August Tally

By the Numbers

• 83.2 miles by feet (37.0 running, 45.2 walking)
• 100.4 miles by seat
• 1200 meters in the pool
• 12 hill training days
• 8 vacation days (Maui, baby!!)
• 4 planned rest days
• 1 unplanned rest day
• 2 races (5K, sprint tri)
• 1 child now a Senior in HS
• 1 child off to CA for Sophomore year in college
• 1 friend newly hooked on triathlon

Thoughts

• Happy with my bike training, especially given the week long vacation at the start of the month
• Happy with my performance at the sprint tri
• No good excuse for such little time in the pool other than it doesn't interest me that much
• I really need to be more consistent with my running

Plans

• Keep training hills!!
• Try to get in more running/swimming volume
• Another Sprint Tri

Live.Love.Tri Race Report

Pre Race

I went to packet pickup the day before the race and was assigned my race number, 27. The lady who handed it to me said "first wave." First wave? The pre-race packet said it was a mass start?!?! I immediately began to freak out. The only redeeming quality about a reverse triathlon, in my mind, is that it allows as many of the fast people to get out of my way as possible. Now I find out I'm in the first wave, which means said fast people will be chasing me down and passing me along the way. Why is this a problem? Because it means the pool is going to be even more clogged up than I thought. Great. Just Great.

My friend texted me when she got her number. She was in the first wave too. That was good, we could start together and would have some company out on the course.

Got all my stuff organized and packed up the car. Put a bottle of accelerade in the freezer. Tried to get a good night's rest.

Side note: I've had several pairs of tri shorts over the years, but I like to swim in them and chlorine isn't kind to them. Before the race, I was down to one pair, my least favorite and most uncomfortable. The night before the race, I realized that I should have bought another pair. Oh well.

Race Morning

The race was sold out with over 300 participants and the only available parking was going to be on the street. I didnt' want to end up parking far away, so I planned to arrive right when transition opened, at 5:45. Got a nice parking spot.

The pre-race packet said it was going to be first come first serve with regard to transition spots, but when I arrived, I found that transition spots were assigned based on number. My location was near the run-in, but near the middle of the rack.

When my friend arrived, I showed her how to rack her bike, and we went to get body marked and pick up our chips. Then we attended the pre-race meeting and got lined up for our wave 1 start.

Run

We had run this course 4 times before the race, so were very familiar with dreaded hills and the off-road section. My plan was to go easy up the hills, and power down them when I had gravity on my side, saving my legs for the cycle portion. I felt like I did a good job running this according to my plan.

Run time: 31:13

T1

My stuff was really close to the run-in entrance. So close that I over-ran to a different rack and then had to back track. Darn it! Changed my shoes, got my helmet and sun glassed put on. Grabbed my bottle of accelerade to take a drink only to find that it was still frozen solid. Drat! Grabbed the bike and headed out of transition.

T1 time: 1:28

Bike

I had driven the course, but never cycled it before. Started out okay, managed to pass a few people in the first half mile or so. Then I passed a few more and was feeling pretty good about how my legs were feeling. Then we got to the first real hill. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't fun. Started hearing "on your left" as stronger cyclists from later waves started catching up. This would be a theme for the rest of the bike course. At the turn-point, we got to go downhill for awhile. Wheeeeeee. Then another uphill. Ugggh. Finished with a short downhill then uphill into transition. Overall, I did okay, but I'd say this was more difficult than I expected. Definitely would have helped to bike the course at least once before the race. Lesson learned.

Bike time: 44:00

T2

Racked my bike, took off my helmet, shoes, socks, sunglasses. Grabbed my accelerade bottle once again, this time it was thawed. Yay! Went over to the pool. I feel like I was moving really slowly at this point, should/could have been moving faster here.

