Saturday, January 31, 2009
Spot the Crackhead!
I snagged some pics from the website for last Sunday's indoor triathlon. I did not know someone was taking pics while *I* was on the sideline cheering and taking pics of some guys I know. Count the hotties in each pic below:
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Recovery (continued)
So yesterday morning I was on my way to the Y to do a track workout, and I didn't realize until I was out the door just how much snow had fallen--about 2". Which meant I had to move it. It was pretty fluffy stuff, and I didn't feel like firing up the snowblower and smelling all like gasoline/oil and stuff, so I just shoveled. I think it took me about 1/2 hour to do it, and then I was off to run.
The warmup piece on the treadmill felt fine, except that I was nearly overheating from my little shoveling warmup. Then I moved onto the track where it wasn't as cool as it usually is, but still fine. I had brought a can of Coke (poured into a bike bottle) to drink.
When I did the piece of the warmup that included some 5K pace work, I just took off and was enjoying the fast running, but I ran faster than I needed to, and it was just enough to make me realize I was still a little tired. I did the first 10K/5K interval exactly to pace, but was disappointed because last week I had run faster, because I was definitely fresher last week, and yesterday I didn't have a full 24 hours between a hard bike workout and a hard run workout, which is significant for me.
I completed the second 10K/5K interval exactly like the first one, only it hurt more to do it. I figured I'd slow it down slightly for the last interval, and I did, but not by much. Still, all things considered, it was a decent workout.
Around noon, I took a short break from work and worked my bis, tris, delts and chest. It only took 20 minutes, but I was feeling it.
I was invited to do a "spin" session at my bike shop that began at 6:30PM. I wasn't too sure it was a good idea to do it after having done a track workout, but whatever, it's all good training, right? Just see what I can do...
I loaded up a bottle with a can of Ultra Violence Voltage flavor cut with grape Gatorade, since I knew one way or the other, I'd need a boost to get through a hard bike workout in the evening (I rarely do evening workouts--I'm usually down for the count stretching about 6:00PM followed by general relaxation and vegetating).
I set up my bike and trainer next to the owner's bike, because I know him, and thought we could chat whenever our lungs weren't burning. Our instructor, Anthony, was facing us barking out gearing and effort levels. I was OK with most of the workout except for pretty extensive bouts of standing, where I took the opportunity to ride seated if I felt I needed to. I did the 3 isometric squats (a la Troy Jacobsen in Spinervals) just fine, and was kicking out good power for the duration. When it was over, either I was a slacker or I am just used to the hard workouts, I shouted, "Next time make it harder!" And well, I got my wish, as I have been asked to lead the next session in 2 weeks! I'm looking forward to putting something together that will be challenging, yet fun.
A few of us went out for beers and burgers afterwards, and when I got home, I was so tired I didn't even shower (I had towelled off at the shop) and just went straight to bed. I was a little pleased with myself that I was able to get through it, but knew it really wasn't a good idea for me to have done both a track workout and hard bike on the same day. Whatever, if I need to adjust after the fact, that's fine.
This morning all I had to do was a short (2200 yards) swim workout, and that went well, except for my throat being a little scratchy, which is just a sign that I had better watch it or I could get sick. I am still going to try and do the remainder of my strength work today which is LEGS!!!! My legs actually don't feel too bad right now, but I know from past experience that sometimes you feel your strongest and best just before you are about to go over the edge and get sick and need a day off. I'm already mentally prepared to take a sick day tomorrow if I at all feel less than 100%, and all I have planned is a swim which can go out the window, too.
I'm sure other people have to put up with a lot of other interferences to their training than I do--the only reason I write about this stuff is because sometimes I go back and read it and learn from it, and other times I find out just how strong I am and achieve a breakthrough by doing something that I thought might be a stupid idea!
The warmup piece on the treadmill felt fine, except that I was nearly overheating from my little shoveling warmup. Then I moved onto the track where it wasn't as cool as it usually is, but still fine. I had brought a can of Coke (poured into a bike bottle) to drink.
When I did the piece of the warmup that included some 5K pace work, I just took off and was enjoying the fast running, but I ran faster than I needed to, and it was just enough to make me realize I was still a little tired. I did the first 10K/5K interval exactly to pace, but was disappointed because last week I had run faster, because I was definitely fresher last week, and yesterday I didn't have a full 24 hours between a hard bike workout and a hard run workout, which is significant for me.
I completed the second 10K/5K interval exactly like the first one, only it hurt more to do it. I figured I'd slow it down slightly for the last interval, and I did, but not by much. Still, all things considered, it was a decent workout.
