heading into St. George

Race:
I have been thinking a lot about how to approach St. George. The last time I did it I had been sick and wasn't 100% prepared. This year I wasn't sick but feel like this race is early and since it was snowing on my ride yesterday maybe don't have as much solid training under my belt as say Calgary, last year. Also, that race is hard. The are steep hills on the bike And run.

This is what I am thinking. Tell me your insight. Swim hard. Build in 3rds which works since there are two turns. Warmup/pace/race. This works for me mentally. I feel fortunate on the ride because I usually feel crappy right away on the bike. This course affords me a little time to settle in. I don't think I am going to try to ride super hard at the hills. Stay within myself . Hills will be hard enough. Sort of save myself for the run. On the run try and push it. Don't hold back, but don't blow up either. Especially push the second half of the run.

Nutrition:
Bike: bottles with 3+ hours of calories and electrolytes in them. A couple extra gels and maybe a snickers bar just in case.

RUN: a package of shot blocks to carry. Get water and more food on course.

What do you think?

The week
highlights:
Saturday- swam some of those 25 fasts on 15 seconds. Think I am obtaining a new idea for what fast is. Ran with my sister. I can't believe it. She had a whole big story to spew so I chased her around and listened. She runs fast when she gets excited.

Sunday- Rode in the rain and snow with Jo. I was tired. It was a little alarming.

Monday- Tired. Couldn't sleep on Sunday night. Not sure why. I was tired after my exercising on Sunday and spent the rest of the day puttering doing little projects and packing. Excited for a short swim! A swim that nearly made me throw up on that 400 fast/easy. Why the short FAST?

Schedule- Just a heads up. I really need to see my grandma. I have really neglected her and I don't want to look back and wish I had spent more time with her. So, the weekend after St. George I am going to Billings for the weekend and I don't want to plan much other than just hang out with her. I do like to run in Laurel, so that would be okay, but not much else.

Camp logisitics/thoughts/reality
I was so excited to do this Camp. I still am, just a little bit disappointed. I thought the whole Bozeman community would jump on the amazing opportunity. I would bring together all the triathletes here and we would all get to know each other and grow each other and the sport of triathlon. I used to think the scene in Bozeman was small because we needed something to unify us.  I am not so sure now. I think there is no scene here because nobody wants to be part of it. I guess my enthusiasm for the sport isnt as widespread as I thought and just looking locally to find people isnt enough to grow the commeraderie.

So honestly. The people coming to camp are these people I was hoping for above. There are just fewer than I was hoping for. It is going to be really cool to see how we all work together for the weekend.

What do you vision for Friday and Saturday evening? A lecture with you standing or all of us sitting in a circle having a good discussion? I had reserved Erik's office those evenings but that fell through. Annoying story. I am thinking we just do everything at our house. I envision the evening more casual. We will be tired.  It would be nice to have couches etc to sit on and if the weather is nice it would be great to use the deck. Further, it might make it easir logistically. People can leave bikes here etc.

I have an indoor area reserved for Saturday in case the weather sucks. What do you need for a transition clinic? What kind of space?

Thanks for the rant. I have been so grouchy the last week or so. Hope it goes away for St George.

      PT on the deck. My husband is pretty much amazing.
 

Grizzly

This week seems to be broken into a couple of categories.

The "yeah" category and the "funk" category

"Yeah"
- I went to the Chiropractor on Thursday to get all set for the race. My ankle has been bothering me and I finally pinpointed how to express how and when it hurt. Also, my left shoulder gets really tight when I ride and I have some serious pain when I try to move my head or turn. I told the Chiro about both and he did his magic. The ankle immediately felt better and on my ride on Sunday my shoulder was remarkably less uncomfortable. He said the should was some fascia impingement. I also had a rotator cuff muscle that was really sore that he worked out and by Saturday it was feeling great. I am getting sucked in. Never a believer of a Chiropractor before.

- St. George plans- Talked to LeAnn on Saturday. We are going to leave on Wed. night and drive a few hours so that we have a little more time in St. George. I would like to have time to swim, since I haven't worn a wetsuit or swam open water since September. We are also going to bring mt bikes and stay until Monday so that we can spend a little extra time enjoying the trip. I am excited. It will be nice to make a longer trip out of it.

