TRI SWIM

 

TRI SWIM is one of the Team Trakkers Sponsors. Awhile back I had got a package from Tri Swim. It included the following items-

* FOGGLE: anti-fog towelette that cleans the lens while defogging.
* TRISLIDE: an anti-friction/anti-chafing continuous spray skin lubricant
* TRISWIM SHAMPOO: Aqua Therapy Chlorine-Out Shampoo contains Organic Aloe
* TRISWIM CONDITIONER- salon quality Conditioner pampers your hair as it highly moisturizes.
* TRISWIM BODY WASH- Chlorine-Out Body Wash contains Aloe which moisturizes and helps protect from environmental elements like the sun.
* TRISWIM LOTION-TRISWIM Chlorine-Out Lotion is a unique and innovative formula that hydrates and moisturizes the skin while neutralizing Chlorine and Chlorine odor.

I used the foggle right away and it was so nice to actually be able to see out of by goggles.

Last week the last of my other supplies was running low so I switched in the Tri Swim Shampoo, Lotion, Body Wash and Conditioner. Now for some strange reason I have always sort of liked the lingering smell of chlorine on me after the pool. Maybe it was the reinforcement that I knew I had got my swim in, perhaps it just made me feel extra clean. Regardless, it is weird that now that I switched to these products, the lingering chlorine smell is totally gone and I am not missing it!

Now i am not usually that particular with my product selection. Every now and then I will buy salon products for my hair but it gets expensive with all my hair washing so often I just get what it on sale....but now I am not sure so sure! My hair just gets put through the ringer with constantly washing, blow drying, curling iron, hairspray, flat iron...you get the picture! Anyways my hair seems to be in much better shape now that I have started using these products and I LOVE the smell of the light citrus products. I recently caught myself in the locker room after our group swim raving about how much I loved this stuff and decided it was time to blog about it!

If only this had been around when I was a kid that loved the pool so much that I always ended up with green plantinum blond hair! So for what it is worth, if you are constantly in chlorine, you may want to check out Tri Swim!

Time to Focus!

 

Well the last week has been one big whirlwind of activity...and not so much on the fitness side but definitely FUN! Celebrated St. Malachi, Night out at Rays & Great Lakes Brewery, St. Pats, my birthday and then capped it off with a big party Saturday!

Unfortunately I now have a stupid cold but nonetheless Operation Lean Out/Focus has now commenced which means an extreme belt tightening of all this playful behavior! (And I really think after last week I got it out of my system...at least for a little while :-) )

Yesterday, Monday March 22nd I started my 11 week training plan leading up to the Rev 3 Half Iron out at Quassy. (Knock on wood) The tibia seems to be holding up well and I am optimistic that all systems are go!

Yesterday hit masters swim at lifetime for a total of 2500 m. Workout included-

400 Free
4 x 25 one arm lead
4 x 25 fingertip
4 x 25 catch up
4 x 25 fingertip
4 x 25 catch up
4 x 25 one arm lead
1000 TT
100 ez
4 x 25 hard
200 cd
+ extra 100 pull

My time trial was so-so. To be honest, this was my first straight 1000 set in awhile. I should probably start doing more of them and some other longer ones. I just did it nice and slow and steady and felt comfortable the whole time...no doubt, way too comfortable!

A couple issues of note a) my turns (which are still not flip turns) are so slow...not a big deal in the tri world but it sure would help my times here as I see how much ground I lose here. b) there was no one that I was trying to keep up with as there was just two of us at MS and he was not even doing the same workout. Competitive Daisy would have done much better working with someone. I did not want to post the time for the world to see but I will probably forget it if I don't so it was 21:50 for 1000 M.

Lunch workout was my focus run. Target run was 2 or 3x 1.5 mi runs at 6:55-7:15 pace with 2 min ez between. I felt pretty good and did the following. Fortunately I still felt like I had plenty left at the end of each interval!

1M w/u at 9 min mile pace
1.5 mi at 6:53 pace
2 min EZ
1.5 mi at 6:53 pace
2 min ez
1.5 mi at 6:48 pace
cooldown to finish 7 miles at 8:30 pace

Rough start today (Tuesday) as I really wanted to bike in the AM and strength train at lunch but still under the weather so I reset the alarm when it went off and opted to skip the strength workout and bike at lunch. I bet it was a good call because I doubt I would have been able to knock out a solid workout this morning with how I felt. I am actually quite surprised I managed to conquer the 75 minute killer LT/ Z3 workout at lunch as it was a toughie! Holy crap was I a disgusting sweaty mess. I swear the only time I have felt good the last two days was when I was working out and could actually breathe...FUNNY HOW THAT WORKS!

