Getting closer...

I have now been in MA for almost a month (!) and the continued amping up of workouts towards the HIM has forced me to not skip a beat in my training/exercising regimen. I have had to be extremely proactive in finding training buddies and I am really thankful for that. This pressure of "I have to hit every workout or I may not finish this race" has forced me to do just that- hit every workout the best I can.

Here's an update on the workouts. The rest of the previous week involved a treadmill hill workout (yes there are billions of hills here, but no they are not consistent!) and another swim in the "long" pool.

Last weekend was heavy on the workouts. I guess that's part of the big build up. I had a 90 min bike/60 min run on Saturday, and decided that since my boyfriend was in town, I should try to do everything as close to home and efficiently as possible, and didn't go to the group ride I went to the previous weekend. So, I drove around trying to find a safe route from my house, mapped it out, and left as soon as I woke up in the morning. I took the roads directly behind my apartment complex, and they are HILLY. It was quite the start to the ride- no time to warm up before tackling the first uphill! On one of the roads I had planned to be on, I missed a turn off (to stay ON the road, silly massachusetts!) and ended up coasting down a long long hill, holding on for dear life. When I got to the bottom, my first thought was, uh oh, how the heck am I going to get back UP that... Luckily, I had come across a local 6 mile rail trail, so I rode that for the middle section of the ride before bracing myself for the uphill home. I finally decided, of course I can do this, and plugged away in my smallest gear till I made it to the top. Truth be told, it was not as bad as I had anticipated, and I was just so glad to be at the top! When I got back home, I said hi to the boyfriend, then quickly transitioned out for my run. My usual run route takes me up some long hills on the way out. I then get the rewards on the way home of a downhill for the last mile or so. Around minute 45, I hadn't yet gotten to the series of downhills, and I was approaching another uphill. I nearly lost it, and almost started crying. But, I told myself, you need to run for 15 more minutes, you can DO this. So I buckled down, got up the hill, and breezed the rest of the way home (mostly downhill). I was so glad when I got home, considering I had basically done an olympic tri (minus the swim) and felt ready to face the rest of the day.

Sunday I had a 2:30 ride on the schedule but I was meeting a friend from work to do a ride she got from a "massachusetts road bike route" book. The ride was a loop that started and ended in Hopkinton, right across the street from the start of the Boston Marathon. It was 42.5 miles long, which under flat circumstances wouldn't be too much over 2:30 I don't think...however, with the quite hilly terrain, and with stopping to check the map and for lights and all, it was more like 3:15. However, it felt really great to have accomplished that! Here is the elevation profile, because I think it was pretty insane (nothing like the elevation profiles from my Chicago rides!):


After that, Monday was a much needed day off!

Tuesday- Friday were fairly uneventful workouts- 2 trainer rides (to netflix streaming movies/tv) and a treadmill run (it rained all week!) and 2 swims. The most annoying was Friday's swim, however, where I knew it was going to take me longer than an hour, and instead of planning to cut the warm up short, I just got up extra early to get to the gym at 5:30 when the pool opened. However, the lifeguard was late, and didn't show up until 6:10!!! So, I was forced to cut the warm up down in order to make it to work on time. But, I did my best effort on the main section!

This morning I had a transition workout- 6x 10 min bike 5 min run, and I elected to do the biking on the trainer, just because it was easier logistically, and run through my apartment complex parking lot. I'm sure I looked ridiculous emerging from my apartment every 12 minutes or so to go for a short run! At least it wasn't too crowded. It was a lovely day though, so the run outside felt fantastic. This workout was tough though, as my legs are getting more and more tired as the training continues! Tomorrow I have a 2:15 ride and a 1:15 run. Luckily, there's a firefighters memorial bike ride that a coworker told me about nearby in the morning. It has a 16 mile loop which you can do 1, 2, or 3 times. 2 times should fit perfectly into 2:15 (or at least close enough) so I am really looking forward to doing this chunk of the workout with company, and then I'll hit up the run while people go out for a third loop.

Next week is a recovery/race week and I am really feeling like my legs can use it. I am super excited about all of the workouts I've completed over the last couple of weeks, and I can feel myself improving in speed and strength (especially battling all of these hills!) but I am looking forward to a lighter weekend next weekend of just a shorter ride and the half marathon.

I read something posted on facebook, I think, that said, pay day is either today or raceday. This thought has gone through my head a lot during the tougher workouts I had this week. It has been really motivational to keep me going, to keep me honest, and to keep me excited about my training. I am trusting that with all of this hard work I have been putting in, I WILL get through the half ironman and will be so proud of all of the work I have done! 6 more weeks!

