Monday, November 22, 2010

Kickin off the holiday week!

It is rather gloomy here in Cleveland today and while the rain might have made my commute slow, I am not letting it dampen my mood!  But why, you may wonder....lots of reasons!

1.  It is a short week and I am excited to lots of things this week such as seeing family and friends for turkey dinner, my beloved stuffing and my aunt Linda's kick arse Lemon Merange pie.  Mmmm!
2.  This will all be earned of course with a morning turkey trot and for the first time ever, my sis is going to do it with me!  It will also be my first Aurora Turkey Trot as opposed to downtown Cleveland which will make the morning much less rushed which will be nice!
3.  The early Friday morning shopping extravaganza with mom & sis in keeping with tradition.  Yes there is madness, yes there are lines, but every year this is a very enjoyable day for us that we go in with a plan, get awesome deals and really just enjoy our time together!  :-)
4.  I am also happy as I have really really been enjoying being able to run again more regularly.  I am not sure which was more enjoyable, the return the Saturday morning SERC trail run on the most awesome Buckeye Trail or running 15 miles on the Headwaters Trail Sunday with my very own sister on her longest run to date!
5.  And finally in the spirit of giving thanks, the list is very long and distinguished from my stinky dog, to my patient husband, to my favorite friends & family, to my health, my wonderful training partners, these awesome sports and soooo much more!

So last week went as such-
M- 4000 Meters Swam
T- 8 miles (with 6x 800's at 6:00 pace)
W- 7.75 mile run with lunch run gang at 7:45 pace
R- 7.25 mile run in morning (2 mil @ 6:30, 1.5 easy, 1.5 miles at 6:45)  Fell off at end as stomach was not happy!  , 1 hour weights
F- 2600 Meters Swam
S- 13 miles ran on BT with SERC
S - 15 miles ran (8:59 pace) with sis on Headwaters  ---SO PROUD OF THIS GIRL!

Totals
Swam- 6600 M
Ran - 51 miles
Biked - hmmm 0, yes the 6 week ramp up to the hard stuff starts today which means a minimum of 2/3 workouts per week!
Core- 1 hour

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Email from today

"Good news, we've received your check & you are now a confirmed participant for the American Triple-T Ohio! Your conf # is ... !"


Yes, I finally did it and signed up!  I am sooo excited as this race is legendary around local area triathlon circles both for the unique experience and the difficulty of it all...and did I mention, supposedly incredibly HILLY!


"The American Triple-T Ohio is based on a unique 3-day, 4-event, long distance format triathlon with participants competing on 2 person teams or in the solo division. This event is unlike any other triathlon and offers participants intimate camaraderie not often found in traditional triathlons."

They say-

"This is one of the hardest events you will do."
"People claim it is harder than an Ironman."

Guess we shall see!

They also gone on to say-

 "You're in for something special. Shawnee State Park is the proud host of the American Triple-T and looks forward to showcasing their awesome park on May 20 - 22 of 2011 Shawnee State Park is located in the Appalachian foothills near the banks of the Ohio River. Shawnee State Park is nestled in the 63,000 acre Shawnee State Forest, once the hunting grounds of the Shawnee Indians. The region is one of the most picturesque in the state, featuring erosion carved valleys and wooded hills. The rugged beauty of the area has earned it the nickname "The Little Smokies." Solo and Two person teams! The American Triple-T is a unique 3-day, 4-event, Full Distance format triathlon with participants competing on 2 person teams and in the solo division. The American Triple-T is unlike any other triathlon and offers participants intimate camaraderie not often found in traditional triathlons. The field size is limited to just 500."

Oh, I have wanted to do this race for years but have never been able to commit until now!  Not only that, it appears there is a large group of CTC and BAFF team members heading down for it which is sure to add to my fun factor!  

Also I am excited to have an awesome partner as the other half of Team Edwards, the non-related super awesome Tim Edwards! Time to get my butt in gear as this will be the start of a busy triathlon season which again will be ended by a return to REV3 Cedar Point Full!  Woohoo, bring on 2011!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Super sweet weekend!