Despite the stupid cold, just enjoying the level of commitment to the plan!

St. Malachi Race Report

 



The time for one of funnest races of the year had arrived. My HS running friend NA and I had been drumming up some fellow GHS alums to come out and run and hit the party after! We managed to draw out about 20 or so GHS alumni and friends, including my HS BF as well as my sister that both did the 2 mi race! Each of them ran the whole way and I was so proud of them! It definitely is fun to get other people motivated about something you love and to watch them achieve their goals!

Now of course race day, I had to make sure I dressed as spirited as possible so I donned my tall shamrock socks, green shamrock hairbands with my pigtails, BAFF team jersey, Trakkers visor and CTC arm warmers! I think I managed to support a little bit of everything!

I was not sure what to target for myself. I have been running again for 6 or 7 weeks post tibia stress fracture. I have kept speed to a minimum and building mileage pretty slowly only running 3 days a week.

My plan was to try just go the first mile and not worry about the split knowing that there was so much downhill. Then I planned to settle in until I got past the hill during mile 3 and then to try to pick it up the last couple miles. I would give myself a A- on execution. I think this was easily one of my best efforts at pacing at a shorter race. Perhaps it is all the heart rate based training I have been doing but for the first time in awhile I did not just die the last half of the race and felt pretty even the whole way. If anything I may have not pushed myself hard enough as I never fell into my super suffer-fest state.

Going into the race, I was really hoping to stay under 35. I thought it was a good goal with the limited speed work and time back running. I knew my training was coming along as I had ran outside Tuesday (7:51 for 6 miles) and Thursday (7:41 for 5.3 Miles) and felt like everything was on the up and up as far as my leg. Residual tibia pain seems to be disappearing over time!

I lined up to for the start next to some of the silly fast girls. With the start we were off and I was trying to maintain decent footing with all the other runners, run tangents as good as possible while avoiding the big puddles, as well as as trying be careful on the bridges and potholes. I knew my HS friend NA was gunning for me and also trying to break 35. I was just trying to keep myself in a zone where I would not blow up taking inventory of the pace and trying to hold steady. As I approached the hill at Mile 3 I shortened my stride and tried not to blow my HR up too high. The best thing is as soon as you reach the top, you get it all back on the downside! I knew at this point that if I could just maintain I would get that sub-35! I tried to pick it up a bit but knowing there was an uphill finish to come and I made sure to save some energy! As I climbed the last hill I just looked at the ground right in front of me and before I knew it, I was at the top! Unfortunately my friend TR got me at the bottom of the hill and beat me by like 10 seconds...oh I should have pushed a little harder ;-) Guess he did not want to lose to this girl!

At the end of the day, I was pretty happy with the outcome and gave myself a good baseline as to where I am starting from here! I am happy to maintained this much running fitness over the winter thanks to all the hard biking (&Coach Gorris making me work so hard) I think! After the race, the party WAS SO ON! We had gotten a hotel and pretty much did a pub crawl from post race until mid-night with a 1.5 hour break to shower. As my one shirt says, "You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning!" And if you were not sure, yes indeed I am Irish!


St. Malachi results over the years:

2004 50.08, Hungover, late and just getting into running again
2005 41:20, If only I could get 9 minute improvements every year!
2006 37:35
2007 33:32, Best race
2008 37:46, Dealt with asthma
2009 37:39, Dealt with leg cramping and stoppped to stretch
2010 34:18, 6:51 min / mile pace. Not bad considering limited running!

Splits-
Mile 1 6:14 downhill
Mile 2 6:51h
Mile 3 7:00 (incl decent incline and descent)
Mile 4 6:55
Mile 5 7:04 uphill finish

Average HR 176
Max HR 184

A break from this!

 

Yesterday marked the first outdoor ride of 2010! This week, not only was I treated to some sunshine and warmer temps, but my boss was travelling meaning I could work from home! This meant I could do my lunchtime workout while getting in some miles outside on my bicycle with my husband.

Waaahooo, a break from the trainer and the articial light!

It took me awhile to get ready to ride. I had to find my thick gloves, shoe covers and all my cold weather gear and then made my way through our snowy walk up to the road. Then we were off up the hill leaving my place and it was not 5 minutes that I was already realizing I was totally overdressed! Oh well, I can totally deal with being warm, but I am just a miserable baby when I am cold so no biggy!

