Mad Monday Update 12/29

The last few days of rolling with it.....

Yes, I know some people are not big on the New Years Resolutions but I have always found it to be a perfect time to refocus my energy on what matters to me. It is a time to think about my nutrition and my training and to start gearing up for the many events of the new year. This week I sat down with my 2009 calendar and started plotting out what 2009 may hold. Strangely, I feel like this 2009 schedule is rather bare at this point, but I have this feeling that it will fill up in no time.

Notable events that are definitely on the calendar for the first part of the year include-

* Winter Buckeye 50K Run (1/18)
* Youngstown 1/2 Marathon (3/8)
* Pittsburgh Marathon (5/3)
* Mohican Mtn Bike 100K (5/30)
* Xterra One (7/19)

Other than that, I am tenatively planning to add in some 5K's to keep the speed up, a couple bicycle races, a couple more Xterra's (XTERRA Torn Shirt MI 6/21, XTERRA M2Xtreme NY 8/21/08), a couple mtn bike races, some centuries and of course a few more tri's (maybe another half). Oh yeah and perhaps some more du's and runs (starting with Dirty Dog 10K, Chili Bowl 5 K, St Malachi....!).

So in rolling with it, things were not exactly where I wanted them to be, but during the holidays I will let it slide!

M 12/22-
Lunch-5 Miles Run
Eve-11 Miles Mtn Biked at Rays (Felt great and did about a zillion loops on the pump track. The thing I like about Rays is there is always something new to play on or try)
T 12/23 - OFF, busy
W 12/24 - 12.5 Miles Ran with SERC on some very icy roads
R 12/25 - OFF for XMAS!
F 12/26 - Swam 900 yards (zoomers blistered toe, cut workout short to hit spin class), Spin Class (70 min, at least 20 miles covered I'd assume), Ran 2 miles, abs
S 12/27 - 15.25 Miles Ran on VERY muddy Buckeye Trail on Vertical Runnner Waterfalls Group Run, 24 miles biked on road with hubby (Omigoodness, I was a waterlogged, dirty, sweaty, muddy mess all day. With the warm temps, my asthma flared and killed my chest so I cut the run a bit short...one of these days I will learn to carry my inhaler!)
S 12/28 - 11.5 Miles Ran with SERC

Week Totals--
Swam - 900 Yards :-(
Mtn Biked - 11 Miles
Road / Spin - 44 Miles
Ran - 46.25 Miles

Some pics from the last week!

The VR Run included lots of very cold water crossings!


I think the ski resort workers thought we were nuts when our muddy feet emerged from the woods!



Group Shot at Blue Hen Falls


Group Shot at Buttermilk Falls


Yes, it was a bit muddy!


Needless to say, the waterfalls run was a blast!

This one was Christmas at my hubby's moms. She has 10 of these lil 5 week old fluff balls at her house and I just wanted to bring this lil guy home with me!

Mad Monday Update 12/22

Dashing through the snow....

Yes, another week in the books. I have now officially made it to winter and it feels like it!!! Thank goodness days will now be getting longer!

This week old man winter treated me to a cold which sidelined me for a couple days. However sometimes I find that the best thing I can do when I am sick is to get some exercise and I start to feel more normal again as I sweat out the poisons.

Mon 12/15 - 5 miles treadmill ladders ~38:30, lifted bi's, tri's, chest
Tues 12/16- AM 7 Mile Run with BM & CV, noon 5 mile Run with E
W 12/17 & R 12/18 - OFF, felt like crap
F 12/19 - 6 Miles Ran on treadmill as it was nasty outside(forced myself to get going, almost quit after a mile and then again after two, but kept going and eventually felt better)
S 12/20 - 21 Mile Trail Run on Buckeye Trail- Still not feeling 100% and aerobic system definitely seemed to overload easier and take a little more time to recover, but just happy to get it in!
S 12/21 - Reddy Swim Clinic (no idea on the yards but definitely dig these clinics!)
- 10 Miles Mtn Biked. Yeah my dumb self decided since it was actually sunny that we should go ride outside. It was 12 outside but who knows how cold it actually was with the wind chill.

Totals (A little lighter than planned with the off days and being sick)
Ran - 44 Miles
Biked - 10 Miles (Mtn)
Swam - 2000 Yards??

Mad Monday 12/15

Thankfully the flat tire incident is behind me. The last week seems like it was a whirlwind and I have not had a minute where I was not late for something and leaving something else early. I can't wait for things to slow down and feel that I am ahead instead of forever behind the 8 ball.

Monday - off, got the tires fixed and rested!
Tuesday - 7 Miles AM
Wednesday - 6.75 Miles
Thursday - 7.2 Miles
Friday - 11.1 Miles
Saturday - 11.2 Miles on Buckeye Trail
Sunday - 11.5 Miles with SERC (8:30 pace)

Miles Ran - 54.75 Miles

For now, I am still taking a relaxed approach to the training (besides making sure my running miles are where they need to be for January's 50K) and come the first of the year, the plan is to buckle down and really add in the base miles (especially focusing on the bike) while trying to get in plenty of cross training (weights, swimming, & mtn biking).