Soooo after getting off work on Friday, the husband and I headed to meet up with some friends at Rays Indoor Mountain Bike Park for a super fun night of checking out all the new changes such as the new room on the cross country loop, the new jump line in the intermediate area, some improved bathrooms and a host of other things!  We were sure to hit everything there to take it all in!  While I felt a little rusty and a wee bit cautious on the jumps, it was a good time all in all!  The five of us had some fun playing HORSE on the different lines and seeing just who really had technical skillz....needless to say, I did not win!  Afterwards, we hit Rocknes for some food and drink and then it was time to hit the hay!

Saturday morning I got woke up early by the dog so I had plenty of time for stupid housework before heading off to the Twinsburg Turkey Trot!  It was a beautiful morning that was warming up quickly!  After picking up my packet and seeing some friends, I headed out for a 2 mile warm-up with some striders before rushing to the bathroom for one final stop.  With the count down at the start line, I was off.  I glanced down at my Garmin to see the splits and saw something with a 4 at the front and then I slowed way down.  Oh the thrill of the start line!!!  As we started up the bridge last years overall female winner passed me and I urged myself to be patient.  I was running just over 6 now and I knew I still need to slow a bit as I was shooting for a 6:30 avg pace.  As we crested the bridge and made a hard left to head down to the trails, I closed the gap a bit on the lead female.  I was feeling darn good and honestly I think I am just thankful to run these days whenever I get the chance after last year!  I was now on the heels of lead female and reluctant to pass but after a quarter mile or so,  I passed in the uphill section of the trail as I wanted to run my own race.

The uphill sections in the trail were definitely slow for me.  As I crossed the 2 mile mark, I looked down to see a 6:55 avg.  CRAP!  Then the fun part.....massive long downhill.  I just let my legs go while even getting a nice recovery!  I was just loving it as we winded through the neighborhood!  I kept thinking I was feeling too good and perhaps I should pick it up but I just wanted to ensure I finished strong.  As we rounded onto the bike path in mile 4, I was having some trouble getting around this one guy with headphones that seemed to always run one step in front of where I was going.  Finally I got around him!  I was taken back by this younger short boy I passed...he was looking strong for someone so young and I gave him a "nice job" as I went by.  As we came around to the main road, there was definitely some confusion with the copy directing traffic.  I thought he was stopping cars but later realized he was trying to stop me.  He was not pleased with me as I headed in towards the finish line.  The final 100 yards, I even managed to have something left to kick it in to finish with a 33:17 (6:39 pace).   I was soooo excited....a 1st place overall female win.  As I walked trying to catch my breath, I returned to the finish line to hear the 2nd place overall female coming in and it was none other than my girl, SS!!!!!!  She had ran an awesome race after just wrapping up a tough workout with her trainer.  She rocks!  Best part was Top 3 Men and Female won turkeys!!!!  What a super awesome morning!  To be honest, I am still a bit disappointed in my race pace, but I will work on it and it was not the easiest course with the hills and trail sections.
Look at these turkeys....Amie (SS) & I!

Then I went home to get a few things done and get ready for some afternoon mountain biking at West Branch!  The leaves made the rock gardens even more interesting but oh the ride was such good fun!  I was just having so much fun hitting the long bridge and rock gardens that by the end of the ride I was just feeling like a kid flying through Lakeside as we had rode the ~13 mile course in reverse (as Joey's cousin Ricky wanted to ride the harder stuff when he was fresher).  What a great time and we capped that off with some Mexican and Dos Equis!  (Yeah, not in my diet plan, but I felt it was earned!)

Then Sunday was another funday!   Can't imagine a better way to kick off a Sunday than a 13.35 mile run with my sister.  Sis kicks butt by the way.  We managed to hold sub 9 and this was after sis had ran 13 miles the day before (how about that for a girl who has only been running just over 7 months!)  Then it was off to Lifetime for a short swim & a shower!  Hit a couple meetings Sunday, which included a great seminar put on by Pro Triathlete, Jared Woodford.  Wow, what a busy super awesome way to spend the weekend!

This morning as I made the sad return back to reality I forced myself out of bed at the crack of dawn again to kick off the week on the right foot.  The plan was 6AM Performance Cycle followed by some pool time.  However as I put my stuff into the locker I looked down at my Crocks as I realized there were only heels in my bag.  Neither of which would work for cycling...CRAP!  So instead I managed my longest swim of 4000 meters which I have not done in forever....I must say, strangely it was almost enjoyable!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Finally Friday!

It was a long tiring week so I am so excited for the weekend!