The husband was fairing a little worse. He had done a couple indoor training rides early on and decided he no longer wanted to be friends with the indoor trainer. By the time we hit Burton hill 8 miles down the road, his legs were jello, his lungs were on fire from the cool air, and his butt hurt!

The husband is a real trooper though as we pedaled on and managed to put in 24 miles on the rolling country roads as we dodged the horse crap and buggy ruts! Oh it was such a friggin awesome ride in the sun and has me just stoked to put in some more miles on the bike outside while we are treated to this mild weather!

Mill Creek Half Marathon Report

 

First event of 2010 down and I guess we can say that I am officially starting back!

The plan was for the gimp squad to run the hilly half marathon pace at a comfortable pace and just have social 2 hours while we attempted to put in some quality mileage! The Gimp Squad included me, coming back from the tibia stress fracture, Amie (pictured above)coming back from IT band issues, and Jim who is only 9 weeks out from knee surgery!

Unlike the last several Youngtown 1/2 marathons, weather was as nice as one could ask for. 33 degrees and sunny at the start! Jim and I took a position near the back of the crowd as I looked around for Amie who had disappeared into the mass of runners. Jim's plan was to run a nice easy pace of 9 min or better miles. I was fine with that as I was still nervous the tibia might just throw me the bird at any given minute! As a side note, it is so nice to start a race with no expectations other than to finish, feel good and enjoy yourself! I was looking forward to gettiing back out there running with all my friends!

Jim and I took off and the miles just clicked off pretty effortlessly. One of my biggest regrets of the race was not carrying my camera. The park just looked so gorgeous with the sun shining through the trees, glistening the water filled with ducks and of course a lot of us good looking runners on the hilly streets! Oh a wonderful morning for running for sure.

Strangely the planned 9 minute pace never really materialized as we were in the 8:45/ min mile pace the first third and then worked our way down on the back sections to 8:20 /min mile pace or so on the last few miles. The good part was we sort of noticed the slight pick up in pace but it was not intentional and we were actually probably consciously holding back trying to make sure we did not push our respective healing areas too much!

After finishing the last several climbs at the end of the race , before we knew it, we were rolling through the finish line! A success for the entire gimp squad, who all finished feeling well with the longest run in months for all of us! WE'RE BACK!

Here are the numbers for the day-
Distance Total: 13.36 Miles
Elevation Gain: 2107
Elevation Loss: 2089
Average HR: 153 (a nice comfy Z2, with some HR spikes on the uphills!)
Average Speed: 8:34 min/miles

Also of note, I was very proud of 3 of my fast female friends (EH, NC, and SI) for posting up some silly fast times and taking 1,3, and 4 spots! Way to go ladies!

The awesome morning was concluded with an awesome evening with our Southeast Running Club Banquet at Primo Vino! Good food with good friends!

Last week runddown:

3/1 AM 2200 Meters Swam (Lifetime masters), noon 1 hour Gorris Bike W/O
3/2 AM 5.5 Miles Ran
3/3 AM 3350 Yards Swam (CSU Masters), weights 30 min (UB)
3/4 AM 7 Mile Run with CV (8:45 pace)
3/5 Noon 45 min Bike Gorris w/o (cut short by 15 min), 6.25 Mile run with E (8:30 pace)
3/6 AM 2 hour Bike (ECC), 2000 yard swim
3/7 AM 13.3 Mile Run (Ytown half)

Totals-
Time 12.75 hours
Ran 32 Miles
Biked ~ 60 Miles
Swam 7550 yards (plus a little for meters day)
Core 30 min

Brightening My Day!

 

This morning captured the essence of one of those things I have missed so much!

Cleveland, OH has a had so many cold gray days this winter. Not only that, my tibia stress fracture had sat me on the sidelines and my will-run-in-any-weather attitude had me stuck inside all winter. I have missed the daylight I got on my runs. I have missed the hiliarity that ensued when I ran with the girls in blizzard like conditions. I have really missed the conversations with my running friends. I have missed watching the sunrise. AND OH YES, I HAVE SO VERY BADLY MISSED RUNNING!

This morning was the return to all things right for me. I drove into downtown Cleveland and met one of my favorite running friends in the darkness and removed my scarf and coat ready for my second outdoor run of the year (first being Sunday). With the beeps of our garmins we took off down the side walk down around Browns stadium, out past the Rock Hall and headed out Marginal alongside Lake Erie.

As we shared stories, the light became brighter and brighter and illuminated the sky with the full beauty of the sunrise! (Yes, not the one in the picture but equally as beautiful). It is hard to imagine much of a better way to start my workday!