Around noon, I took a short break from work and worked my bis, tris, delts and chest. It only took 20 minutes, but I was feeling it.
I was invited to do a "spin" session at my bike shop that began at 6:30PM. I wasn't too sure it was a good idea to do it after having done a track workout, but whatever, it's all good training, right? Just see what I can do...
I loaded up a bottle with a can of Ultra Violence Voltage flavor cut with grape Gatorade, since I knew one way or the other, I'd need a boost to get through a hard bike workout in the evening (I rarely do evening workouts--I'm usually down for the count stretching about 6:00PM followed by general relaxation and vegetating).
I set up my bike and trainer next to the owner's bike, because I know him, and thought we could chat whenever our lungs weren't burning. Our instructor, Anthony, was facing us barking out gearing and effort levels. I was OK with most of the workout except for pretty extensive bouts of standing, where I took the opportunity to ride seated if I felt I needed to. I did the 3 isometric squats (a la Troy Jacobsen in Spinervals) just fine, and was kicking out good power for the duration. When it was over, either I was a slacker or I am just used to the hard workouts, I shouted, "Next time make it harder!" And well, I got my wish, as I have been asked to lead the next session in 2 weeks! I'm looking forward to putting something together that will be challenging, yet fun.
A few of us went out for beers and burgers afterwards, and when I got home, I was so tired I didn't even shower (I had towelled off at the shop) and just went straight to bed. I was a little pleased with myself that I was able to get through it, but knew it really wasn't a good idea for me to have done both a track workout and hard bike on the same day. Whatever, if I need to adjust after the fact, that's fine.
This morning all I had to do was a short (2200 yards) swim workout, and that went well, except for my throat being a little scratchy, which is just a sign that I had better watch it or I could get sick. I am still going to try and do the remainder of my strength work today which is LEGS!!!! My legs actually don't feel too bad right now, but I know from past experience that sometimes you feel your strongest and best just before you are about to go over the edge and get sick and need a day off. I'm already mentally prepared to take a sick day tomorrow if I at all feel less than 100%, and all I have planned is a swim which can go out the window, too.
I'm sure other people have to put up with a lot of other interferences to their training than I do--the only reason I write about this stuff is because sometimes I go back and read it and learn from it, and other times I find out just how strong I am and achieve a breakthrough by doing something that I thought might be a stupid idea!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Recovery
A friend asked me about consuming alcohol and its affect on recovery. I ended up stating that I believe that as long as you have a good diet and are getting sufficient sleep, that a few beers or glasses of wine shouldn't affect you too much. If you are really going for a Kona slot or you just want to see how you perform without any alcohol, go for it.
But then I got to thinking about the whole recovery thing, and there are so many factors that enter into it. What is recovery? I would define being recovered as:
the ability to train as hard as or harder than the most recent good, hard effort
where "hard effort" is a workout where you are able to do work at or above threshold/LT/FT pace, however you define it. If your most recent hard effort was a race, you are recovered when you can do a hard workout like the one before the race--nobody can just race and race and race! One reason that I am not an advocate of all long and easy "base" stuff in the "off season" is because it is too easy to slack on recovery like eating well, not putting on weight, sleeping well, etc., since you are not doing any hard efforts that truly test whether or not you are recovered!)
If I trained hard yesterday and all I do today is an easy (Z1/Z2) workout or two, then I can't say for sure whether I'm recovered. But the next time I try and do a pretty hard workout, I can sure tell.
Should we be striving for 100% recovery by the next day after a hard workout? If your job is to train, they I would say yes--otherwise, you need to get in touch with your own body so you know how many days you might need to recover from a hard or breakthrough effort.
For example, Sunday I did a 1-hour sprint race, and I also ran and biked easy afterwards. I did not expect to be fully recovered from that on Monday, and in fact, Monday all I had scheduled was a short, easy swim and an easy run. And I could tell I wasn't recovered. Yesterday, I had a hard interval bike workout to do, which I did after about 30 minutes of strength training. Did I execute well on the bike workout? I did OK, but I could tell I wasn't fully recovered from Sunday (sleeping less than 6 hours does that to me!). Still, I did the best I could, and knew that I it was critical that I focus on recovery last night. I got a massage, got to sleep early, and slept really well, and feel pretty good. But I won't really know until I do my track workout in a few minutes whether I am fully recovered.
If you don't know your own body well, you might start your next hard workout, notice that you aren't going to be able to hit the workout's objectives and bag it altogether or just turn it into an easy, aerobic workout. There are certainly times when this is the best thing to do. I know that for me, I am comfortable "doing the best I can" in the workout, and as long as I am close to the objectives, I am fine with it. I don't get down on myself for missing targets as long as it doesn't become habitual, and I keep pretty meticulous track of my workouts, so for example, on Thursday I am doing the same bike workout as Tuesday, and I should be able to perform it 100% to specs.
