Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Never a dull moment here in the life of Daisy wrapping up 2009 with holiday parties and preparing for 2010!

 
Pic from Dec. 12th's Cleveland Tri Club Winter Banquet!

The shoppping is done, the holiday letter is out and now it is time for the fun stuff! My only regret is the number of holiday runs (Waterfalls Run and SERC holiday runs) coming up that I am going to skip due to wanting to make sure I am fully healed up and ready to go for a big 2010....(don't fret, you may see me for breakfast afterwards!)

The tibia pain has finally started to go away and I am looking forward to picking the running back up come the beginning of January. Of course I am tempted to try this week but I would rather give it a little extra time to make sure there is not a relapse. So it will just be biking and swimming into the new year and then a very careful return at start of 2010!

In other news, without all this running, I have been biking most days. As a matter of fact, in the last 9 days, I have visited Rays Indoor Mountain Bike park 5 times. I could easily prove it too...just look at my bruised legs! I will be buying some decent shin and knee guards here sometime soon!

Speaking of Rays, I have been having a blast chatting and racing around there with ET, a local girl who bikes & runs in some of the same circles that I finally got to meet. Rays is hosting and indoor cross country time trial (XCTT) series which ends on 1/10 and I think it just could come down to her and I dueling it out...so a little rivalary is always fun! The XCTT includes 7 lines traversing trees stumps, tree logs, wooden skinnies, etc and 3 loops of the ~1/3 mile long cross country loop. Top female time posted right now is 9:30.

Beyond that, East Side Cycling, CTC's 2 hour trainer workout, is now in full swing. Last week, "Mr. Heavier, the better?" PJ was in charge of tunes. Can't say I minded as I always have liked my share of Disturbed, Zombie, Rage, Korn, etc. Then after class, DJ, led us in a 45 minute swim which felt great, even if I was a little tired! So this is the Saturday staple for the winter...BRING IT ON!
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Friday, December 18, 2009

2009 Exciting Edwards Extravaganza er my Holiday Letter going out today!

 

Seasons Eatings, er Greetings to our family, friends and the strangers standing in front of the fridge reading the 5th HUGE installment of yet another Exciting Edwards Extravaganza!

Yes, folks like John from John & Kate Plus 8, we just keep coming back with more in a year filled with craziness like our Wild Tiger, Deviant Dave, Piggy Flu Paranoia, and the death of scary looking thriller dude! Joey even won the Nobel Peace Prize in ’09 for doing…for doing…oh wait I guess they gave it to that other guy!

Yes, craziness has also been prevalent here in the Edwards Establishment and I continue to look up in the sky expecting to see some winged porkers flying (& ready to take cover as you never know what they may drop)! 2010 kicked off with a bang as Joey and I made our way on New Year’s Day up to the very cold frosty Lake Erie Beach where Joey took the Polar Bear Plunge into the freezing cold water. I suppose ‘Destination Craziness’ was the set course for this year!

So the cold water must have re-wired something in Joey’s head as Mr. “Why camp out when a hotel has a perfectly comfortable bed?” has come over to the dark side and we got some equipment and camped out a fair amount this summer. Now I know many of you are still in disbelief that there could be this radical change of mindset by Joey, but apparently mountain biking at some silly sweet venues can be quite convincing! We managed to mountain bike and camp all over in PA, NY and Ohio and even did some high class camping in an RV a couple weekends (once with our friends out in Raystown, PA and once down at Mohican’s 100K mtn bike race next to a host of mountain bike legends!) Ahhh, many a good times were had & we definitely seemed to make an impression in the neighboring state of PA as they dollied out a 5 ft beer shrine to the RV. (In our defense, OH people just can’t get Yuengling everyday though and to our credit, it was not all ours!)

2009 goes down as Year Two of mountain biking for us. In 2008, it was Joey’s turn to break nearly everything on his bike. This year it was just his helmet (slamming headfirst into the ground after some fun kickers) and his face (which was perfect for our Halloween Corpse Bride & Groom Costume!). 2009 would serve as the year, yours truly, Janet, would keep breaking her bike…thank goodness for my loyal bike shop! Oh and don’t think I have not escaped unscathed…I sit here now typing with a bruised, scraped and swollen elbow, quad and palm after a crash just last night. Adults just don’t bounce like kids anymore…even if we still want to play like them!

And back to the airborne cob rollers, Anti-Spandex man also jumped onto the road bike band wagon hard core in 2009 and together we logged hundreds of miles in …you guessed it…SPANDEX! Oh and on the final swine fluttering note, after months of being personally berated by Joey with “Make friends in real life,” Joey joined the ranks of Facebook users everywhere and is now quite the Facebook strumpet.

In other news, after miles of abuse, I got rid of the G-Unit, aka my Pontiac G6 and bought a brand new Honda Fit! This animate lil car seems to have been made for me with a decent price-tag, nearly 38 mph gas average and it can haul a ton of crap, even fitting four bicycles inside! Is it bad when you go car shopping and want to take your bicycles with you as it is really important deciding factor? So Lisa can make fun of clown car all she wants, this fine carefree 7 month old with over 24K miles-on-it-already-car is going to get us places in 2010!

Despite having to drive so far to civilization, country living continues to treat us well. Besides Mohawk Matches (our golden retrievers Indian summer name) and Zippo (aka as catpigcat for his belly and food consumption habbits), we seemed to have had an issue with some squirrels trying to take over at the homestead (getting in the walls and everything else). But fear not friends, Joey Crockett emerged victorious in his mission to drink lots of coffee and take them out one by one from the upstairs window.