T2 time: 1:15

Swim

As I've mentioned before, it's a serpentine swim. You start on one end, go out and back in each lane, then under the rope to the next lane. On and on until you get to the ladder at the end on the other side of the pool. The problem for me with a reverse tri is that many of those ladies who passed me on the bike, aren't strong swimmers, and now they are in front of me in the pool. Anyway....I got into the pool and didn't make it one length at my own speed before being slowed down. Sigh. It isn't easy to pass in the pool when you have folks moving both directions in each lane. The best opportunity to pass is at the wall when you go under the rope. My strategy was to push off the wall, under the rope, and past one or two ladies into the next lane. So that's what I did. My swim time ended up being about what I expected for this situation, but slower than it would have been if I didn't have to deal with traffic in the pool.

swim time: 09:51

total time: 01:27:48, placed 10 of 23 F45:49, 104 of 265 individual age-groupers (that's with athenas, fat tire, and teams pulled out)

Post Race

They gave us a necklace at the finish and I gave Husband a big sweaty, wet hug. Went over to transition and put a shirt & shoes on, then waited for my friend and cheered her on in the pool. I was so proud of her! Here we are after the race, this is what success looks like!

After Thoughts

This was a lot of fun, I'm glad I did it and will likely do it again next year. I had predicted a 1:30:00 finish time; I finished a few minutes faster mostly because I had predicted longer transitions. I'm happy with that. It was good prep for the Patriot (two weeks out). I learned not to put a full bottle of accelerade in the freezer, next time I will freeze half, and fill the rest in the morning. I need to keep cycling hills, the longer and steeper the better. I also need a new pair of tri shorts (solved that yesterday afternoon).

[Edited to add more after thoughts:

I have some more info on my placement in this event. I was 104 of 265 individual AGs overall as I mentioned above. My swim placement was 84th. My bike placement (my perceived weakness) was 112th. Guess where my run placement was?? 128th!! I would have thought it would be in between cycling and swimming. Apparently not. What do I take from this? I think I've improved much more on the bike than I realized. ]

Live.Love.Tri. Race Summary

A proper report later, just a summary now. My actual finish time was 1:27:48 (I had predicted 1:30:00). I had a blast, but man those hills were hard. Shirts are cute and they gave us necklaces at the finish.

A few photos for your viewing pleasure:

Three Things Thursday - swimlessness, sleeplessness, and deliciousness

1) We are now T minus 2 days and I realized yesterday that I haven't gone to the pool in a month. Perhaps I should be concerned about this, but I am not. It's only a 400 m swim and whereas I find that riding a bike isn't actually "just like riding a bike," swimming is.

2) We had thunderstorms roll through last night at maybe 1am. It freaked out the dogs, so they started barking at the thunder. This irritate the Husband, so he started yelling at the dogs to stop barking. Turns out, when this happens, I don't sleep so well. Go figure.

3) I have no idea how I got to the age of 46 without discovering Bananas Foster until last night at the ball park. Oh.my.gosh have you tasted this deliciousness?!?! Perhaps it's better that I didn't know about it until now. Best part? We have tickets to the game Saturday and Sunday. You can bet I'll be back in the Bananas Foster line!

Monday Madness

Oh.my.freaking.gosh, apparently I cannot do simple math. All along I've thought the Live.Love and Patriot were three weeks apart. They are only two weeks apart. Two! Not Three! Ack! Commence freak out!

And now that they've changed the bike route for Live.Love, the only differences between it and the Patriot are that in the middle of the bike route, the patriot keeps going uphill for another 3 miles before hitting its turn point (gulp). Also the patriot is standard order with a seeded pool start vs. reverse (that's actually a good thing, I don't care for the reverse order myself).

Breathe in. Breathe out. Trying to calming down. Two weeks apart and similar course means the first event is simply a very good last long brick workout for the second one. Right? RIGHT?!?

Yesterday, husband & I climbed on our bikes and commuted to a local store for some yogurt. I volunteered to be the pack mule, I figured it was good training. As it turns out, I don't particularly like riding the 4.75 miles home from the store with ten Chobani yogurts in a little triangle bag on my back. The strings were cutting into my shoulders. I should have worn a backpack with better padding. Live and learn.