Now what about "recovery workouts?" I think this is highly individual. For some people, it's more of a mental thing to get back out there and do something, and our mental state affects our physical state so much, that if you think you will feel like a slacker if you do nothing but rest, then you are probably better off doing some sort of easy workout. But recovery is generally not doing, and for me that means sleep, massage, stretching, reading a book in bed, anything that gets me off my feet! Swimming can be recovery, too, but only if it's only about 1/2 hour or less and real easy.
All most age groupers can do to foster recovery is to pay attention to their bodies and to train at levels that can be recovered from. That is, I can train harder than some age groupers and not as hard as others. Plus, you need to take your goals into consideration. Generally speaking, my triathlon goals are to not suck in my races (MOP or better at any distance), do some really cool extreme shit, and have boatloads of fun while training hard a lot and still enjoying non-triathlon hobbies. Mostly I just like being highly fit! For other people, the goal might be general fitness, which allows for a lot of slack in how hard you train.
I think the key point is that recovery is relative to your goals. There's no need to worry too much about recovery if you aren't too concerned about being competitive, and if you aren't, then you are more likely to just bag a workout than try and execute it "as best you can." The more competitive you are, though, the more you need to pay attention to how your training plan plus recovery gets you there. A training plan is only as good as your ability to recover from it along the way. If you aren't recovering, you need to either scale back your goals (and your training) or bump up your recovery measures. There is no middle ground. And your ability to recover changes as you age, trust me I know!
A few other things post-track workout that I thought about...If you are feeling like you're not recovering, go through this list and see if any of them might be involved:
I fucking love training hard, but I love my recovery, too!
But then I got to thinking about the whole recovery thing, and there are so many factors that enter into it. What is recovery? I would define being recovered as:
the ability to train as hard as or harder than the most recent good, hard effort
where "hard effort" is a workout where you are able to do work at or above threshold/LT/FT pace, however you define it. If your most recent hard effort was a race, you are recovered when you can do a hard workout like the one before the race--nobody can just race and race and race! One reason that I am not an advocate of all long and easy "base" stuff in the "off season" is because it is too easy to slack on recovery like eating well, not putting on weight, sleeping well, etc., since you are not doing any hard efforts that truly test whether or not you are recovered!)
If I trained hard yesterday and all I do today is an easy (Z1/Z2) workout or two, then I can't say for sure whether I'm recovered. But the next time I try and do a pretty hard workout, I can sure tell.
Should we be striving for 100% recovery by the next day after a hard workout? If your job is to train, they I would say yes--otherwise, you need to get in touch with your own body so you know how many days you might need to recover from a hard or breakthrough effort.
For example, Sunday I did a 1-hour sprint race, and I also ran and biked easy afterwards. I did not expect to be fully recovered from that on Monday, and in fact, Monday all I had scheduled was a short, easy swim and an easy run. And I could tell I wasn't recovered. Yesterday, I had a hard interval bike workout to do, which I did after about 30 minutes of strength training. Did I execute well on the bike workout? I did OK, but I could tell I wasn't fully recovered from Sunday (sleeping less than 6 hours does that to me!). Still, I did the best I could, and knew that I it was critical that I focus on recovery last night. I got a massage, got to sleep early, and slept really well, and feel pretty good. But I won't really know until I do my track workout in a few minutes whether I am fully recovered.
If you don't know your own body well, you might start your next hard workout, notice that you aren't going to be able to hit the workout's objectives and bag it altogether or just turn it into an easy, aerobic workout. There are certainly times when this is the best thing to do. I know that for me, I am comfortable "doing the best I can" in the workout, and as long as I am close to the objectives, I am fine with it. I don't get down on myself for missing targets as long as it doesn't become habitual, and I keep pretty meticulous track of my workouts, so for example, on Thursday I am doing the same bike workout as Tuesday, and I should be able to perform it 100% to specs.
Now what about "recovery workouts?" I think this is highly individual. For some people, it's more of a mental thing to get back out there and do something, and our mental state affects our physical state so much, that if you think you will feel like a slacker if you do nothing but rest, then you are probably better off doing some sort of easy workout. But recovery is generally not doing, and for me that means sleep, massage, stretching, reading a book in bed, anything that gets me off my feet! Swimming can be recovery, too, but only if it's only about 1/2 hour or less and real easy.
