Baby Brick

Got in my first little brick in a very long while. I swam, then did a cycling class. Then I proceeded to eat 4 eskimo pies and a string cheese for dinner.

sigh

Oh well.

I guess it's training for my post race activities.

80 days to Issaquah!

I'm like this

In an ode to DSF's post:
I'm like this lately, only less cuddly.

I've been running,
I've also been sick, and been through oral surgery
and been making excuses :)

Success x2

Today I ran 9 miles. It was great (although this time my left leg was the pain). Ran around seward park and then up Lk WA Blvd for a total of 9 miles. The lake looked beautiful and the foliage looked beautiful...all around beauty. plus I ran it in 1:28 which means less than 10min miles for 9 MILES. I was very happy!

I also succeeded in completing the silver BfitBday challenge with the aid and encouragement of my mom and TheCap. I had a fantastic birthday weekend (The joy of a Friday birthday). I am working on a yay-bfitday post.

the Cap's out of town this week so between my crying for him and stuff I am going to try to catch up this blog.

We'll see.

Raining on my parade

Well, i have 5 days now until I go for the silver in my B-fitBday challenge!

I went for gold last year and it proved to be one of the coolest b-day gift's I'd ever given myself.



In my adult years, my birthday has become a pretty introspective time. I usually have tried to make a change in my life, even a really small one.



Last year's challenge really felt like a celebration of the changes I'd been working so hard on in my 26th year. Plus it was a really great night with my mom and a shared experience I am really grateful to have had.



It also felt like a great way to celebrate what a huge impact triathlon (running) has had on the person I am today.



This year though, I am going for the silver. I've not been in great training shape so going for the gold would have been a stretch. Not to mention that I am excited to get to spend my birthday with people I love both old (Mom, sister, supernephew and crazynephew) and new (theCap, nephew so new I don't have a descriptor for him) so I can't spend the whole day B-fitBday-ing. Plus, my b-day is on a weekend this year so I can be leisurely about the whole thing.



My current dilemma though is whether I get to give myself what I've been calling a "Misery Pass"? The weather forecast is rain on top of rain. Last year I did the whole Gold Challenge indoors...the bike portion SUCKED. I won't do it again but how wet and cold do I want to be on my b-day?



Anyhow, I hope to post here how it goes.

The tentative plan is:

Friday 12am (my actual b-day!): swim 2000yd with my mom counting laps for me

Friday ~1am: Eat b-day pie with said mom

Friday evening: 8mile run...where: TBA (it'll get dark!)

Friday night: party it up!

Saturday: Ride form the Cap's to my place +3miles (to make it 28!)



That will be easily good for a silver

(back-up run plan is to do 4mi on Fri and then get 4mi in on sat or sun)

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The Official Challenge:

Take your age and in any order:1) Swim the number of yards in the first number(# multiplied by 1000 yards),
2) Run the number of miles in the second number,
3) Bike the number of miles in the combined number.
So a 45-year-old athlete would:
1) Swim 4000 yards 2) Run 5 miles 3) Bike 45 miles
If you choose to accept the B-Fit B-Day Challenge you must....
Bronze: Do all three (swim/bike/run) during the week of your Birthday.
Silver: Do all three (swim/bike/run) in the three days before, after, or on your B-Day.
Gold: Do all three (swim/bike/run) in 24-hours to celebrate your B-Day!
Platinum: Do all three in miles (swim first number in miles not yards/bike/run) in 24-hours to celebrate your B-Day!
Important Note: Since “0” Birthdays like 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and so on are important milestones the "0" in your birthday represents a 10. This means that on those “0” Birthdays you get to celebrate this big milestone by running ten miles.

Antsy as all get out

But mainly antsy to get out! I'm not sure what it is but I am SO excited about my trip with TheCap this weekend. I had no previous desire to go to Atlanta (did, once upon a time, think about working at CDC though), it is for a wedding in which I know no one, and it is late August and I have hair that doesn't appreciate humidity. But I'm flush with anticipation.

I think we've decided against doing the fun run there which is OK. I did though just realize a bummer about "marathon training." Do I attempt to fit in my long run (which is still mercifully short, 7mi) or say, "eff it" and make it up to myself when I get back. I'm tending to think the latter. Since it is just 7mi, I can do it on a workday without an issue. Plus it will be hot in the ATL, plus it feels like such a sacrifice to give up time for a run when you're on a weekend trip. I wish I didn't feel that way. I wish I felt like getting a run in, in a new city, is the only way to get to really see the city. I wish vacationing to me was only the means to see new things and understand others better, rather than an excuse to relax and eat and sleep to an excess. I mean, I suppose it's both but the excessive sleeping and eating is most appealing to me.

**EDIT**

Starchy here (hehe) just pointed out that the marathon that my friend is thinking about is not until February (approx 28 weeks away). I'll have to figure out the timing of the rest of my training but what it reminded me was that I can totally not stress yet and not worry at all about the long run this weekend. Thanks, DSF!

Bricks Galore

In my big cram session leading up to the first Tri of the season (Issaquah Sprint) I got in 2 bricks:

1. Bike/run on the course with the Luna Chix
   
   1. It was really good to ride the course. I was trying to remember last year and all I could envision was a very long gradual climb and scary/crazy drivers. This brick workout just confirmed that.
      

      
      

      The bike course is on Lake Sammamish Pkwy; we rode this on Tue during evening traffic and it was SCARY. The road was a mess and the shoulder/bike lane was full of gravel/glass/cracks/potholes and there was an inordinate amount of roadkill littering the street. The cars were a bit pushy and a group of us were nearly roadkill ourselves under a bus that merged into the bike lane next to us. Yikes!
      

