Getting settled in here on the West Coast. All of our stuff got here this week which was great. Sleeping on an air mattress is fine for a few nights, but for over a week kinda sucked. It was also a bit colder than expected so Loren and I were huddled up with the cats for most of the night. Poor cats. They're not gonna be too happy when the dog gets here.
I was really excited about the bikes showing up. Not so much to get out and go for some long riding (though I was looking forward to that) but mostly to be able to commute around the city on my beater. While I was very use to riding around NYC and all the ups and downs that comes with, San Francisco has a very different culture around commuting by bike. It's much much more common and accepted. Lots of bike lanes and bike racks and places with indoor/covered parking. It's a lovely way to get around this city. Except that hill longer than a half mile I have to ride up to get to my place, but I'm sure I'll get use to that.
It looks like this week marked the actual start of my Ironman training. It's about time. I'm not terrible concerned about my running since I just ran a marathon, I know I can let the running take a bit of a back seat. Honestly, I'm not crazy about that. I've spent the last few years really focusing on my running and I rather enjoy it. I do, however, need to work on the other 2 events. Luckily, I started doing triathlons over a decade ago. Swimming and cycling come back to me very quickly. So here's a run down of what my week looked like:
Tues- swim .9 miles. I planned on swimming a mile but miss counted my laps. Close enough. Honestly, I don't remember the last time I was in the pool.
Wed running 5 miles. I went with my friend Anna and Loren to the Sports Basement fun run. I feel like most of my group run days are behind me. I like to run at my pace and when/where I feel like it. But hey, I'm in a new city and don't know my way around running wise well yet and don't know a lot of runners so what the hell.
Friday swim 1 miles. I must say, I'm really glad I can just get in the pool and swim a mile without any trouble.
Sat run 5.62 miles. Loren and I tried out a new route before coffee club. 20 mile fixie ride. My friend Emily from coffee club wanted to take her bike out for the first time this spring. My fix bike was the only one ready to go. It was actually a really nice ride to the beach.
Sun ride 44 miles ride over the Golden Gate with Loren and Anna. We had planned on going with a local club (see my note about running groups, that's mild compared to how I feel about cycling groups. But again, new city, new people, but sadly, same douchebag attitude coming from other cyclists. That's one I know I won't go back to). The ride itself was beautiful and hilly. It'll take a little trial end error to learn the local routes, but that's also exciting.
This doesn't include what probably amounts to 15 or so miles of incidental riding. I'd say a pretty solid week to start. All my runs since Boston have been under 6 miles, I plan on changing that this week.
Showing posts with label triathlon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label triathlon. Show all posts
Monday, May 9, 2011
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Old New Hampshire Grand and Great
As many as you know, Loren and I (and a few of our boyfriends TIm and Chris) signed up for Timberman last fall. Timberman is a pretty big half ironman, attracting a large pro field and some top notch amateurs hoping to place high enough for the half ironman worlds. I fall into neither of these categories by the way.
After giving up tri training the last few years to focus on qualifying and then running Boston, I sorta crammed for this race. I didn't start swimming or riding until after Boston. While I have deep reserves in these other sports, I was a bit rusty getting ready. Yes things came back but I'd say I wasn't really in top form when I got to New Hampshire. I wasn't really worried about anything, I just felt like I could have been better prepared. But chances are, we can always be better prepared.
We made the drive up on Friday giving us plenty of time to relax.
Funny thing happened, I woke up Sat with sore legs. Sore like I had run a hard speed workout the day before sore. I'm not entirely sure why. While packing up the car, I made a few trips up the 6 flights of stairs to my apt, but I do that all the time. I've lived in a 6 floor walk up for years.
It was really annoying me. WTF. I don't want to start the race sore. I tried to be calm about it, since, really, there's nothing I could do about it. I would either feel better or I wouldn't.
I have done this race once before in 2005. This was before the Ironman corporation took it over. It is now A LOT bigger. This is a wee bit problematic. With the start on Lake Winnipesaukee, there's just not a lot of room to fit so many people. It's impossible to park at the start. We took a shuttle bus from a few miles away. We arrived at the staging area at about 6:30 am. There were 18 waves. Loren and I were in...the 18th wave. We had almost 2 hours to kill and the transition area closed at 6:45 so we needed to have all our crap in order by then.
The good thing about starting so late, is we got to watch the pros start which was really cool. The lead guy came out of the water with over a minute lead. The first woman out of the water, Chrissie Wellington came out not after. Chrissie is the current and 3x Ironman world champ. When she got out of the water and got her wet suit off, one of the pro men stopped in his tracks to let her go in front of him into the bike transition area. She is very well respected by pro men and women. After seeing the pro fields get going on the bike, we headed over to the swim start. Where we still had about a half hour to wait.
We waited as wave by wave, people went off and the crowd on the beach got smaller. At least the water was warm.
And finally, wave 18, women 35-39 were ready to go.
In the Tour de France, they call the last rider to finish the Lanterne Rouge, meaning the red light, the caboose. The end. It's no surprise that as the last wave to go off, we were given red swim caps.
Now if you've never done a triathlon swim let me tell you: it's no picnic out there. This is no leisurely laps in the pool, no quaint paddling around. This is a rugby scrum. Under water. This can be very scary and intimidating to a lot of people. Me? Well, I some how find myself right in the middle of it. Mostly because I, like everyone else out there, wants a good position. I want to be right on the buoys that mark the course so I swim the shortest distance possible. So there's kicking, and shoving, and people swimming over people. It's crazy. After a few 100 meters, it's settles down and I find a nice rhythm. The lake has found a rhythm too, and it's choppy. More than once I come up for air only to be smacked in the face with water, which I guess is better than being smacked in the face with a foot. I don't recall it looking this choppy when the pros went out 90 minutes earlier.
In the last straightaway, I stole a peek at my watch. I wonder if anyone heard me say FUCK under water. I was way off my pace. I came out of the water in 41:28, a good 5 minutes slower than I wanted. I got up on shore and ran past some very slow swimming men making their way to transition. I had a couple of kids pull my wetsuit off (note to new triathletes: if a race has wetsuit peelers, USE THEM! It makes life in that moment so much better) and headed to my bike. It did make me feel better to hear other people grumbling about the chop in the water, it seemed to slow everyone down.