All most age groupers can do to foster recovery is to pay attention to their bodies and to train at levels that can be recovered from. That is, I can train harder than some age groupers and not as hard as others. Plus, you need to take your goals into consideration. Generally speaking, my triathlon goals are to not suck in my races (MOP or better at any distance), do some really cool extreme shit, and have boatloads of fun while training hard a lot and still enjoying non-triathlon hobbies. Mostly I just like being highly fit! For other people, the goal might be general fitness, which allows for a lot of slack in how hard you train.
I think the key point is that recovery is relative to your goals. There's no need to worry too much about recovery if you aren't too concerned about being competitive, and if you aren't, then you are more likely to just bag a workout than try and execute it "as best you can." The more competitive you are, though, the more you need to pay attention to how your training plan plus recovery gets you there. A training plan is only as good as your ability to recover from it along the way. If you aren't recovering, you need to either scale back your goals (and your training) or bump up your recovery measures. There is no middle ground. And your ability to recover changes as you age, trust me I know!
A few other things post-track workout that I thought about...If you are feeling like you're not recovering, go through this list and see if any of them might be involved:
- Sleeping long enough and restfully?
- Executing good post-workout nutrition?
- Taking in sufficient carbs to support your training load?
- Eating a variety of foods, meeting your vitamin/mineral needs?
- Minimizing life stress and performing rejuvenation techniques like stretching, massage, meditation?
- Attending to lingering aches and pains before they turn into injuries?
- Completing workouts at the appropriate intensity? In particular, are you going too hard when you don't need to?
- Carrying an appropriate training load based on your history? I.e., if you trained 200 hours last year and this year's plan has you training 300 hours, it could be a recipe for disaster.
- Reverse tapering (i.e., ramping back up after a race) appropriately?
- Maintaining a healthy weight to minimize joint stress?
I fucking love training hard, but I love my recovery, too!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Weekly Workout Totals 01/19-2009-01/25/2009 and First Race of 2009!
I'm pretty sure I won my age group handily yesterday, although official results haven't been posted yet. There was one woman in my AG who hadn't raced yet when I left, and I stalked her up and down the Intertubes and can't find any race results for her, so either she's a total ringer or I have nothing to worry about.
EDIT: Yeah, I won my AG and was 7th woman overall. I have some work to do on the bike next time to advance in the overall standings. Two of my men buds each got 2nd in their AG to very tough competition. I know fast people...
I had SO much fun yesterday--sure it's just a little sprint, but it's the middle of winter, and what else are you going to do? Plus, I got to reconnect with some tri friends, go really hard, get in additional working out on the day, and renew confidence in myself that maybe I am not slowing down yet.
Even though I wouldn't call myself superstitious, I do have a number of rituals and things I do before a race that "put me in the mood." On Saturday afternoon, I got a Brazilian wax, and while in process, my "girl" remarked that I didn't seem to wince much from it. I told her it was nothing compared to the pain I'd be in the next day!
Saturday night I fixed up 300 calories of Ultrafuel in my now lucky Hip Hype bottle that I got at Ironman Brazil in 2006. I don't know why it's become a special bottle to me, but it has, and it only gets used for Ultrafuel. I set the coffeepot, but didn't put it on auto, as I knew I'd wake up in plenty of time.
I ended up waking up around 3:30AM, but since I'd gone to sleep pretty early (bored; nothing on TV, full day, why not?), I'd have had enough sleep, but I stayed in bed just thinking happy thoughts for about a half hour. I began drinking coffee out of my 2004 Ironman Hawaii mug, which I like to use on race mornings or the morning of an important workout.
I hadn't chosen race clothes, so first thing was which swimsuit to wear? I have a large drawer full of them--about half are fitness bikinis and the rest are "look good hanging out at the beach" bikinis. I bought 4 new fitness suits at the end of last summer that I hadn't worn yet. I began trying things on, and was surprised that none of the bottoms were the least bit tight, but some of the tops were! This I attribute to my now steady diet of chinups. I settled on the red suit because the top wasn't too constricting.
Next, I began trying on bike shorts. It's been a tradition with me the last 4 years or so to wear my really low cut Desoto bike shorts to these races (I leave the swimsuit top on, take off the bottoms and put on the shorts before beginning the bike) because, well, they look good on me (I hope!) and again, it's the middle of winter, so why not see how low I can go? But I haven't felt particularly in shape, and my back injury has messed with my lower abs, so I wasn't sure how they'd feel or look. I put on the lowest cut black ones and just wasn't ready for them, although they didn't look bad. I settled on some gray ones made out of that Carrera fabric, which is kind of silky feeling.
