Random Taper Time Updates-Black Cloud Day

The weekend-

Came up a little short.  I think I went into the weekend with tired legs.  Pushed a good pace on the bike Saturday with a fun group for a 55 mile ride on Saturday morning and then it was over to the track.  However by now it was warm.  I should have peed first and I did not take my inhaler to the track.  I started into my mile repeats.  6:50, 6:53, 7:00.  By the 4th one I was breathing heavy, struggling to get in the air with my asthma squeezing my lungs.  Thanks to having BH running along with me, I forced myself through 3 more which were (on or right around pace) to stop after 6.    After some water and putting on my headphones, I started #7 (of the 9 I was supposed to do).  Headphones quit on me and then I quit on the workout.  I kept thinking I should be able to run a half mary at around 7 min miles, why can I not do these repeats?  I think it was in part due to my asthma, part just being tired and knowing that I had another toughie Sunday but I should have sucked it up and finished.

Sunday morning, ST and I hit the road early.  I just felt flat all day.  I was tired.  My legs were tired.  We pushed on for a little over 4 hours and 76 miles and when he pulled back into the park and I was to go on another 24 miles, again I hit the eject button.

I guess at the end of the day, I really wanted to nail the workouts.  Yet, I am now at the 2 week time where I just decided it was better to err on the side of caution if I was not feeling it.

Black cloud day- 
Gave myself a nice easy day swimming Monday.  Then yesterday, I had planned to head out for the Tuesday night Tavern Ride.  Temps were nice and I hit the door at work right at 5PM.  Got stuck in traffic.  Then as I chatted on the phone, traffic came to a screeching halt and the mustang one car in front of me, slammed an SUV.  Airbag deployed, horn on.  Guy in front of me slams breaks as do I, hoping the guy behind me stops.  Thankfully he did and then I felt the adrenaline dump in my leg muscles!  Tick tock, tick tock...I am getting more frazzled by the minute.  As I near the parking lot finally, I am forced to come to a stop so I did not run over the black cat that crossed the road in front of me.  How appropriate!!!  6PM sharp I park.  At 6:03, I was ready to go.  Thankfully they waited!  :-)  Again, I HATE HATE HATE not being timely!

The kiss of death- Monday I called Sherman at Bike Authority to check about getting a once over on my bike.  I said, "Nothing is wrong with my bike....I just wanted a quick check before big race."  I scheduled myself in for bike service on Wednesday.  Little did I know, I actually would have an issue with the bike!

Back to black cloud day-   So the group takes off at a pretty healthy pace up the hill.  As we hit the uphill grade on Hemlock we are clipping along at a solid pace.  As we near the stop sign I go to shift and as I do, I feel the snap in my lever.  Cable broke.  Of course this was the time when I was rotated to the front so I quickly rotate through mentioning I broke a cable.  And of course, I am in my biggest gear on the rear.  The route was a hilly one and I was not about to go ride the entire thing in my biggest gear so as we hit 306, I let the group know I was out and turned around to ride the ~4 mi back.  I was FRUSTRATED!  Yet, I was thankful that this happened now instead of on 9/11.  I tried calling my husband on the side of the road (I think he now cringes when he gets a call from my number when I am supposed to be riding).  I manage to get out my cable broke before my phone just resets!!!  Grrrr....!  Poor hubby now slightly concerned as it took until I got back to my car to reset.  Toss the bike in the car and head to grocery store.  For some reason, my luck continues and I have now became totally electrified and every shelf or can I touch delivers a jolting shock which results in one dropped can, some swearing and a beer in my hand as quick as I could get home!!!

Thankfully today is a new day!

Final Big Weekend!!!

So yesterday I was driving the long commute home and was stuck in traffic (as usual).  I let some car in that was merging on to the highway.  First thing I notice is that is has a "save the ta-tas" sticker.  Second thing I notice is that it seems ironic to me that they have a Breast Cancer awareness sticker and the driver is smoking...also known to cause cancer.  Hmmmm....make sense?

Today I rolled my motorcycle to work.  It was the first time since I crashed my bicycle.  It had been waaay too long.  Made my long morning commute much more enjoyable even though it is all freeway.

Managed to sneak out at lunch for a run with the boys.  As we were running one of our normal total ghetto routes (no clue why these are the routes we run) we came upon a road which was pretty well blocked up with about 6 or 7 cop cars.  Wonder if we will hear about another big crime along our running route.  Seems we are on record-setting pace this year so far!  I SOOO would not run these roads alone!

Tonight I am hitting a talk with ESpeed and NC about running up in Mentor!  Should be a fun time with plenty of socializing.

Tomorrow am, I got a 55 mile bike with 9x1 mile intervals with 1 minute recoveries.  Guessing that will be a real butt kicker but I am stoked as it looks like I will have good company for the ride.  I know many get overwhelmed with the daunting training that is ironman.  I feel like I have really enjoyed the training due in no small part to having so many wonderful training partners locally.