Helmet on, shoes on, glasses on, on bike, off we go.
I consider my self an above average cyclist so I expected to be passing a lot of people on the bike. A lot. Esp. with this late start. I was right. I was to the left an awful lot. Though ya know what? I was lacking in some power. Stupid pre race sore legs. Oh and what's that blowing in my face? Oh that's wind. Oh hey while we're at it, let's have some rain!
I was resenting starting last.
56 miles is a pretty far way to ride, esp. when you have to run 13.1 miles after. Oh and you just swam 1.2 miles. I found a nice groove and just tried to stay there. This is a course with a couple of climbs and some rolling hills. It's very nice and does have some stretches that can be very fast. A lot of that changes when the road is wet however. Wet roads bring out flat tires and bike crashes, 2 things no one ever wants. I hate seeing riders down, I hate the thought that that could be me, it could be someone I know. So far it hasn't been either, but some knows every rider down.
At mile 25, Loren passes me. I know in every race, she's going to pass me. She spots me a few minutes in the swim but I know it's coming, and lately, it's been sooner than I expect. She looks very very strong as she goes flying by. I don't see her ahead of me for long. She's gone. I'm not riding as well as I want. In my head I'm just trying to chalk it up to not a great day. Get met to the run. I'm curious to see how my years off of tri training to focus just on running pay off.
The last 3 miles of the bike, I can see people out on the run portion. There are so many of them! Now I'm really annoyed I had to start so late.
I get into the transition area: Helmet off, hat on, shoes off, socks on (I bike without socks) shoes on, gel in pockets:GO.
Luckily, my bike rack was right near the exit to the run.
I suck down a Clif Shot.
Oh hello legs, why you feel like lead. This should be interesting.
The longer the race, the longer it takes to get land legs. They just feel heavy, I feel slow. I start doing math. Ok, I think a PR is out so let's try for under 6 hours and while we're at it, let's get this run done in under 2 hours.
I hit the first mile in a little over 9 minutes. As I go on, I start ticking off sub 9 minute miles. Not too bad. By mile 4 I feel fairly normal. I'm running with a 25 year old women (we all have our ages on the back of our legs). We're keeping a very good pace together. She leaves me around mile 7 and I pick up someone else who is my age. I'm feeling good.
The run is a 2 loop out and back. I see Chris twice, Tim twice, and Loren 3 times. The last time I saw Loren she was at mile 11. She looked at me and just said ouch.
The run has 1 significant hill which is run twice since it's 2 loops. I run so many hills where I live. I remember doing this course 5 years ago and thinking it was a monster. This time, I knew it was there, but it was no problem. I was passing people on it left and right.
When I hit mile 10, I started to pick it up. Under 6 hours was in the bag and I was feeling really good. Just past mile 12, I saw Loren on the side of the road cheering me in.
While final turn and a grassy straightaway to the finish line. I passed at least 5 people in that last stretch.
I hit my watch: 5:50. Way under 6 hours, about 2 minutes off my PR. My run time was 1:54, by far the fasted run I've ever done in a half ironman.
As I'm crossing through the finishing area, a woman out stretches a medal to put around my neck and says in a British accent CONGRATULATIONS! I look up, and it's Chrissie Wellington. Still in race clothes. She had to have finished hours earlier and here she is, giving out metals to us age groupers. I was in shock. I asked her if she won and she said yes, in the modest tone she's known for. I don't think I've ever been so star struck before, which even surprised me.
Loren met me at the finishing area and we went and sat in the lake. AAHHHH it felt so good on the legs!
After eating ( A LOT), packing up all our crap (A LOT) we headed to the shuttle bus back. It has been about 2 hours since we finished. Off in the distance, I could see Chrissie by herself, carrying all her gear and rolling her bike away. I'd love to see more pro athletes like that.
Ok, let's get to the numbers shall we? The results haven't been totally sorted out but I think there were 141 people in my age group and 2141 finishers.
Me: 5:50:25 35th in age group swim 41:28 (65th in AG) bike 3:08:46 (45th in AG) run 1:54:53 (25th in AG)
Loren 5:31:11 (18th in AG. FIRST TIME AT DISTANCE)
And a shout out to Chris (5:30:38) and Tim (5:47:47) for finishing your first (and not last I'm sure. I don't care what you say Stoia) Half Ironman.
After giving up tri training the last few years to focus on qualifying and then running Boston, I sorta crammed for this race. I didn't start swimming or riding until after Boston. While I have deep reserves in these other sports, I was a bit rusty getting ready. Yes things came back but I'd say I wasn't really in top form when I got to New Hampshire. I wasn't really worried about anything, I just felt like I could have been better prepared. But chances are, we can always be better prepared.
We made the drive up on Friday giving us plenty of time to relax.
Funny thing happened, I woke up Sat with sore legs. Sore like I had run a hard speed workout the day before sore. I'm not entirely sure why. While packing up the car, I made a few trips up the 6 flights of stairs to my apt, but I do that all the time. I've lived in a 6 floor walk up for years.
It was really annoying me. WTF. I don't want to start the race sore. I tried to be calm about it, since, really, there's nothing I could do about it. I would either feel better or I wouldn't.
I have done this race once before in 2005. This was before the Ironman corporation took it over. It is now A LOT bigger. This is a wee bit problematic. With the start on Lake Winnipesaukee, there's just not a lot of room to fit so many people. It's impossible to park at the start. We took a shuttle bus from a few miles away. We arrived at the staging area at about 6:30 am. There were 18 waves. Loren and I were in...the 18th wave. We had almost 2 hours to kill and the transition area closed at 6:45 so we needed to have all our crap in order by then.
The good thing about starting so late, is we got to watch the pros start which was really cool. The lead guy came out of the water with over a minute lead. The first woman out of the water, Chrissie Wellington came out not after. Chrissie is the current and 3x Ironman world champ. When she got out of the water and got her wet suit off, one of the pro men stopped in his tracks to let her go in front of him into the bike transition area. She is very well respected by pro men and women. After seeing the pro fields get going on the bike, we headed over to the swim start. Where we still had about a half hour to wait.
We waited as wave by wave, people went off and the crowd on the beach got smaller. At least the water was warm.