I chose a pair of socks that I had worn at Triple T last year, so they felt lucky to me as well. For my street clothes, I had just finished sewing a pair of flannel pants that are white with small red lobsters on them, my black NOTHING t-shirt, a red sparkly thong that Shelley gave me a few years ago, and my striped pirate knee socks. To cap it all off, I decided to wear my silver Converse flats.
OK, so all of this stuff is making me feel ready to race and even a bit optimistic. In years past when I did these races, on the day before I'd do a hard long ride and brick run, but this time, I thought I'd move that run to Friday, because I was going to effectively do a brick on Sunday anyway. So Friday I ran sort of easy for 30' and then did 15' hard on the track, and Saturday I did a 2-hour trainer ride and kicked out some really good power.
My legs felt good, I stretched about 10', drank the Ultrafuel, went into a short insulin coma, mixed up my race nutrition--1 can of Ultra Violence and about 12 oz. of Gatorade Glacier Freeze, packed a cooler (since I'd be running after my race), and drove to the race venue (stopping on the way to gas up my car), which is about 3 miles from home. Sweet!
When I got there, I went to register, and the volunteer was getting the participant list ready when he said, "And you are?" My answer was, "AWESOME!" I was feeling pretty good and he got a laugh out of it, and I told him I thought I could do OK today.
I put my stuff in a locker and went to go check out the bikes. Turns out they had older model Precors which I hadn't been on in years, so I got on one, and it seemed easier than the newer models. That could be good or not. I only did 5' on it, which seemed enough for a 20' ride, eh? I never did do a run warmup, but for the next race, I think I'll at least jog for 5', then get on the bike.
I went and watched one wave swimming, still in my street clothes, and it was interesting to chat with some spectators and racers. Everyone is trying to figure out who is a newbie, who is experienced, and we all encourage one another. I have so much fun acting somewhat incognito, like I've never done triathlons before, just to see what people will say. It's tough to tell when I'm in loose street clothes what's going on underneath, although I was wearing my Ironman USA red fleece pullover, but it's got a subtle logo, and unless you're looking for the Ironman thing, you probably wouldn't notice. I had fun picking out who I thought would win that wave I watched, and I was right. I called him "Powerbar" because he wore a Powerbar swimcap, and he won handily.
Now it was my turn to suit up, so back to the locker room, and I put on my red bikini and sauntered onto the pool deck. Now people are looking at me because, well, a) I'm wearing a red bikini and b) I look pretty damn good in it (OMG am I narcissistic!!!). Sorry no pics, but let's just say I was a little noticeable. When I went to get bodymarked (yes, they do that for these little races--all part of the ritual, right?), the volunteers recognized me from years past, even though I skipped last winter because my Dad had just died.
I found my lane, and got in and the water felt really nice--cooler than my Y has been in months! So that would be a good thing. I haven't particularly been doing any intense swim training lately--I've been focusing on my bike and run--and wasn't worried about what I'd do in the pool since these races are won on the bike anyway. Several of us chatted about this and that, and I singled out a woman who looked like a swimmer, and I made that comment, and she looked at me and said I looked like "an all arounder." Whatever that means! I guess that is where my weight lifting pays off--while I'm pretty lean, I have some decent muscle, and thanks I like it that way!
The horn went off and I started swimming. All I cared about was that I swam with good form, stretching out my stroke and taking good pulls. I'd told my awesome volunteer, Stacy, to yell at me with 5' to go, as that was when I intended to try and pick up the pace a bit. I must have been lollygagging for the first 5', but those second 5' I was feeling it. I suppose I should just try and kick more, huh? Anyway, I did 550 yards in 10', which was fine.
Quick shower, strip off my swimsuit bottom, change into bike shorts, socks and running shoes, grab hat and iPod and off to the bikes. I put tunes on and so I guess I didn't hear the announcer dude say when to start pedaling so the volunteer could hit start, but my bike didn't fire up right away, and so I demanded I get 22 seconds after everyone else, and this guy is cool, and recognized me from years past, and he said, yeah, you get 22 seconds!
Well, even though I got a late start, I just fired up the legs and thought, "Let's see if I can make the first mile anyway." And I did. And I could just tell this was going to be a good ride, so I played around with different resistance levels, and even coasted when I took a sip out of my UV/Gatorade mix, and with 5' left, I knew I'd hit at least 6 miles, which is good stuff for these bikes for a female. To give you an idea, the overall female winner for several years running has been Lauren Jensen, a pro, and she does just around 7 miles.
