8/25/11 thru 8/30/11

Wednesday
Felt pretty crappy. Didn't actually do anything. Usually I do try and push it. Decided not to this time. Kind of an experiment.

Thursday
Pool drama. Outdoor pool closed due to mechanical problem. Was going to OWS but my boss at the last minute asked if I would babysit. How do you turn your boss down? Was feeling better but still kind of crappy and not too excited about the long weekend. Ended up riding over to his house and doing about 10 minutes of core. Very distracting having a 2.5 month year old to care for.

Friday
Got up bright and early on Friday to get a 7am start. Felt good. My little cold was definitely going away. Maybe it is good for me to really rest up when I get sick instead of always trying to do a little something. I think I need to experiment a little more with this. We got out and ran at Grand Coulee for 40 minutes. Jamie is teaching me how to swim so wanted pointers for running. We did some strides. It was hot. We were definitely sweating when we got done.

Sat.
Rode 92 miles of the course. Jamie did about 35 and turned around so I was by myself for a while. I felt a little isolated on the other side of the mountain and it was hot. There was a 10 mile out and back that I skipped. On Monday we drove that way so that Jamie could see the course and drove the out and back. Somebody was telling me it messes with your head, so I definitely wanted to see it. The ride was pretty tough. The climb going back towards Penticton was a grunt and on tired legs. So glad I rode it though. If the weather next year is that hot it will definitely mean taking care of myself better.
Some notes that I don't want to forget about.
-Lots of electorolytes. More than at home. I was just sweating and sweating. Was even having some stomach cramping which usually never happens. Went away after I kept drinking
-Wheels- I don't think a disc or even 808 deep dish wheels are good for that course. Those downhills are curvy and fast. Even without much wind and my normal training wheels I was getting blown around a lot. 404 on front an back and maybe an 808 on back. I might just go for light with all that climbing.
- don't wear black. All those people in black looked like they were melting.
- keep eating. There got to be a point of time at our aid station where people were not looking good and not interested in food. They all said it sounds terrible. Sounds like a terrible downward spiral to me. Eat to fuel not to taste.

Sun.
Up early to see the start. It wasn't as crazy as CDA. The people on the far edge from the buoys waded for a long time before making way. The water was way warmer than CDA and not as choppy. I like this race already. After the swimmers were out we swam. It was soo fun. Then we did a little run. Found this canal you can float down, from one lake to the next. I know what I am doing the day after the race next year. We ran around buying wine, checking out hotels and other accomodations for next year, trying to eat, get a pass for us to drive to the aid station on the run course, driving there, volunteered for 5 hours, went back to watch the finish, grabbed some food again. It was a very long and exhausting day. It seemed like the race start was 3 days before. Pretty cool though. I was having some devestation envy and Jamie was going through some sign up doubts. Pretty emotional day for both of us.

Monday
Got in line and signed up. Have no doubts that I am ready to do this. Jamie signed up even though as we were walking there she told me no. Lawrence and Carrie also signed up online right away. I already have three training partners one of which will be living in San Diego. Can't wait for spring training camp in San Diego.
Talked with Jamie (who is an amazing swimmer, will probably do it in 55 minutes) about swimming. Am really going to get after working on technique. She is a Total Immersion student, which I knew nothing about, and apparantly there is a woman in MT that coaches through total immersion. Am going to get videos and look through books and work on technique and then hopefully Helenita can come and do a clinic in Bozeman and give me some pointers. It is pretty cool to watch Jamie swim. She is so fluid and fast.

Tuesday
Got home after 1am last night and in to work ~8:30. Pretty tires but will try to get the ride and swim in. The last race of the season is coming up here and I need to start getting psyched for it. Don't feel like I have a very good feel for how to pace this race though. I can't go as hard as I did on the sprint, but I don't want to hold back too much either.

8-16-11 thru 8-23-11

Tuesday
Went home after work and did the run 7x3 minute intervals at a 10k pace. It started out easy enough, but by the last one I was glad it was the last one. Barely made it through. Then went to swimming. Got in 3000!

Wed.
Got a late start on the workout. Went to the pond to run on the trails over there. Saw a beautiful sunset. In the pond parking lot did lots of squats, pushups, lunges, plank etc. for about 25 minutes. The sun went down and Mr. Creepy was sitting in a car near me.

Thursday
Swam in the morning. Easy swimming. Mostly drills and warm up. Got in 1800.
Got in a good bike workout. Went to Story Hill, but it was closed. Ended up doing the workout going up Sourdough. 7X4 minute intervals at 40K pace.

Friday
Blew off the run. Soo tired from getting home late from wedding and huge work day. Went to Livingston with parents for dinner instead.

Sat.
Swim workout- I was suprised I could almost swim across the pond in 3 minutes. That workout was hard.
Bike- easy bike for 1 hour. Felt good. Haven't been on TT bike in a while. I really like it.
Run- easy 30 minute run. Felt good. Achilles still sore, gets better after warmed up.

Sun.
Ended up doing a big mtn bike ride. Left the house early was were riding by 9. It was me, Erik, John, Lisa, and Ben H. Long climb (2hrs) up Portal Creek. Long descent down to Porcupine Creek. Really pretty crossed a waterfall in the canyon. Long Climb up Buck Ridge ~3hours with stop for storm to go over- got to top of Buck Ridge and the storm was getting worse. I was feeling a little crabby at this point though. My legs were not so happy about turning over going up those steep hills. We decided to turn back around and ride down what we had come up. Kind of a bummer I think the trail up there would have been really cool. Total ride time was probably 6:30 and we were out and about for 8. The ride was about 40 miles, and I'm not sure what the elevation gain was. Farthest and longest I've ever been on a mtn bike. Had burgers and beer in Big Sky and made it home at a reasonable hour. What a beautiful day...