I am giving myself a little gold star this week for hitting every early morning workout.  I must finally be getting used to my 4:50 AM alarm.  Oh believe me, I still hate it, but have been able to drag myself out of bed, hit the coffee maker button and somehow manage to get in the car to wake up as I head to either Beachwood or Downtown Cleveland to workout.  (Beachwood is the Lifetime Fitness destination for Performance Cycle and Swimming...Downtown is for Running & typically Lifting)

I started the week not feeling so fresh after kicking my own butt last week and pretty much died trying to keep up all weekend.

This week has went as such-

Monday was Performance Cycle.  Usually I swim after, but I was so exhausted, I just plopped myself in the hottub.
Tuesday, interval workout with CV.  1 mile at 5K pace, 8x 400 plus w/u & c/d for 8 miles total.
Wednesday, 6AM Performance Cycle followed by 1000M swim.  8 mile lunch run with the boys and ES (7:42 pace).
Thursday, 7.25 mile easy run (8:03 avg).  NC, MY, and ES were all out doing a tempo....I probably could not have kept up but I was so tempted to try but opted to be conservative in the hopes that I would have fresher legs Saturday.
Friday, decided to give the legs a nice rest and just swam 2650M.  Ever since my sinuses have just been messed up and driving me crazy!  Too much water or is it a cold????  Probably the water!

Tonight I could not be more excited to return to Rays Indoor Mountain Bike Park!  I always look forward to my first visit of the season to see what changes have been implemented.  Plus I will get see the rest of my Rays peeps like GS and ET!  Should be fun, however I will probably try to take it easy because....

Saturday morning, I will race the Twinsburg Turkey Trot 5 Miler.  I have never done it but want to show support for the club that is the host for our East Side Indoor Cycling!  I am looking forward to seeing if some of this running is paying off but already dreading the pain of trying to run hard!

Then later in the day I am planning to meet some friends to ride mtn bikes at West Branch.  Now I know I will likely be a bit tired but with this November weather treat, it would just seem wrong not to get outside and enjoy it!   Sunday should be another busy day filled with some running, maybe some swimming and 2 meetings!  Is it 5 yet???

PS, I don't deserve a gold star with my healthy eating kick which did not really survive a week.  :-(  But it was the husband's birthday and my only options were pizza, cake & icecream!!!!  And I am already looking forward to Dos Coronas post mtb ride tomorrow, but I think I will have earned that!  I think the husband and I are going to need to recommit bc it seems we are off to a false start.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

How did I end up on YouTube???

Thank goodness it is nothing to embarrassing!  KM took some video at the Red Flannel Ride!

The show!

That video reminded me how cold my face was at the start.  Next time, ninja face mask at 30 degrees!  Also, I would just love to figure out even warmer hand options...perhaps thick mittens!

In other news, this morning was another gorgeous morning to run with CV.  With the time change, we were able to watch the sunrise as we did our interval workout which was 1 Mile at 5K pace, followed by 8 x 400's with 1 min recovery!  I have not done 400s in forever!  I SO LOVE THEM!  Pain is contained to less than 1.5 minutes but boy did they get the HR up there!   Loving the gorgeous forecast this week and excited about racing a 5 miler this Saturday (Twinsburg Turkey Trot)!!!!

Monday, November 08, 2010

Smelling like a man is good???

This past week has been getting back into a groove.  I give my intake a B-.  Going out to dinner just kills me!

I was good eating at home all week.  Thursday before the Race Across the Sky, started the downward spiral.  A healthy salad, but Christmas Ale was $2.50 a pint.  That was too good of a deal to pass up, plus I had been hearing all about this year's Christmas Ale for 2 weeks.  Then Friday we hit Winking Lizard before seeing the very funny, JackAss 3D.  More delicious garbage food there!  :-( And I paid for it as my stomach hurt from the hot bonesless wings overnight.  So back on track today!

On the plus side I have been hitting the workouts pretty hard.

Monday was off as I was in the car 11 hours.
Tuesday- 8 miles (4x1 @6:20), 1 hour core, weights, stretch
Wed-7.25 mi lunch run @ 7:45
Thurs- 9 miles (5 mi @6:55), 1 hour core, weights, stretch
Fri- 1 hour performance cycle, 1000 m swam
Sat- 13 mi on Buckeye Trail (Brandywine/Pine Lane)
Sun- 63 Mile Road Bike Ride (Red Flannel Metric Century)

Core / Weights- 2 hours
Ran- 37.25 mi
Bike- 83 mi
Swam - 1000 meters (way too low)

By Saturday and Sunday, I was just feeling flat.  My legs were tired and I just struggled to keep up with the people I was running with Saturday and riding with Sunday.  Ughhh, I hate that feeling.  My heart rate was sky high, yet my paces continued to fade.