Then Sunday, will be a final 100 mile bike with the boys!

As I sit here and tap on my wooden desk, I am quite excited that it looks like I will actually get to enjoy an entire weekend of riding in some sunshine  :-)  I heart Fridays!

Wednesday Random Bullets

Never enough time so here is the cliff-notes version of the random things going on in the world of Daisy-

Since I left ya last Wednesday-

*  Managed a solid weekend of training.  96.3 miles biked at the CTC-REV3 Training Day.  It was a gorgeous day and managed a pretty solid pace so I was pleased.  I needed 3.7 more miles per the plan but I wanted to get a shower and be ready to listen to the RD speak, so I called it close enough :-)  Also, I got in a nice long brick on Sunday on some wet roads with ET.  Despite our very chatty ride, we managed a respectable pace and those 55 miles on the bike just clicked off silly fast...then it was time for one soggy run!

* Why does it seem so often I get stuck doing my training in the rain and crappy weather this year???  This is resulting in waaaay more bike washings than should be normal!

*  Speaking of rain, I spent the first 8 miles of today's 18 mile run in some very wet, windy conditions.  Surprisingly, I think I felt the best I had for one of my long weekday runs.  I also used my new Avia Bolt IIIs' on today's run and am very happy to report, that the shoes worked well for me so I will be sporting those at REV3 Cedar Point.  They are a half size smaller than all my other running shoes but that seemed to be the right fit for me!  Now I will need to rotate in some of my other older shoes to save those back a bit.

*  Last night Tuesday, I embarked on my longest open water swim year to date for the season.  CTC had our official BIG SWIM which is 1.8 mi from Columbia Beach to Bradstreet Pier.  I felt it was really important to see how this would go as my shoulder blade has seemed weak with longer / harder swims.  I was definitely a little nervous!  I sprayed myself down with TriSlide and then slid on my sweet TYR Hurricane wetsuit.  Maybe it was the wetsuit, maybe I was just relaxed with my 19 other CTC friends on the calm Lake Erie water, but it might have been my best open water swim ever!  I can still hardly believe it!  It was exactly the confidence builder I needed :-)

* And then there was that earthquake yesterday.  At first I thought something was wrong with me and I was terrible dizzy before realizing the entire office was shaking.  As I sat on the 24th floor of One Cleveland Center, I watched as our window shades banged between the cases.  Strange!  My husband thought he was sooo funny when he said to watch out for piranhas (because in Piranha 3D, the tremor set free the pre-historic man-eating fish!)  I survived the swim just fine thank you!

*  I wrap up this training block this weekend and am thankful that it appears I should have some good company for most of it.  Then it is taper time!!!!

*  I am sad that it continues to get dark earlier and light out later and temps already seem cooler.

*  I am stoked for the upcoming REV3.  I am interested to see how I will stack up versus last year...fingers crossed I can improve my time!  After that I will run Akron Marathon relay 2 weeks later (9/24) with my fast SERC girlies relay team.  Then perhaps think about doing the Border War sprint tri (9/25)..maybe!  Then if all is well, I will run Towpath Marathon on 10/9.  Despite my burning desire to just hit the fall road running circuit races, I am going to TRY TRY TRY to give my legs a break instead of using the fall to beat them up like usual.  The upcoming fall has me excited for the return of some trail running and hopefully I can spend sometime mountain biking before the snow falls!

Toes & Props

Randomly for awhile now, I have getting toe cramps after some of my runs and bikes.  Often I take off my bike shoes to slide my feet into my some flip flops and I move my toes and I get hit with toe cramps!  OUCHIES!  So I did a little googling. Toe cramps may be caused by low calcium, potassium, sodium or even dehydration.  I suppose it is not uncommon for me to not drink very much as I am out training and I have been slacking on taking my vitamins.  Really, why is this tiny task so difficult for me to follow through with on a regular basis?  So after the worst big toe cramp yesterday, which I even noticed in my sleep last night and still hurts today, I RESOLVE TO take my vitamins more regularly and drink more (water that is...not beer silly)!  I guess I will also work on massaging my toes and stretching them for a little while now.


So last year and this year, I have worked with local triathlete and "coach", MG.  MG helps several of us out with our training plans and provides so much insight, motivation and a wealth of knowledge.  I have the utmost respect for him as a person, as an athlete and as a coach.  I was just reading his race report from Steelhead in which he put together an incredibly well executed race with a most impressive time and earned himself an outright spot to the Ironman 70.3 World Championships.  I am sooo thrilled for him!  It means a lot to me that I know he walks the walk.  He puts in the work and is one of the most disciplined athletes I know and it shows!  I was reading his race report which ended with his favorite quote from the endurance sporting world, which I love too and just wanted to share (especially because this morning felt like one of those "don't" days)-  


"Good athletes train when they want to, the great ones train when they don’t."