Monday
Going to yoga!

8/10-8/16

Wed.

Good workout. Bike was a little longer. Rode for an hour and went to park for skills then rode home. Ran. Did the lifting. Realized most of my effective skills practice comes from racing. Have been really enjoying dedicating time to this. Practiced jumping off and on, riding in sand, riding and off camber trail, and running up a hill and mounting

Thursday

Did the run after work before swimming. Wasn't as easy as it should have been. It felt really good to open up and run a little faster. It didn't feel good at first though. My legs felt like stumps for the first 20 minutes.

Swim- An old coach was visiting. Her workouts are pretty fun. We did a good warm up then dove off the blocks a bunch. Then did a lot of kicking drills. The point was to burn out the legs. Yes they were burnt. Maybe not the prescribed yardage, but a good hard workout. The next day my stomach muscles hurt so bad I had to take ibuprofen. Means I am using my core.

Have been getting some great swimming tips from a good swimmer at Masters and from that old coach. Some stuff I can work on to improve my form.

Friday

Took the mt bike up S. Cottonwood. Wanted to try the new back tire that I got before racing on it. Nice ride. Tried to take it easy. The climbing there isn't too steep. Bike felt good.

Sat.

Race day- Got there a little late for my liking but got in a pretty good warm up. I was definitely huffing and puffing before the start. Didn't really have the best race. Started out in the back because I was chatting when the gun went off and was in the wrong gear and couldn't get into pedal. Got on the single track and a cub crossed the trail in front of me. Pretty cool. I was very excited and sat there for a minute not sure what to do. I wanted to warn the two girls behind me but didn't see mama and got a little freaked out. Turns out Frank Gonzalas almost hit the cub and came in between it and the mama. Crazy. Then Josh Crutcher almost his a moose with a calf.

Anyway, the course is a lot of pretty steep climbing and I guess I just haven't been cranking my bike that hard. There was maybe one gear that didn't make noise. I though I might break the chain. The front derailer has always rubbed so I tried to keep it in that noise but it made it annoying to shift into different gears. The cassette is maybe loose or just toast. Very distracting. Then I just didn't really have it on the climbs. My legs would load up way before my breathing became the hindrance. We should talk about this. I feel like this is how I keep feeling on hard hard efforts. Just want to know what you think. The leg workout on Thursday probably didn't help. I definitely felt better on the 2nd lap though and could have gone and done another one. The downhill was pretty steep and my breaks just don't work well. Definitely would love a new bike, or at least some disc breaks.

Ended up winning. Had no idea until awards. There was only one other girl in my category though. Got a helmet and some other great stuff from the raffle. Running shorts, headphones, 3 new shirts, some kids riding gloves. That race is great just because of the raffle.

Didn't feel too devastated after the race but went to bed early.

Sun.

Met Jamie (the good Masters swimmer) at the pond. She looks like a fish. I look like a flailing non swimming creature. We swam pretty consistently for over 30 minutes. Then headed over to the M for some trail running. Wanted to see another bear and there have been sightings in the area. The trail is pretty steep getting out but we did good and ran most of it. Ran harder on the way back but it was downhill so not sure how effective that was. Ran for a little over 80 minutes.

Came home and did some yoga with a lot of focus on leg. arm, and core strength. Erik went on epic mt bike adventure with John and Lisa. Am having a little devastation envy. Can I have an epic next weekend? Even a long trail run would be awesome. Miss it. Feeling soft.

7-27-11 thru 8/2/11

Thanks for not letting me off the hook with my lack of organization. This week was better. Did all the workouts. I am not going to write up every day but here are a few side notes and comments.

1- got new handlebars and stem for the cross bike. Much better and the handlebars are noticably lighter. Now I need a new front tire. Ate it last week navigating some slippery dry grass.
2- All the speed/pacing workouts were awesome. I felt like I had a handle on how fast to go. The track workout seemed to work. My run was faster than expected. Did the bike interval workout on the course last week which was very helpful.
3-Achilles not getting better. Going to massage guy tonight and am really going to focus on healing from today on!!
4-Have a friend in Bozeman who is doing IM Canada next year too. Can she get in touch with you about coaching? There may be a couple more interested if they get in IM Canada too.
5- Erik did well at Butte 100. Finished 30 minutes faster and felt way better than last year.

Race report:
Friday and Saturday were pretty crazy. I was definitely tired on Sunday. Hoping my legs weren't though. Got in a good warm up. Broke a sweat which helps a lot. Got some fast wheels from Alan so was hoping the bike would be fast. I really wanted to dig deep on this race. I feel like all season (in the long races) I held back and still had some at the end. Wanted to give it everything. So I swam hard. Thought I was going to puke a couple of times. I think it payed off. I feel like my swim time was good and I was out of the water ahead of a lot of people, not the middle of the pack like usual. The legs hurt on the bike right off the bat. Didn't feel like I had a very good bike. Never settled in. The legs were loaded the whole time too. Maybe I went out too fast, maybe that is where I should have been, but it hurt! I did beat Holly Walkers time by almost 1 minute. Give me a longer race and I could catch her. The run hurt as well, especially at the beginning. This isn't a suprise though. Just kept trying to get my legs to turn over and focus on form to keep them going over efficiently. Speed was 7:35. Came in 2nd behind Holly Walker (who was first overall) and in front of this other woman I never thought I could beat. So I was happy with the race. The swim and run went well this time with the bike not being so great. Gave it my all though can't be unhappy with that!

This was a qualifying race for the Best of the US. Do you know anything about it?

I also won the grand prize of the raffle. 750$ towards a triathlon adventure. Thinking of doing something really fun with it, or it will be used for IM Canada and I will buy some wheels. The fun adventure sounds better. What are some good international races?