PS- No TIBIA PAIN TODAY ON THE RUN! (Still feeling very touch and go on this one. Some days it still seems to bother me and sometimes I have good days. Hard to know what to think!)

The secret ....

 

Yes another early morning workout today! Alarm clock 1 went off at 4:45 AM and scared cat out of bed. Alarm clock 2 went off at 4:50 and I rolled over to grab my phone to turn off the alarm. After browsing through the emails on my blackberry that came in over night I pried myself out of bed and made my way to the other room to throw on some clothes as quickly as I could before running downstairs to brush my teeth. Within 10 minutes I was out the door and in my car where my Blue Rockstar awaited me. I had a 40 minute drive to wake up before hitting CSU masters swim!

No traffic to deal with, 3350 yards swam, one blue rockstar down and at my desk by 8AM makes for a great start for the day! Woot, woot!

The secret to waking up early today?
A margarita and some Great Lakes Conway Irish Ale putting me to bed before 9 last night!

Just for kicks!

 

So some new Saucony shoes came via Brown Santa recently as they are one of my Team Trakkers sponsors.

Oh new running shoes are always enough to brighten this girls day even if it is just another cold, snowy, Ohio gray day!

At first glance, I gotta say, "I totally dig this color!"

Now I was going to write up a post about this awhile ago but it was not until yesterday that I could do it justice as you all needed a picture!

The side story...
The last time I could remember having my camera was the day I fractured my arm about 6 weeks ago at Rays. The little camera went everywhere with me, just in case! Now I have always had some issues with this one prized little possession of mine. (That is why I try to keep these to a maximum expense of $100 or so!) One camera went down due to a cracked viewing screen which probably resulted from being in a soft case in my purse and me rooting around for something or another. Another camera went mia after I think I left in the bathroom after Akron Marathon. So when this camera went mia, I was at a loss. I thought it was time for yet another new camera. Booo! Yet, it just seemed to me that I could not recall anywhere I would have lost it. After turning over every pillow, checking every bag and anywhere I could think of over and over again, Sunday it made its re-appearance! Woot! Woot! I found it in a coat pocket I rarely use. I am not sure when I put it in there....perhaps I threw the coat on to snap some pictures of Mr. Matches one day and just forgot???? Regardless, I ran upstairs and jumped around cheering with my camera to my husband! Hooodihoo, time for pictures again! To think just Sunday afternoon I was pricing out a new camera at the store! Yippee!

So back to the shoes! To be quite honest this is my first pair of Saucony running shoes so I was a tiny bit nervous. I laced these good looking shoes up and hopped on the treadmill. The first thing I noticed was that they had a lot of soft cushioning which felt good to my little feet-zies! The fit seems just right for me. I am really hoping that the extra support will be just what the doctor ordered to help keep my devil tibia issues at bay!

I do have to be honest though. Sunday was my first return back to pavement since my running hiatus and it was a gloriously fun 10.6 mile run with some of my favorite running girls and Bob, who got me started running! The roads were wet from salt and snow covered in spots. I could not bear to wear my stunningly clean Saucony shoes outside yet and get them all dirty just yet....soon though!

It is with great excitement....!

 

It is with great excitement that as of today, I am officially registered for the Revolution 3 Triathlon Race Series! Woot, woooot!

This means Olympic Triathlon in Knoxville on May 9th, Half Iron in Middlebury, CT on June 6th and MY FIRST FULL ever in my own backyard of Sandusky Ohio at Cedar Point on September 12th! BRING IT ON!!!

One Heck of a Weekend!

 


So all seems to be progressing on the home front.

After some Xrays, an MRI and several doctor visit following up my the tibia stress fracture and the fractured radius, I was given the green light to do what I felt like...well within reason!

So 4 and a half weeks ago I started back running. I wish the snow had not been so bad as the soft surface of the Towpath would have been perfect, but given the sketchy footing I decided to take the soft cushioning of the treadmill. I guess to be perfectly honest, when I have to run alone and it is less than desirable out, I really don't mind the treadmill. And I think I have been longing to run for so long, that it makes me happy. Either that or my strong detest of elipticals! In the back of my mind is that Nasvhille marathon on 4/24 is quickly approaching. I am trying to ease in speed and distance slowly. Longest runs by week have inched out as follows-5 mi, 6.5 mi, 9 mi, 12 mi...planning on 15 this weekend. Right now just two other runs per week, one about 45 minutes and one about and hour. I have also really tried to hold back some with speed. The first week I would not let myself run faster top speeds than 9 min mile, then 8.5 and finally today I was doing some 2 mi intervals averaging just under 7:30 which felt surprisingly comfortable.