Humbled by Hills

Maybe you will all get sick of me talking about hills, but in my just over 2 weeks as a central massachusettian, I am still getting used to them! However, I am starting to embrace the challenge, and will myself up them each time they get in my way. I have reverted back to sheer terror on the steep bike downhills, however. Hopefully I'll figure out how to be less afraid and use the downhills to my advantage!

When I last wrote, I had not yet started work, and had been on a very spotty workout schedule. After that, I picked it back up, and got in a solid workout week! It started Tuesday with a run in the AM. My task was half mile repeats at easy, medium and hard. I stressed out about this a little, because I haven't yet found a track. I decided that my apartment complex parking lot would have to do, and charted out a half mile loop, so that each time the gradient would be the same, and my E,M, H would at least be self consistent. It worked out great, and I felt good kicking off my week pushing myself with this tough workout!

After work, I went on a 20 mile ride with a coworker and her friend. I was super excited for a few reasons: I hadn't felt comfortable going out on local roads with my bike, so I was happy to have buddies, I am of course looking for new friends (both to exercise with and to hang out with) and they promised me ice cream at mile 15. Not a bad deal! I blindly followed on hilly roads I had never seen before through towns I hadn't ever heard of. We passed one grassy field with a heart lawn-mowered out and 2 lawn chairs facing the view (I will maybe take a picture next time if I feel like stopping), and on to the Wachusett (sp?) Reservoir, where I stopped to take a picture for the blog while they questioned "you want a picture of this because..." I felt like it had been too long since I've shared a picture on here!

Wachusett Reservoir

Wednesday and Friday I hit up the warm Y pool, and Thursday I did a trainer ride followed by a 30 min run. Not a bad way to end the first work week.

Saturday I had to do a 2.5 hour bike ride, and was searching for buddies. I definitely did not want to do that on the trainer, plus i knew a trainer ride was coming sunday with Irene. I went to a group ride at a local bike shop. They had the 40 mile fast group and the 30 ish mile slow group. I wanted to do the 40 miles, around the reservoir from my only other outdoor local ride, but I couldn't keep up with all of these rock star mostly men, and elected to catch up with the slower group for the 2nd half of the ride. We passed by this lovely little body of water (complete with painful hill climb afterwards).

Rocky Pond, I think.

after the 2 hours with the group, I had to do another half hour. The weather was starting to get dreary, and I almost quit there, but then remembered that I eventually have to hit that 56 miles, so no reason to slack now. The only crappy part was that the bike shop, and the end of the route, was on a busy route, so I pedaled my way through some parking lots to get to some side streets, and weaved up and down a few cul-de-sacs until my 30 min were up, then returned to the bike shop by walking my bike down the 'wrong' side of the route, and biking through the parking lots. Not the most desirable/fun 30 min, but at least I logged the extra time. I plan on studying the garmin readout so that I can actually do a more significant supplement to next week's ride!

Sunday was Irene. After my 1 hour easy trainer ride, and deciding to postpone my 90 min run for dryer, less windy conditions, I parked myself on the couch for an afternoon of knitting and reading by sunlight. Here is how the kitties enjoyed Irene:

snoozing twin kitties!

I went to bed at 9, when it was dark and my computer battery died, and headed out for my 90 min run bright and early. I did 10 miles in the hills and dodging broken branches in the lovely post hurricane/tropical storm weather.

Running the risk of making this post too long that no one will ever read it, I will add one more workout anecdote from today before drawing it to a close with a promise to write more frequently and less wordily. This week the pool at 'my' Y was closed for maintenance, so I ventured into Worcester and used a pool at a lovely Y on a little lake. The workout included 2 x 600, 2nd faster than the first. I eased into the first 600 at a reasonable pace, looked at my watched, and wondered, did I do an extra lap? It was about 1 minute slower than what I had expected...I vowed to count the next 12 laps more diligently and swam a little faster, knocking 42 s off my time, but still came up with a total time slower than my usual 'easy' pace for such a distance. Confused, I began the 2 x 400, and had similar results. I started to wonder, is this pool 25 m instead of yd? The lifeguard confirmed it was yds, but another swimmer adamently disagreed saying he was certain it was longer. I haven't found anything in writing, but I am 99% sure this pool is long. Good for longer swims, and now, better for my self esteem!

Ok, longest post ever. maybe I should have broken this up into 2...but my first week of work was complemented by getting back into the diligent swing of regular working out and i feel great for it! And now i vow to be better at posting more frequently, adding more pictures, and staying motivated because there are less than 2 months left before Austin!