My friend & I are planning to head back out to the race site and run the course again on Tuesday. This time just once. This is mostly for mental preparedness. As I have suggested to others, I am also going to be practicing transitions this week.

If you haven't yet, please take a look at the bike/run profiles for this weekend. Based on the run profile, I'm revising my time "guestimates"; I think the run will take more like 34 minutes, which rounds out my "guestimated" finish time to 1:30:00 even for this first one.

Reconnaissance Missions

Mission #1: Capture the Bike Profile for the new course for Live.Love.Tri.

Would have been better if I captured it on my actual bike, but instead, I drove the course. They've changed the route dramatically, and it is now "moderately hilly" and shares much of the same course as the Patriot. It looks worse than it is, the y axis is broken down by 10 foot increments, while the x axis is in miles. However, it's definitely a hilly course.

Mission #2: Capture the Run Profile for Live.Love.Tri/Patriot.

This one I got by running the course. Actually ran it twice (the second loop was KILLER). I'm thinking this one actually *IS* as bad as it seems. These hills are steeper than the bike hills.


Thoughts: I think my bike training has been sufficient, but I probably should have run more hills. Not much I can do about it now. The good news is that next Saturdays race is essentially a nice brick workout for the Patriot three weeks later. In any event, I'm ready. Bring it on!!

T minus 11 and counting....

We are T minus 11 days until Live.Love.Tri, a local all women's sprint and my personal return to the triathlon world after a 3 year hiatus. This morning I received an info packet in my email. The main thing that stuck out at me was a course change for the bike leg.

It's a fairly short bike segment, only 10 miles. The new route is describes as moderately hilly. My initial thought was "Crud! This was supposed to be an easy bike route." But my glass-half-full nature quickly kicked in. The course change simply makes it better practice for the Patriot which is a longer and hillier route yet. In any event, I'm definitely going to drive the course in advance and capture the profile on my Garmin later this week just so I know exactly what I'm up against. Information is power, or so they say.

This also motivated me to get out on my bike this morning for my ten-mile-double-hill route before work. While I was out there, I started thinking about what my time expectations might be for this race. These aren't goals, but expectations.

• run - it's a hilly 5K run course so I'm going to say 31:00 although I'd like to see something faster than that.
• t1 - 2 1/2 minutes, just a total guess
• bike - moderately hilly 10 mile course, I'm thinking 40 minutes, will adjust guess once I measure the course profile and exact distance.
• t2 - 2 1/2 minutes, again a total guess
• swim - it's a 400 yd pool swim, up and back in each lane then over...serpentine style. If the swim were first, I'd say 8:45 +/- 15 sec, but it's last which means the lanes will be congested with folks that are faster than me on land and slower in the water. I'm guessing maybe closer to 10 minutes because of that.

That puts my total expected finish at something like 86 minutes (01:26:00). Guess we'll see how good I am at guessing!

As far as goals, this is what I'm currently thinking:

• Don't crash/trip/fall or otherwise end up bloody/bruised/broken.
• Finish strong with a smile on my face.
• Enjoy the experience and be ready to do it again on a harder course three weeks later.

Ride, Run, & Race Report

Ride - Had a very good 22+ mile bike ride on Friday. I actually averaged 17.2 mph for the first 10 miles. I don't think I've ever averaged that fast for 10 miles, so that makes me super happy. I started getting tired about halfway in and slowed down, bringing my overall average for the ride to 16.2mph. I'll take it! The route was mostly flat, but still this is a good result for me as I'm not a very strong cyclist. I'm convinced that the hill training is paying off!

Run - Met my running partner Saturday morning for an easy 4 miler. Most of the running group was not running at all because of the race the next day (half-marathon & 5K). I was planning to run the 5K mostly as practice for the sprint tri coming up in a few weeks and my running partner wasn't racing at all, so we decided to do any easy run anyway. While running, we also planned to meet up at the live.love.tri site next weekend and scope out the course. This is going to be her first triathlon so she's a bit nervous, but I'm excited about it.