I hit each new mile before anyone else did, and I think there may have been 1 other person in my wave that hit 6 miles, and I was over 6 at the 20' mark and then I had my 22 seconds, and I ended up at 6.65 miles, which is the most I've ever done at one of these races! Huh--guess my little fake taper thing was working!
But I got off the bike and had to lay on the floor for about a minute because I was pretty wiped out, and when I got up, my hamstrings didn't feel great because of the wide bike saddle, but as I began walking and shaking my legs, I felt OK.
Onto the track to run. The only man in my wave, a pretty young guy who must have gotten in by requesting an earlier wave than he was assigned, asked me how I did that on the bike, commenting that I was "really cruising." Of course, we didn't have much time (5') between bike and run, so I just smiled, thanked him, and lined up.
At this point, friends of mine were showing up to race in later waves, so I actually had a few people cheering for me, and then some girls that have worked on me at the massage school were next to the track, too, so in a way, it was good to know I was being watched.
I had told myself earlier in the day to really hold back for 2 laps (the track is 12 laps to the mile), but I guess I just threw that out the window and decided to see what I could do and how long I could hang on. I'm sure I slowed down the last 5 minutes, and I was off by about 1/2 lap from what I thought I could do. I did 22 laps, but I've done 23 before, so that's the objective for the next race.
At any rate, I really doubted anyone else would match my bike time, and that's what wins these races, so I felt pretty good. I cooled down a little bit, hung with some guy friends who were warming up for their race, and headed to the treadmill and ran for an hour. Now it was my turn to root for others, and I'd brought my camera, so I just snapped away while an elite wave of mostly guys was going off including friends of mine. The pool was like glass before they started, and then it was just boiling. Pics are here.
While they were biking, I got in another 15' on a bike before I began yelling at them for the last 5' of their ride, and then it was onto the track. It started out one guy wasn't wearing a shirt on the bike, and then three other guys removed theirs, and I was like NICE! And when they started running, all four shirtless guys were in a pack together, but it spread out a little, with the 2 fastest ones running neck and neck. One of them is a friend of mine, so I was really cheering hard for him, and knew he could take the other dude eventually, which he did.
After all this, we all went and grabbed some food and were just talking a mile a minute, and even though it was such a short little race, we were all talking about how we could do better at the next one! I said to someone, "I know what you need to do next time--GO FASTER!" I will be OK with the same swim and bike, but want to go a little further on the run. I might be able to do a bit more on the bike, too, which is cool, because the bike miles win. So I'm excited about the next race in 2 weeks!
After all that, I went home and tried to nap but mostly just laid there smiling and thinking how good it had felt to race and how auspiciously I am starting 2009 on a high note. Then I got up and read a little of the Sunday paper, made a meal of eggs and rainbow trout (YUM!), and relaxed and capped off the evening by splitting a bottle of champagne with a friend to celebrate our first race of the year!
Life is freaking good...and I'm tired today but I expected that and will be more than recovered by tomorrow--today is an easy day. Off to the pool!
EDIT: Yeah, I won my AG and was 7th woman overall. I have some work to do on the bike next time to advance in the overall standings. Two of my men buds each got 2nd in their AG to very tough competition. I know fast people...
I had SO much fun yesterday--sure it's just a little sprint, but it's the middle of winter, and what else are you going to do? Plus, I got to reconnect with some tri friends, go really hard, get in additional working out on the day, and renew confidence in myself that maybe I am not slowing down yet.
Even though I wouldn't call myself superstitious, I do have a number of rituals and things I do before a race that "put me in the mood." On Saturday afternoon, I got a Brazilian wax, and while in process, my "girl" remarked that I didn't seem to wince much from it. I told her it was nothing compared to the pain I'd be in the next day!
Saturday night I fixed up 300 calories of Ultrafuel in my now lucky Hip Hype bottle that I got at Ironman Brazil in 2006. I don't know why it's become a special bottle to me, but it has, and it only gets used for Ultrafuel. I set the coffeepot, but didn't put it on auto, as I knew I'd wake up in plenty of time.
I ended up waking up around 3:30AM, but since I'd gone to sleep pretty early (bored; nothing on TV, full day, why not?), I'd have had enough sleep, but I stayed in bed just thinking happy thoughts for about a half hour. I began drinking coffee out of my 2004 Ironman Hawaii mug, which I like to use on race mornings or the morning of an important workout.
I hadn't chosen race clothes, so first thing was which swimsuit to wear? I have a large drawer full of them--about half are fitness bikinis and the rest are "look good hanging out at the beach" bikinis. I bought 4 new fitness suits at the end of last summer that I hadn't worn yet. I began trying things on, and was surprised that none of the bottoms were the least bit tight, but some of the tops were! This I attribute to my now steady diet of chinups. I settled on the red suit because the top wasn't too constricting.