      
      

      It was a good ride though. TriCoachJill led the group and gave hints on where to push and how hard to go at certain spots. I am always shaky on my strategy during sprint tri's. I feel like on such a short course you should be going pretty hard most of the time but I don't know how to gauge whether I'll have enough in the tank to be able to push the run.
      

      
      

      Running off the bike was actually pretty good. My legs responded really quickly and I was happy with the pace I kept (average 6.3mph/9:38mi according to the Garmin). My lungs took a bit longer to get in gear and I was huffing and puffing like it was nobody's business. The course is "cross-country" and by that they meant a grass field with lots of bumps and knots. It was a bit rougher than I was used to but pretty.
      

      
      

2. Swim/Run at Lake Sammamish with The Captain
   
   1. On Thursday I met up with the Cap and we went to the lake where he was on alert to call the coroner/police divers should I drown. Honestly, I thought there'd be more swimmers out there and I was really nervous to swim by myself. It isn't something I've ever done and I probably won't do too much of it. Since OWS is scary to me anyway, being alone out there adds too many more factors to be nervous about. Plus, I would have felt bad posthumously if The Captain had been forced to just witness me drown. If I hadn't had such a disastrous 1^st OWS 2 weeks ago I would not have gotten in.
      

      
      

      The swim itself was alright. I just swam to the 1^st buoy and back 3 times each focusing on a different goal. 1^st lap: just get used to calming myself in the water and get used to the wetsuit again, 2^nd lap: attempt to swim harder but really focusing on sighting, 3^rd lap: focus on pushing hard and see how bad my sighting is when it is not my main focus.
      

      
      

      Overall my sighting capabilities have gotten weaker but I wasn't too off course and the water was great. For the most part I was able to push my irrational fears to the back of mind (at least until I felt like a big wad of hair was following me…that freaked me out and ended it). It helped relieve some stress that the water should be bearable on Saturday.
      

      
      

      Then the Captain and I ran. It was really fun running with him. He ate bugs and I laughed.
      

      He does interval training which taught me something about each of us. For him I saw what a stickler for the rules he was (his Garmin beeps a number of times to indicate when to stop running, I stopped when it started beeping whereas he ran until the beeps ended for a proper interval) and I think that indicates being a pretty determined guy. (Hmmm, maybe it's not cool to say this since he and some of his friends read this blog but) I hope he realizes not only how far he's come but also that he can do whatever he sets his determined mind to.
      

      He did stoop to being a guy though and was saying he didn't want to be embarrassed because he's slow. I cried total BS on that one. The number one thing I love about this sport is that it is deeply personal. We each set our own goals and the work it takes to get there isn't trivial for anyone. Not to mention… I've been plodding along on this running kick for 28months! (my runniversary is Jan 7, 2007)
      

      
      

      As for me (beyond learning I'm a cheater which I knew) I saw how cool interval training can be. I'm excited to use my Garmin to help me train more effectively and efficiently both on the run and the bike.
      

      
      

So that was my big lead up to Issaquah. I may not have put in quite enough time in the pool or on the bike but I'm OK with that I guess. I am going to try to enjoy tomorrow morning as much as I've enjoyed the last few months.

YES!

YES!

I had a great workout tonight and it was just in time.

My cycling class I had slated for last night got postponed due to self-pity wallowing. It has been a long time since I have interupted my regularly scheduled program for self-pity so I let myself have it (plus I fell asleep). But that meant that I had only worked out 2 times this week! No good!

So tonight I went to my favorite gym and did a hill interval workout and went for my first swim in a LONG TIME. It was great. SpeedyDMD told me about her new treadmill workout where she does one minute flat and then runs on an incline that increases 1% every interval. I did a version of this then cooled down a bit.

After which I got in the pool!!!!!! It has been forver since I've gotten in the water and I was afraid it would be awful. It wasn't! My arms are pretty weak but I felt like my stroke was OK and I was flip turning like nobody's business!

Lesson learned: A great workout is better than a sad-sack night.
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as goofy as it is I left the timing chip on my shoes because when I am running it makes me feel strong and determined and like I can meet any goal I set for myself.

My mom lives in BFD

And, eerily, that is 26.2 miles away from me (well it is 26.9 but I'm trying to make a point). When I drive to her house it feels SO LONG. I always make sure I have a beverage and maybe some snacks, that my ipod is charged and have in the back of my mind the phone calls I need to make.

So why in the world would I want to run this distance?

It hurts my head to think about it but what freaks me out the most is that I am TOTALLY TEMPTED. My college buddy SpeedyDDS who I ran the half-M with is all gung ho about doing the fullM in Tucson this year. She even sent me The Non-runner's marathon guide for women which cracked me up.

I just don't know if I have all that running in me…would help prep me for the Victoria Half-Iron that my TEAMmates are trying to convince me to do.

To flip or not to flip?

I have deep seeded flip turn trauma.

When I was a wee lassie and swam on a team, my coach had a very loud and unwavering stance on flip turns.

In her opinion you must never breathe into or out of a turn. Now, generally, I am not much of a breather. I usually breathe every 8 or 10 strokes (only on my right side J). But this edict made flip turns very frantic for me. Retrospectively this may have been because I don't breathe enough on the straights which made going breathless for so long at the turns so much harder.

After High School I swore of FT's for life. I promised myself I wouldn't ever subject myself to them again and for open water this is fine. However, I know my pool workouts would probably benefit from them.

 

Hmmm… do I keep a promise to myself that I have maintained for 9 years or do I try to improve myself and work towards overcoming an obstacle? Hmmm.

What I have been doing is sneaking in a FT at the far end of the pool. What I've learned from this is I am either RUSTY or I never really had good form. I kind of look like a flailing otter.

Swim goals:

1 pool workout with at least 50% FTs.