On the running front, I will run the Mill Creek half marathon on 3/7 as a training day...I am NOT RACING IT. REPEAT TO SELF. The following Saturday is my favorite race of the year, the Saint Malachi run! OH AM I EXCITED and will be wearing my green, working the booth on behalf of the tri club before and after and then enjoying the party with all my high school friends that NA has conned into running, many for the first time! Nashville is said to be a hilly couse and coming back from injury, my plan there is to just enjoy it and run a respectable pace and maybe run something like a 3:40.

After a hiatus from swimming (except kick drills :-( ) my arm seems to be coming back. So much so, that 5 weeks out from the fractured radius, I did our CTC's clinic & challenge for a nice total of 4000 yards Sunday. Not bad considering even 2 weeks ago I could barely swim with that arm! Oh I should also plug one of the Trakkers sponsors, SBR Sports and their Foggle Product. I had just picked up some new TYR goggles at Bike Authority and used the Foggles wipes before swimming Sunday. I was in disbelief how clearly I could see the entire morning. Apparently I have been in the fog way too long...haha, ok so I was up to early again today which leads to bad jokes!

Oh and I finally made my return to Rays Indoor Mtn Bike Park! Had a minor setback Monday but rode conservatively Friday with about 150 other women and had a chance to demo a bunch of bikes. That may have been a bad idea as I really liked the way the full suspension bike handled obstacles. (Hmmm, what to buy this spring as I need a new one and this is beyond a want, a full suspension mountain bike or 29er hard tail) My arm is still rather weak for jumps, etc so we will take it easy there for awhile!

The one consistent this winter has been the bike and indoor trainer rides. Coach MG really has been making me sweat through some hard core workouts this winter and while often I don't know that I will make it, I find a way! These have been my saving grace along with our Saturday morning East side cycling rides.

This past weekend was sort of a culmination of all of this stuff and made for an absolutely fun time! I had been looking forward to it for awhile and it was all that I hoped for...!

Friday I took off work and hit Angels Day at Rays Indoor Mountain Bike Park. Got to ride and learn from some of the nation's best trial, cross country, free ride female mountain bikers! What a great day, free entry, free food, free shirt, free clinics and did I mention free Sierra Nevada Keg and lots of give-aways!

Left Angels Day around 5 to prepare for our Tri Club's Member meeting which was a blast including fantastic info from Coach MG, and fun with all the club members.

Saturday morning came way too soon and included CTC's 2 hour indoor cycling sweat fest followed up with a 45 minute swim. Then it was off to the USAT rules clinic which always is full of valuable info that I would suspect many people may not be aware of.

Sunday was the club big Swim Challenge and Clinic which seemed to be a huge hit. LN from Liquid Lifestyles ran the clinic and really did a nice job! I know I learned some good techniques to work on! Yes, I might have had some Mexican and beer after...but only because my husband (who volunteered) said he deseved it and I agreed!

I crashed hard Sunday night and had to pry myself out of bed super early Monday morning because even with that busy of a weekend I still owed my 12 mile run before work!

February Fun!

 
So with January already over I am now thinking about spring! Time to get ready as the racing season will be here before I know it. So the blog had a mini hiatus the last couple weeks which was due to a few reasons.

a) As of the beginnning of the year I assumed the role of President of the Cleveland Triathlon Club and have really been focusing a whole lot of time working with sponsors, the newsletter and a bunch of other fun stuff
b) The year end workload at work
c) I have been busy with doctors as I managed to crash my mountain bike on January 16th, ended up in the ER and fractured my radius. If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough!

So all is on the mend. The good news is due to my elbow, I have actually been taking better care of the tibia. Speaking of the tibia, after another several week hiatus, I ran 30 minutes this morning which felt pretty good! OH HAVE I MISSED IT!

The elbow also screwed up swimming but have been getting in some kick drills and think perhaps this week I will see what the weak arm can handle as doc said that should be ok as long as it does not hurt too bad (tried it a little over a week ago and it was waay too soon!)

TG it has been the off-season!

Rays Indoor XC TT

 

This weekend concluded the Rays Indoor Mountain Bike Cross Country Time Trial Series #1 which ran from 11/14 - 1/10. I had decided to try it out awhile back and decided to sign up for a time slot on the last day of the series and practice as much as I could beforehand.