And finally, wave 18, women 35-39 were ready to go.
In the Tour de France, they call the last rider to finish the Lanterne Rouge, meaning the red light, the caboose. The end. It's no surprise that as the last wave to go off, we were given red swim caps.
Now if you've never done a triathlon swim let me tell you: it's no picnic out there. This is no leisurely laps in the pool, no quaint paddling around. This is a rugby scrum. Under water. This can be very scary and intimidating to a lot of people. Me? Well, I some how find myself right in the middle of it. Mostly because I, like everyone else out there, wants a good position. I want to be right on the buoys that mark the course so I swim the shortest distance possible. So there's kicking, and shoving, and people swimming over people. It's crazy. After a few 100 meters, it's settles down and I find a nice rhythm. The lake has found a rhythm too, and it's choppy. More than once I come up for air only to be smacked in the face with water, which I guess is better than being smacked in the face with a foot. I don't recall it looking this choppy when the pros went out 90 minutes earlier.
In the last straightaway, I stole a peek at my watch. I wonder if anyone heard me say FUCK under water. I was way off my pace. I came out of the water in 41:28, a good 5 minutes slower than I wanted. I got up on shore and ran past some very slow swimming men making their way to transition. I had a couple of kids pull my wetsuit off (note to new triathletes: if a race has wetsuit peelers, USE THEM! It makes life in that moment so much better) and headed to my bike. It did make me feel better to hear other people grumbling about the chop in the water, it seemed to slow everyone down.
Helmet on, shoes on, glasses on, on bike, off we go.
I consider my self an above average cyclist so I expected to be passing a lot of people on the bike. A lot. Esp. with this late start. I was right. I was to the left an awful lot. Though ya know what? I was lacking in some power. Stupid pre race sore legs. Oh and what's that blowing in my face? Oh that's wind. Oh hey while we're at it, let's have some rain!
I was resenting starting last.
56 miles is a pretty far way to ride, esp. when you have to run 13.1 miles after. Oh and you just swam 1.2 miles. I found a nice groove and just tried to stay there. This is a course with a couple of climbs and some rolling hills. It's very nice and does have some stretches that can be very fast. A lot of that changes when the road is wet however. Wet roads bring out flat tires and bike crashes, 2 things no one ever wants. I hate seeing riders down, I hate the thought that that could be me, it could be someone I know. So far it hasn't been either, but some knows every rider down.
At mile 25, Loren passes me. I know in every race, she's going to pass me. She spots me a few minutes in the swim but I know it's coming, and lately, it's been sooner than I expect. She looks very very strong as she goes flying by. I don't see her ahead of me for long. She's gone. I'm not riding as well as I want. In my head I'm just trying to chalk it up to not a great day. Get met to the run. I'm curious to see how my years off of tri training to focus just on running pay off.
The last 3 miles of the bike, I can see people out on the run portion. There are so many of them! Now I'm really annoyed I had to start so late.
I get into the transition area: Helmet off, hat on, shoes off, socks on (I bike without socks) shoes on, gel in pockets:GO.
Luckily, my bike rack was right near the exit to the run.
I suck down a Clif Shot.
Oh hello legs, why you feel like lead. This should be interesting.
The longer the race, the longer it takes to get land legs. They just feel heavy, I feel slow. I start doing math. Ok, I think a PR is out so let's try for under 6 hours and while we're at it, let's get this run done in under 2 hours.
I hit the first mile in a little over 9 minutes. As I go on, I start ticking off sub 9 minute miles. Not too bad. By mile 4 I feel fairly normal. I'm running with a 25 year old women (we all have our ages on the back of our legs). We're keeping a very good pace together. She leaves me around mile 7 and I pick up someone else who is my age. I'm feeling good.
The run is a 2 loop out and back. I see Chris twice, Tim twice, and Loren 3 times. The last time I saw Loren she was at mile 11. She looked at me and just said ouch.
The run has 1 significant hill which is run twice since it's 2 loops. I run so many hills where I live. I remember doing this course 5 years ago and thinking it was a monster. This time, I knew it was there, but it was no problem. I was passing people on it left and right.
When I hit mile 10, I started to pick it up. Under 6 hours was in the bag and I was feeling really good. Just past mile 12, I saw Loren on the side of the road cheering me in.
While final turn and a grassy straightaway to the finish line. I passed at least 5 people in that last stretch.
I hit my watch: 5:50. Way under 6 hours, about 2 minutes off my PR. My run time was 1:54, by far the fasted run I've ever done in a half ironman.
As I'm crossing through the finishing area, a woman out stretches a medal to put around my neck and says in a British accent CONGRATULATIONS! I look up, and it's Chrissie Wellington. Still in race clothes. She had to have finished hours earlier and here she is, giving out metals to us age groupers. I was in shock. I asked her if she won and she said yes, in the modest tone she's known for. I don't think I've ever been so star struck before, which even surprised me.
Loren met me at the finishing area and we went and sat in the lake. AAHHHH it felt so good on the legs!
After eating ( A LOT), packing up all our crap (A LOT) we headed to the shuttle bus back. It has been about 2 hours since we finished. Off in the distance, I could see Chrissie by herself, carrying all her gear and rolling her bike away. I'd love to see more pro athletes like that.
Ok, let's get to the numbers shall we? The results haven't been totally sorted out but I think there were 141 people in my age group and 2141 finishers.
Me: 5:50:25 35th in age group swim 41:28 (65th in AG) bike 3:08:46 (45th in AG) run 1:54:53 (25th in AG)
Loren 5:31:11 (18th in AG. FIRST TIME AT DISTANCE)
And a shout out to Chris (5:30:38) and Tim (5:47:47) for finishing your first (and not last I'm sure. I don't care what you say Stoia) Half Ironman.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Now you seen me, now you don't
ok ok ok, I've been MIA. Much to report on. Let's do some bullet points to get you all up to date.
• The day after my last post I was up to da bronx to run cross country again. Why did I think this was a good idea? I was tired. I felt like my heart was going to burst through my lungs and jump out of my chest. I didn't run well, it was more like a tempo run which is fine. Amazingly enough, I was 2nd in my age group. The killer is I got out kicked by the woman who WON my age group in the last 100m. Oh well. There was no way I could have held her off.