Guess it is time to close for now as like usual, there are a billion other things I should be doing like updating my fb status or posting some witty tweet or sending out a text (not while I’m driving, of course, :-). Who knows what 2010 will bring, but I Gotta Feeling from my most recent shopping experience that the 80’s fashion is coming back with a vengeance. I just want to announce right now for the record that in no way will my hair ever get that big again though!!!

Peace and Lotza Love! Janet, Joey, Matches & Zippo!
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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Computrainer FTP Test

 

What is an FTP Test? FTP stands for “Functional Threshold Power”. It is basically a measurement of your maximum average power output during the time trial.
The personalized FTP assessment is supposed to then be used to help set achievable goals.

I have never done anything like it before and sort of was not looking forward to it as I just as felt like I may not like the results as I had only gotten back on the bike somewhat regularly the last couple weeks or so. Lucky for me, I have never done it and don’t have a good basis to evaluate where I am at!

Not only that, but I have not done many tempo efforts since before my marathon. Oh yeah, and there are those off-season, lack of running pounds that must go! Just started to focus on that finally this week...and let me tell you, I really wanted the Brick last night (chicken wings, beer, fries) but I skipped it and lieu of some healthy lean chili.

So yesterday was the test. DM had offered to do it for me so I got all set up on the computrainer. It was only the second time I had used one and I always find myself just so zoned in on all the different numbers. If the budget was not so tight and those were not so expensive, I would definitely buy one!

It started with a warm up for 20' gradually building the wattage for brief intervals. During which, I just watched the numbers and different scans analyzing my pedal stroke. Then I got to my 30 second intervals where I took things up a bit. I guess every time in my head, I was trying just to bump the max speed a little higher, although I know that was not the goal.

Then it was time for the first 20 minute test. I rode a flat course of 6.53 miles (~20 min). I was instructed to ride aero as much as possible (I do find that I have recently really take a liking to the drops so I switched back and forth some). I was allowed to change gears as often as I wanted and was supposed to aim for a cadence between 80-100. For test one, I was supposed to ride hard, but not all out.

On the first test, worked pretty hard and was glad when the 20 minutes was over. Let me say a 2 min RI goes by quick and after some water it was on to the second 6.53 mile course (~20min).

I knew the goal was to finish with +/- 5% power of the first test. I was told that most people go out too hard on test 1, so to make sure it is a solid effort but not all out on test 1. For Test 2, I was supposed to build throughout and with 3' to go, REALLLLLLLLY put the hammer down. The final 3' should be an almost all out effort. I was definitely tired on the second test and dug down to try to keep things close to the first 20 min test, but it was hard as I had pushed pretty hard the first go around. When we got to the 3 minutes of increased effort, I really tried to bring up the rpms at least a couple…rough stuff! And boy was I happy when I finished. I was quite tired but wanted to make sure the test shown some good data so just tried to stick with it!

So here is the data, at least it will give me a place to start. I guess I was pretty close on both of them anyways.

CT Calibration 2.04

TT TEST 1
Course Distance: 6.53 M
Time: 19:59
Avg. Speed: 19.6 mph
Max Speed: 20.7 mph
Avg. Wattage: 173
Max Wattage: 259
Avg. Cadence: 90 rpm
Max Cadence: 98 rpm
Avg. HR: 174 bpm
Max HR: 182 bpm

TT TEST 2

Course Distance: 6.53 M
Time: 20:13
Avg. Speed: 19.4 mph
Max Speed: 20.4 mph
Avg. Wattage: 169
Max Wattage: 277
Avg. Cadence: 90 rpm
Max Cadence: 102 rpm
Avg. HR: 178 bpm
Max HR: 184 bpm
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Monday, December 07, 2009

The start of the east side indoor cycling season!!!!

 

Monday again. :-( Tip of the day-Don't bother packing up all your stuff to go swimming and then forget to set your alarm for 4:45 AM. You won't wake up that early all by yourself at that silly hour. Trust me, I did it today!

Well despite the stupid leg not cooperating with the running, other training still continues!

This week kicked off the east side indoor training session Saturday morning! This is officially year two for the East Side Cycling for Cleveland Triathlon Club. This year we changed the venue, time and day and then we had the biggest turnout yet!
 

My friend and fellow teammate, TB from TLE is heading up putting together the workouts. This should be a valuable weekly training session for both me and the rest of the group!

Oh and I am sure B will be happy to know that I had a towel under the bike so the pool was less obvious this time around!

Last week rundown went as such-
M 11/30- 6.5 M EZ Run :-(
T 12/1- 2500 M Swim, 13.25 M Bike
W 12/2-3500 M Swim, 5.5 M Run
R 12/3 - P90x Chest & Back (so sore!)
F 12/4 - 1600 M Swim, 10M Bike
S 12/5 - 35 M Bike
S off

Totals
Swim 4.72M
Bike 58.25 M
Ran 12 M
Core 1 session

Lastly, send get well vibes to my friend and our SERC president, Frank!

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Wednesday, December 02, 2009

The update...

The USAT National Club Challenge (NCC) started yesterday. It seems like a wonderful opportunity to support the local tri club and I find it a good source for motivation. Like this morning, I was dog tired and could not keep my hand off the snooze button. The plan was to hit master's swim this morning. Thinking about wanting to get in some swim mileage for the NCC was the one thing that finally guilted me into getting up. At the very last minute I dragged my butt out of bed and had to pull a tazmanian devil to get out of the house as fast as I could spin!

 


This month is swim month and lord knows that is where I should focus anyways! The husband's family has been in town and we have been spending our evenings with them being lazy, eating too much unhealthy food and staying up too late (but they left this morning so no more excuses)! I was so exhausted Monday that I missed swimming. But now with NCC swim month I have got up both the last two mornings that counted!

