Mesa Halloween Olympic Distance Triathlon

I had been looking forward to this triathlon for exactly 365 days.  I've had it on my radar since I crossed the finish line last year.  I especially wanted to beat my time of 3:04 from last year.  I thought I did everything right to get that PR, but unfortunately it wasn't my day. 

 

I had finally talked my good friend Brandi into doing it with me, although she was still reluctant and had a few panic attacks leading up to race time.  I knew she would do great though because we trained together. 

 

Everything went smoothly the week of the race.  I tapered my workouts and rested the few days before it.  Believe it or not, I didn't even have a cold, sore throat, or sinus infection!  I felt good going into it. 

 

Race morning also went smoothly.  After a crappy night of sleep, we were up and at 'em by 5 am and in the car before 5:30.  We had to take our front tires off our bikes to fit them in Brandi's car.  I had a little trouble getting mine back on in the dark parking lot, but finally got it on and everything seemed fine.  We thought we should probably ride around the parking lot a bit to make sure, but we were so nervous about getting our stuff into transition before it closed at 6 that we never did.  We rushed over and got good spots and laid everything out.  Then we went to pick up our timing chips, get body marked, and listen to the pre-race meeting.

 

Since the kid's and sprint triathlons both started before ours, we had time to kill so we left to go get breakfast at Starbucks.  I had my usual pre-race meal of a banana and banana bread. 

 



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After going to the bathroom 700 times once we got back, it was finally time for us to line up along the pool.  Brandi started about 20 people before me, so she was already 200 m into her swim when I started mine.  I was doing good on the swim and remembering to do the things I was supposed to (fingers closed, toes pointed, pull water, etc...).  At one of the walls I checked my Garmin, and it was still stuck on the start screen.  I had pushed the wrong button when I started.  Now I was all flustered and couldn't figure out how to turn it on.  It's impossible to do anything while swimming so I knew I would have to wait until I got on the bike to mess with it. 

I saw Brandi get out of the pool when I had 200 m left to go so I knew we were right on track!  Transition from swim to bike was pretty uneventful, and fairly fast.  I don't mess around over there.  Towel off, socks on, shoes on, helmet on, go!  As soon as I started pedaling I knew something wasn't right.  It felt so HARD.  My quads were burning and I was hardly moving.  I kept shifting gears to make it easier, only it wasn't helping.  I thought maybe I had used my quads a lot on the swim so that's why they were burning.  On the 2nd lap, I finally noticed a noise coming from my front tire.  At first I thought it was a air coming out (nooooooo!!!!) but then looked closer and one side of my front brake was rubbing against the tire.  I tried jiggling it and loosening the brake, all while still riding, but nothing helped.  At least I had figured out why it was harder than usual.  I was riding against my brake!  I didn't want to risk stopping if I couldn't fix it so I just kept on going.  I finally got my Garmin going, and got my pace up to around 16 mph.  That's the best I could do with that tire.  I had one GU on the 3rd lap and sips of Gatorade/water mix every once in awhile.  I was feeling good despite sabotaging my own bike.  On my 6th and final lap, I didn't see another soul on the bike course.  I was pretty dejected by this point.  I thought for sure I would catch up to Brandi, and now I hadn't seen her or anyone else for that matter. 

The transition from bike to run was once again fairly fast.  Helmet off, hat on, running bib on, sunglasses on, and go!  My first mile felt great.  It was a 7:5x pace.  However, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep that up.  I started to feel a cramp in my right quad (I NEVER get cramps when I run) and the heat was almost unbearable at this point.  It was around 11 am and the temperature had crept up into the 90's.  I slowed waaaaay down and came to grips with the fact that I would not be getting my PR today.  I actually had no idea what my total time was, but at least I was passing people on the run.  My mile paces were anywhere from 8:30 to 9:30.  I have honestly never wanted to walk so badly in my life.  I finally saw Brandi at the turnaround and she looked pretty miserable too.  Come to think of it, every single person I saw out there running looked miserable.  After I turned around I caught up to Brandi and passed her.  Although I had to keep fighting the urge to walk, I ran in strong to the finish.

Swim:  39:42 (11th place overall)
Bike:  1:32:52 (14th place overall)
Run:  54:43 (3rd place overall)

Total:  3:07 (8th place overall)

My swim was 2 minutes faster than the previous year.
My bike was 4 minutes slower than the previous year.
My run was 1 minute slower than the previous year.