Race Report - Last year I volunteered at the first water station, this year Husband & I ran. The half-marathon started at 6:30 with the 5K having a 7m race start. The location is quite a drive from our house and we expected parking to be challenging, so we needed to get up at 5am.When the alarm went off, I was thinking that it was silly to get up so early just to run 3.1 miles, but did it anyway.


I don't have too much to say other than I thought that the race seemed well organized. The 5K course was well marked, and volunteers were friendly. My race time was so-so for me with an official time of 29:20, 9:26 pace. I think I was 5th in my AG. There is really nothing wrong with this result, but since it was a full minute and a half slower than my last 5K, I admit to being a bit disappointed. However, given that I've only run 6 times in the past 4 weeks due to back issues and vacation, and still pulled off a fairly average 5K result for my abilities, I know that I shouldn't be too hard on myself.


[edited to add: After sleeping on it, I realized that this 5K result was faster than any of the 5Ks I ran in 2008, 2009, or 2010. What seems average this year would have been above average for me in the past. I'm feeling much more satisfied this morning than I was yesterday.]

[edited one more time: offical results are up and I want to note that I finished 23 of 134 women in the 5K which puts me in the top 20%. Happy about that also.]


Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day, but if I feel okay and the weather cooperates, I might ride my bike after work and save the rest day for Wednesday. We'll see...

Tale of Two Rides

I had an interesting discovery this week. After the whole stem valve / floor pump incident on Wednesday, I got a new floor pump, replaced the rear tube, and rechecked the front tire pressure. I found it to be low by 30. Thought that was odd, because I had successfully added air to the front (I thought) just the day before.

Took my bike out on the same ride as earlier in the week. This is is my standard 10 mile, double hill loop that I like to do mid-week.

EXHIBIT A - THE ROUTE PROFILE

Yesterday I had a great ride. My splits seem to be all over the map, but that has to do with the profile more than anything. In this graph, I have it broken down to two mile increments. Just trust me, for me this is a very good result.

EXHIBIT B - A GOOD RIDE

Here is where it gets interesting. I made a graph of my earlier ride on the same route. I haven't figured out how to get my program to keep the scale the same, but what jumps out at me immediately is that the entire ride is roughly 2 mph slower than the good ride.

EXHIBIT C - A CRUDDY RIDE

Yes, there are differences day to day in weather and how I feel and such, but I wonder if maybe, just maybe, the whole stem valve/floor pump thing was a blessing in disguise. What if the gauge on my old pump was significantly off and I've been riding on under-inflated tires all summer? If I find that my rides improve consistently now, then I'd say that is a definite possibility. Time will tell.

Three Things Thursday - dryer vent, floor pump, & tempo run

1) Earlier this week we had our dryer vent cleaned out (the part from the dryer to outside the house, not the lint filter). Apparently you are supposed to do this every two years. We haven't done it since.....uh.....ever. Oops. I'm happy to say that our dryer is now working like new and is no longer a fire hazard!! Will try to remember to have this done in 2013 rather than wait another 20 years.

2) I swear my bike hates me. I was having some issues (other stuff needing my attention) getting out for my ride yesterday. Finally was really ready to go, just needed to add air to my tires to get them up to pressure. As I was doing this, the stem valve from the rear tire broke off and got stuck in the head of my floor pump. Neither Husband or I were able to get the stem valve out of the nozzle head. At this point, I found myself in the situation of needing to replace the rear tube while my floor pump was out of commission. To heck with that! Took the dogs for a walk instead. Today I will stop at the LBS and see if they can help me with my nozzle situation; if not, I guess I'm buying a new floor pump.

This wouldn't be such a big deal, except that I need time on the bike more than anything. I could have used a frame pump or CO2 cartridge to get my bike up and running, but I was so frustrated at that point that it seemed better to postpone the ride for another day.