Running with hills

So, in my new life, there are hills. I went out for a 90 min run Sunday morning after taking Saturday off to spend the day with my mother and sister shopping at ikea, spending tons of money, and assembling furniture. I knew that I didn't have many (any) non-hilly options near home, so I just figured I would take it easy, not worry about my mile splits, and just enjoy the lovely morning (high 60s and slightly overcast= perfect for a run!). I started out on the main road just outside of my apartment complex, and it has a good long mile or so uphill. So, I took it slow, and just kept chugging along, knowing I'd get to do the downhill on the way home! I kept exploring (the nice thing about a new neighborhood is that there is plenty of opportunity for first-time routes!) and willed myself to be strong up every hill. I actually surprised myself in that while the hills were constant and tough, they were manageable. Plus, how strong these unavoidable hills will make me?! Towards the end, I was struggling mentally at each incline, but I powered through, and finished about 9.5 miles. I was really pleased, and just felt great- like I could have kept going if I hadn't felt guilty about leaving mom and sis to start more apartment settling.

Friday I had done a swim at the local Y- the nice man at the desk even let me try the pool out for free since I didn't officially join yet (though I plan to since it's a nearby 25 yd pool). The only bad thing about this pool is that it was WARM. Now, anyone who knows me knows about how I would timidly sit beside the 6 lane pool at the Etown Y, willing myself to get started. And of course, as soon as I did 1 lap, I warmed up. However, this new-to-me pool is a LOT warmer (probably somewhere in between the 4 and 6 lane pools at the Etown Y, and I warmed up really fast...too fast even. However, after not swimming for over a week, it did feel great to get in there, and I figure, in the dead of winter, it's going to be a LOT easier to will myself to get into the pool! Also, this Y has an indoor track. It's really small (17 laps per mile!) but I think it will be a nice alternative to the treadmill.

I started work today. It was the first day so it was mostly safety training. I did, however, find a coworker who goes on bike rides tuesdays after work (with a stop for ice cream in the middle!) so I'm going to tag along with her tomorrow! I am looking forward to it- both to hopefully make a new training friend, and to learn about some safe bike-able roads in the neighborhood! So far, so good, Metro-west Mass!

My new life in Massachusetts

I think everyone who reads this blog knows that I recently accepted a new job and moved halfway across the country to Metro-west Massachusetts. I have been here for about 4 days, and have been extremely busy getting settled into my new home before starting work on Monday. My wonderful boyfriend helped me the first couple of days, I have a few close local friends who are accompanying me doing some furniture shopping, and my mom and sister are coming to town for the weekend. I am so thankful for all of the people in my life who are helping make this transition a lot easier!

Amidst the crazy, I have been trying to maintain as regular of a workout schedule as I can. While still in Chicago, it was easy- attend the regular group workouts. But, after toting my bike and my cats to NY for a weekend, I only managed to squeeze in one run. After moving to MA officially, I jumped back on the workout bandwagon on Tuesday morning. I bought myself a nice fluid bike trainer, and I decided to put it to good use while waiting for comcast to set up my internet (and additionally, it was pouring rain...). I adapted the group workout I was missing, and had my very first trainer bike ride. Not bad, though I am not totally sure how to figure out the proper resistance. I think that will take more practice. The trainer will come in handy much more in the winter, but I wanted to eliminate the possibility of slacking off while trying to find safe nearby roads to bike on. I found a local triathlon group that I plan to join, but I don't really have time to sacrifice to group workouts while I have guests dedicating their time to helping me get settled.

Wednesday morning I went out for a run in the new 'hood. The weather was gorgeous- after raining for 3 days straight, it was cooler and sunny. I again made up my own workout (coach will give me stuff to do but wanted to make sure i wasn't too overwhelmed during the move). I felt like doing longer intervals, so I did 2 x 10 min hard with 5 min easy in between. After warming up, I started my harder effort, and immediately noticed the hilly terrain that will now be my normal running route. The street I was running on had a long hill which encompassed the majority of my first 10 min interval. During my 5 min easy I turned around, and the second 10 minutes were largely downhill, and a lot faster. I have to figure out how to adjust for that...but I know the hills will be good training for me!

Today was the only 'free' day I had in this transition and settling week. I decided to pretend this was the weekend and do a longer workout, since my family will be in town this weekend so I don't want to disappear for 4-5 hours while they are setting up my furniture! In this area, there is a big movement to make paved bike trails where rail routes once were, but a lot of them are still in the works. I found a local rail trail about a half hour away, which was 7-ish miles long. There are plans to extend it further, but at the moment, this phase is complete, and it is nicely newly paved. I ended up going back and forth about 3x, but it was a lovely shady route, passing by a little lake, and lots of greenery. I really had a lovely time biking for about 2:15, and followed it up with a short 30 min run. It felt great to be on my bike outside after over a week, and I had a great solid workout.