Random Observations

-This morning as I drove down E13th Street in downtown Cleveland chatting on my phone, my conversation was stopped dead in its tracks as I noticed an incredibly large woman sitting in one of those gigantic (must've-been about 3-4 ft around) concrete flower planters.  I was in disbelief.  The poor smashed flowers were coming out the rear of her and she LITERALLY took up the entire thing.  "She is not really sitting on there on the flowers and dirt in her moo moo, is she?"  The only question is, why did I not end my call immediately and get a picture?  WOW, unbelieveable! I thought it was supposed to be a fat lady bent over in the garden, not one sitting on the flowers.

-I headed out for a lunch run with the boys today.  As I walked by the office and waited for my garmin to load, a slightly chubby chick looked at me and then I overheard her comment to her friend, "I wish I worked out."  I don't get it.  She looked plenty capable and all I could think is, "what is stopping you?"  It strikes me that some people think that those of us who make time for workouts have more time and flexibility when most often we do not.  We make time.  We make sacrifices.  It is not easy for us but we find a way to make it work.  Trust me, I love to sleep in but rarely afford myself that luxury.

- For those of you not in Cleveland, the Avengers movie is being filmed here.  It made the lunch time jaunt a little more interesting as tons of people crowded east 9th street as we ran by trying to get a look at the action.  My boss did mention that as he dropped off one of our out of town guests at a hotel downtown last week that  the Director, Robert Downey Jr and Scarlett Johansson were all standing around real chill out front the hotel entrance signing autographs.  Pretty cool of them.  But I cannot wait for the filming to end as it just makes my commute longer trying to get in and out of the city!!!

-  I took yesterday as a rest day but my legs still feel tired today.  No rest for the weary.  Riding later and long run in the morning!

-  I have been forever hungry lately!

The last hard block...

So I am in the middle of my last hard training block for REV3 Cedar Point less than 4 weeks away now.

Ended the week with -
39.3 miles ran
160 miles biked (although I missed tues night 31M ride)
3700 meters swam

Coach's plan has me going strong another 2 weeks here and then it will be 2 weeks of tapering which should work well for me.

Saturday, a few of us met up to ride 90 miles out of Lifetime Fitness.  I had planned a rolling course with some decent climbs which would total just shy of 5000 ft of climbing.  The morning temps were in the mid-60's and it was a gorgeous sunny morning ride.  Despite starting out on some less-than-fresh legs due to all the running throughout the week, I felt pretty good the whole way.  We did have a couple detours and near the end, I spun up the hills pretty easy as I was already thinking that I better save something as Sunday's effort would again require some leg strength.

The route took us out country roads and into my neck of the woods, out past Hiram College, up Durthicks Hill in Mantua and then up north into N Chagrin area before heading back.  There had only been 3 of us that stuck together for the most part.  I thought it was a pretty solid ride in terms of workload upfront and all the climbing.  I figure my 100 miler next week will be easier than that as it is a flatter course and likely the workload will be shared more.

Sunday the plan was a 49 mile bike/ 8 mile run and the forecast was rain / thunderstorms.  I had pretty much accepted the fact that I was doing the workout regardless of the weather.  If it got too bad, I would stop for it to pass but this was the only day I had to get it in for the week.  I was happy that I had spoke with JC and he was down with that plan too.  One thing is for sure...this year I sure seem to have gotten in my share of rainy rides!!!  While obviously that is not my preference, I must say I feel pretty comfortable with riding in wet conditions!

I woke up early Sunday and slowly walked my sore legs down the stairs.  This day was going to be rough I figured and I was hoping I did not slow people down too much as my legs were tired!

I drove through some spotty rain systems to get to the start and as we grabbed our bikes out of the vehicles, the rain subsided and somehow I ended up getting in pretty much the entire workout with no rain :-)  !  That is not to say the roads were dry but rooster tails were out a lot of the ride and the bike is definitely in need of a bath tonight!

For the ride, 4 of us rode through Cuyahoga Valley National Park, through the high water on Sand Run and up some good climbs like Boston Mills Road westbound from Riverview to 21.  My legs were DYING and as I climbed up Boston Mills, the boys all pulled ahead and I just settled into a pace I thought I could handle.  A few times I caught myself with my tongue out just gasping for air doing my best Thomas Voeckler impression. All I could think was that my run was going to be ROUGH!

I had gotten a rear flat early in the ride which I managed to get fixed without too much issue and other than that, the ride was fine.  I definitely felt like the weakest link on Sunday with the 3 strong guys but at the end of the day, I was soooo thankful I was riding with them as I know I would not have pushed so hard alone.  I really enjoyed the route and the company a lot!  We finished with 49 miles and 3000 ft of climbing as we coasted into the downhill finish.