Monday Madness 12/8

I feel like I have been caught in some sort of bad dream lately. Well suffice it to say, I work in the investment industry so times are tough. Went shopping the day after Thanksgiving and ended up losing a large amount of cash. Still haven't figured out how that happened except to know that it must have happened at lunch. Then last night we had the fun Clev Tri Club banquet and my hubby and I went to leave at 10PM. Within the mile, something felt wrong with the car and my husband pulled over and got out to look. Front flat tire. Walked around the car...make that two front flat tires. WTF? We had not hit anything. So again as it does every single year my AAA card came in handy and I made the call for a tow.

Tow was said to be an hour and a half so I decide to call a friend, BM, that lived close to wait it out. Bet he is wondering why he took that call now. We waited nearly 2 hours and finally they called to say help should be there so BM drove us to the car about midnight. Only AAA had sent a service vehicle who thought he would just fix a flat. Aghhh, that was not going to help. So another call to AAA and supposedly another 45 minutes. We got a little scenic tour around the city and waited with BM (up for good samaritan award of the year in my book). Finally about 2, the tow truck came. After getting loaded up, we were finally on the way our to Joey's parents house in Garrettsville. Unloaded the car, stole one of his parents cars and finally made it home about 3:15 AM.

Ended up texting the boss I would work remotely on Monday as this scenario was going to take some sorting out. Did I mention that I bought 4 brand new tires less th an a month ago which cost me over $800? Anyway after prying myself out of bed, the hubby got the tires off and we cannot seem to find anything to cause the issue. Now I am sitting at Borders as the tire place tries to figure out the dealio. Somebody please wake me up from this stupid annoying dream. Did I mention I am SOOO tired and I went to bed over 5 hours past my bed time? Please tell me that this is not going to cost me to fix this on top of this all. My poor hubby has been so good through all this and really is not enjoying me including him in my bad dream. Life can be a beeach soome times.

Anyways, today is looking like an off day. Last week went as such-

M-off
T - 6.5 mile run with BM
W - 4.5 mile run with MJ & E
R - 6 mile treadmill run with CV (47)
F- 6.7 mile run with E, 6 miles Mtn Biked at Rays
S -5.5 miles ran including reindeer run 5K, 5K time 21:16 (6:52 pace). Went out feeling fine and after a mile my legs again tightened up terribly causing me to slow down quite a bit. Got 1st in AG, but couldn't help to be a little disappointed. Need to figure out why this has happended the last 2 races.
S-18.5 miles ran on BT with AS and BS

Totals-
Ran-47 miles
Mtn Bike-6
Swim-- 0 - :-( mornings were not happening, I will get back on the ball this week.

Mad Monday Report a couple days late & TT Report

Things definitely got shook up with the holiday but it is the off season, right?

Monday 11/24
AM - Reddy Swim Workout-1100 yards
Noon-1 mile Run (ankles feel wrecked from Sundays long icy towpath run), 30 min stationary bike (9.75 Miles)
Tuesday - 6x400's ran 4.5 miles total
Wednesday - 14 mile mtn biked at Rays
Thurs - 1.5 mile warmup, turkey trot (6.5 Miles)
Friday (off, shopped!)
Saturday-18 mile Buckeye Trail Run with A&B, 24 mie road bike ride with hubby (TIRING DAY)
Sunday-8.25 M Run with Bob & Jim

Weekly Totals
Swam-1100 yards
Mtn Biked-14 Miles
Road / Stationary Bike-33.75
Ran -42.75

TT Report
Well I must say again that I did not perform up to my expectations. I am going to use the excuse that it was my legs. I was not sure if it was the mtn biking the evening before, the cold or what. Whatever the case about 2 miles from the end they just filled with lactic acid and hurt terribly, especially up the West 3rd hill.

After chatting with friends at the expo and warming up with CV, I lined up ready to go. Since E was not there to yell at me (just kidding) I pulled my headphones over my ears ready to rock out to a new playlist. With the start I was off. I was jockeying for position left and right with the mob of people rocking out to Crue's Shout at the Devil. I was feeling good and just running my own race. Mile 1 6:35

I wondered if it was too fast for a 5 miler as this was not a 5K. Oh well, I felt fine. Around the city and down the hill I ran settling into my pace. Mile 2 6:32, Still feeling good.

I hate the middle part of the race when you realize just how much further you have to go and I was starting to wish it was just a 5K. My legs started to feel worse and I knew I was slowing. Mile 3 7:01

Then my leg muscles starated to really tighten. Every muscle felt tight as could be. One girl in the Hermes series in my age group passed but I let her go on, knowing I still had the hill and I was secretly hoping I could catch her after the hill. Mile 4-7:30 At this point I refused to look at my watch knowing it would make me mad.

I was suffering that last mile. Aerobically I think I felt fine but my legs were quite another situation. The hill was painful and I felt like I was barely moving! CV passed and I dug as deep as I could to pick it up. At the top I was surprised to see that we were already heading into the finish instead of looping around. I tried to close the gap on CV. She must have known I was coming because before long we were both near a full sprint. Again she got me by an hair and I was lucky she helped push me to work a little harder. Mile 5 7:49, 3rd ag, total time 34.21.

Going into the race I wanted to break 34. No dice there. I was SOOO SORE after this race. I could not believe how wrecked my legs were R,F, S, S and just started to feel better Monday. One race left for 2008. Time to lay in on the line and finish the year off right.

I guess if there is a silver lining, I have raced the turkey trot for years now and even with my legs shutting down, it was still my fastest trot. Now I want my fastest Reindeer Run!

06-36:13
07-34:56
08-34:21!