Not only that, after taking 2 weeks off from running due to a possible borderline tibia stress fracture, it seems after my two trial runs this week, that I will be going back to the no running status. Obviously it is not yet healed as clearly running is bothering my leg. Sigh! Winter Buckeye 50K seems off the table at this point given that it is quickly approaching in January and my run training is non-existent. Oh well, it is not the priority and if I need a little time off, now is the time. Since my 11/14, 8.5 mile run, I ran twice easy, today (12/2) and monday (11/30). I am not sure when the next one will be but I guess I will wait until the pain subsides. :-(

Biking is good though! Hitting Rays Indoor Mtn Bike Park Friday! And I am pretty excited that CTC's east indoor cycling cycling starts Saturday!
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Monday, November 30, 2009

Big News….Joining the Trakkers Family!

 

So the news I have been totally stoked about for the past two weeks or so was that I was invited to join the Trakkers family!

Awhile back, I had applied for the Trakkers team. It seemed like such a wonderful opportunity to get more involved with an outfit which is very enthusiastic about the sport of triathlon. Beyond that, Trakkers is aligned with the REV 3 outfit and for some time now I have been planning to do the REV 3 Series in 2010, so this could not be more perfect!

As it turns out, a lot of other individuals must have had the same idea as me as I guess Trakkers had a whole lot of applications to read. Then I was sitting at home on Wednesday, November 18th and my blackberry buzzed with some super exciting news….” I am pleased to inform you that you’ve been accepted onto our final roster for 2010. CONGRATULATIONS!”

Let me tell you, I was SOOO EXCITED!

In the spirit of this holiday season, I have so much to be thankful for and I am looking for to all that 2010 will hold!
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Monday, November 23, 2009

Thank you mother nature!

 

It is now November in Ohio and still I am getting out and enjoying some gorgeous weather!

Today is now day 10 of no running. While I felt a little lost this weekend without it, I survived. I did miss the Pigskin 5K and I cannot believe I will be skipping the turkey trot this week, but thankfully I am finding plenty of fun ways to occupy my time!

Last week marked my first masters swims. The only thing I am wondering now is, why did I wait so long to do these?

Over the weekend I was really looking forward to the road ride that I found out about Friday with the Cleveland Touring Club on Sunday. (I had switched gears to marathon training at the end of September and I believe this was my first outdoor road ride since then!) Sunday's ride left out of Concord and consisted of 60 miles of moderate riding through rolling nicely paved roads. We rode down through Chardon, took a lunch break at Punderson, out to Burton and winded our way back. It was hard to believe in November, that there was a group of 17 of us all out there enjoying the sunshine! Truly a wonderful way to spend the day, capped off by a late lunch at Mentor Winking Lizard!

Weekly rundown went as such-
Monday, 11/16 - 3000 M Swam
Tuesday, 11/17 – OFF
Wednesday, 11/18 – 10 Miles Biked (stationary), Core/ Weights
Thursday, 11/19 – 1000 M Swam, 20 M Biked (trainer)
Friday, 11/20 – 2700 M Swam, 10 Miles Biked (stationary), Core/ Weights, 10 M Mtn Biked (Rays Indoor)
Saturday, 11/21- OFF
Sunday, 11/22 – 60 Miles Biked (Road Bike, Outside!)
Total for the week-
Swam – 6700 Meters
Biked – 110 Miles

PS- Don't rent good movies the night before masters...I had stayed up last night past midnight to watch Star Wars and The Proposal. Let me tell you how early 4:45am felt! TG it is a short week!
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60 M Ride with Clev Touring Club in Nov!

 
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Friday, November 20, 2009

Blessing in Disguise?

 

Yesterday I hit the ortho doc for some Xrays and an appointment. I had been keeping this on the DL as I was hoping it was no big deal. The prior two weeks I had developed some sort of tenderness alongside by tibia bone or in the tendon alongside it. This seeemed strange as I have been doing low HR running since the October 18th marathon so I am not sure what brought it on.

Regardless, generally I can run through most things but this in particular seemed like something I should treat carefully as I did not want to turn a little thing into a big thing by not taking the appropriate rest.

While being slightly present the prior two weeks, I noticed that when I ran 7 miles last Thursday with Elizabeth,the pain seemed pronounced the whole way. It was not terribly painful, just a dull pain. The pain had started to set in constantly even when I was walking. Friday I ran 8.5 with NA & GW and again I could feel it with every step of our easy paced run. Afterwards I decided I would not run until I got it looked at, sort of fearing I might have some sort of stress fracture.

Thank goodness last weekend we were away mountain biking and running was not on the mind!

This week had been insane with work so that helped pass the days until I finally got into the doctor Thursday and get a couple Xrays.

I was so thankful to hear that it was "Nothing of major concern". Xray reflects a bit of fuzziness in tender bone area which suggests there is stress in that region trying to heal. Nonetheless, no cracks and obviously very early. Ice, no running for a couple weeks (figure I will take Nov off), stretching & strengthening exercises and no pain relievers (as they said it could delay the healing).

So not too bad. Who knows it may be a blessing in disguise as I have been hitting the bike and swim harder the last week which is probably what I need anyways! The only real disappointment is that I will be sitting out Pigskin and TT.

I am happy to report that thanks to two masters swims Monday and Friday and one short trip to the JCC I am almost to 7000 M Swam this week...this blows away any other week EVER! Oh and I have decided I really like Masters Swim. Look out soon as I am joining this program and plan to swim LOTS this winter! Guess I may actually need to figure out these flips turns and Butterfly stroke somehow!