- My Grizzly swim time was 15 or so seconds than last year. I wasn't the first out of the water, but as the years go by I am getting out less and less on the last end. The water was very warm and very murky and I sucked at a few of the turns. I also followed my plan to swim 500 at a strong pace, build 250, and race 250. I think it went pretty well and am happy with how my swimming is progressing.

-Sunday ride- This was a little hard to motivate for. I didn't plan on riding the full 4 hours until about 3 hours into it. I did a little loop that involved all the roads I like and took out all the roads I don't. I felt really good and like I said above my back was noticeably less restricted. I made a little adventure out of it and stopped and ate tater tots and Dr. Pepper from the Taco Time in Belgrade. Rode in the aerobars a lot. At about 3.5 hours into my ride I came out of my funk. See below.

- Bobcat opened Monday morning and at 1pm we already have 12 entries. Already off on a good foot for the race.

"Funk"
- The Grizzly put me in a funk and I can't quite pinpoint it. I am going to list a few reasons why.
1- Those top 3 girls were very far ahead. I felt a little demoralized and even more so after. In my head I had really gunned for top 3, but I was way back.  I know that it all depends on who shows up etc. but my standards got higher this year. I also set  myself up to do better than last year and other than the swim it wasn't.
2- That Megan girl wasn't very friendly. I think a bit self absorbed. That bothers me.
3- The energy of the race was lower than normal. Shaun Radley was hugely missed. I might have been biased but even Erik said he thought the race was off a bit this year. One thing that makes that race so great is the high energy. I am not sure I am going to be so excited for it next year.
4- I cramped up really bad on the downhill, again. I am very annoyed that this keeps happening and I really want to figure out why (more on this in a minute)

- I have this really traumatizing experience with a mouse that Mister caught on Sunday. It was so cute but injured and I couldn't kill it. Instead I prolonged it's torture. I have shed a few tears about it and still feel so sad about it. I know it doesn't make any sense. I am a mouse killer too. I just got emotionally attached to this particular animal.

Other-
Cramping- This cramping this really bothers me. What is going on? So, I decided I am a scientist. I should be able to figure this out. From my very limited research when laying on the couch last night I have one hypothesis. In downhill running your quads are eccentrically contracting and I never train them . I need to test this hypothesis and do some fast downhill running. I usually run hard going uphill and take it easy on the down.  I am going to keep reading but at this point what do you think?

another good week

Wednesday- Left work at 1:30 or so to get ride done. There was an 80% chance of rain at 6pm. Went back to work until 8pm. Ride was fine. Not sure why I was so anxious for it. Much better than that workout on the trainer.

Thursday- Met up with my new friend Haley for the swim. She is 16, a good swimmer, but swims with an out of town team so she can travel to out of state meets. She swims on her own. I don't know how she does it. I wouldn't have been able to at her age. We did my workout, which with me chasing her around was really hard. She watched my flip turn and gave me some good tips. I would do like to swim with her at MSU once a week,  if possible. Maybe I can do her workout next time?
Run- 6:50, 7:00, 6:40. This was hard. However, the next day I felt muscle soreness not other pain. To me that is huge! My quads were sore. Soas? Near the top. Should I do some strength work for that?

Friday- Swim. It was fine. I was tired. My 100s were not awesome 1:25s or less. Rode to and from work.  Came home and got bike ready for Sat and sat on the couch.

Saturday- Race day. Race was hard. I don't care how unfit or injured Frank is. He is still going to destroy me. The first climb was fine. I tried to stay near the front in case people attacked. I find that if I am second or third wheel I can cover the attacks better. If I am farther behind I don't do as well. Once we got up on the plateau things changed. Everytime somebody attacked I thought, I can't hold on one more time. However, I did not want to get left up there.  Then on the descent I got dropped. I almost got back on but then somebody went for it again. That is probably the longest I have ever stayed with Lizzy. Sort of took my time getting back to the big climb. Felt okay up the big climb. Like I was going to puke, but at least I could ride it. Not crawl. I wish I had stayed with the group the whole time, but am feeling that every week I am improving. So, am pretty happy.
Didn't ride more. Didn't have the fortitude. Physical or mental to battle that wind alone.