• 2 weeks after that, I was back to da bronx to keep my string of winning baked goods alive. I was not successful in that effort. During my warm up, I completely ate shit on the trail, twisting my ankle, skinning my knee, covering myself in dust and looking like a fool walking back to the start with a number pinned on. Since I race there often, one of the organizers took one look at me, shook his head, and handed me my $5 back. So the bake goods streak for the summer ended at 2 muffins and 1 piece of carrot cake. Not bad.
• The ankle is fine, it wasn't a bad twist. A few days off and ready to go again. Skinned knees. I'm almost 40.
• I do not remember the last time I did speed work.
• Getting ready for this half ironman has been interesting. I've been riding well and running pretty well, except for the no speed work out thing. Will report back next week post race.
• I ran the Bronx half today. I figured since I'm doing a half ironman next week I should make sure I can still run 13.1 miles. Again, not being raced. I ran 1:51:18 8:30 pace. Just fine for a long run. Thankfully the temps were down though it was still really really humid. Glad to have that over.
• And lastly, after cursing Active.com endlessly, lots of online chats, more cursing, some texts and a phone call, I signed up for Ironman Lake Placid for next July This will be my 4th Ironman. Minutes after signing up I also said to myself, this will be my last Ironman. Those are famous last words. Stayed tuned for the next, oh YEAR, as I get ready for an adventure I haven't been on since 2004.
• The day after my last post I was up to da bronx to run cross country again. Why did I think this was a good idea? I was tired. I felt like my heart was going to burst through my lungs and jump out of my chest. I didn't run well, it was more like a tempo run which is fine. Amazingly enough, I was 2nd in my age group. The killer is I got out kicked by the woman who WON my age group in the last 100m. Oh well. There was no way I could have held her off.
• 2 weeks after that, I was back to da bronx to keep my string of winning baked goods alive. I was not successful in that effort. During my warm up, I completely ate shit on the trail, twisting my ankle, skinning my knee, covering myself in dust and looking like a fool walking back to the start with a number pinned on. Since I race there often, one of the organizers took one look at me, shook his head, and handed me my $5 back. So the bake goods streak for the summer ended at 2 muffins and 1 piece of carrot cake. Not bad.
• The ankle is fine, it wasn't a bad twist. A few days off and ready to go again. Skinned knees. I'm almost 40.
• I do not remember the last time I did speed work.
• Getting ready for this half ironman has been interesting. I've been riding well and running pretty well, except for the no speed work out thing. Will report back next week post race.
• I ran the Bronx half today. I figured since I'm doing a half ironman next week I should make sure I can still run 13.1 miles. Again, not being raced. I ran 1:51:18 8:30 pace. Just fine for a long run. Thankfully the temps were down though it was still really really humid. Glad to have that over.
• And lastly, after cursing Active.com endlessly, lots of online chats, more cursing, some texts and a phone call, I signed up for Ironman Lake Placid for next July This will be my 4th Ironman. Minutes after signing up I also said to myself, this will be my last Ironman. Those are famous last words. Stayed tuned for the next, oh YEAR, as I get ready for an adventure I haven't been on since 2004.
Monday, June 28, 2010
The temperature's rising, it isn't surprising,
The heat. Yes, blah blah blah, you all know the drill. It's hot, it's humid, the running sucks. But I did run today. First time since my tri about 10 days ago. I should have gone out earlier that 8:30, when it was already over 80 degrees with high humidity. Loren's outa town, however, and I like to give Bea as much time outside in the morning as I can. I can deal with the heat better that she can and she's been feeling a little cooped up. Even though I have the AC on, I think she likes being able to be outside for long stretches of time. In this heat, she just wilts and her little tongue hang downs to the ground.
Anywooo. I've been giving myself time off from running, trying to get this foot under control. PT twice a week is now down to once a week along with stretching, icing, taping, and all that stuff. Really, I'd like it to just be better. And of course there's the fear it's going to hurt when I run. It did a bit when I started and loosened up a bit. I'd say it's about 80-85%. I ran 4 miles. I easily could have done more but I didn't want to push it and it was disgusting out.
My half ironman is in 8 weeks. The good news, I have some serious running fitness coming off of Boston (still!) Would I like to be running more? Yes. And I will, but it's not going to be high milage. For one, clearly I can't right now. Also, I do have 2 other sports to work on, so silver lining. I don't think I'm going to give up too much running fitness though I would like to run more. Right now, I'm thinking 3 runs a week (maybe 4 with a brick).
My cycling form is coming along. I rode over 100 miles last week. Sat. Loren and I did a great 50 mile ride with some serious intervals and hills. I love love love my new bike. The swimming is coming around as well. We headed out to Coney Island on Sunday for a nice open water swim. For me, I don't even worry about time on these swims, it's just practicing in the open water which is totally different than the pool.
So right now, the thorn in my side is running, which does bum me out. I am planning on an easy fall, but man, I'd like to have it under control!
Anywooo. I've been giving myself time off from running, trying to get this foot under control. PT twice a week is now down to once a week along with stretching, icing, taping, and all that stuff. Really, I'd like it to just be better. And of course there's the fear it's going to hurt when I run. It did a bit when I started and loosened up a bit. I'd say it's about 80-85%. I ran 4 miles. I easily could have done more but I didn't want to push it and it was disgusting out.
My half ironman is in 8 weeks. The good news, I have some serious running fitness coming off of Boston (still!) Would I like to be running more? Yes. And I will, but it's not going to be high milage. For one, clearly I can't right now. Also, I do have 2 other sports to work on, so silver lining. I don't think I'm going to give up too much running fitness though I would like to run more. Right now, I'm thinking 3 runs a week (maybe 4 with a brick).
My cycling form is coming along. I rode over 100 miles last week. Sat. Loren and I did a great 50 mile ride with some serious intervals and hills. I love love love my new bike. The swimming is coming around as well. We headed out to Coney Island on Sunday for a nice open water swim. For me, I don't even worry about time on these swims, it's just practicing in the open water which is totally different than the pool.
So right now, the thorn in my side is running, which does bum me out. I am planning on an easy fall, but man, I'd like to have it under control!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Balancing on one wounded wing
Let's pick up where we left off shall we?