And without running, I have realized that is due time to get my butt on the bike regularily. Thankfully the husband even seems motivated to ride and sent me this pic at 5 last night wondering if I was ready to ride when I got home! Hells yeah I was ready and this resulted in me being a nasty sweaty mess. Three things were crystal clear last night-

A) I sweat a disgusting amount
B) My floor is so slanted (my nasty sweat pool was trying a to make a break for it towards the bar)
C) My dog is not so bright (silly Matches, my golden will not quit trying to put his head right next to pedal which resulted in more than one bump on the head)
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OH AND LAST AND CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, I GOT SOME BIG COOL NEWS THIS WEEK...DETAILS WILL BE FORTHCOMING! And YES IT INVOLVES TRIATHLON !

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

More great November weather!

 

The hectic life continues...

Super big work reception went off last night and was a big success. I can breathe easy today so guess I should take a minute get back on track.

November continues to be a month of trying to stay active before getting on a routine schedule in December.

A couple items of note within the past week or so-

Going into last weekend, my calendar was strangely bare and again we scored another promising weather forecast. On Thursday we decided it was time for one last trip of the season over to Raystown Lake for some glorious mountain biking along the Allegrippis Trails! Who would have thought we would get in such great riding in November! The leaves were packed down and riding conditions were fast and fun. I swear this place always leaves me feeling like a little kid as I cannot get the word "Weee!" out of my head as I hit the never ending kickers on this trail which feels like you are just riding the world's longest pump track. Such good fun!

We had planned to camp but it was looking a little cold, so I started spending some time doing research and found us this sweet affordable cottage to stay in which was loaded with all the conveniences of home...! Oh and the best thing about PA, is that on our way, we had to hit the distributor and pick up some Yuengling to enjoy post ride of course! I think those PA distributors start grabbing the Yuengling cases the moment they see OH plates roll in!

Moving on, this week I hit my first masters swim ever! I woke up a dark thirty Monday morning and drove to CSU for Masters Swim. I was happy to get the first one out of the way. It always feels like a bit of a chore to figure out where to park, where to go, what I am doing the first go around! So glad that is done!

I was glad to find out that I felt comfortable and was not feeling overwhelmed swimming next to so many fine swimmers. I figured this would be super convenient for me and would serve as good motivation. This clearly was the case! I plan to make this a regular thing and suppose I will have to cough up the money next week to officially join.

Now if only my leg that has been bothering me a bit running would get squared around, all would be right with things! Doctor appt tomorrow to see what is going on!
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Friday, November 06, 2009

Thank goodness it is the offseason!

 

Columbus marathon fell back on October 11th.

The next weekend revolved around the Merriman Mansion Halloween Party.

Then the next weekend revolved around the Halloween Party that trashed my house!

The last couple weeks have been filled with doing whatever I felt like and hitting the pumpkin ale and octoberfest!

But with the time change and the coming of November, it was once again try to light a fire under my butt to drag it out of bed in the morning for the early workouts.

This week I managed three early morning workouts....one session of which left me terribly sore for 4 days!

While everyone knows I love a good party, I am looking forward to this weekend of the return to normalcy! Currently planning on hitting Rays Indoor Mtn bike park tonight, running part of the winter 50K course & putting some more miles on my Ducati tomorrow, and then following it up some more running, swimming and the CTC board meeting Sunday! TGIF!
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Tuesday, November 03, 2009

"I hate it but I love it!"

 

- Tony Horton, the P90 X Man!

So over the last year or so I have dabbled with P90x.

For me, I just don't have enough time to follow the program to a tee with all of my triathlon related training, but if I can fit it in a couple times a week, I think it provides a nice balance, especially in the offseason. Plus there is a pretty decent yoga video which could prove to be pretty helpful to me if I took the time to do it more often.

I love the variety in the exercises and I marvel at some of them I see (like the flying pushups). Plus I think I got this warped sense of humor that I just think Tony Horton hilarious! IMO these exercises in general seem to have a lot of full body weight exercises that can be really challenging and often target multiple muscle groups....hence more bang for the buck in a time-constrained environment!

Yesterday (at 6AM already in downtown Cleveland) was my first experience with the Plyometrics DVD with my girl, CV (I have done a lot of the other dvds before but not that particular one). It is billed as an "Explosive jumping cardio routine proven to dramatically improve athletic performance." Picture lots of different varieties of lunges, squats, jumps, kicks, etc. Oh my quads, hammies, and most parts of my legs are screaming at me today!

Well today, in the spirit of election day, I am beginning to think I should start lobbying for all toilets to have the mandatory Handicap grab bars as my tail is so sore and sitting down is painful!

But, still I think, "Bring It!"
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Monday, November 02, 2009

Halloweekend!

 
So week two following the marathon was one more week of doing whatever I felt like doing. This will not be the case this week as I plan to start adding back in some base and really focusing on getting in the pool.

Last week was a bit of a struggle as I was having trouble waking up in the morning early in the week and then later in the week, the pool was closed so I did not hit the targetted pool workouts. Not only that, the evenings were busy with working late and other committments, so the biking went by the wayside.

The plan for this week is to start back with the morning workouts which should be aided by the time change! Day 1 of resuming morning workouts is already in the books!

Saturday morning was the ladies Halloween Pancake Run. Despite the rainy forecast it ended up being a perfect morning for running! There was 8 of us that showed up to hit the trails of North Chagrin! As we neared the water crossing, a guy warned us that we would not be able to get across. E scoffed at that notion and when we stared at the rushing water, 4 of us looked at each other with devilish grins and proceeded to cross the water which was just below our knees, laughing the whole time. Then we went back across to head back up the hill with the rest of the gals! Oh, it was such good fun! After the run we headed over to Yours Truly to reward ourselves with some good food and lots o coffee!

The rest of the weekend was filled with a pumpkin carving party and my Halloween bash. Needless to say, I was wiped out by Sunday and enjoyed a very relaxing day on the couch!