3) Finally had a decent run this morning. On deck was a 4 mile run broken down as warm up, tempo, cool down with sprint finish. I began to question myself during the tempo portion, but remembered that there is really only one question to ask yourself when a workout gets tough: "How bad do you want it?!?" That was enough to get my head into the game, and I am quite satisfied with my effort. Guess today I must have really wanted it.

Time to buckle down

With Live.Love.Tri less than three weeks away (yikes!) and a 5K coming up this weekend, it's time I get out of vacation mode and back into training mode. Yesterday I went for a 10.1 mile bike ride after work in the hot windy late afternoon. Must have been 98-100 deg and winds at 15-20mph. Yuck. But I got it done.

This morning I was going to run in the cool weather, but my calves were still a little sore from the weekend. I decided to postpone and meet up with some others this evening at the track. Again, it will likely be 98-100 deg, but this time wind only 5-10mph. It's not going to be comfortable, but I *will* be out there running.

[edited to add: I did not end up going to the track, but I DID run 4 miles easy in 96deg.]

In other news, my daughter is officially a senior in high school now and my son is back in California. I guess that means summer is over. Where does the time go??

Back from Maui

Had a wonderful week in paradise with my family. Although I had opportunities for both running and swimming, I did neither. Lots of walking & sight seeing, some hiking & snorkeling, and general rest & relaxation.

Today my calves are killing me, so I know I spent a lot of time on my feet yesterday before our flight home.

Hopefully I'll have some tri training updates soon; the first of my two sprints is under three weeks away! Until then, hope you enjoyed a few photos from our week (friend me on FB if you want to see more).

Catch up with you all later, I'm exhausted!

Mixing it up and July Tally

Mixing it up:

I tend to get in a rut, doing the same routes all the time. This week I made an effort to mix things up a few times.

Tuesday evening I went to the track. I'm not a fan of the track, but I thought it was the safest place to test out my back to see if I was okay to run. It wasn't very crowded, so I did 800s in the far outside lane, alternating directions each time.

Thursday evening I ran on a familiar path, but alternated between hard efforts and easy efforts in varying interval lengths. This little bit of speed play kept things interesting. Where you see two fast or two slow side by side, it's because I hit the on/off button instead of the lap button by accident, so I'm missing whatever was suppose to be in between there. Oops.

Friday afternoon, I went out for a 15 mile bike ride. Usually I either choose a mostly flat route or a mostly hilly route. This time I mixed things up a bit and did 10 miles on mostly flat before hitting a hilly section.

July Tally:

• 88.1 Miles by Feet (walked 42.2, ran 45.9)
• 89.9 miles by Seat
• 3400 yds in the water
• 15 Workouts included hills
• 1 5K race (with a PR!)
• 1 400 swim time trial PB
• 10 days modified training plan due to back issues

Thoughts:

• All-in-all an okay month. I lost a lot of time on the bike due to the back issue, but I think I'll be okay for the upcoming Sprint Tris assuming my back and my knee both cooperate over the next several weeks and I'm able to get back on track with my planned cycling.

Tiptoe through the Tulips

Doesn't that lyric make you think of being barefoot? While I haven't exactly gone barefoot, I have been experimenting with minimalist shoes, a gateway to the barefoot posture.

If you believe the hype, there are many benefits to be gained from minimal (true barefoot to minimalist shoes) footwear. Some people have gone so far as to run this way, my husband is one. I’m reluctant to run in them, but willing to experiment a bit. After all, I do seem to be the poster child for injury.

I bought a pair of Vibram Five Finger Sprints a few years ago specifically for water sports, kayaking in particular, and for that purpose I love them. I have also worn them for yard work, walking the dogs, running errands, etc, and while I like them on dry land, I don’t necessarily LOVE them.

First, it is truly very much like being barefoot in that you can feel every little rock on the ground, and I live on a gravel road. I realize that if I had a pair of Vibram Trek Sports, for example, this first issue might not be a problem for me because the soles would be different, but with the Sprints this is problematic for me.

