Thursday, September 3, 2009
One more!
This may seem obvious, but...STRETCH! Before the swim move around a little and stretch! (don't stretch cold muscles ya'll!) You won't really get to stretch between events, (although C told me she did between the bike and run....obviously she wasn't worried about it being a race and all...ok, she beat me by 3 minutes so I shouldn't talk haha)...but not stretching at all didn't really work for me. By mile 2 of the run my legs were tight heavy muscle balls. Stretch!
Tips
I'm finally mentally recovered....kinda...now I'm mentally drained from starting grad school and helping my old sorority with their fall rush (um hello thanks old sorority sister who shall remain nameless who failed to tell me the time commitment involved when talking me into doing this!?)...but I will try to come up with a few tri tips as promised....here we go......
1) Use the port-o-potties by the swim start not by the transition area....the transition area toilets were totally gross by 6:30 am.
2) If I do it again I will seriously not have any costume changes! I wasted almost 6 minutes in transition drying off and pulling my bike shorts over my bathing suit. next year I'll either be skinny enough to ride and run in bathing suit bottoms or I'll swim with my bike shorts on (I didn't do that this time b/c when I wore them in the pool one night I thought they were "slowing me down"...who knows?).
3) Eat some energy jelly beans or goo packs during the race (but try them out weeks before to make sure they don't tear up your stomach). I didn't try them ahead of time, so I was afraid to eat too many, and by the end my blood sugar was really low, hence the massive headache and haziness after the race that left me out of commission for the car ride home.
4) Don't plan anything for the next day...aka don't drive 5 hours after the race. Go home, eat, shower, take a nap, and eat again.
5) I saw one girl with a hat on under her bike helmet...I thought about that, thought it would a) look stupid and b) be too hot, but in all honestly it probably saved her 2 minutes in transition b/c all she had to do was rack her bike and take her helmet off and go. (Unless she had to change shoes, but I think she was wearing sneakers in pedal cages). Something to consider...
That's all I got for tonight as 4 loads of laundry are waiting to be folded.....
1) Use the port-o-potties by the swim start not by the transition area....the transition area toilets were totally gross by 6:30 am.
2) If I do it again I will seriously not have any costume changes! I wasted almost 6 minutes in transition drying off and pulling my bike shorts over my bathing suit. next year I'll either be skinny enough to ride and run in bathing suit bottoms or I'll swim with my bike shorts on (I didn't do that this time b/c when I wore them in the pool one night I thought they were "slowing me down"...who knows?).
3) Eat some energy jelly beans or goo packs during the race (but try them out weeks before to make sure they don't tear up your stomach). I didn't try them ahead of time, so I was afraid to eat too many, and by the end my blood sugar was really low, hence the massive headache and haziness after the race that left me out of commission for the car ride home.
4) Don't plan anything for the next day...aka don't drive 5 hours after the race. Go home, eat, shower, take a nap, and eat again.
5) I saw one girl with a hat on under her bike helmet...I thought about that, thought it would a) look stupid and b) be too hot, but in all honestly it probably saved her 2 minutes in transition b/c all she had to do was rack her bike and take her helmet off and go. (Unless she had to change shoes, but I think she was wearing sneakers in pedal cages). Something to consider...
That's all I got for tonight as 4 loads of laundry are waiting to be folded.....
Monday, August 24, 2009
I am Iron Girl!
So I did it! (and so did A and C!) It was a crazy thing and I'm still exhausted (actually more mentally than physically), but I'll try to summarize it below!
The day before:
So you have to go pick up your race packet that contains your race numbers (one for your helmet and one for your waist), tshirt, and some other swag like sample energy gels, luna bars, cute socks, etc. etc. Then there is a whole race expo with different vendors selling gear, clothes, sport gels etc. It was kinda chaotic but fun. I ended up buying some body glide ($7?) (to prevent rubbing from your clothes), a water proof watch with a chrono feature so I could time myself ($55), and a racebelt ($8) to attach my number to so I didn't have to worry about fiddling with safety pins during the transition.
Then we went over to the lake to get our bikes inspected and rack the bikes.
It poured all day Saturday, but by sunday morning at 4:20 ( the time I woke up), it was clear. I jumped in the shower to wake up, pulled on my crap (ended up going with the race top my mom bought be last xmas and some speedo bikini bottoms from high school that were in a drawer of my child hood room) for the swim. We got there by 5:30, set up our transition stuff( I set down a trashbag, set out my shorts, bike gloves, helmet, sunglasses in the helmet, socks in shoes, some energy jelly beans (from Dick's Sporting Goods), and my race #. Then covered it with a towel. Also set my water and gatorade bottles in the bike (frozen the night before to stay cold).