Weekly Rundown
M 10/26 - 5 mile EZ Run (45 min), Core Weights (crawling pushups, pullups, dips etc)
T 10/27 - 7 mile lunch run with CV
W 10/28 - 3 mile EZ Run, Upper Body Strenth
R 10/29 OFF
F 10/30 - 6.25 Mile Run with E & CV
S 10/31 - 10 mile trail Run with the girls
S 11/1 OFF

Ran 31.25 M
Core/ Weights- 2 sessions

Friday, October 30, 2009

Looking ahead

 

So with Columbus behind me I am pretty much shutting the racing down for the year.

That is not to say, I will not still do the Pigskin 5 K Run (in Red of course, go Bucks!) and probably the Cleveland 5 Mile Turkey Trot (got earn my 2 dinners somehow), but I will not race them and will be trying to keep the heart rate down. It is going to be weird to just run them for fun and I think I will enjoy just running with some friends and not taking them so seriously!

A couple things are in the works at the moment.

First, I have not had a break in forever. I am not really taking a break but definitely easing off the running speedwork for a period to let the body recover.

Second, I AM STARTING WORK WITH A COACH! I cannot wait to try a structured plan instead of the classic daisy wing it approach! In working with coach MG, he is starting me on the Maffetone Method where the goal is to train slower to go faster. For the time being I am trying to keep my heart rate to a cap of 150 when running. For now that means a 150 max puts me about 9 min miles which makes running with my typical friends and groups hard as they generally clip along faster. Yet, it is a temporary thing and I am looking for long term results so I am doing my best to stay the course.

Running is really the only area where I am trying to reign it in. For now biking as much as I want on both the road and mtn bike, lifting weights a lot more and trying to get my butt in the pool as much as possible (or at least that is the goal starting next week as this week is not looking good there!)

So what is on tap for next year you may ask????

Someone is going to do their first ever full distance triathlon!!! 140.6, here I come! 2010 will be focused around the Rev 3 Series which includes-

• Knoxville Olympic. Knoxville, TN - May 8 & 9
• Quassy half Irondistance. Middlebury, CT – June 5 & 6
• Cedar Point full Irondistance. Sandusky, OH – September 11 & 12


I will be doing some other endurance events but they will be treated more as training events to get ready for the REV 3 Series. This will include January's Run For Regis 50K Run, Nashville Country Music Marathon, Mohican 100K Mountain Bike and likely some fall marathon (probably Columbus). Other than that I will probably race some local Sprint and Olympic tris to work on speedwork to prepare for the targetted races.

2010 is going to be one heck of a year and I can't wait!
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Rays Indoor Mountain Bike Park

Guess who is officially a season pass holder at Rays this year!!!


Well if you guess Miss Daisy, you would be correct!


Hells yeah, I am so excited!

And did I mention how much they changed since last year?

Check out the new Rhythm Room here!

We usually go Fridays with our crue and follow it up with dinner and drinks at either Texas Roadhouse or Rocknes off Ridge and 480! Yes, it is a good way to spend a Friday night!



I went for the first time this season on CAMBA night the Friday before last. I was trying to behave and not ride much and just snap a bunch of pics with my friends. I did manage to crash on the descending teeter totters off the Mongoose platform and took a mean handlebar to the quad.

And yes, I felt that on my run the next day and thought I would feel it the entire marathon Sunday but luckily that was not an issue!

This past Friday I got to go there and not really worry about things too much. And yes, I am still no bad arse like the tricksters I see flying into the rafters but by the end of the night some skillz from last year started to resurface. Did I mention how much I love the jump lines and pump track???

If you have not been there yet, you need to check it out.

Unfortunately, the husband did manage to crash good last Friday. He went off one of the platforms in the new Rhythm Room and thought there was a ramp but it was just a 4 foot drop off...managed to hit both knees, both elbows, his chest, his nose and his chin. Good thing for helmets!

While I have a few bruises between West Branch Sunday and Rays Friday (both this week and last week) I think it is my bike that is the most upset. I use the same bike (my Cannondale Mtn Bike)for both Rays and outdoor mountain biking and I just switch out the tires and pedals. Right now I have a broken mtn bike pedal, a wore out front break, a blown front fork, a severely bent rear derailler and could really use some new mtn bike outside tires. I see another visit to Bike Authority in the near future!

If you are interested in joining us watch my facebook status (as I usually post a heads up) or shoot me a note and I will add you to the text that we usually send out a day or two before riding!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Dog Tired


So after all the marathon celebrations Sunday, I awoke Monday morning feeling like I wanted to trade places with my dog all day and just lay on the couch, but work called and I dragged my tired butt out of bed.

My calves were tight as can be and I literally lifted the left leg out of bed on account of my sore ITB. Going down the stairs was painful and I was walking like an old lady.

Lunch time rolled around and I decided that perhaps some active recovery would do me well. Yet, the walk to the gym seemed like enough exercise that day. I figured I would get on the treadmill and make sure I did not go any faster than 6.5. Yet as I limped my way up to 6.0, I decided it was fast enough.

After 1.3 miles, 13 minutes later, I decided that was enough and plopped my butt on the floor to stretch. Followed that up with another 10 minutes of easy riding on the recumbent bike and some more stretching. Aghh, I felt so much better on that walk back to the office. Yet, about an hour later after sitting at the desk, I could feel everything tighten back up.

Tuesday, after a wonderful 1000 M swim, I visited Dr. Keyes for some TLC (er torture) on the nagging ITB and piriformis (stupid left leg). I thought everything was hunky dory with the ITB until Saturday's trail run when it just resurfaced 7 miles in.

