to run. I ran the last 2 miles at a relatively decent pace. All the out and backs on the course had me convinced I was dead last though ( I wasn't, although close to). 1:17:xx (St. A's 1:08:xx)
Overall: 3:47:33 (St. A's 3:14:xx). I wanted to come in under 3:30. Considering my issues on the swim and run, I was pretty ok with this time. I was dead last in my age group, and close to the bottom overall. But I feel good for gutting out the finish, and am chalking up this race as a lesson learned in the nutrition department. I think my issues on the run are almost solely due to not taking in enough nutrition earlier on. Will spend the next month dialing in a nutrition plan for B2B to avoid similar problems.

50 Days

That's right. Less than 2 months to Beach 2 Battleship half iron distance race. To stay I am beginning to get nervous would be a massive understatement. I've been working hard, and have put in a lot of miles. Hasn't stopped me from wondering what in the hell I signed myself up for.

This week has just been one of those weeks. From a outside viewpoint, it should have been a great week. Monday was Labor Day, so no work, I ran a 10k and felt strong the whole race, my boyfriend came home from three weeks working in Germany, and his offer on a house was accepted, and he asked me to move in with him when my lease is up.

From my viewpoint this week went like this: I didn't get the PR in the 10k that I wanted, my boyfriend is buying a house, and wants me to live with him, and while I love him, and definitely want to, I'm having anxiety attacks because it's such a huge step in our relationship and frankly this officially means we're grownups. Doesn't help that my birthday is next week. 

It's time to take a step back, take a deep breath, and try to look at the week from the outside perspective. Things are not really so bad. My training is going well overall, and 50 days is still a lot of time.

One Year

Yesterday I raced in the 8th Annual PT Solutions Women's Sprint Tri. This race marks one full year that I've been doing tris. Last year, this race was my first ever triathlon. It was really interesting coming back with some more experience under my belt.

There were several girls on my rack who were doing their first race ever. I tried to give them advice as best I could (it wasn't my first race ever, but I'm not exactly a seasoned pro!). I remember how nice everyone seemed and how intimidated I was, and so I tried to pay forward all the advice and reassurance I got from folks last year. I also ran into some friends from TnT- it was great to see them!

Swim: It's a short swim, and my time was pretty similar to last year, but I was amazed at how much more comfortable I felt in the water, and swimming in a pack. 2011- 10:09/2010- 10:42

T1: Nothing major to report. 2011- 1:39/2010- 2:11

Bike: Here is where most of my improvements were made. Some of the improvment was due to having a better bike. Last year I was doing it on my mountain bike. This year, I had a better road bike. But I've also been putting a lot of time in on the trainer, and working on my biking. So it's really nice to see some concrete evidence that it's been worth it. The bike itself was relatively smooth. There were a couple spots where folks got super bunched up. At one point there is a steep hill, where the road is not closed to traffic. A few people were having to stop and get off and walk their bikes up. That plus cars trying to pass made for a huge log jam. I nearly had to get off myself for the sole reason that I couldn't get around the slower folks. A little frustrating. I was able to get through however, and passed folks. It felt really great to pass tons of people and only have a few pass me. 2011- 46:58/2010- 1:03:19

T2: Nothing much to report here either. Had a long run back to my rack in bike shoes. 2011- 1:36/2010- 1:14

Run: It wasn't very hot, but man was it humid. Even on the bike, I didn't dry off at all. And sweat was just dripping, and not evaporating. I felt like I was overheating big time, even though the temperature wasnt' that hot. I did improve on last year's time, but last year's time was awful. And I've had much better tri 5k's recently. I felt like I could've done a little better on the run, but with the conditions, I'm not too upset about it. 2011- 35:47/2010- 38:10

Overall: 2011- 1:36:07/2010- 1:55:34. An improvement of nearly 20 minutes. I'm still not quite where I'd like to be, but I can see the improvement coming, so that's what counts.

