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So the season is still going...



I was thinking about a post on the Cleveland Tri Club forum. It was pick your top 5 of 2007. While my season is not yet done, I had to think a minute as there are so many to choose from!!! Perhaps next year I will spend a little less money and focus on quality over quantity. But for this year, racing has just been plain too much fun (except river run half when I was sick)!

YTD top 5 have been in no particular order-
Youngstown 1/2 marathon--I like the challenge of a hilly race early in the year!
Cleveland marathon-just because I got my BQ!
GCT Half-enjoyed going the new long distance
Twilight Trail Run-loved running with the girls and the post race beer afterwards!!
Portage Lakes Du- Great course, lots of familliar faces and just felt great!

Beautiful Ohio

This weekend my husband I decided it was time to take a weekend away for ourselves. Usually most weekends, my husband does competition shooting and I do some sort of exercise thing.

We left out Saturday afternoon (after I snuck in a long run!!) for a 200 mile trip down to Hocking Hills on our motorcyles. It was just gorgeous! We took the scenic route through many country roads and towns.

After a few stops we pulled into the cutest little cottage for our evening stay.


The place included pretty much everything you could want-full kitchen and bathroom with all towels, kitchen utensils, fireplace, dvd player, hot tub, two different patios, and all sorts of other comfort amenities!

It is always nice to enjoy some quality time with the spouse in an extremely beautiful part of Ohio. We stopped off in Berlin on our way home for some very tasty country cooking. Finally we made it back home with some very tired bodies from all the miles on the motorcyles....I may need a hot tub at home now!

Random Numbers and Tidbits

Portage Lakes Sprint Du---thankfully HFP did not loose my splits like I did!

5K #1 - 20:42 (6:39/mi)
T1 - 1:06
13 m Bike - 38:33 (19.3 mph)
T2 - 1:00
5K#2 - 22:07 (7:07/mi)

Random thought: Although my preference is warm hot summer weather, my body definitely likes these cooler temps with low humidity for exercising!!!

Friday ~ 40 ish mile bike ride
Saturday ~ 18 mi run
Sun ~ Spint Du ~ 7 mi ran, 13 mi bike
Mon ~ easy 6 mi run
Tues - 5 mi speedwork ran

I had a super in shape aerobics instructor last week that made me think I needed to refocus.

Several pounds have crept on over summer as I have really ate pretty much whatever I wanted.

I watched the biggest loser and thought if they can, I can.

I decided to get my act together and clean up my horrible diet. No more salmon caesar salads for lunch daily, no more two starbucks frappachinos a day, no more nightly chicken wings, burgers and fries. Ramped up exercise a bit more. Dropped 8-9 pounds in a week. I think I must have weighed in on a heavy day the morning after a big dinner or something. I am feeling so much better already...now to just stay commited.

Riding the Rollercoaster

First and foremost, a huge thank you to Mallie who is the Rockstar of blog designs!!! She totally has pimped out my blog and I am soooo lucky she took the time to apply her mad skills to this site which was definitely in need of some TLC!!!

So last weekend and most of the week, the cold definitely had me down. The half marathon was rough and I felt crummy. I took Monday off entirely and my chest felt too tight to run on Tuesday, so I hit hard bodies class. I made it through class that day although my cold had me sweating as if I was working out in a sauna!

Wednesday I ran a whole 3 miles still feeling off. I just had no motivation.

I was starting to feel a bit better by Thursday however I still just had no desire to get in a normal workout so I did 1.5 miles on the treadmill before a hard bodies class at lunch and then another mile in the evening before hitting a interval aerobics class. I had such a nice time just doing something different although my calfs screamed for the next 3 days from doing so many toe raises in class.

Friday things started to finally turn up. I met a couple friends for a gorgeous 2.5 hour bicycle ride through some very hilly roads. The weather was just perfect and again I was rejuventated by my training which I had been lacking all week. As the evening rolled around MT called to see about the weekend long run. I hated to risk not performing well on Sunday but I figured we could just do an easy long run Saturday. So we met at noon out in Mantua to run the soft, flat Headwaters Trail. The temps had cooled and we easily picked off the miles at a decent pace. I felt great and 18 flew by so fast!

Sunday I awoke early to head out to the Akron International (Portage Lakes) Duathlon. My muscles remained a little sore from the prior workouts and the cold was not totally gone, but I was ready to go. I had signed up for the short course du. It was a crisp morning and I was thankful I would not be doing the swim as the transition out of the water to the bicycle was going to be a cold one! I lined up next to a fellow teammate who was doing the long course du (& she incidentally went on to win it!!!) and I said that I was going to try to pace off of her if I could keep up. I must be a cold weather person as things felt good. Mile one 6:32. Mile 2 was pretty much an uphill grade 7:11 and then Mile 3 was back down 6:14. Last 0.1 mi was 38 sec. I felt good and stayed within 5 steps of my teammate the whole way. It had to be one of my best runs of the year and then I headed into transition for my bike.

I had started the morning which was around mid 40 with a tri top and shorts and arm warmers. My hands had been cold all morning so I put on the only gloves I had which were big thick fleece ones. I thought I might need them on the bike but after the first run my hands were so sweaty that I had them off at the transition entrance and rode with no gloves at all. My legs felt incredibly tight on the bike but I was keeping a decent pace through the rollers. Over the 13 miles I never saw another female and passed several guys and several guys passed me. I have been having trouble getting my bike sensor to stay put on my wheel and of course it did not work during the race so I was guessing my mileage as the miles were not marked.