Sunday
Masters- Feeling excited and really good about my swim. This is the first year for the Grizzly that I am not nervous out of my mind because of the swim. We did 4x200 descend (pulling with paddles) and I was on the lead guys toes. Could have descended that much,  much better. We did that last one on 3:10. In the 50 m pool.
Run- Ran to Story Hill. Ran hard up Story Hill. Ran back to the car. I forgot to look at my watch, but Story Hill probably takes 15-20 minutes to ride up on a bike (you rode up that with me once). So probably a little longer to run. Near the top, on my bike and now running, I usually lose a lot of steam. Kept pushing. So dorky, but told myself "this is where the magic happens." Ha ha.  I think this was a great hill to prep for St. George. Next time I am going to drive closer and do Story Hill and then the dump road. Feel like I am feeling stronger every week.

Monday- I made a new friend. Lizzy and I are going to ride tonight. I think she will be a good riding friend. Someone to push me. Plus, I need some new friends in general. Decided my sister is never going to like me very much so need to find a new sister. (Sorry for that little vent)

Schedule- Heading over to Missoula on Friday after work. My cousin's house is full so booked a room at the Campus Inn. Reminds me of my soccer days. We always stayed there. Good karma. Also, can walk to race and Erik can do what he wants.  Will come home on Saturday after race. I am sort of liking my Bozeman training right now (ie back to those hills for a run?). Want to keep it consistent. Also, have family staying at our house. 50 m pool is closed on Sunday, so no Masters. MSU should be open.
       - Not anything huge at work. Lots of open ended experiments I need to figure out.

Good week!

Question: When doing backstroke there is a drill where you put your arm up, put it back down, and then go through the stroke. In freestyle you "zipper" your arm up to a high elbow out of the water , back down, and then do the stroke.  Backstroke is easier,  free takes some coordination. Anyway, what is the point of that drill?

This is eating in our house. A hovering cat and use of two hands. One to move him away and one to shovel food in. He is especially fond of processed salty meat, milk, and avacasdos.

This was a good week. I took extra care to get to bed a little earlier, eat healthier food between workouts etc. 

Swims

Tuesday

warm up

Lots of 50

10x 50 with paddles and buoy

8x50 with paddles only

6x50 with paddles and fins

4x50 no toys Fast

each set of 50s  got a little faster. We were down to 55 on the last one in the 50m pool.

Total swim 2900

Thursday

500 choice we

8x75 kick (I actually got to the swim on time and did 150 extra waiting for people)

10×150 

1 and 5 intermediate

2 and 6 50 fast 100 intermediate

3 and 7 pull

4 and 8 100 fast 50 intermediate

5 and 9 fast

2X 

200 swim

4X25 fast

200 CD 

my numbers above are off but you get the idea.

around 3500

Felt amazing this evening. Passed Dan and was catching the next girl. 

Saturday ride- Rode with my friend Jo. I like Jo. I like to ride with him. He pushes me. We did two laps up Hyalite. The first took 38 minutes and was hard. I felt like the second wasn't as hard but I pushed it pretty good up the final climb. We didn't time it but I think we rode it faster.   Why is it taking me so long to get the legs to feel good? Also, my left leg and the one with the hamstring problem felt much worse than the right. Why? Ride was more like 4 hours than 3.

Look. We can clean up pretty good!

I like that my friends dance at weddings. 

I got a new helmet. It stayed straight for the whole ride Saturday. No more crooked helmets for me.

(I also got a new tablet which makes picture taking easier)

Sunday-Swim maybe wasn't so successful. Swam maybe 2000 and then we had an Easter egg hunt in the deep end. Run was great. Went up and down some longer more sustained hills than my usual town trail run. A lot like St. George actually. Had a little fiasco when I thought I lost my car key a drill ran up to my parents house to get another. We bought their old car. So run was a little longer than planned. Key was in the car door. 

Was very tired after my run. Also, very tired for the last mile or so. Definitely felt like it was a successful training weekend despite other distractions. 

Monday-Spent the whole week and weekend being organized for the weekend. I forgot about Monday. Not prepared. Very glad I just need to spin tonight. And PT. Definitely PT. Also, feeling very tired. Good place to be today, don't you think?

Oh, and I was Wednesday. So, I am mentally preparing for Wednesday.