Then we headed over to the swim start. They delayed the race a little, and we were the 12 wave to go (out of like 14, b/c of our age group and last name), so C and I didn't end up going till 8:40 (A was in the wave in front). I wish we hadn't had to wait around so long....we had to pee a million times (and the port o potties were NASTY by 6 am!). So we finally took off- they make you get in the water and tred for like 2-3 minutes before they sound the Aflac duck (the official sponsor!) and you take off. I did fairly well in the swim- it didn't seem that hard and I set goals as I went along to pass the swim caps of the previous wave that were still out there....(they were color coded by wave). I passed at least a few people out of two different waves!
When you reach the shore, some dudes help you get out of the water and then you run up to the transition area.On my way I slapped my friend high five (from ratemytriathlon.com...he was volunteering) and went on to my spot. It took me forever to get my stuff together (can definitely cut time there if you think about it). I pulled on my shorts, socks, shoes, ate a few jelly beans, pulled on a tshirt and my race belt, helmet, glasses and was on my way to the bike course.
Around the last two mile mark of the bike I hear someone yell my last name, and C had caught up with me! It was cool to ride into transition with her as both our families were there cheering us on! On the bike trail there were SO many supportive people on the side of the road...even the cops directing traffic were encouraging us as we went along! It was awesome!
So back to transition to re-rack and swap my helmet for a dry fit hat. I ran out (another high 5) and ran about 3 minutes before I had to walk. My left leg was crampppping! So I continued to walk/run until I again hear my name....it's my cousin, who had finished an hour earlier, double backing around to run with me! (anyone who does more than the race mileage is insane by the way) So then C ends up catching up again, and my cousin makes me run more than I originally intended to run. So I finished, got my medal, and took some pics with the girls. SOOO glad it's done!
The worst part was driving home (5 hours) a few hours later....I still couldn't really eat even though I needed some crazy calories, ended up getting a headache, feeling sick, and having to make a minor puke stop. By the time we got home I was fine, but I highly recommend just chillin afterwards and not getting in a car for 5 hours!
It was a really great experience and I raised over $500 to help the prostate cancer foundation in memory of my uncle.
The girls and I are already talking about next year....(ughhhh!?!). My top tips to come....
So when we got back we went to our separate areas
The day before:
So you have to go pick up your race packet that contains your race numbers (one for your helmet and one for your waist), tshirt, and some other swag like sample energy gels, luna bars, cute socks, etc. etc. Then there is a whole race expo with different vendors selling gear, clothes, sport gels etc. It was kinda chaotic but fun. I ended up buying some body glide ($7?) (to prevent rubbing from your clothes), a water proof watch with a chrono feature so I could time myself ($55), and a racebelt ($8) to attach my number to so I didn't have to worry about fiddling with safety pins during the transition.
Then we went over to the lake to get our bikes inspected and rack the bikes.
It poured all day Saturday, but by sunday morning at 4:20 ( the time I woke up), it was clear. I jumped in the shower to wake up, pulled on my crap (ended up going with the race top my mom bought be last xmas and some speedo bikini bottoms from high school that were in a drawer of my child hood room) for the swim. We got there by 5:30, set up our transition stuff( I set down a trashbag, set out my shorts, bike gloves, helmet, sunglasses in the helmet, socks in shoes, some energy jelly beans (from Dick's Sporting Goods), and my race #. Then covered it with a towel. Also set my water and gatorade bottles in the bike (frozen the night before to stay cold).
Then we headed over to the swim start. They delayed the race a little, and we were the 12 wave to go (out of like 14, b/c of our age group and last name), so C and I didn't end up going till 8:40 (A was in the wave in front). I wish we hadn't had to wait around so long....we had to pee a million times (and the port o potties were NASTY by 6 am!). So we finally took off- they make you get in the water and tred for like 2-3 minutes before they sound the Aflac duck (the official sponsor!) and you take off. I did fairly well in the swim- it didn't seem that hard and I set goals as I went along to pass the swim caps of the previous wave that were still out there....(they were color coded by wave). I passed at least a few people out of two different waves!