Last week, I ran a 10k. Ok, I ran a mile and a half of a 10k then jogged to the finish line with a foot in a lot of pain. I thought for sure this was more than the usual PF I've had off and on and I'd be taking a nice long running vacation. On Monday I went to see my trusty physical therapists to see if I could get to the bottom of this (har har, bottom...of...my foot...ok, never mind). John saw me and work on my foot and my calf and thought I had perhaps strained something a little deeper on my foot. He figured at least a week off of running. On Thurs. I went back and saw Pete. It was feeling better. I have been doing everything I'm suppose to with this foot of mine and also decided to started 10 days of ibuprofin to try and blow out the inflammation. We talked about what caused the flare up, Pete didn't think it was just running. It could have been aggravated by running in flats that day but the most likely culprit: walking the dog. I walk the dog at least 90 minutes every day and while I wear good shoes, clearly my fairly flat foot isn't getting enough support. He suggested putting superfeet insoles in my dog walking shoes. I have a pair in my hiking boots, so they're going in my dog walking shoes. I asked about maybe running this weekend. Pete looked at John and they both sorta shrugged. I signed up to do an Olympic distance tri as a tune up for a half ironman Loren and I are doing in Aug. I hated the thought of paying so much money for a race and not doing it or doing just the swim and the bike. My plan was to do the swim and the bike and see how I felt in the run, if it hurt, I'd stop. They were both fine with that. They figured I might aggravated it a bit but not do any harm.
Being totally honest, I really hadn't trained for this race. An Olympic distance race is a 1500m swim (I've been swimming again for about a 6 weeks), 24 mile bike (I've ridden maybe just over 100 miles this year and they had to cut the bike 2 miles), and a 10k run (which was about a third of a mile short, very annoying).
We spent Friday night at Loren's friend Marge's house and drove to the race very early Sat. morning. Triathlons, require so much stuff which makes them kinda a pain. We checked in, unloaded the car of bikes, and crap, squeezed into wetsuits and got ready to go. It's been about 2 years since I've done a full on triathlon. This should be interesting.
The women were the 3rd wave of the swim. All the girls gathered at the edge of the lake and got ready for the start. Once we were off, I settled into a rhythm quickly. I was also in a nice little pack, trying to avoid feet to the face. We were swimming into the sun which made it very hard to sight. I knew this wasn't going to be my best swim ever since I'm just getting back into swimming shape. As I got out of the water, I looked at my watch, just over 34 minutes. Not terrible, I should be at least 2 minutes faster. Out of 29 people in my age group, I was 19th. There was long run from the swim exit to the bikes. I wasn't too happy about doing this in my bare feet with my foot feeling the was it was.
Get into transition, get off wet suit, put on helmet, put on shoes, go. Transition took me 1:54.
Off to the bike.
Immediately, I started powering on the bike, passing people just settling in. Faster guys from the swim wave behind me passed me in the first 2 miles or so of the bike, but that was generally it. I've been cycling for about 15 years. That really really helps. Cycling relies a lot on muscle memory so even when I'm not in top cycling form, it comes back very quickly. This was a tough bike course, there was a lot of climbing. On every hill, I just settled in...a passed a ton of people. I would pass women and notice them trying to hang on. Nope. Nice try.
One woman passed me on the bike and stayed in front of me.
It happened at mile 13 and it was Loren. I was actually surprised, she usually passes me, but it's in the run. She's getting better at swimming and hilly bikes courses are her strength. About 22 miles in 1:20. I had really hoped to have a faster bike split, but those hills...ugh. I had the 4th fasted split in the bike in my AG (Loren had the 2nd as far as over all women, Loren's was 8th, mine was 14th). Off the bike, rack bike, off with helmet, off with bike shoes, on with running shoes. Ok, I wasn't sure what to expect here. It felt ok. It was a little sore. I figured I'd just see what happens. The run is a 2 loop course so if it sucks, I can drop out after one loop or sooner and just walk or hobble back. I think it was really nice and warmed up from the bike and swim. First mile, I look at my watch: 8:18. Ok, that's pretty good. It's a little funny trying to get land legs after a bike and difficult to gauge how I'm actually running. Plus, the first half of the first loop was down hill. Before the turn around, I saw Loren heading the other way, she looked really good. After half a loop, I knew I was going to be ok and started targeting people to pick off. It was a little more difficult on the 2nd loop because I didn't know if I was passing people or lapping people. There were also only 2 miles markers so after the 2nd turn around, I wasn't really sure where I was. I was ready to be done, that's for sure. I started doing runner's math, which is never a good idea. I figured maybe I'd get in under 50 minutes for the 10k which I thought was a little crazy given the week I was having and the fact that I had a hill to run up before I finished.
I was really really happy to be able to actually run. Seriously.
Last straight away then a left to the finish. PHEW! 2:47:08. Really really not bad. My run time was 47:48. The course was short. If it was right, I may have edged in under 50. What's so annoying though is there was another women (in my AG with the same run time who I think came in before me so she was placed ahead of me. There was another women 1 second ahead of both of us.) I was 9th in my AG on the run. Loren? Well, Loren was first in our AG on the run. Oh yea, she also had the fasted run of any woman that day with 41:13. Hot damn that girl is fast!
So when all is said in done, this is what it looks like:
Loren 2/29 in AG 14th woman over all.
Me 6/29 in AG 23rd woman over all.
This race was the regional qualifier for the Olympic distance Nation AG Championships, we both qualified. I'm pretty ok with that result all things considered!
My foot really held up. It was a little sore after, but not bad. There was someone there doing active release after the race and he worked on it which I think really helped. I think I'll take another week off of running and go to PT 2x again this week and take it from there.
With the half ironman 9 weeks away, I'll start hitting the pool and the bike just a wee bit more seriously. I'm not too concerned with my running fitness so while I'd like my foot to be 100%, it's not and I can deal with it as we go along.