Each time slot signup included a Tri Flow lube, a Red Bull and an entry for a GT Zaskar.

COURSE: START/FINISH: GT Deck. Race totals 3 XC loops and 7 GT lines (shortest lines throughout). START and FINISH triggered by breaking a laser beam, supervised by a Race Official.

* START: Break laser beam to start clock on GT deck
* Prologue: Line P (marked), return to deck
* 1st lap Fisher XC (approximately 1/3 a mile) loop, return to deck
* Line 1, return to deck (two options- one a little more technical, one a little longer)
* Line 2, return to deck
* 2nd lap XC loop, return to deck
* Line 3, return to deck
* Line 4, return to deck (stumps...this line is often problematic for riders)
* 3rd lap XC loop, return to deck
* Line 5, return to deck
* Line 6, return to deck (riding tree logs also trips many up)
* FINISH: Break laser beam to stop clock

The key would be to ride a clean ride because if you fall off any of the lines or put your foot down you incur a 15 second penalty for each.

Top time on the board for women was 9:24 at the start of the day. Also ready to go was LP and ET, a 15 yrd old sponsored female and my friend and I knew both ladies would give me some tough competition.

I lucked out with a clean run my first go and posted a time of 8:21:27 which was good enough to give me the overall win. ET has been dealt a rough hand being sick the last couple weeks and posted a 8:50ish (for 3rd) which included a 15 sec penalty on line 1. LP (got 2nd), who had been taken out by a bicycle before she even got to attempt the race that morning, improved her time by nearly a minute but had incurred two penalties after choosing to bomb line 4 and took a spill on 6 (she got up fast and still finished strong much to her credit).

First female awards me a Rays MTB jacket and a picture in Mountain Bike Magazine! Now I got to quit spending so much time on these lines and become better at the clearing the jumps like the other two girls I raced that morning who definitely have the edge there.

After the race, most racers (especially me) spent the day hacking up our lungs after sucking so much cool warehouse air. Then it was off to Senorita Bonitas to celebrate with some beer and Mexican!

And it's it still falling....

 

Another day of slow commutes and more snow, so what is a girl to do?

1. Be happy because the husband plows snow and that equals $!
2. Go snowmobile riding...you know you are having fun when you stay out until the wee hour of 3:00 am riding.
3. Kick or throw snow at the dog. Mr. Matches loves to try to catch them!
4. Drive to work at crack of dawn so you don't have to get stuck in the rush hour mess and the bonus is the workout!
5. Go to indoor cycling class...every week CTC east side class continues to grow and now we even swim after class every week!
6. Go to Ray's Indoor Mtn Bike Park-Hitting the park tonight and Friday to practice for the XC TT race time slot which is this Sunday the 10th! Crossing my fingers for a clean ride with no penalties!
7. Hit the gym. Lots of weight training this month including some circuit training and of course my fav, P90x!
8. Use mad amounts of chapstick and lotion...perhaps I blast my heater too much!
9. Consume large amounts of spicy chili. Healthy, yet delicious!
10. Watch a good movie while baking in the room with the wood burning stove. My favorite movies over the last couple months included Public Enemies, Hangover, Terminator Salvation, Funny People, Star Trek!
11. Make friends with the treadmill again...and hopefully hit the trail soon!
12. Learn to love the smell of chlorine.
13. And above all else, really appeciate those few days when I actually get to see the sun!

Matches Loves Snow!

 

Happy new year!

 

2010 is already looking up!

Kicked it off with a new years eve 3 mi. run. 3 Miles may seem like small potatoes to most but this was the best 3 mi in a long time as the tibia pain was not present!!

After a very mild new years eve, news years day was packed full of fun including CTC's polar plunge, the post race warm-up at Panini's and games with our friends.

Saturday, 1/2, started the health kick where some focus is returning to my nutrition. Day three now in progress and already feeling better with cutting out the crap!

Saturday was a pretty darn good day actually with a 2 hour cycling class, 2000 yd swim, got some stuff done around the house and then a super fun night of riding snowmobiles!!!

Between snowmobiling the other night and the husband plowing, I am loving this snow! 2 feet and counting at home!

Did I really have to go back to work today though?

Bring on the new year!

Polar Plunge 2010!

 

Lots of crazies!

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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!

60 M Ride with Clev Touring Club in Nov!

 

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)

OH AND LAST AND CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, I GOT SOME BIG COOL NEWS THIS WEEK...DETAILS WILL BE FORTHCOMING! And YES IT INVOLVES TRIATHLON !

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!