When you reach the shore, some dudes help you get out of the water and then you run up to the transition area.On my way I slapped my friend high five (from ratemytriathlon.com...he was volunteering) and went on to my spot. It took me forever to get my stuff together (can definitely cut time there if you think about it). I pulled on my shorts, socks, shoes, ate a few jelly beans, pulled on a tshirt and my race belt, helmet, glasses and was on my way to the bike course.
Around the last two mile mark of the bike I hear someone yell my last name, and C had caught up with me! It was cool to ride into transition with her as both our families were there cheering us on! On the bike trail there were SO many supportive people on the side of the road...even the cops directing traffic were encouraging us as we went along! It was awesome!
So back to transition to re-rack and swap my helmet for a dry fit hat. I ran out (another high 5) and ran about 3 minutes before I had to walk. My left leg was crampppping! So I continued to walk/run until I again hear my name....it's my cousin, who had finished an hour earlier, double backing around to run with me! (anyone who does more than the race mileage is insane by the way) So then C ends up catching up again, and my cousin makes me run more than I originally intended to run. So I finished, got my medal, and took some pics with the girls. SOOO glad it's done!
The worst part was driving home (5 hours) a few hours later....I still couldn't really eat even though I needed some crazy calories, ended up getting a headache, feeling sick, and having to make a minor puke stop. By the time we got home I was fine, but I highly recommend just chillin afterwards and not getting in a car for 5 hours!
It was a really great experience and I raised over $500 to help the prostate cancer foundation in memory of my uncle.
The girls and I are already talking about next year....(ughhhh!?!). My top tips to come....
So when we got back we went to our separate areas
Monday, August 17, 2009
Help Me Raise $ for the Prostate Cancer Foundation!
I'm doing the race in memory of my Uncle who died in March after a long and courageous battle with prostate cancer. Help them find better treatments and ultimately a cure for those who are still battling!
www.prostatecancerfoundation.org
www.prostatecancerfoundation.org
Less than one week....and other updates....
So while I've been totally slack on generating content for this site, I haven't been slack on the training! I've been doing something triathlon related at least 5-6 days a week. I can now swim up to (and possibly over) a mile without stopping. I've been consistently riding 10-14 miles several times a week, and while I haven't been focusing too much on running (since I hate it, it's hot and humid, my back's been out of whack, and oh did I mention I hate it?), I've managed to cut 2 minutes off my 1 mile time since I started this journey. (Which I realize is still slow as hell, but huge deal for me in terms of fitness and in terms of my body healing from the pain it was in!)
A few weeks back I went up to MD and did the swim trial of the triathlon...there were over 900 women there to do the same thing and while the lake smelled (and possibly tasted???) like duck poop, I managed to swim 1200 yards in 22-25 minutes. (C's mom had a watch on but didn't start looking exactly when we started, so an estimate). On race day it should only be about 1100 yards, so hopefully I can be under 25 minutes on the swim. (is that good? I have no idea...the first girl back from the 19 and under age group on trial day took 18 minutes. under 19= in their prime, so I think I might be middle of the road for swimming). I was relieved to see that many of the swimmers didn't just use freestyle....all types of strokes were going on, and there were literally women of all different skill levels.
C and I then "ran" the course....more like walked until the last half mile and then jogged. ( hey, we were engaged in good gossip)The course is more hilly than I thought and I got a huge blister b/c I tried out my new orthotics without removing the shoe liner. Genius. It still kinda hurts!
The next day we met up with my cousin and her hubby and rode the full bike course. It took us an hour and 40 minutes! yikes. I need to shave some of that time off! we stopped a few times for some training tips from the pros, and the hills were MUCH HARDER than anything I've practiced. On a few of them I think my cousin's hubbs got seriously concerned at the sound of the asthmatic breathing coming from my body. Those hills were no joke! We were in the country!
So the past few weeks, I've worked on swimming more freestyle to build some speed (previously I was swimming 10 laps of freestyle and then alternating free style with breaststroke until the last 6 laps). Now I'm doing the first 20 laps of freestyle, alternating the rest until the last 4 laps. I think this has shaved a little time. The thing is that when you get in the lake, you can't see under water, so you have to life your head up more to see the people around you so you don't crash into someone (GET TO THE EDGE!!!)...this seems to be best done while doing breast stroke....a little less effort....so to save energy I think I'll continue to throw it in when I need to.
With the biking, A and I changed up the course we do, to incorporate more actual roads (riding for the kinda first time in traffic was a little nerve-wrecking on the practice day), and more hills. I've also been throwing in some "hill training" and doing shorter rides that involve going up hills over and over. Gotta condition those climbing legs. Hopefully, I'll be better prepared come Sunday.