Ended up feeling pretty sore until Wednesday but all feels pretty good as I sit here and type eight days later.

I am now starting work with a coach (SO EXCITED) and I am on strict orders to take it easy and watch the HR while running. I ran 6 miles Thursday trying to keep the HR under 150. This started off easy and I was just under 9 min mile pace but I ended up slowing to a 9:30ish pace to stay under that desired HR level.

All and all, a pretty relaxing week and it was a nice change of pace. It was sooo hard to not be out doing a bunch of running with the gorgeous weather last week!

M 10/19 - 1.3 Miles Treadmill Run(13 minutes), 10 minutes Stationary Bike, stretching
T 10/20 - 1000 M Swim
W 10/21 - 25 M Road Bike Ride (too nice not to get out for a little bit!)
R 10/22 - 6 mile EZ run with CV
F 10/23 - ~10 miles on Mtn Bike ---HIT RAYS INDOOR MTN BIKE PARK!!! oh I've missed riding here!
S 10/24 - 9 mile trail / towpath run
S 10/25 - 10.5 mile mtn bike at West Branch

Totals-
Ran -16.3 Miles
Mtn Bike- 20 Miles
Rd Bike - 25 Miles
Swam - 1000 M

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Catching Up!

So to catch up, since the Geneva tri I had really backed off the swimming and biking and focused on running.

I was trying to focus more on my quality sessions. It was great to bang out some good track workouts early with Christina and whoever else was actually crazy enough to meet us at dark thirty to run around the Ignacious track!

The Five Fast Femme Fatale Freaks 5 person all female relay team rose again to take a podium position at the Akron Marathon relay with a time of 3:06:38. During that day I ran Leg 1 as a warm-up, my 5.8 mile leg which I raced, ran the next couple miles with my buddy, Nathan who was running the full and then split off at the half mary split and ran it in with my old running friend, Bob! What a great way to get in some miles before heading off to the stadium to cheer in all the finishers and celebrate of course!



In leading up to Columbus marathon, my legs started to get a little more snap back in them and I started to feel more optimistic about what time I would run.

Race morning was filled with some laughs and goofing around as we got amped up to run!


Race day I lined up with the 3:20 group. I was rocking out to some ACDC and was mentally preparing for the work I had ahead of me and glanced down at my shoe only to notice I had forgot to attach my DTag. Rookie mistake but with only 30 seconds before the start there was not much I could do about it then except try to set it aside.

With the gun we were off. Miles were clicking off easily due in no small part to the group I was surrounded with, all the VR peeps that I have run so many Saturdays with, led by awesome VR's own, Jim Chaney! There were lots of laughs and of course I was tossing my hands up in the air in the photographer pics...

I knew I would see the husband on his bicycle around miles 8-10 and so I moved to the front of the pack so I could keep a watchful eye out for him in the hopes I could get him to nab my tag on the off-chance it may still register a time for me.

Mile 10 I finally spied him and sprinted over to send him on a mission! After explaining what a D-tag was I was off to catch back up to my group.

Between catching back up and the hill by mile 13, I was trying to settle back down into my rhythm. Hit the half way point right at 1:40 which was perfect! Mile 14 my courier pulls up alongside and hands me my tag. I stop and am trying to remove the sticker. However I am having major issues with this between my gloves and am loosing a lot of time. I ask the husband who I will just refer to as LS (or Lifesaver) to ride up ahead and get it ready for me, which of course he does! I stop and try to affix it to my shoe but it will not stick. I simply cannot figure out what the issue is and then I finally look at it closer to realize it is the instruction half not the chip half. Poor LS looked so defeated when I told him the news as he had already shared that it was so hard to catch me!

So now I am off again and 3:20 group is long gone. This was a bummer as it was sooo much easier to keep pace with them around. I debated whether to use my Ipod or not but I was really enjoying the many bands they had along the course so I decided to just keep it tucked away in my cool waste pack (or my dorky fanny bag as everyone else liked to tease me!)

I was planning to take more e-caps but it was such a pain to open the pack, open my ziplock baggy and get it all put away with my gloves on. I ended up taking 1 pill before race, one around mile 9 and just had some gatorade endurance on the course, in addition to 3 crank gels (which contains electrolytes) and water of course. No stomach issues to speak of which is good! We did score a perfect bathroom stop on the way to the start as the cold air made us ladies feel the urge to go one last time and we were able to avoid POP lines.

I was focusing on getting to 20 as I knew from the elevation map that it looked slightly downhilll after that. It just never felt that way though! A lot of those miles seemed windy and slightly uphill and I just kept trying to keep moving forward and trying not to fall off pace much further. Aerobically I felt good but the fatigue of the miles seemed to slow me down as my body hurt. I ran in my new Asics DS Trainers which seemed to work out remarkably well. My feet were sore as to be expected but nothing terrible and they were never numb!

Around mile 21 or 22, LS is standing on the street with my Dtag in hand! I run over and stop and plant a sweaty kiss on him and was back off.


Perhaps my finish time will register. Thankfully for me, my garmin was at least recording all my splits.

http://connect.garmin.com/splits/16676188

As I approached the final miles I was just counting down the time. My feet were tired, about mile 23 I felt my IT band hurt (which I had not felt since 2007) and I was focused on the finish. Up the little incline or Buckeye Hill as it is so called now, I took a pass on the candy and just wanted to finish already! I managed a smile and some waves to a few friends on my way to the finish line and upon crossing the line my time was picked up as 3:27:05. So from what I knew at the beginning my chip time would have been about 40 seconds less. Garmin said 3:25:22, 7:46 pace for 26.44 miles. Really it doesn't matter as my previous PR was 3:35 at Pittsburgh and this was a big PR either way! I would be lying to say I did not have regrets of what could have been if I had started with my chip, but nonetheless that was my mistake and I am still pleased with the outcome!