Overall, my time was 3 minutes SLOWER than last year. 

It was a tough race.  There were a few women who dropped out and didn't even attempt the run.  I'm proud that I never gave up, even though I had so many reasons to. 

I even ended up 1st place in my age group (30-34)!

Back to Reality

 

I was in paradise for a week.  Literally.  We went on a 7 night Disney Cruise to the Caribbean for Fall Break. Some people may not work out while they are on vacation because it's their time to relax, but for me that's not the case.  I enjoy exercising; I think it's fun!  Plus, I had a triathlon coming up in a few weeks that I had to keep in shape for. 

 

I got in a workout every day while on the cruise, not to mention daily swimming and snorkeling. 

 

Day 1:  6 mile treadmill run

Day 2:  20 miles stationary bike/2 mile treadmill run

Day 3:  6 mile run (15 laps around Deck 4)

Day 4:  6 mile treadmill run/core

Day 5:  Pilates class

Day 6:  Group cycling class

Day 7:  6 mile treadmill run



The view from my treadmill

The food on the cruise was ah-mazing and it would have been so easy to get carried away.  Luckily, there were lots of yummy and healthy options. 

After the cruise we spent a few days at Disney World (lots of walking!) and then in Huntsville, Alabama visiting my brother.  I got to go running with my sister-in-law on a beautiful trail with fall leaves, and then I took a few days off because of a sore throat/cold. 

Now that I'm back to reality, I've been in beast mode trying to get ready for this triathlon.  This is the last week of hard training before the taper.

Monday:  6 mile run/1600 m swim
Tuesday:  20 mile bike/4 mile run
Wednesday:  1 hr yoga/swim sprints (2 x 200, 2 x 100, 2 x 50)
Thursday:  4 mile tempo run
Friday:  30 min swim/20 mile bike
Saturday:  Long run 

Triathlon Training

Time flies when you're having fun.  Somehow it's been 3 weeks since I posted about my triathlon training.  It's been going good, really good actually. 

Now I'm training for the Mesa Iron Gear Sports Olympic Distance Triathlon in 5 weeks (1600 m swim, 24 mile bike, 6 mile run).  I've already done a 1600 m swim a few times, have learned how to do a flip turn, and gotten my 50 m sprint repeats under 55 seconds.  I've done a few bike rides over 20 miles with a good pace (around 15.7) and I'm finally getting the hang of shifting.  'Bout time, right?  I'm trying to build up some running mileage again, while still working on speed.  It's been hard to get in a good long run because my legs are usually tired from biking the day before.  I switched some things around this week so I'm hoping for a good long run tomorrow. 

Before 23 mile bike ride

Our coed volleyball season has also started so we usually have games 3 nights a week.  I thought I might be too tired from all the training to even play but so far it's been okay.  It pays to eat healthy and fuel properly. 

This week so far:
Monday-6 mile run
Tuesday-16 mile bike/2 mile run in morning and 1600 m swim in evening
Wednesday-1 mile time trial and yoga (1.5 hours)
Thursday-19 mile bike/2 mile run
Friday-swim (3 sets of 5 x 50 m sprint repeats)
Saturday-Hoping for 10 mile long run

Sweet Tri Race Report

I did the Sweet Tri in Snowflake on Saturday morning.  It was a 525 swim, 13.1 bike, and 3.1 run.  This was my first official sprint triathlon (not counting the one I did on my own last year). 

As per my usual, I got sick the week before.  It is an unwritten rule that if I sign up for a race, I'm going to get sick, usually a sore throat or sinus infection, the week of the race.  And this time didn't disappoint.  My kids brought home the "back to school bug" and were nice enough to share it with us.  I immediately started cutting back on workouts, taking Airborne and lots of vitamin C, eating cleaner, drinking tons of water, and getting extra sleep.  Well, nothing was helping.  I had finally been sick for 10 days when I contacted my dr and got a prescription for some antibiotics the day before the tri.  I had a bad sore throat and a rough night of coughing that kept us both awake, but miraculously when my alarm went off at 4 am, I felt better than I had in a week.  The medicine kicked in just in time. 

I was one of the last people to start because they started in numerical order, and I was number 98.  It was good because I got to watch a lot of the people before me and get a feel for things, and I also got to see Larissa finish her part running on a relay team. 