Last two days have been bricks, bike to run, and last week threw in some swim to bikes to walks. I want to throw in one more big brick this week, and then take it a little easier come Thursday.
I have a TON to do this week (getting ready for the race, the trip to MD, and I started grad school last week!), and I started feeling a little sick today, so need to balance rest with workouts.
Will update later in the week. Also might note that I'm getting anxious and nervous about this whole ordeal. (yeah, there's the will I finish part, but also the "all my family is gonna see me in my booty bike shorts and a bathing suit" part...yeah..)
Finally, while you'd think triathlon training would have caused me to drop a ton of weight, no such luck. But, my fitness has improved, (as seen by my progress in running and swimming alone!), so that counts for a lot. And I've been extremely dedicated (6 am swims, weekends on the bike instead of the couch, and I even skipped a wedding this weekend to train!)
More later....
A few weeks back I went up to MD and did the swim trial of the triathlon...there were over 900 women there to do the same thing and while the lake smelled (and possibly tasted???) like duck poop, I managed to swim 1200 yards in 22-25 minutes. (C's mom had a watch on but didn't start looking exactly when we started, so an estimate). On race day it should only be about 1100 yards, so hopefully I can be under 25 minutes on the swim. (is that good? I have no idea...the first girl back from the 19 and under age group on trial day took 18 minutes. under 19= in their prime, so I think I might be middle of the road for swimming). I was relieved to see that many of the swimmers didn't just use freestyle....all types of strokes were going on, and there were literally women of all different skill levels.
C and I then "ran" the course....more like walked until the last half mile and then jogged. ( hey, we were engaged in good gossip)The course is more hilly than I thought and I got a huge blister b/c I tried out my new orthotics without removing the shoe liner. Genius. It still kinda hurts!
The next day we met up with my cousin and her hubby and rode the full bike course. It took us an hour and 40 minutes! yikes. I need to shave some of that time off! we stopped a few times for some training tips from the pros, and the hills were MUCH HARDER than anything I've practiced. On a few of them I think my cousin's hubbs got seriously concerned at the sound of the asthmatic breathing coming from my body. Those hills were no joke! We were in the country!
So the past few weeks, I've worked on swimming more freestyle to build some speed (previously I was swimming 10 laps of freestyle and then alternating free style with breaststroke until the last 6 laps). Now I'm doing the first 20 laps of freestyle, alternating the rest until the last 4 laps. I think this has shaved a little time. The thing is that when you get in the lake, you can't see under water, so you have to life your head up more to see the people around you so you don't crash into someone (GET TO THE EDGE!!!)...this seems to be best done while doing breast stroke....a little less effort....so to save energy I think I'll continue to throw it in when I need to.
With the biking, A and I changed up the course we do, to incorporate more actual roads (riding for the kinda first time in traffic was a little nerve-wrecking on the practice day), and more hills. I've also been throwing in some "hill training" and doing shorter rides that involve going up hills over and over. Gotta condition those climbing legs. Hopefully, I'll be better prepared come Sunday.
Last two days have been bricks, bike to run, and last week threw in some swim to bikes to walks. I want to throw in one more big brick this week, and then take it a little easier come Thursday.
I have a TON to do this week (getting ready for the race, the trip to MD, and I started grad school last week!), and I started feeling a little sick today, so need to balance rest with workouts.
Will update later in the week. Also might note that I'm getting anxious and nervous about this whole ordeal. (yeah, there's the will I finish part, but also the "all my family is gonna see me in my booty bike shorts and a bathing suit" part...yeah..)
Finally, while you'd think triathlon training would have caused me to drop a ton of weight, no such luck. But, my fitness has improved, (as seen by my progress in running and swimming alone!), so that counts for a lot. And I've been extremely dedicated (6 am swims, weekends on the bike instead of the couch, and I even skipped a wedding this weekend to train!)
More later....
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Getting my train on
So I haven't been good at writing but I have been good at training! After I got back from the beach trip with the fam, I started stepping it up! It's been super structured since last week.
I really hated driving the 20 minutes to the pool and I needed to do some training before work on some days to fit it all in. The hubby suggested that I use our neighborhood pool, which I was hesitant about but tried last Monday morning. I got up at 6:30, went over there (using my sister in law's pool key, since I've sworn for the past almost 3 years that my key was missing). (oh and yes, my sister in law lives in my same neighborhood, but I digress). So, not only did I discover that I was not the only one with this plan (there was another girl there giving it a try for the first time too), but I discovered that my pool key had been on my key chain the entire time we've had this house. Great. Shows you how much I've used the pool. argh.