Tomorrow I'm going to hit up the local Y and see about getting a swim in before a fun day of ikea/furniture shopping with friends.

I have decided that since my training friends that I am used to working out with several times a week are now so far away, I am going to try hard to be more diligent about blogging. My first fail is that I didn't bring my camera (or take out my iphone) on my bike ride today to get some pictures. This is unfortunate, because the scenery was absolutely beautiful. However, it was a lovely trail, and I am certain I'll be back there for some more workouts!

Naperville Sprint Triathlon 2011

This is quite a bit overdue...but when I last wrote, it was just prior to the first triathlon of the season, which I signed up for a week ahead of time, mostly as a warm up for the olympic coming up this weekend, but also because I knew racing with such a great group of ladies would be a wonderful time!

Last year this was my first triathlon ever, and I flailed in the swim. Totally flailed such that I doggie-paddled the entire race. The venue is a quarry, 1/4 of which is too shallow to swim, and 1/2 of which is 15 ft deep and murky. This year, after what I believe to be improving my swim greatly, I was hoping for a much better time, and a great opening race.

The morning was fairly chilly, and a bunch of us met up in transition, after putting everything in it's place. My transition area was far far from the bike in/out, meaning I had to carry my cleats, or run in them- neither one of which was a desirable option. Before the race, I stood watching all of my friends go before me, and anxiously awaiting getting into the warm water. I chose not to wear my wetsuit for 2 reasons- the water was supposed to be mid-upper 70s, and I didn't bring it. Turns out I maybe could have used it for some comfort.

The coach suggested that I start in the middle of the pack, towards the left side. The reasoning here was that I am definitely not as slow as the slowest people, but I didn't want to get trampled, but I wanted to stay on the outside edge. So, I took her advice, and felt really confident leading up to the start. But, when they announcer yelled GO! the panic set in.

Last year, in the 2 races I did after Naperville, I waited a good 5 seconds before starting- both to catch my breath and to leave some space between me and the masses. This year, I decided I should give it a go battling it out. We had practiced mass starts in the pool, so theoretically, I was ok with this. However, I could not find my rhythm, and I could not catch my breath. I turned over to my back for a little bit, and would try and try again to swim freestyle, failing each time. I breaststroked a bit with my head out of the water, thinking, no this is NOT happening again this year. I have worked so hard and improved so much. I continued to do some combination of flailing, breaststroking and backstroking until I reached the area where I could stand. Ok, I told myself. Get it together. You KNOW you can swim this distance. So, after this regroup and talking to, I went back at it, and lo and behold, swam confidently. I started catching up to people, turned the buoy, and came back again. The last lap followed similarly, until I got to the end, where a mass of people started walking, prohibiting me from swimming to the finish. Done! I was disappointed in the swim start, but I was really proud of how I recovered from it this year, and successfully swam 2/3 of the course, instead of none of it last year. And, I dropped two minutes off my time, coming in around 17:07. One success!

Transition times were a little slower this year than last year. Last year, I was super speedy. I attribute this to being so disgruntled about the swim, and not having bike shoes. This year, I carried my bike shoes to the bike out, awkwardly tried to put them on, and hopped on to go. The bike course is fairly flat, and not too bad. I felt like I was doing great, passing many people, and zooming along. My speedometer had me going up to 20-21 mph at some points, which I thought was exciting! I felt really good during the bike, and had hoped to see a few minute drop in my time from last year, where I was riding on my slower older bike. However, my time was 1 second slower. How's that for consistency! However, I was expecting to do much better, just based on my new bike, using cleats, and having worked really hard throughout the winter. It is possible the course was windier this year. But, excuses aside, I maybe need to figure out how to push myself a little harder during the race. Lesson learned for next time! Final bike time 46:24.