Second, I find that I’ve never been able to wear them for extended periods of time comfortably because they start to really bother the pinky toe on my left foot. This poor toe seems to want to be tucked slightly under its neighbor. Presumably due to wearing ill fitting shoes all my life, but after 40 something years, this is how my foot is. Oddly, I find them to be quite a bit more comfortable in the water than on dry land. Not sure why. Perhaps there is more ‘give’ when they are wet.

I do like the more natural feel of the barefoot posture, plus my husband swears by minimalist running. Those two things led me to try the Merrell Barefoot Pace Glove (the men’s version is called the Trail Glove). Taking my first few steps in them, the “feel” immediately reminded me of the Vibrams, only replacing the individual toe pockets that cause discomfort to my little toe with a nice wide toe box. Ahhhh. Much better.

These Merrells also have a thicker/more treaded Vibram sole than my Sprints. I believe this sole is similar to the Treks that I don’t own. This seems to have solved my problem about feeling every little rock on the trail. An added plus is they don’t give you the funky frog feet look and they have many colors to choose from. I'm having a hard time narrowing it down to only one for a second pair.

Bought them Sunday afternoon and I’ve been wearing them almost non-stop ever since as they quickly became my shoe of choice for walking the dogs, doing errands, even for work since I am often able to dress casually in the office. I have noticed some tightness in my right calf. This doesn’t surprise me because the barefoot stance changes your posture and walk/run form and I pretty much jumped right in. I imagine folks are right when they say to start off slow if you choose to run in these, if walking is already causing noticeable calf tightness I can only imagine what running would do. Eek. I should add that at this point I’ve chosen to wear socks with the Merrells, whereas I go sockless in the Vibrams.

So that’s where I’m at. I’ll share more after I’ve had more time in the Merrells. The hope is that the change in stride/posture/etc will improve the situation with my left knee as well as with my back. Time will tell. And neither shoe (Vibrams or Pace Gloves) seem like they would be good choices when the weather turns cold. I may be looking at other styles when the seasons change.

Who else is experimenting with minimalist shoes? How have you used them? Has your experience been positive, negative, or mixed?

[Edited to reiterate, I am *not* running in these. I run in Kinvaras. I am experimenting with minimalist shoes for walking, etc.]

Tuesday Thoughts

1) Swam this morning. I had also gone to the pool on Saturday, and had to take it really easy on the turns due to my back. This morning I felt great! Completed my 1000 workout complete with one timed 400 at 8:31 (~2:07/100) which I believe is my fastest yet. Woot!

2) I might go to the track tonight. As much as I hate the track, mostly because all the turning is bad for my left knee, it does have a 'springy' surface that I think would be better for me to run on than hard pavement or uneven trail. Yes, that means I plan to run today. Yeeehah!

3) I love my Kinvaras so much, I ordered a second pair in a different color. They are called transition shoes because they are a transition from normal running shoes to minimalist, but for me they may be transition shoes because I've transitioned to running in them full time.

4) Husband runs in Merrells now after starting with Vibram Five-Fingers. It took him a while to transition to minimalist running, but he claims it has helped his hip tremendously. He loves them so much he even wears them to work. I have no plans of running in them, but I picked up a pair of Merrells of my own this weekend. Walked the dogs in them. Wore them to work. So far I'm quite pleased. So much that I'm trying to determine which color(s) to get next.

5) Two weeks from today, Son leaves to go back to California. This time he's heading out solo, spending some time with friends before moving back into Berkeley. In some ways, the summer has gone by way too fast. *sad face*

6) Speaking of time going by too fast, also two weeks from today, Daughter registers for her Senior year of High school. A few days after that she gets her senior portraits done. This is my baby I'm talking about, who is now a beautiful young lady. Where does the time go?

7) Right before my back started being problematic, I registered Husband & I for a 5K, about 2.5 weeks out from now. Two weeks later, Live.Love.Tri. Two weeks after that, Patriot. Race season is fast approaching!