So, the pool's a little shorter than standard, I think it's about 20 yards. So you have to do a few more laps to be even with what you'd do in the regular indoor pool. I went three days last week and swam about 1,000 yards, just short of the 1,100 I'll need to do in the race. I only stopped once during the swim, after 600 yards (30 laps) and then kept going. This Tuesday I was pretty tired and only did 40 laps, so about 800 yards. The goal is 3 days a week, so I'll go tomorrow and Saturday and aim for 50-60 laps.
The big accomplishment was tonight though. A and I went on a 12.5 mile bike ride which is the longest I've ridden outside since I was about 14 (and the 15 miles I did when I was 15 was a one-time thing).The trail was great- paved all the way, some slight hills and lots of other people around biking and running (but not so many that you couldn't maintain speed) I was working, but at the end I could have gone further so that was good. I was a little worried though....I think maybe I should have gone road bike. A's bike seems a little faster than mine....she's a good 6 inches taller than me too...does that have anything to do with it? Her bike was more expensive than mine too. She was moving it but I had to push it to keep up with her speed.....thoughts? Maybe she's just in better shape. But we think we're about the same....so who knows. I'd like to hear if the bike price/style and height can affect speed. I'm sure it can, but how much? Let me know!
Chiropractor is going well...starting to see some small improvements. Like (knock on wood) headaches haven't been as severe, and upper back pain is like 2% better. I'm icing it when I remember, doing my stretches when I remember, and going to the chiro three days a week. Also switched my pillow to one of those temperpedic ones....which seems to be making a huge difference.
Oh! And the Hubs and I started P90x....it's hardcore....and probably not best to be doing two hardcore exercise programs at the same time, but I'm aware of this, and taking it easier when I need to. I need to build some strength back in my arms, back, hams. (and totally not putting on a tri suit with my current figure).
Back to my ice and my HGTV!
J
I really hated driving the 20 minutes to the pool and I needed to do some training before work on some days to fit it all in. The hubby suggested that I use our neighborhood pool, which I was hesitant about but tried last Monday morning. I got up at 6:30, went over there (using my sister in law's pool key, since I've sworn for the past almost 3 years that my key was missing). (oh and yes, my sister in law lives in my same neighborhood, but I digress). So, not only did I discover that I was not the only one with this plan (there was another girl there giving it a try for the first time too), but I discovered that my pool key had been on my key chain the entire time we've had this house. Great. Shows you how much I've used the pool. argh.
So, the pool's a little shorter than standard, I think it's about 20 yards. So you have to do a few more laps to be even with what you'd do in the regular indoor pool. I went three days last week and swam about 1,000 yards, just short of the 1,100 I'll need to do in the race. I only stopped once during the swim, after 600 yards (30 laps) and then kept going. This Tuesday I was pretty tired and only did 40 laps, so about 800 yards. The goal is 3 days a week, so I'll go tomorrow and Saturday and aim for 50-60 laps.
The big accomplishment was tonight though. A and I went on a 12.5 mile bike ride which is the longest I've ridden outside since I was about 14 (and the 15 miles I did when I was 15 was a one-time thing).The trail was great- paved all the way, some slight hills and lots of other people around biking and running (but not so many that you couldn't maintain speed) I was working, but at the end I could have gone further so that was good. I was a little worried though....I think maybe I should have gone road bike. A's bike seems a little faster than mine....she's a good 6 inches taller than me too...does that have anything to do with it? Her bike was more expensive than mine too. She was moving it but I had to push it to keep up with her speed.....thoughts? Maybe she's just in better shape. But we think we're about the same....so who knows. I'd like to hear if the bike price/style and height can affect speed. I'm sure it can, but how much? Let me know!
Chiropractor is going well...starting to see some small improvements. Like (knock on wood) headaches haven't been as severe, and upper back pain is like 2% better. I'm icing it when I remember, doing my stretches when I remember, and going to the chiro three days a week. Also switched my pillow to one of those temperpedic ones....which seems to be making a huge difference.
Oh! And the Hubs and I started P90x....it's hardcore....and probably not best to be doing two hardcore exercise programs at the same time, but I'm aware of this, and taking it easier when I need to. I need to build some strength back in my arms, back, hams. (and totally not putting on a tri suit with my current figure).
Back to my ice and my HGTV!
J
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