Next, I began trying on bike shorts. It's been a tradition with me the last 4 years or so to wear my really low cut Desoto bike shorts to these races (I leave the swimsuit top on, take off the bottoms and put on the shorts before beginning the bike) because, well, they look good on me (I hope!) and again, it's the middle of winter, so why not see how low I can go? But I haven't felt particularly in shape, and my back injury has messed with my lower abs, so I wasn't sure how they'd feel or look. I put on the lowest cut black ones and just wasn't ready for them, although they didn't look bad. I settled on some gray ones made out of that Carrera fabric, which is kind of silky feeling.
I chose a pair of socks that I had worn at Triple T last year, so they felt lucky to me as well. For my street clothes, I had just finished sewing a pair of flannel pants that are white with small red lobsters on them, my black NOTHING t-shirt, a red sparkly thong that Shelley gave me a few years ago, and my striped pirate knee socks. To cap it all off, I decided to wear my silver Converse flats.
OK, so all of this stuff is making me feel ready to race and even a bit optimistic. In years past when I did these races, on the day before I'd do a hard long ride and brick run, but this time, I thought I'd move that run to Friday, because I was going to effectively do a brick on Sunday anyway. So Friday I ran sort of easy for 30' and then did 15' hard on the track, and Saturday I did a 2-hour trainer ride and kicked out some really good power.
My legs felt good, I stretched about 10', drank the Ultrafuel, went into a short insulin coma, mixed up my race nutrition--1 can of Ultra Violence and about 12 oz. of Gatorade Glacier Freeze, packed a cooler (since I'd be running after my race), and drove to the race venue (stopping on the way to gas up my car), which is about 3 miles from home. Sweet!
When I got there, I went to register, and the volunteer was getting the participant list ready when he said, "And you are?" My answer was, "AWESOME!" I was feeling pretty good and he got a laugh out of it, and I told him I thought I could do OK today.
I put my stuff in a locker and went to go check out the bikes. Turns out they had older model Precors which I hadn't been on in years, so I got on one, and it seemed easier than the newer models. That could be good or not. I only did 5' on it, which seemed enough for a 20' ride, eh? I never did do a run warmup, but for the next race, I think I'll at least jog for 5', then get on the bike.
I went and watched one wave swimming, still in my street clothes, and it was interesting to chat with some spectators and racers. Everyone is trying to figure out who is a newbie, who is experienced, and we all encourage one another. I have so much fun acting somewhat incognito, like I've never done triathlons before, just to see what people will say. It's tough to tell when I'm in loose street clothes what's going on underneath, although I was wearing my Ironman USA red fleece pullover, but it's got a subtle logo, and unless you're looking for the Ironman thing, you probably wouldn't notice. I had fun picking out who I thought would win that wave I watched, and I was right. I called him "Powerbar" because he wore a Powerbar swimcap, and he won handily.
Now it was my turn to suit up, so back to the locker room, and I put on my red bikini and sauntered onto the pool deck. Now people are looking at me because, well, a) I'm wearing a red bikini and b) I look pretty damn good in it (OMG am I narcissistic!!!). Sorry no pics, but let's just say I was a little noticeable. When I went to get bodymarked (yes, they do that for these little races--all part of the ritual, right?), the volunteers recognized me from years past, even though I skipped last winter because my Dad had just died.
I found my lane, and got in and the water felt really nice--cooler than my Y has been in months! So that would be a good thing. I haven't particularly been doing any intense swim training lately--I've been focusing on my bike and run--and wasn't worried about what I'd do in the pool since these races are won on the bike anyway. Several of us chatted about this and that, and I singled out a woman who looked like a swimmer, and I made that comment, and she looked at me and said I looked like "an all arounder." Whatever that means! I guess that is where my weight lifting pays off--while I'm pretty lean, I have some decent muscle, and thanks I like it that way!
The horn went off and I started swimming. All I cared about was that I swam with good form, stretching out my stroke and taking good pulls. I'd told my awesome volunteer, Stacy, to yell at me with 5' to go, as that was when I intended to try and pick up the pace a bit. I must have been lollygagging for the first 5', but those second 5' I was feeling it. I suppose I should just try and kick more, huh? Anyway, I did 550 yards in 10', which was fine.
Quick shower, strip off my swimsuit bottom, change into bike shorts, socks and running shoes, grab hat and iPod and off to the bikes. I put tunes on and so I guess I didn't hear the announcer dude say when to start pedaling so the volunteer could hit start, but my bike didn't fire up right away, and so I demanded I get 22 seconds after everyone else, and this guy is cool, and recognized me from years past, and he said, yeah, you get 22 seconds!