As I pulled into transition, I quickly changed shoes and headed off on the run course. I thought I was in front but there had been one girl (who I think ended up a DNF) ahead of my teammate and I on the first run and I was not sure if she was doing the sprint and might be in front of me. So I took off. The legs were tight but I plugged away increasing turnover and feeling generally good. After all the international du's this year, it is a huge mental boost to only have a 5K to run! As I passed the first mile I was close to 7 min mile pace which I was happy with. I was passing men as I ran the course and as I started up mile 2, I was happy to not see any women still as the the course has 2 out and backs and you can see who is in front and behind you. As the downhill mile 3 started, I saw the sprint tri female leader about 3/4 of a mile back and knew even she could not catch me. I came across the line holding around a 7 min mile pace for 5K #2 and finished with a total time of 1:23. I was the first female across and was so excited that for once I had felt pretty good during the race.

I was a little upset that as I tried to save all my splits that I took perfectly, I managed to clear them. Ooops! I hung out for a little while cheering on fellow friends before I had to head out for the day. It was a fantastic day and I left Portage Lakes feeling totally re-energized in spirit! It was just what I needed after having such a dismal week!

Under the weather

I should have known...

I was so tired last week, yet I dragged myself out of bed Friday morning to go to the gym. Usually on this long drive downtown I manage to wake up, but not this day. I turned the air conditioning on and painfully struggled to stay awake and drive. Once at the gym, as I rode the bike and the sweat started to flow, I finally woke up. However as I left the office around noon to work at home for the remainder of the afternoon, again I was so tired driving. I stopped on the way home for some much needed caffeine, thinking that must be the problem.

However about 5 I started to feel sinus pressure and then the sneezing started.

Just what I wanted as I headed into my busy weekend!

We headed out for some Friday night Mexican and after a couple Dos Equis my sinuses started to feel better. But I awoke Saturday morning for the 9 mile Potato Stomp feeling like a cold was setting in.

I had got to the race early and went for a nice warm up. However the race started 30 minutes later than anticipated so it had only really succeeded in making me damp while I waited.

Yes, in keeping with usual style, I headed out too fast and then struggled to hang on.

Mile 1-6:36
2- 6:40
3- 7:45
4- 7:39
5- 8:04
6- 8:08
7- 7:58
8- 6:45 (short)
9- 8:33 (long)

I originally had signed up for the course as it was close to home and the fact that they gave away prize money to the top 5 overall males and females. I came away with #4 overall female and $25. I felt I could have done better but perhaps the cold was holding me back. Overall the Potato Stomp was a challenging course with lots of rollers which never ended. It was a humid day and I was soaking wet. Thankfully as I crossed the finish line about a mile from the starting line, they handed out embroidered towels which I wiped the sweat from my body.

The race was not chipped and it took quite awhile before all the results were tallied up and I sat there shivering through the awards as my dry clothes were parked a good way up the road. I finally made my way home and was cold and hungry. The sick related off feeling just continued to get worse as the day wore on and as I went to bed at I started to consider skipping the Sunday half marathon.

I awoke early Sunday morning. I probably should have just stayed in bed. My legs were sore from the prior day. I was so congested. It was raining. But, I had said I was going to do this and meet a friend and I hate not following through on something I said I would do. So off to the 1/2 marathon I went.

I did a short warm up while I debated whether to just run for fun or to go out in seek of that PR as usual. Yeah, as usual I lined up for the PR.

With the start after the previous day's fade, I planned to run an even race and hold back at the beginning. Mile one, 7:12. Right where I wanted to be. As I went into Mile 2, I knew I was in trouble. My legs were so sore. I had hoped after mile 1 they might loosen up but it was not happening and they just felt like heavy tight bricks. 7:22. I was already looking forward to the end and my chest started hurting. Mile 3-7:23. Mile 4-7:52...already slowing down. I was wet. My legs hurt. I felt awful and congested. My head was not even in it and I just plain did not care. I just wanted to be done. My headphones quit working at mile 5 which was my the one distraction keeping me somewhat happy.

Now I was bored and I just plodded along. I started walking the water stops and I watched as females passed me that I had not lost to all year. I did not care...much.

I skipped the water stop at mile 12 just wanting to get done and finished in 1:48:25. It was a disappointing time, yet I was just glad to be done. If nothing else, I did pick up my participation points for my Hermes Road Race Series. Jeez, I was just exhausted. After running around with family for a few hours afterwards I went home to collapse on the couch. The cold has set in and as I type this on Monday I feel like crap. Needless to say, I skipped an AM workout today and slept in.

I am anticipating a very light, easy week! I suppose it is time to take it easy for a bit and get healthy before next weekend which will just be a nice short du!

Weekends rule, especially the long ones!

Saturday was awesome! I met some friends out in the valley to ride the metric century STOMP ride on the most beautiful day!!! Morning coffe was good, volunteers were cheery, conversation was fun, the ride flew by and I even got to pet a donkey! Yup, definitely a good morning!

Then I headed over to fulfill my auntie duties with my girls. They turned ONE on September 5th!!!

ALYSSA!!!

ERIN!

Sunday I woke up bright and early to run a spirited 15 mile run with SERC and my running girls!!!

Sunday afternoon and Monday was filled with motorcycle riding and picnics!!! Weekends rock...it is just too bad they fly by so fast!!

On tap for this weekend is the 9 mile Potato Stomp Run and then the River Run half marathon! Bring it on!!!

Best of luck to all my other peeps out there racing this weekend including my ole roomie, TriShannon doing IM Wisconsin and my running gals doing the Punxy 50K!!!