Friday evening brought a fresh layer of snow to Northeast Ohio and the trails were just gorgeous to run on Saturday morning....oh I have missed them!  I think it has been nearly a year since I ran them...yikes!  My tail was a little tired adjusting to using some different muscles!  I realized Saturday that my trail shoes were all so old.  That and last time I bought trail shoes I was wearing size 8 and I have now switched to 8.5 in all running shoes to allow for more room.  My little toesies felt all sore after that run probably a little to do with being used to more room and probably some with all the downhill!  My feet got soaking wet both creek crossing and I was so happy to get home and shower and warm up after my run!  Time to order me up some more Sauconys I guess.  I wish I would have known last week when I placed that order which has these super sweet Kinvaras in this new all hot pink and black color (SOOOO SWEET and I thought the white with hot pink shoes were cool)

Sunday was a chilly morning to start riding but I bundled up and was ready to go as it was supposed to warm up and be sunny!  After a chilly start, I managed to work up a good sweat over the 63 miles with all my layers.  As I finally made it home, I was already looking forward to a nice warm shower to wash all the salt off me.  As I reached for the soap I noticed the Wild Cherry Blossom was all gone so I reached for the only other option I saw in there, Nivea Cool for Men.  Wow, it smelled so good as I lathered it everywhere and even as  I left the shower I just kept inhaling the manly aroma!  Mmmm, I could smell it on myself for awhile afterwards and I just kept thinking that was good stuff, albeit not very feminine!  As good as it smelled, I did toss a new bottle of some more feminine smelling soap in there for next time!

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Running with the lady cheetahs!

"The top speed man has run is about 25 miles per hour; the fastest dog, the greyhound, reaches a speed of 40 miles per hour; racehorses have been timed at 50 miles per hour; and antelopes can go close to 60 miles per hour.

But none of them can come close to the world’s fastest runner, the cheetah. No animal on earth can outrun the cheetah’s 70-mile per hour speed."

This morning was my run with some local lady cheetahs...thank goodness they were running my workout and I was not running theirs!

Between Tuesday's interval workout and the stupid lunges and squats my tail was a little tired.  Wednesday I was able to sneak in a lunch run with the downtown boys and ES.  Our easy run turned into a 7:45 average which was not quite the recovery run my legs could have probably used.

So today I woke up at the ridiculous hour of 4:50 to go meet the CV for a tempo run.  The plan was 5 miles at 7:00 plus warm-up and cool-down.  We got the unexpected surprise that we would be joined by 2:49 marathoner, ESpeed and 2:44 marathon, MY.

I was feeling a little less than fresh, but I was determined to keep up with the girls.  After our 2 mile warm-up and bathroom stop, we started into the 5 mile tempo.  I never felt great.  Just over 2 miles into it, we go up a little ascent and downhill on to a path and we did a Uturn at 2.5 and repeat the up and down, so mile 3 was the slowest at 7:03 (and I hated those little climbs).  I was getting out fewer and fewer words but it was obvious ES and MY were running well within their comfort zone and chirping away.  Lucky ladies...not that they don't work for it!

Anyways, I was hanging on for dear life by the last mile of the run, just waiting to get done and finally the garmins started to sing and I was sooo happy that the hard part was over and it was just an easy 2 mi cooldown left to finish out 9 miles.  Average tempo pace was 6:56 according to my garmin and the last two miles being 6:51 each (no wonder I was tired).

Getting the chance to run with these fast lady runners is incredibly motivating to see the ease with which they can run at relatively fast paces.  Not only that, while I am running with these ladies and dying inside, I just feel like I must keep pushing as I don't want to be the one slowing down the workout.  What a fabulous way to kick off a Thursday- a good run, a pleasant morning for running and awesome company!

Then I headed inside for an hour of stretching, core and weights....good times with good tunes on my ipod.