My swim time of 11:31 was about a minute slower than I had hoped.  The pool was 11 ft deep on one half and it kind of freaked me out seeing how deep it was.  I had a little panic attack on my first lap, so I forced myself to slow down and take deep breaths after that.  My transition could have been a little faster, but it always takes forever to put socks on wet feet.   

I assumed I could do the bike in 50 minutes.  I purposely kept my eyes off my watch cause I didn't want to know how I was doing, but I did notice I kept passing people.  I was shocked to see my time coming in to transition area was 44 minutes!  The transition from bike to run was quick as usual, and then I was off running.

The hard thing about this 5K was that I was still recovering from the bike ride and swim.  I had a hard time catching my breath and it felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest the entire time.  Somehow I finished in just over 24 minutes. 

My total time was 1:21:50 and I was the 6th female out of 50.  I was 1st in my age group of 30-34 year olds.  My swim time was 14th, bike time was 11th, and run time was 4th. 

My first thought after finishing was that a sprint triathlon is harder than an Olympic distance.  Probably because you are red-lining the entire time; you never get to settle into your pace.  My second though was that it was so much fun and I can't wait to do another one! 

My week leading up to the race looked like this:
Monday-1 hr yoga
Tuesday-14 mile bike/2 mile run
Wednesday-20 min swim
Thursday-rest
Friday-rest
Saturday-triathlon!

Triathlon Training Week 4

The word for this week was BRICKS! 

I was so busy trying to fit everything in and working on speed and distance that I realized I hadn't done any bricks yet.  Oops.  I made sure to get a few in this week and already felt a difference.  It's such a weird feeling going straight from biking to running so I'm glad I am starting to get used to that again. 

This is how my week went down:   
Monday-12 mile bike/ 2 mile run
Tuesday-6 mile run
Wednesday-1200 m swim/8 mile bike
Thursday-12 mile bike/3 mile run
Friday-rest
Saturday-7 mile run

Triathlon Training Week 3

I had to ease back a little this week because I think I overdid it last week.  The good news is that I only had to set an alarm 1 day this week.  Instead I squeezed workouts in during the day or after work.  The bad news is that I forgot how hard it is to get in a workout in the evening.  There is just too much going on with dinner, homework, and soccer practice.  As much as I would like to sleep a little longer in the morning, I think it's worth it to set an alarm and get my workout done while my family sleeps. 

I only did 1 run this week because I was letting my shin rest.  I've noticed quite a few lumps along the bone so I had one more treatmnent of Graston to try to smooth those out.  I am crossing my fingers that I can finally kick this nagging case of shin splints. 

I closed out week 3 with: 
1 yoga session (1.5 hours)
1 run (8 miles)
2 bike rides (18 miles and 12 miles)
3 swims (2 x 525, 1200, and 1200)

Triathlon Training Week 2

It was a hard week and I'm feeling it.  I may have done too much too soon, but I just couldn't help myself.  I have big goals for my two triathlons coming up. 

I'm happy to report my bike pace has improved.  Last week I was around  13-14 mph, and this week I hit 15.6 for my avg mph.  Hopefully I can get up a little more by race day. 

I've been reeeeallly enjoying yoga lately.  I've always liked it, but now I am seriously loving it.  This week in class we did Pendant Pose, or Lolasana.  I'm still sore 3 days later! 

I closed out week 2 with:
1 yoga session (1.5 hours)
1 swim (sprint intervals)
2 bike rides (16 miles and 13 miles)
3 runs (400m repeats, and two 6 mile tempos)

Triathlon Season

Just like that triathlon season is upon me.  I'm hoping to be able to do the sprint tri in Snowflake in 4 weeks...unless the hubs decides we are going out of town instead.  But for sure I am planning on doing the same Olympic tri I did last year. 

I have been eagerly waiting to start training again.  I got my bike out for the first time since October and did a 15 mile ride.  My pace was pretty pathetic, but I felt good.  I was terribly sore in my back/shoulders and crotch area the next day, but I didn't let that stop me and went out again two days later.  Already my pace had improved. 

Thankfully, this year I'm not just barely learning to swim, and I've been keeping up with it almost year round so I feel much more confident in the water. 

And, my running is stronger than it's ever been.  Now if I can just put it all together...

I closed out the week with:
1 yoga class (1.5 hours)
2 swim sessions (1,000 yards and 525 yards)
2 bike rides (both 15 miles)
3 runs (5 mile tempo, 1 mile time trial, and 10 mile long run)