Well, even though I got a late start, I just fired up the legs and thought, "Let's see if I can make the first mile anyway." And I did. And I could just tell this was going to be a good ride, so I played around with different resistance levels, and even coasted when I took a sip out of my UV/Gatorade mix, and with 5' left, I knew I'd hit at least 6 miles, which is good stuff for these bikes for a female. To give you an idea, the overall female winner for several years running has been Lauren Jensen, a pro, and she does just around 7 miles.
I hit each new mile before anyone else did, and I think there may have been 1 other person in my wave that hit 6 miles, and I was over 6 at the 20' mark and then I had my 22 seconds, and I ended up at 6.65 miles, which is the most I've ever done at one of these races! Huh--guess my little fake taper thing was working!
But I got off the bike and had to lay on the floor for about a minute because I was pretty wiped out, and when I got up, my hamstrings didn't feel great because of the wide bike saddle, but as I began walking and shaking my legs, I felt OK.
Onto the track to run. The only man in my wave, a pretty young guy who must have gotten in by requesting an earlier wave than he was assigned, asked me how I did that on the bike, commenting that I was "really cruising." Of course, we didn't have much time (5') between bike and run, so I just smiled, thanked him, and lined up.
At this point, friends of mine were showing up to race in later waves, so I actually had a few people cheering for me, and then some girls that have worked on me at the massage school were next to the track, too, so in a way, it was good to know I was being watched.
I had told myself earlier in the day to really hold back for 2 laps (the track is 12 laps to the mile), but I guess I just threw that out the window and decided to see what I could do and how long I could hang on. I'm sure I slowed down the last 5 minutes, and I was off by about 1/2 lap from what I thought I could do. I did 22 laps, but I've done 23 before, so that's the objective for the next race.
At any rate, I really doubted anyone else would match my bike time, and that's what wins these races, so I felt pretty good. I cooled down a little bit, hung with some guy friends who were warming up for their race, and headed to the treadmill and ran for an hour. Now it was my turn to root for others, and I'd brought my camera, so I just snapped away while an elite wave of mostly guys was going off including friends of mine. The pool was like glass before they started, and then it was just boiling. Pics are here.
While they were biking, I got in another 15' on a bike before I began yelling at them for the last 5' of their ride, and then it was onto the track. It started out one guy wasn't wearing a shirt on the bike, and then three other guys removed theirs, and I was like NICE! And when they started running, all four shirtless guys were in a pack together, but it spread out a little, with the 2 fastest ones running neck and neck. One of them is a friend of mine, so I was really cheering hard for him, and knew he could take the other dude eventually, which he did.
After all this, we all went and grabbed some food and were just talking a mile a minute, and even though it was such a short little race, we were all talking about how we could do better at the next one! I said to someone, "I know what you need to do next time--GO FASTER!" I will be OK with the same swim and bike, but want to go a little further on the run. I might be able to do a bit more on the bike, too, which is cool, because the bike miles win. So I'm excited about the next race in 2 weeks!
After all that, I went home and tried to nap but mostly just laid there smiling and thinking how good it had felt to race and how auspiciously I am starting 2009 on a high note. Then I got up and read a little of the Sunday paper, made a meal of eggs and rainbow trout (YUM!), and relaxed and capped off the evening by splitting a bottle of champagne with a friend to celebrate our first race of the year!
Life is freaking good...and I'm tired today but I expected that and will be more than recovered by tomorrow--today is an easy day. Off to the pool!
| Weekly Workout Totals | 01/19/2009-01/25/2009 This week's totals are sponsored by racing and KICKING ASS |
| Swim: | 7800 yards (4.43 miles) in 2.68 hours; 20% of weekly workout time; approx. 939 calories burned Canadian: 7132.32 meters |
| Bike: | Approx. 101.37 miles in 5.4 hours; 40% of weekly workout time; approx. 3034 calories burned; Total TSS=370 Canadian: 163.14 kilometers |
| Run: | Approx. 24.4 miles in 3.75 hours; 27% of weekly workout time; approx. 1698 calories burned Canadian: 39.27 kilometers |
| Strength: | 1.83 hours; 13% of weekly workout time; approx. 458 calories burned |
| All Sports: | Approx. 130.2 miles in 13.66 hours; approx. 6129 calories burned Canadian: 1 kilometers |
| Sleep: | 7.29 hours avg./night |
| Stretching: | 2.8 hours. Massage: 1 hours |
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