A Pet Peeve of Mine

Lately something that gets said to me a lot, when I talk about my training, has started to bother me. It seems to happen most at work, but I've gotten it elsewhere. It's really just a minor thing, but it's really starting to get under my skin. Here's a sample conversation:

Random Colleague: What did you do this weekend
Me: I raced in a sprint triathlon on Sunday (or hell, a 5K)
RC: Oh how nice to be young.

I get that I'm young. I get that maintaining exercise fitness gets harder as you get older. But something about that particular statement, makes it seem like they're simutaneously making excuses for themselves, while not acknowledging the fact that I work really hard.

I get up at 5:30 am to fit runs in. I pack my lunch and drive to the gym on my lunch break to get swims in. I sacrifice Sundays with my boyfriend to go on long bike rides (I'm still working on getting him biking with me). I work really hard to find the time to fit in my workouts. And I work really hard to maintain my fitness. When people say something along those lines, sometimes it sounds like, "Oh, you're young, it's not that hard of work."

I do realize that that is probably not what their intended meaning is. Although sometimes, if I'm feeling particularly fiesty, I'll just reply with something like, "Well, my Mom did X triathlon with me."

The Beauty of (Not) Training

This weekend my boyfriend and I took a much needed mini-vacation down to the coast. We've both been traveling a lot this year, with more coming up, and between the stress of spending that much time apart, and the hectic-ness of trying to catch up while we're in town, we both needed this sooo bad. I just wish it could have been a few days longer. So we took off for the weekend, down to the beach. We got a nice deal on a beachfront hotel. Friday was mostly spent driving down, but we went to the beach for a half hour swim or so, then went to dinner and feasted on fresh seafood.

Saturday, we rented bikes from the hotel after breakfast, and rode all over the island. It was so refreshing to just bike for recreation. Don't get me wrong, I like training. I take it seriously. But it's really nice to remember that this is something that is just FUN too. To just mosey around on a fixed gear beach cruiser, and stop and take in the sights. To not worry about cadence, and nutrition (we did bring along water since it was so hot- would have been miserable otherwise), and pace, and distance, etc.

All in all, it was a nice relaxing vacation. Which is the whole point right? We stayed active enough that I didn't come back feeling like a slug, but it was a nice break from the grind of training (not to mention work and stuff).

Home Sweet Home

Got back home this last weekend. It is sooooo nice to be home. Being away for so long made me realize just how much I appreciate being at home. This is something I've always known about myself. I don't really like being away from home. I love to travel, and vacations are fun, but I'm always ready to go home. And extended travel for work? Definitely ready to come home by the end.

It also reminded me how much I HATE running on treadmills. The area my hotel was in was not exactly "jogger-friendly." It wasn't a bad area, just on a main highway, with no sidewalks. I managed to run a few times during the week- most weeks anyway, and at least once on the weekends. My job in the field consisted of standing around (it's more technical than that, but physically speaking, I was standing around all day). It's amazing how much just standing all day wears you out though. So, I'm pretty impressed with myself that I managed to get any runs in at all.

Since I've been back, I've biked (on my trainer, since it's a billion degrees out, and I'm not at all aclimatized to GA summer after being away), and swam. It felt so great to do something besides running. I really didn't want to get out of the pool today. I can't wait to take my bike off the trainer and actually ride this weekend either. Seriously. So excited.

I have a sprint in a couple weeks, and it's an exciting race for me, because one year ago, it was my first triathlon ever. I'm interested to see how different it feels to do the race with some experience under my belt, and how much difference that, and better training will make in my time. Then, after the race, I start serious training for Beach to Battleship in October. So all in all, it's going to be an interesting late summer and fall. Can't wait!