Last week, I ran a 10k. Ok, I ran a mile and a half of a 10k then jogged to the finish line with a foot in a lot of pain. I thought for sure this was more than the usual PF I've had off and on and I'd be taking a nice long running vacation. On Monday I went to see my trusty physical therapists to see if I could get to the bottom of this (har har, bottom...of...my foot...ok, never mind). John saw me and work on my foot and my calf and thought I had perhaps strained something a little deeper on my foot. He figured at least a week off of running. On Thurs. I went back and saw Pete. It was feeling better. I have been doing everything I'm suppose to with this foot of mine and also decided to started 10 days of ibuprofin to try and blow out the inflammation. We talked about what caused the flare up, Pete didn't think it was just running. It could have been aggravated by running in flats that day but the most likely culprit: walking the dog. I walk the dog at least 90 minutes every day and while I wear good shoes, clearly my fairly flat foot isn't getting enough support. He suggested putting superfeet insoles in my dog walking shoes. I have a pair in my hiking boots, so they're going in my dog walking shoes. I asked about maybe running this weekend. Pete looked at John and they both sorta shrugged. I signed up to do an Olympic distance tri as a tune up for a half ironman Loren and I are doing in Aug. I hated the thought of paying so much money for a race and not doing it or doing just the swim and the bike. My plan was to do the swim and the bike and see how I felt in the run, if it hurt, I'd stop. They were both fine with that. They figured I might aggravated it a bit but not do any harm.
Being totally honest, I really hadn't trained for this race. An Olympic distance race is a 1500m swim (I've been swimming again for about a 6 weeks), 24 mile bike (I've ridden maybe just over 100 miles this year and they had to cut the bike 2 miles), and a 10k run (which was about a third of a mile short, very annoying).
We spent Friday night at Loren's friend Marge's house and drove to the race very early Sat. morning. Triathlons, require so much stuff which makes them kinda a pain. We checked in, unloaded the car of bikes, and crap, squeezed into wetsuits and got ready to go. It's been about 2 years since I've done a full on triathlon. This should be interesting.
The women were the 3rd wave of the swim. All the girls gathered at the edge of the lake and got ready for the start. Once we were off, I settled into a rhythm quickly. I was also in a nice little pack, trying to avoid feet to the face. We were swimming into the sun which made it very hard to sight. I knew this wasn't going to be my best swim ever since I'm just getting back into swimming shape. As I got out of the water, I looked at my watch, just over 34 minutes. Not terrible, I should be at least 2 minutes faster. Out of 29 people in my age group, I was 19th. There was long run from the swim exit to the bikes. I wasn't too happy about doing this in my bare feet with my foot feeling the was it was.
Get into transition, get off wet suit, put on helmet, put on shoes, go. Transition took me 1:54.
Off to the bike.
Immediately, I started powering on the bike, passing people just settling in. Faster guys from the swim wave behind me passed me in the first 2 miles or so of the bike, but that was generally it. I've been cycling for about 15 years. That really really helps. Cycling relies a lot on muscle memory so even when I'm not in top cycling form, it comes back very quickly. This was a tough bike course, there was a lot of climbing. On every hill, I just settled in...a passed a ton of people. I would pass women and notice them trying to hang on. Nope. Nice try.
One woman passed me on the bike and stayed in front of me.
It happened at mile 13 and it was Loren. I was actually surprised, she usually passes me, but it's in the run. She's getting better at swimming and hilly bikes courses are her strength. About 22 miles in 1:20. I had really hoped to have a faster bike split, but those hills...ugh. I had the 4th fasted split in the bike in my AG (Loren had the 2nd as far as over all women, Loren's was 8th, mine was 14th). Off the bike, rack bike, off with helmet, off with bike shoes, on with running shoes. Ok, I wasn't sure what to expect here. It felt ok. It was a little sore. I figured I'd just see what happens. The run is a 2 loop course so if it sucks, I can drop out after one loop or sooner and just walk or hobble back. I think it was really nice and warmed up from the bike and swim. First mile, I look at my watch: 8:18. Ok, that's pretty good. It's a little funny trying to get land legs after a bike and difficult to gauge how I'm actually running. Plus, the first half of the first loop was down hill. Before the turn around, I saw Loren heading the other way, she looked really good. After half a loop, I knew I was going to be ok and started targeting people to pick off. It was a little more difficult on the 2nd loop because I didn't know if I was passing people or lapping people. There were also only 2 miles markers so after the 2nd turn around, I wasn't really sure where I was. I was ready to be done, that's for sure. I started doing runner's math, which is never a good idea. I figured maybe I'd get in under 50 minutes for the 10k which I thought was a little crazy given the week I was having and the fact that I had a hill to run up before I finished.
I was really really happy to be able to actually run. Seriously.
Last straight away then a left to the finish. PHEW! 2:47:08. Really really not bad. My run time was 47:48. The course was short. If it was right, I may have edged in under 50. What's so annoying though is there was another women (in my AG with the same run time who I think came in before me so she was placed ahead of me. There was another women 1 second ahead of both of us.) I was 9th in my AG on the run. Loren? Well, Loren was first in our AG on the run. Oh yea, she also had the fasted run of any woman that day with 41:13. Hot damn that girl is fast!
So when all is said in done, this is what it looks like:
Loren 2/29 in AG 14th woman over all.
Me 6/29 in AG 23rd woman over all.
This race was the regional qualifier for the Olympic distance Nation AG Championships, we both qualified. I'm pretty ok with that result all things considered!
My foot really held up. It was a little sore after, but not bad. There was someone there doing active release after the race and he worked on it which I think really helped. I think I'll take another week off of running and go to PT 2x again this week and take it from there.
With the half ironman 9 weeks away, I'll start hitting the pool and the bike just a wee bit more seriously. I'm not too concerned with my running fitness so while I'd like my foot to be 100%, it's not and I can deal with it as we go along.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
swimmin, swimmin in the water
I feel a little bit all over the place right now, trainingwise. I took 7 days off of running and my first run back was yesterday. It was ok. 5.5 miles with Rayk and Ishii. I have no foot pain while running, and a hint of it after. It's frustrating. I'd really like to try and get to the bottom of this. The upside is I don't have any huge distance races (like, ya know, a marathon) in my future so I don't need high milage. As I've mentioned before though, I've gotten use to running a lot. I just have to switch my mindset a bit. I think I'm going to go back to PT next week and just get really worked on. I've been extremely tight ever since Boston even with all the stretching I do.