8) If all goes well, I will cycle tomorrow. This is my weak link. Only way I know to get better is to keep at it. So that's what I intend to do.

Q&A with Lisa - Part 2

Before I get to the Q&A, a quick update. My back was doing a lot better this weekend. Still not good enough to run or cycle, but I swam on Saturday and I have been walking every day (15.5 miles in the past week).

Unfortunately, I had a little bit of a setback yesterday. It twinged again while I was tending to the garden. Although not as bad as before, I guess I overdid it. Taking it easy today.

Okay, on to the rest of the Q&A! See part 1 here. Between the two posts, I think I got them all. If I missed one, sorry!

Adam asked

• What would you do if you won a free pair of brooks shoes on my blog? - I’m pretty excited about that! I’d like to get a pair of Brooks Trail running shoes, probably Cascadia 6. Still waiting to hear back from the Onlineshoes people…

Lindsay asked

• what song(s) would be played during the 'running-shot montage' of you in your running video? - Let’s see, during the injured segments, It would be Little Feat’s Old Folk’s Boogie (for the line “an you know that you’re over the hill when your mind makes a promise that your body can’t fill” and during the actual running segments, it would be Pink’s Raise Your Glass (So raise your glass if you are wrong, in all the right ways, all my underdogs! We will never be never be anything but loud…”

• you have to take a vacation somewhere in the USA. the only stipulation is that it can't be a typical big/well-known city like vegas, nyc, los angeles, etc... where would you go? - When the weather cools off, a get-away to Sedona AZ sounds nice, beautiful red rock canyon. Ahhhh.

• what random bad habit do you have? - I have a tendency to leave things on the stove and forget about them. I’ve ruined two tea kettles and a bamboo steamer this way as well as many a pot of burned rice, veggies, etcs.

Lily on the Road asked

• My question is...what ARE you going to do with your new Brooks you won from Adam? - See above. First I need to actually have a chance to pick them out, then I’ll know for sure J

RockStarTri asked

• Do you miss being "slow and steady?" - I still feel that way when I tri; I’m not a very good cyclist. Just probably can’t claim it anymore when running since I’ve moved up more to the middle of the pack.

Q&A with Lisa - Part 1

ajh asked

• Best book you ever read? – That’s a tough one. I don’t really read for pleasure. I can’t even remember the last book I read.
• Favorite way to spend an unexpected free hour? – Of course it really depends where I’m at, what time it is, etc. Lately I’ve been trying to finish up a dozen simple toddler sized quilts for Project Linus. A free hour is just enough time to make some decent progress on one of those.

Marlene asked

• If you could run (tri) a race anywhere in the world, where would that be? - I really loved the French Polynesia (Moorea) when we were there a few years ago for our 20th anniversary. I’d love to do a sprint tri there!

Laura asked

• What is your all time favourite meal? - Without a doubt, Thanksgiving dinner!! Nothing is better than roast turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberries, homemade rolls, & pumpkin pie. Yum!

TNTcoach Ken asked

• If your running career were made into a movie, what would it be called and who would play you???? I was trying to think of something catchy as a title, but honestly my running career isn’t anywhere interesting enough to be made into a movie.

Raquelita asked

• Where did you grow up? - I grew up in Toledo, OH. Lived there through high school. Went to college in Cincinnati, OH. First job out of college was in Findlay, OH. We moved out here to NM in 1990 for work and have been here ever since.

Teamarcia said...

• Do you ever consider living somewhere else? If so where? - Not seriously. We've thought about moving a few times for work, but in the end decided to stay here. I love living in NM and hope to retire here.

Mid-week update

1) Back Pain - Thanks for all the comments and concern and suggestions. I really appreciate it. I worked from home on Monday and rescheduled my meetings so that I had a few chunks of time available to do some rehab work on my back (stretching, icing, walking, etc). By the end of the day my back was feeling much better. I learned that walking made my back feel better than anything else. Tuesday I went to the office and essentially sat in a chair in front of a computer all day. Not good. I left the office feeling much worse that I did the day before. However, I also had an end of day chiropractor appt. The chiro does something more like ART than regular chiro stuff. He also sent me to PT (it's a joint chiro/PT office) and the PT did some electro-stimulation and ice. I woke up this morning feeling much better. Went for a walk and soon will be heading into the office. Hoping today will be better than yesterday if I make time to get up and stretch and stuff.