As a side note, over the last month and a half or so, has been the first time since before the tibia stress fracture (over a year ago) that I have started back with some structured run training.  While it makes me work, I truly do enjoy the sense of accomplishment of it!

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Day 1

I made it through Day 1 but Day 2 is starting off on a bad note!


Day 1 was a busy day.  Wake up at 4:50.  Hit car by 5:10.  Downtown by 5:55.  Fast walk to gym.  Leave gym to run at 6 AM for 8 mi incl 4x1M repeats.  Return to gym to stretch and do core and weight-training (as a side note yesterday in addition to normal pullups, pushups, upper body exercises, I did a few squats and lunges without weights.  As usual, I am SORE from just those few...thank goodness I did not do more.  I need to build up slowly on these!) Hit shower at 8:25.  Work from 9-5 without break.  5-5:50, drive home. 6 PM vote.  Drive to store and grocery shop to arrive home at 7:30.  Put away food and make dinner to finally get to eat at 8:30 and take in some Chuck (one of my fav shows) on the tivo!  Then finally head to bed at 9:30.

So here is what I don't like.  It just never fails that dinner always lands right before bed.  I hate that as I always go to bed feeling so full....must work on that!  On the plus side, after spending way to much money, I have plenty of healthy food to choose from!

This morning, I must have turned off my alarm instead of snooze meaning I totally missed my workout time.  Booo!  For some reason I was sooo exhausted this morning!

I am going to try to sneak out for a short easy lunch run and then when I get home from work, my goal is to set up the bikes/trainers in the living room and the husband and I can get a nice quality workout in!  Problem is again, it will probably be a late dinner! 

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

It starts today!

November 2, 2010.  I am marking it down, my weight down and from here on out starts the log of all workout activities AND food intake!

It seems like a random day to start a program but we just returned home from our whirlwind trip to the south late last night and after enjoying the southern hospitality and road trip food, both my husband and I are ready to buckle down.  Yet another motivator to start today was my husband's cousin, BE.  BE started mountain biking this year and over the past 4 months or so has really started to watch his intake and his results are astounding.  BE is planning to come up from Chattanooga, TN and ride in the Mohican 100K Mountain Bike race that I am planning to do again in June and my husband plans to do for the first time ever!  The Mohican 100K mtb race is a major undertaking for anyone, especially with the significant amount of elevation changes, but this will be even more so for BE and my husband who have never done any sort of endurance event.

So my husband is ready to get serious now!  This is much to my delight!  You see we can be quite bad influences on each other and if we can just try hard together I think we can both achieve HUGE results.  I had been letting things slide a lot since race season so I am excited to get myself not only back into shape, but hopefully in the best shape ever to start the 2011 season!

In addition to watching our diets, our goal is to get in exercise together on a regular basis in the evenings!  I think this will be fun for us.  This time will likely alternate between weight training (often likely including P90x) and riding bicycles (or trainer time).  Also I think I got the husband planned into attending the 2 hour Saturday morning East Side Indoor Cycling Classes too which will be soooo good for him!

My plan is to calorie count and just eat healthy in general.  I also want to cut out all the white flours.   The other significant change will to serious curb the alcohol intake as way too many empty calories there and thankfully I think the bulk of parties, weddings and celebrations are winding down a bit for the time being!  I have a calorie intake goal in mind but if my energy is too low, I am not opposed to ratcheting it up a bit as long as it is healthy food, given the amount of time daily I generally exercise.

So there it is.  I am excited!  I am excited for me and I am even more excited for my husband.  I think this will be the first time he will truly focus on being fit!

As a sidenote, we ate sooo much crap yesterday knowing that was it.  My stomach hurt last night and on this mornings run consisting of more mile repeats.  Icky!  Enough of the bad food but surprisingly I was able to hit the paces without too much discomfort and felt way better this week than last week on all four of them!

Training Run Down-
Monday, 10/25 - 60 min performance cycle with KM, 1700 M Swam
Tuesday, 10/26 - 8 Miles (4 x1M (6:18, 6:22, 6:23, 6:25), 1 hour weights & core
Wednesday, 10/27 - 60 min performance cycle with TK, 1000 M Swam, 5 Miles Ran with CTC Costume Run
Thursday- off
Friday-5mile mtb
Saturday- 60 miles road bike
Sunday- 9 mile hilly run (7:58 avg pace on the hilly course)
---------------
Monday -off (in car 11 hours :-(  )