In other news, since I'm not running what I normally do, I've gone swimming several times this week. This morning I dragged Loren around the pool for a mile. Quite a change from how it goes when we run together. Being in good running shape has gotten me into decent swimming shape. Obviously totally different muscle groups, but aerobically, no problem what so ever. I also went for my first real bike ride this week. River Road is just over the George Washington Bridge and runs along the Hudson. It's a beautiful road to ride on with almost no car traffic. It's a good work out with some nice climbing and a 26 mile round trip from my house. I admit my quads are a little sore, those cycling muscles have ben hibernating for a while.
So yea, I'm staying in shape. I'm getting ready for that that tri next month. I would like to be running more. I think low(er) milage is in my future for the time being, but clearly that didn't hurt me in Boston so I'm sure it'll all be ok in the end.
In other news, since I'm not running what I normally do, I've gone swimming several times this week. This morning I dragged Loren around the pool for a mile. Quite a change from how it goes when we run together. Being in good running shape has gotten me into decent swimming shape. Obviously totally different muscle groups, but aerobically, no problem what so ever. I also went for my first real bike ride this week. River Road is just over the George Washington Bridge and runs along the Hudson. It's a beautiful road to ride on with almost no car traffic. It's a good work out with some nice climbing and a 26 mile round trip from my house. I admit my quads are a little sore, those cycling muscles have ben hibernating for a while.
So yea, I'm staying in shape. I'm getting ready for that that tri next month. I would like to be running more. I think low(er) milage is in my future for the time being, but clearly that didn't hurt me in Boston so I'm sure it'll all be ok in the end.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
And the blood runs crazy with giant strides
Yesterday was the first, though not the last, Birthday Triathalon™. It was mostly a relay though there were 3 of us who dared to go the whole distance.
First leg: run in Central Park. Ok, I dont know who set that pace but we were trucking. It felt good. I'm not quite ready to run that fast on just my every day runs, but close. Just under 6 mile. (Ishii, I'm sorry we missed you...you were actually early, the time screw up was totally my fault).
Leg 2: trip to the russian baths. Dont let the name fool you. It's not really baths, but steam rooms. Also, dont let that description fool you either. It's in a basement. And you can tell. Sure you never feel rushed to book a massage because you'll be hounded the minute you walk in. But that aside, I love this place. It is completely lacking in glamour but is a true New York experience. Since it was my birthday, I got a Platza. Here's how is a platza is described: Lie down while in the Russian Room and a platza specialist will scrub you (actually beat you) with a broom made of fresh oak leaves, sopping with olive oil soap. The oak leaves contain a natural astringent, which will open your pours, remove toxins, and actually take off layers of dead skin. Some described the platza as "Jewish acupuncture".
What it feels like: lay down on your stomach on the top row of the russian room, which is a very hot radiant heat room. A large russian man will cover your head with a wet towel and then will beat you like you're in a car wash. You'll get to the point of feeling very very hot, he will know this then add more soapy water to your person to cool you off. He was also poor cold water on your head as you good. Having seen this done, it kinda looks like you're being waterboarded but it doesn't feel that way. He then massages you and stretches you out. Your rolled over on to your back and the process is repeated. Then, he sits you up, and washes you off. Usually afterwards, you're placed in the cold plunge. They had just rechlorinated it and it smelled terrible, so he stuck me in a shower and rinsed me off (believe me, at this point, you can't really do it yourself). I was then covered in towels and a robe and sat down. Now this was new, my fellow bathers did not have this experience during their beatings: he covered my face in honey. It was a slightly odd experience, as was the desire to lick my own face which is not really possible (not for lack of trying). Voila: noodle body, pudding brain. It felt awesome. I highly recommend it. These guys are incredibly strong and I can not imagine spending my day in a very very hot room doing that to people.
Once I was able to speak in complete sentences again, we headed to the final leg.
Leg 3: SUSHI. Funny, this leg had the most people...hmmm. I picked a place close to the baths so I could just stumble over. Fu Sushi. I had never been there it was close by and had really good reviews. Man, it was amazing. The service was quick and the food was really really good. Melt in your mouth sushi.
Over all, a total success. I hope for the next one some of you will hike up the skirts and do more than just the last event!
Special shout out to Sharon and Sandi who completed all 3 events.
First leg: run in Central Park. Ok, I dont know who set that pace but we were trucking. It felt good. I'm not quite ready to run that fast on just my every day runs, but close. Just under 6 mile. (Ishii, I'm sorry we missed you...you were actually early, the time screw up was totally my fault).
Leg 2: trip to the russian baths. Dont let the name fool you. It's not really baths, but steam rooms. Also, dont let that description fool you either. It's in a basement. And you can tell. Sure you never feel rushed to book a massage because you'll be hounded the minute you walk in. But that aside, I love this place. It is completely lacking in glamour but is a true New York experience. Since it was my birthday, I got a Platza. Here's how is a platza is described: Lie down while in the Russian Room and a platza specialist will scrub you (actually beat you) with a broom made of fresh oak leaves, sopping with olive oil soap. The oak leaves contain a natural astringent, which will open your pours, remove toxins, and actually take off layers of dead skin. Some described the platza as "Jewish acupuncture".
What it feels like: lay down on your stomach on the top row of the russian room, which is a very hot radiant heat room. A large russian man will cover your head with a wet towel and then will beat you like you're in a car wash. You'll get to the point of feeling very very hot, he will know this then add more soapy water to your person to cool you off. He was also poor cold water on your head as you good. Having seen this done, it kinda looks like you're being waterboarded but it doesn't feel that way. He then massages you and stretches you out. Your rolled over on to your back and the process is repeated. Then, he sits you up, and washes you off. Usually afterwards, you're placed in the cold plunge. They had just rechlorinated it and it smelled terrible, so he stuck me in a shower and rinsed me off (believe me, at this point, you can't really do it yourself). I was then covered in towels and a robe and sat down. Now this was new, my fellow bathers did not have this experience during their beatings: he covered my face in honey. It was a slightly odd experience, as was the desire to lick my own face which is not really possible (not for lack of trying). Voila: noodle body, pudding brain. It felt awesome. I highly recommend it. These guys are incredibly strong and I can not imagine spending my day in a very very hot room doing that to people.
Once I was able to speak in complete sentences again, we headed to the final leg.