I am thankful to LS and his sidekick for their courier service. Also I am so proud of my regular downtown training girls that I run so often with that both had huge days (Elizabeth and her 3:05 and Christina and her 3:12!). After I slowly made my way back to the room and got cleaned up, we all headed out to celebrate! All and all a super fun weekend filled with lots of laughs like when I had to make this sign for my girl.



And oh yes, this was earned!


Now it is time for some recovery and some downtown as next year promises to be HUGE!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The end of tri season

Well it is over for the year. Swimming and biking emphasis can be put on the back burner for awhile now while I focus on the marathon training.

M 9/21 - 6.75 Miles easy 8:41 pace
T 9/22 - 9.5 Miles Ran, (track workout 1-800 (started late), 5-1200's, 7-30 sec hard
- 18 Miles Road Biked with Cleve Touring Club
W 9/23 - 3.5 Miles easy at lunch (felt crappy), core exercises
R 9/24- 6 miles at 8:00 pace with CV and E at lunch
F 9/25 - 1500 M Swim
S 9/26 - 12.5 M at Akron (5.8 M relay leg)
S 9/27 - 20.35 M with SERC (8:30 pace); felt good which was surprising as I have been sick since Tuesday and was not even sure I would get it in.

Totals
Ran 58.6 M
Bikes- 18 M
Swam - 1500 M

Thinking 2 week taper, something around 18-20 Miles next weekend.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Weekly Recap



Cleveland Triathlon Club WINS the Border War in Geneva!!!!! Gotta love the way Ohio represented!

L-R Kristen Kovach, me, Mark Gorris, Elizabeth Heier, Lou Dredgely, Adam Hunter, Ed Slovenky, Jason Davis (there were quite a few others not pictured that deserved credit as well!)

Currently switching gears between tri training and marathon training. Trying to increase volume some. Last tri of the season is this weekend. The pool has me all messed up lately due to construction. Indoor pool is closed and outdoor pool has limited hours due to daylight and that means no morning swims which is really the only good time for me to fit them in. Ughhh! Supposedly indoor pool should open 9/30. Wish I had one downtown Cleveland by work. Not much is convenient living in Parkman, except the Amish food stand.

Also, I have started to wear my HRM. I believe I have found someone to help coach me next year who is a big proponent of heart rate training so I have started to look at it. So I have started to track some info-

Potato Stomp Race: Max 183, Avg 173
15 mile long run day after race: Max 169, Avg 157
Track workout 9/9: Max 180, Avg 162


Week of 9/15-9/20

M- 1.25 miles ran easy (called it a day) and did core work (pushups, pullups, abs, etc), legs dead from weekend
T- 10 miles am with CV easy run (legs were tired at beg, but felt pretty good by end), lunch uppper body weight w/o, eve - 28.5 m road bike with CTCs
W -12 mile run (8:50 pace)
R - AM 9 miles ran (6x1200s ranged from 4:45-4:52, 6x30sec hard), WB mtn bike, 10 miles
F - 6 mile easy run
S off
S Geneva Sprint Tri- 1.5 m w/u (800 M Swim, 13.5 M Bike (+1.5 w/u on bike), 3.1 M Swim)

Totals:
Ran: 42.85 (a little low on account of the weekend)
Biked: 43.5 (Road), 10 (Mtn)
Swam: 800
Core/ Weights: 2 sessions


Week of 9/7-9/14

Monday (Labor Day) 43.5 miles road biked - fun ride with group out in the Valley
Tuesday - 8 miles (~8:15 pace)
Wednesday- AM track workout with CV 10.25 miles including 2x1 mile repeats, 4x1200, 6 x 30 sec hard, 7.75 mile lunch run easy w E(day total 18 miles ran)
Thursday - 10 miles mtn biked at WB
Friday - 1 mile swim w B, core (p90x back & chest)
Saturday - 11 miles ran including 9 mile mantua potato stomp (7:14 pace), 3rd place oaf
Sunday - 15 miles ran with serc (8:30 pace), 10 mile mb at west branch

Totals
RB- 43.5 m
MB- 20 m
Ran-52 m
Swam- 1 mi
Core -1 w/o

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Tuesday, September 01, 2009

September already???

Not gone, just been real busy! Boo, it was so cold and dark this morning as we trotted around Cleveland at the crack of dawn trying to get in a track workout!

I am now focused on my Columbus Marathon training. On the horizon, I have set my sights on the full distance at Cedar Point for 2010 and am pretty excited about that. Even more exciting, I think I have found the perfect person to take me under their wing and coach me through the journey!

I am done with the xterras for the year. They were super fun and I will do plenty more, but it was just unfortunate that in the 3 I did this year, difficulties seemed to just come up in all of them (Asthma at trimax and bike issues at other two). I guess I should mention that I was stoked to get the following email....

"Dear XTERRA Competitor:

Congratulations! It’s my pleasure to invite you to compete in the XTERRA USA National Championship race to be held at our new venue in Ogden, Utah on September 26, 2009.
As a leading regional points scorer, you have earned a slot at this prestigious event, where the title of National Champion in your age group will be up for grabs.

The field is limited to those racers, like yourself, who have qualified in the eight XTERRA regions throughout the country."


Unfortunately it is just not in the cards this year....maybe another one!

My last Xterra, M2Xtreme out at Holiday Valley, NY was looking promising as I was second place female and feeling strong, but then my rear derailler snapped off. It was my first DNF ever in an event!

I think I have finally got the bike figured out with a few trips to the bike shop and a bunch of new parts (new chain, new cassette, new rear derailler & hanger, new chain rings). The mtn bike seemed good as new riding it two weeks ago out at Raystown PA and last weekend at Camp Manatoc (minus my endo to face-plant over the bars).