Panic Mode

So, around Christmas time, I signed up for Beach to Battleship half iron distance. All my plans this year have been around that race, which is October 29th. It's my "A" race. I put together a nice little schedule of sprints, an Oly (still trying to find another Oly around September. There are a couple, haven't settled on one- I'm taking suggestions). All year, I've been planning on using the earlier, shorter races as a means of maintaining some base fitness, with thoughts of beginning serious half iron training at the beginning of August. Sounds like a good plan, right? I thought so too.

Well, I'm leaving on Sunday for some work in Pennsylvania for 4 weeks. We're talking, 10 hour days out in the middle of nowhere PA. Mostly just standing around, so it will be just enough to wear me out, without doing any good whatsoever towards training. There is a fitness center in the hotel I'm staying at, so hopefully I can at least run a little on the weekends.

So at this point, all is still fine. I expect to be back home, working a normal schedule mid July. That's plenty of time to work back up to some base fitness (maybe not where I was starting from, but still something) in order to start serious training in August.

Now, to panic mode. Yesterday, my boss asked me if I would be interested in going to Canada for at least 3 weeks almost as soon as I get back. Well, gulp. Sure. How can I say no? It's been made pretty plain to me that I need to accept these opportunities if I want to advance in my company and my career. Gaaaaah. Adam's been working in Cali since the beginning of March. He comes home while I'm gone in PA. I was really looking forward to spending some time living in the same city as him. Plus, there's the aforementioned, training issue. And in Canada, I'd be staying in a camp, so not even a crappy hotel fitness center.

So, right now, I just have to square everything away to leave on Sunday for PA, and hope things will work out in the meantime.

Warrior Dash

If anyone has not heard of the Warrior Dash check this out. My friends and I did this race last weekend and had an absolute blast. We rented a cabin nearby, and made a weekend out of it. For most of us, the race itself was pure fun, no worry about time (I can't tell you how enjoyable it was to run a race not worrying about a PR- and technically, that is the fastest I've ever run 3 miles while climbing over, under, and through obstacles, so I guess it was a PR!). The exception to this, was our friend Danny. He ran the entire course in 17:17- the guy's a stud! It was also good enough for overall male winner (on Saturday). Anyway, beer drinking, mud-rolling, kinda race. Too much fun.
Before the Dash

 After the Dash

St. A's Update

Soooo, St. Anthony's was a couple weeks ago. Realized I haven't posted an update. The race went really well, and the weekend was a blast. I rarely go down to Florida and don't have most of my time sucked up by family (I'm not saying I don't love seeing everyone, just that it was nice to have my own agenda). I had a goal of finishing under 3 hours 30 minutes. It was a slightly arbitrary goal, as I really had no idea what to expect, never having raced this distance before.

The weather was beautiful, although the wind kept picking up at night, so the bay was super choppy in the morning. Everyone was a little concerned about the swim conditions. Well, race morning, they announced that the swim would be moved to a calmer location and slightly shorter (1000 meters instead of 1500). That part was great, what sucked was the 1/2 mile run back to transition. That's why, you'll see shortly, my T1 time is so ridiculously long (not that I'm making excuses or anything ;)). Swim time: 22:53

T1: 8:14 (again, factor a crazy long run)

The bike was very windy, but otherwise, really nice. Lot of fun to ride through all the different neighborhoods of St. Pete. Bike time: 1:31:51
I would like to point out that my average mph for this bike was almost 2 mph faster than my average for my last sprint tri (similar conditions, too) which was almost half the distance. I'm still slow on the bike, but it's nice to see some progress.

T2: 3:11

Run: It was hot by the run, but a good portion was shaded, and there was really great support from the neighborhoods, and well volunteered aid stations. Run time: 1:08:36
Not my best 10k time, but not my worst either, and the first time I've done one after swimming and biking. Also, my second 5k split was faster than my first, which was my goal.

Overall time: 3:14:45
A good 15 minutes under my goal! I have some things in mind to work on now, and felt really great after finishing. St. A's was a well run race, lots of great volunteers, and overall enjoyable. St. Pete is a hard to be location, IMO anyway.