The run started out uneventful, until about 2 minutes in. I was cruising along when I realized something was wrong. I reached up towards my head, and felt my helmet. Uhhhhh, oops? It took me a few seconds to figure out that in my hurry to swap bike shoes to running shoes, I just plum forgot to take it off! I contemplated my options quickly- a) go back and put it in transition (but no way was I sacrificing my precious running time), b) take it off and hold it (but that would get VERY annoying) or c) just wear it, and laugh about how silly I looked later. I went with option c, and have some very funny pictures to prove it. Throughout the run, as has been the case in each triathlon I've done so far, I felt like I was sluggishly moving along, and barely keeping a 10 min mile pace, while just praying I could get to the end. When I got to the mile marker and saw something like 8:20 on my watch, I was super (but pleasantly) surprised, and kept going with some renewed confidence. I pointed out my helmet head to a few people spectating, but was actually surprised at how few weird looks I got. Maybe they waited until I passed by. At least I kept a respectable pace throughout and didn't have to walk. I saw friends near the end, who laughed when I pointed out my silly mistake. I concluded this "safest" run ever at 24:42, which, at a sub 8 minute pace, I thought was fantastic. Maybe my running speed is coming back after all! Total time was 1:35:22- which was slower than my overall time last year, but last year the run was about a half mile short. So, I had an improved swim, a fine bike, and a solid run. Happy with that!

Helmet-head run

All in all, the race was a success. I now know the things I need to work on for the upcoming olympic and other races (including relaxing at the swim start, pushing harder on the bike, speeding through the transitions, and remembering to remove my helmet before the run). Plus, as an added bonus, I had a fantastic time with a great group of women I have had the pleasure of training with for 2 seasons now. :)

All the girls after the race

Finally warm, and the start of my tri season!

Finally, summer has hit Chicago. Well, technically it's still spring, but the weather is WARM! I'm so happy- I could spend all day outside in the sun- and I mostly did that today. Despite the fact that I can barely walk as a result of Thursday's intense circuit training workout (seriously, I can't remember the last time I was this sore...) I woke up and went for a 2 hour ride in the forest preserves, a really beautiful pathway nearby that makes you feel quite removed from city or suburbs, filled with tons of other runners and bikers (and also roller bladers!). I even saw a couple deer- including a baby! I had such a ball - I ran on this trail a lot last year but didn't really bike it- it's amazing how much further you can get on a bike! I love it. I just spent the rest of the afternoon walking around by the lake, taking in the sun and all of the other outdoor-appreciating people. I stopped at the grocery store on my way home, and got back just in time for the thunderstorm. Phew!

Things have been picking up, in general, for me. May was an outstanding month (especially compared to April) rounding out with a wonderful Memorial Day weekend in Boston, visiting some of my favorite friends! The weather started picking up last weekend, and I sincerely hope the warm weather is here to stay, and there will be no finger/toe numbing bike rides in the near future.

Triathlon season is starting! On a sort of whim, I decided to sign up for the Naperville race-the same one that was my first race ever last year. I hadn't signed up originally for several reasons. In January, when I started to formulate my race plan (also pre-achilles tendinitis) I was riding high on the end of the last season, and wanted to hop right into an olympic distance race this year. The Naperville race, while something I will always hold near and dear to my heart as my first ever triathlon left some things to be desired- both personally and race-wise. Personally, I totally flailed in the swim- I panicked, could not relax, and ended up doggy-paddling the majority of it, even though in the pool I had definitely worked my way up to that distance. Race-wise, the bike and run courses were short, which was irritating, particularly because of my horrendous swim. I made up a lot of time on the bike and the run, but I could have done even better if I was able to continue with my stronger disciplines to their proper distances! The swim is also kind of weird- the quarry is half 15ft deep, and a large portion to shallow to swim, meaning that even the pros walk a decent chunk of it (I joked that my time was a lot better than it could have been because I can walk through water just as fast as everyone else! I wonder if my extensive pool running training will give me an edge this year hahaha).

Fast forward to June 2011. It is no secret that I struggled through the winter with my running setback, my frustration with the bike, and my 'bad form' in the swim. While I believe I have improved in each area over the last 6 months, and after Kentucky, I am certain I can handle the bike/run portion of the upcoming hilly olympic race, I started to get terrified of the .9 mile open water swim, having had no current open water experience, and really no long distance swimming (aside from laps, where you can take a breath at the wall). In my swims lately, I have been getting out of breath during the warm up, which makes me super nervous for the actual race, where I don't get the warm up laps to get me going and ease into a comfortable pace. So, talking with coach- we decided that adding the Naperville race into the schedule made a lot of sense: I already know the course, I have a vendetta out against the swim and am determined to do better this year, and it'll be a good warm up race for the longer one at the end of the month. Plus, most of my tri-friends are also participating, and I was planning to go watch anyway. I think that given the setbacks I have experienced, which have certainly eaten into my confidence, I will greatly benefit from doing this race again, hopefully seeing improved times, but in general, proving to myself that I can still do it. So, one week from tomorrow- first race of the season!