Leg 3: SUSHI. Funny, this leg had the most people...hmmm. I picked a place close to the baths so I could just stumble over. Fu Sushi. I had never been there it was close by and had really good reviews. Man, it was amazing. The service was quick and the food was really really good. Melt in your mouth sushi.
Over all, a total success. I hope for the next one some of you will hike up the skirts and do more than just the last event!
Special shout out to Sharon and Sandi who completed all 3 events.
Monday, August 31, 2009
working for the weekend
I did my long run on Thurs last week. The heat has finally broken (for now). It was about 70 degrees and almost no humidity. AAAHHHH. 17 miles. Felt really good and I believe that was the longest run I've done since NJ.
I moved things around this week to do a sprint triathlon on Staten Island. The whole idea is pretty crazy, I've swam twice since last June, been out on my road bike ya know with the intent of riding, not just commuting twice. Yea, so it's short, I still have no business doing a tri. Hence the long run on Thurs. My foot has been feeling better so I decided to try running consecutive days. Loren and I ran with Bea on Sat. for 4 miles. No problem, we'd have to see how I felt racing on Sun.
Friday and Sat, we had a lot of rain here. By Sat afternoon, all the NYC beaches were closed due to weather and rip tides. The race had to cancel the swim, in it's place, they added a 1 mile run making it a duathlon. This certainly favors the runners though I dont think by too much, unless you really suck at swimming (the swim was to be a third of a mile). But 1 mile? How am I suppoe to run just 1 mile? I dont really like "racing" anything under 5k. I figured I'd go out and run a controlled 1 mile, nothing crazy.
When we got to the race, Loren and I rode for about 15 minutes, it had been a year since I've been on my tri bike after all. Then we ran a mile. I figured I was pretty warmed up for my 1 mile. I ran it in 7:14 and felt pretty good. Got into transition and jumped on my bike.
The bike was an odd course, pancake flat (the whole race was) 3 times around a 4 mile loop. So a turn every 2 miles. That kinda sucked. While I can take turns aggressively, I still had to slow down a bit and make sure I wasn't near anyone who didn't know how to take turns (sad, but true). Only 1 woman passed me on the bike and it was my team mate Jen who is very strong.
I noticed on the 2nd lap Loren, who is a very strong rider (and an extremely strong runner, her first mile run was 6:15) was the first woman over all. I finished the bike in 33:09. Loren finished in 32:10. I was surprised it was that close given my lack o riding.
On to run 2. 4 miles out and back, flat with some boardwalk right along the beach. I felt pretty good off the bike. I was bummed that in the first half mile 3 women would pass me like I was standing still. That would be it for the women passing me in the run however. In the last 2 miles, I passed another woman so I had made up a bit of ground that way. On the way back, I could see Loren. She was first woman. I kept looking for the 2nd woman behind her and she was a long way back. I was very excited that she had such a lead and looked like she's was going to win. I felt strong the whole race. My run time was 30:34, about 7:40 pace. Over all race time: 1:12:16.
Loren was first woman over all with a time of 1:06:42 (her 2nd run time 26:53) she beat 2nd place by 2 minutes. She was also 9th over all.
I was 10th woman and 3rd in my age group. Not bad for a race I didn't train for AT ALL. It makes me excited about getting back to triathlon next summer.
My heel hurt in the evening, though that was to be expected. I woke up this morning pretty much pain free. I think it's coming along. With the consecutive running not making it worse this weekend, I'll try that again this week. I'd really like to get my miles back up. Aug I ran 114 miles, I believe that was my lowest month all year.
I leave with you some lovely race photos:
Monday, June 9, 2008
Keuka Lake Tri
Loren and I headed up to Ithica on Friday for the Keuka Lake tri, which was Sunday. She went to school in Ithica so we stayed with one of her college team mates. I had never been it's a fun funky little town.
Fri. evening we went for a short trail run that ended at a swimming hole. It was hot. Really hot, close to 90. The reward was jumping in the water which felt great then running home soaking wet.
Sat. afternoon, we drove to Keuka, which is about an hour away. The race was staged at Keuka College and we stayed in the dorms. This was Loren's first Olympic distance tri and my first olympic in several years. It was also the regional qualifier for the national age group championships. It was an outside goal to qualify, seeing that my age group is usually really tough and I had not trained the way I normally would for a race like this.
The weather was hot. It was just going to be hot all morning. Luckily these things start early.
Our swim wave was last. I had what I felt was a really good swim. I was relaxed and comfortable. And for most of it, Claudia, who I've trained with for years, was right next to me. What are the chances? This is the 2nd time that's happened. I got out of the what and my watch said 30 minutes. I was happy with my time for the swim (1500 meters, just shy of a mile). The water was a bit choppy, but tolerable. Claudia was a step a head of me going into transition.
I pulled off my wetsuit, put on my helmet and shoes and said lets go as I left for the bike. The bike course was a nice rolling course, 40k (just shy of 25 miles). There was a 2 mile climb at mile 10 which was interesting. I caught another friend during that climb, Rachel. She's a great swimmer. I think maybe 1 or 2 women actually passed me on the bike. I came in at 1:23, averaged close to 18mph. Now for the run. It was hot by this point. I didn't feel it on the bike so much since I was creating my own breeze by moving. The run was a different story. I just couldn't get my legs going. Rachel passed me back in the first mile. Then by mile 3, Loren came speeding by me. I put 8 minutes on her in the swim. And there she was. She didn't think she was going to catch me, I did, I just didn't think it would be that soon. (the run is 10k, 6.2 miles).
After that, maybe 2 other women passed me and a lot of people we wallking. I was picking them off as I kept myself moving forward, dumping ice water over my head and putting it in my bra.
Around my 4.5, I saw a woman in my age group ahead of me. I tucked in behind her for a few minutes to get her pacing. Then I passed her. I wanted to make sure if I passed her I stayed ahead and I did. Coming in the home stretch, I could see Rachel, though she wasn't close enough for me to pass her back. This run was a true death march. I crossed the finish line in 2:57. I was happy to get under 3 even if my run was not what I wanted. The heat was just too much.
When all was said and done, Loren took 2nd in our age group, 11th over all. I was 4th in age group, 22nd over all. We both qualified for nationals, as did Rachel who took 4th in her age group.
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