2) Mindset - This weekend someone asked me if I was upset about my back issue messing up my training schedule as they knew I was working toward a hilly triathlon. Yes and No. I'm mostly upset that the back problems are messing up my life. And training is part of my life. But I'm not at all concerned about the effect it might or might not have on my race. Several years ago I trained to race, but now I race to train. It's a completely different mindset. It's about the journey rather than the destination. Having a race or two or six on my schedule just helps me put structure in my training plan. But it really isn't so much about the race itself. Does that make any sense?

3) Q & A with Lisa! - I was tagged by Teamarcia at the Studly Runner to open my blog up to some Q & A. I've enjoyed reading the questions and answers on other blogs so I figured, what the heck. So please ask away...

This too shall pass

So everything seemed to be going great after my mid-week update. On Thursday, I did a nice tempo run. Friday was an easy day, with just a 3.3 mile hike because I was planning on a fairly heavy weekend.

Saturday's plan was 5 miles easy on a dirt levee road, to be followed by a 20 mile bike ride, no hills, on the recently reopened bike trails. Sunday was to be my long swim with a short easy ride. And somewhere in there, I was going to do some more yard work.

Fast forward to Saturday morning, at roughly the 2.6 mile mark of my easy run. I cannot for the life of me figure out what happened, but suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my lower back that stopped me in my tracks. My running partner walked with me for a bit, then I tried running again. No dice. Walked some more, then tried running again. Still a No Go. Walked more, and finally did a bit of a shuffle run just to hurry up and get to the car so I could get myself and my achin' back to the house.

Suffice it to say, the weekend contained no bike rides, no swimming, and no yard work. Instead I was dealing with back spasms and trying to figure out how to get them to stop. Not my idea of a fun weekend.

This isn't the first time that I've had this problem. Seems that I have both a chronic knee issue and a chronic lower back issue. All the more reason to be grateful when nothing is hurting and I can get out and move my body the way that I want to. By now I know how to work through the back problems. It's just frustrating and painful for the better part of a week.

So there won't be much in the way of swimming, cycling, or running this week. And the yard work will need to wait. But I'm trying to stay positive. There will be lots of walking, stretching, and a few extra rest days. That's all good stuff. And sometime later this week, or whenever I'm feeling 100% again, I will carry on with my plans. In the grand scheme of things, it's just a bump in the road. Sometimes I just wish the road was a bit smoother. :-)

Mid week update

Here's a short list of a few things that I've done in the past few days:

1) Cycled on high desert hills. Riding with Husband is always a big plus and the view of the mountains never gets old. However, when riding in the desert, one must always beware of "goathead" thorns which are death to road tires. I think he was checking his tires for thorns when I snapped this photo.

2) Got back in the pool and swam. My training lately has resembled duathon training rather than tri training. I figured it was time to rectify that. Actually made it to the pool in the morning before work. Go me!

3) Registered for local HILLY sprint triathlon. The website claims it's the most difficult sprint in New Mexico; they say that the only part that is flat is the swim. Yikes!After much deliberation, I decided to go for it. This solidifies my need to continue training hills.

4) Cleaned up my snorkel gear. We have a trip to Hawaii on the horizon and my snorkel gear has been in the garage for a few years. Got it out, rinsed it off, cleaned up the mask, and it's good to go. Crazy excited about the trip, but I've still got a while to wait.

5) Ran Hills. The rest of my run group was doing track work, but my training plan called for 4 miles on a hilly route so I went out solo. I think the route that I picked was perfect. Next time I might just do that first hill several times, but it was nice to mix it up a bit and do something other than a straight out and back route.

How about you? What have you been up to?