Next few weekends tenative schedule-
9/5-7 : 20 mile run with VR, road bike fun ride monday
9/12: Mantua 9 mile potato stomp race (12 pack on the line to beat a friend...can we say motivation :-))
9/20: Geneva Tri (last tri on the year!)
9/26: Akron Marathon relay
9/27: Crankfest at West Branch ???

Monday, July 27, 2009

It's been awhile...

Just can't keep up lately with the blogging and I gotta admit, I have been doing a lot more sharing via Facebook. But time to regroup here as that means I have not even been tracking the workouts.

First I guess I should mention that I scored the cover page and article feature in the July 2009 issue of Ohio Sports and Fitness.

I had went up to Lake Erie at 5 am (which meant leaving my house by 4 am and waking up even earlier!!) with their photographer and some other OSF personnel to shoot a shot with the morning sun. This was in early June in some very warm water of course! The OSF peeps were great and I felt fortunate to have to opportunity to work with them!
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Moving on, since Xterra Trimax on 6/28 the weekends have went as such-

Sat 6/4, ran Mulberry's 5 Miler (race 2 in the series). It was slower than the first 5 miler but still nabbed first in my AG. Slacked off Sunday after several July 4th parties on Saturday.

(Sat off) Sun 7/12, did Milton Man Olympic Tri. Placed 2nd overall. This was quite satisfying for two reasons. 1. After a poor swim at Trimax, I swam double the distance and felt very comfortable. 2. No leg cramping issues which I think I can credit to Beth and hooking me up with some enduralytes which I will start to take more regularly in events.

Overall swim went fine and came out somewhere in the middle. My hamstrings felt pretty tight on the bike. While not a bad bike, it was no where it should have been. I felt good on the run but really did not push myself too hard so maybe I was too easy on myself. Finished with a time of 2:34.48. 1500M Swim, 25.5 M Bike, 6.2 M Run.

(Took Sat off) Sun 7/19, did Xterra One. This was an A race for me. Overall it went pretty well but I had major chain and bike issues on the bike which cost a lot of time. I ended up 2nd overall female (par for the course this year apparently with planetx tri, miltonman and now this!). Swim went well and was out in top 5! A little bit of seaweed to deal with but nothing major. Somebody has been practicing and getting more comfortable in the water!

Upon getting onto the bike, I was still having trouble getting into a rhythm which I need to figure out. Perhaps I need to practice swim to bike transitions as it seems to take me too long to settle in. First 6 miles went fine and then we hit the snowmobile trails which were deep muddy rutted messes. One time I stayed to the edge and ripped my arm open with a bunch of prickers. On the second half which is the intermediate section of trails, the mud from the snowmobile trails caused major chain suck issues. This was also due in part to a majorly bent rear derailer. The chain must have gotten sucked up in between my sprocket and frame 8 or 9 times. Then I would stop and tug and fight with it (a couple times I thought it was impossible or my chain was just gonna snap) and have to flip the bike over. It was so frustrating and I was just not sure if I would make it through.

I was happy to get off the bike and finish out the run as I cannot complain about mechanical difficulty there! Run went fine, passed a girl and several guys while travering one interesting rock section on the expert trail. All and all a good day!



S 6/25 - 13 mile hill run with VR, good day to run with the ole gang and then hit Fishers of course!
S 6/26 - 101 mile bike at the Sweet Corn Ride. Can we say hills, hills and more hills? I think this was all up hill. If on the occasion there was a downhill, there was usually a stop sign or something where we never seemed to get a good runout. Weather was gorgeous and enjoyed riding the fellow CTC'ers BH, SY and DM. A great training ride and then some!!!

On the horizon, looking forward to getting in some good training next weekend 8/2 (maybe Mohican mtn bike ride Saturday and long run Sunday morning) in addition to volunteering 4-8 PM at Boston Store for Burning River. Huge corn party the following weekend 8/8 , head to NY to complete Xterra M2Xtreme 8/16, trip to PA to camp and Mtn Bike with friends 8/22 and then head to KY to watch IM KY 8/29. It's gonna be a busy month!

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Xterra Trimax

Did my first Xterra Tri last weekend. I finished, but it wasn't pretty.

I hit the water and the phrase "so cold it takes your breath away" was totally the case. The 58 degree mountain spring fed lake just wrecked me and my aerobic system was shot for the day within the first 10 minutes and I struggled the rest of the day to keep it in check even with my inhaler! Ughh, it was rough! Things learned-

1. Get acclimmated to the water pre-race.
2. Warm up slowly. Don't run down beach and dive into the cold.

Bike went OK. Technical stuff is not bad for me and I passed lots of people in the rock gardens as they walked and I rode. Yet, I had to ride easy as I could just not get air in. Run was tough and had the craziest climb I've ever seen on a course. I so wish I had a picture of it because words cannot do it justice!

Due to asthma, I performed no where close to where I should have been. I pre-rode the course easy Saturday and then during the race, I did not even ride it as fast as the "easy" day before because I could not breathe. It was so frustrating. It was a small field and despite my issues, I really am all about these Xterras! I ended up 4th female overall and 2nd age group, so at least I will get some good points series.

Last week
Ran 34.5 M
Road Bike 32 M
Mtn Bike 44.5 M (HUGE!)
Swam 2750 yds

Bike, check!

 


Oh, do I really need to run now? Ughh!
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I still love to bike!

 
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Yeah I can't breathe still....

 


Cold water swim took my breathe away...for the day!
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Time to Ride!

 
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Swim, check!

 


"Thank goodness that is over with!"
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Beach Run

 
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