As we pulled back into the parking lot, I was happy to hear BH was going to run with me.  My plan was 8 miles at 7:32.  Only, my legs were tapped out and it was starting to feel rather humid.  So instead I decided to just go with what I could and was pleading with myself to just get 8 miles in.  BH and I fell into a decent pace on the towpath.  We kept leap-frogging with some kids on bicycles, who I think were trying to annoy us and almost tripped up BH.  As we ran past Red-Lock continuing south and I started to die a little inside as I had to go to the bathroom, pretty bad!  So as we passed the 4 miles where I would have turned around, we kept on as I needed to make it to Boston Store to hit the bathroom.  After some relief, we started back up on the return trip north, chatting away or rather BH doing most of the chatting as I think the humidity was flaring my asthma and my breathing had became a bit labored and my HR was high.  As my garmin beeped 8 miles, we took a little walk break.  We had managed a 7:43 avg which was not the 7:32 but given how tired I felt, I was just happy to be that close and even happier that I got in the 8 miles.  TG for BH or I am not sure I could have pushed myself!  Then we jogged in the last mile easy to finish with 9 miles just as it started to sprinkle.

About the time I got to my car, the rain started to come down and all I could think was, boy did we time that right!  I was a dirty tired mess!  I cruised over to Bike Authority afterwards to pick up a couple things and I really just had no energy to even deal with standing.  I am sure I looked pathetic.  Sometimes after hard efforts I just feel like I need an hour and some food before I am fully functioning and yesterday was one of those days!  Oh and it was just POURING and I was getting soaked as I kept having to get in a out of my car for a few errands....picture tired pathetic wet Daisy!

I was pretty much EXHAUSTED the rest of Sunday.  I ate a bunch and we went to watch The Rise of the Planet of the Apes which I highly recommend!  Overall, I was pretty pleased that I hit the weekend workouts and know that I put a solid effort in.  It was a pretty hard weekend for me but "hard" weekends make me feel much better prepared for what lies ahead.  Two more hard weekends left!

I heart running!

This week has been a particularly good week for me in that I have been able to get in 3 lunch runs which is very abnormal.  Usually I am chained to the desk but this week afforded me some opportunities to get out and take in some sunshine with some running buds.

Tuesday, I did my short speedwork session on the treadmill at the gym.  For some reason, I never seem to mind speedwork on the treadmill.  I just plug in the dictated pace and I go, as I rock out to my a very loud DJ Scene podcast on my headphones.

The last several weeks, I have been doing my long runs on Wednesday mornings, but this was a step back long run week, so I only had to do 10 miles so I figured I would take a long lunch and swim in the morning.  I ran with the downtown boys and E for a nice round 10.  Pace was a little fast but that is the one drawback to group runs...I run whatever everyone else does.

Thursday, I got out again for a short run.  My girl, ET, is coming back from injury and has only ran 3 mi a couple times.  She said she would be up for running 5 miles.  I was flexible, although I was thinking something nice, easy and short because my computrainer workout that morning pretty much killed me.  The next thing I know, ET is running along, chatting away and I am trying to slow her down a bit because I just did not feel like running the 7:30 pace we started into.  We slowed to an 8:05 avg.  Hopefully her comeback goes well as I will be pretty happy to have her back to run with.

Now Friday, I probably should not have ran.  But I had just got new AVIA Bolt III's that I wanted to break in!

And the window opened in my workday, so out I went again to meet the boys for a nice 9.3 mile ghetto jog.  Yes, ghetto for reelz.  I think the one guy was getting more and more nervous about the surroundings and the talk of the group as he seemed to pick up the pace more and more.  I returned to the office a nice salty damp mess, but very thankful have had the opportunity to go sweat out some stress and take in some more sunshine!!!

TGIF....this weekend looks like a very quiet one social schedule-wise which is good because I got a lot of miles to get in.  This week and the next two really have some butt kicking workouts!

Cleveland Triathlon Race Report

So this is take II of my Cleveland Tri Report.  You ever write a blog and you go to post it and you realize you just sort of sound like you are just complaining, making excuses and overall it is just whine, whine, whine?

Well it seemed a lot like that...so here is the long and the short of it trying to focusing on the positives.  Disclaimer:  There is still a lot of whining and excuses and if you think this is bad, you should have read the other report!

I felt almost as awful as the pic looks!!!

- Arrived to find out the water was 79 degrees and would not be wetsuit legal for USAT rankings and awards.  (So not what Daisy was hoping for!!!)  So I did not wear a wetsuit.  Considering how little I have been swimming post crash, my swim was not too bad, considering the chop in the water (due to the strong wind out of the west).  My main issue once I got past the yellow buoys was I could not see the last red buoy as my blue tinted goggles seemed to shade the red buoy to a navy shade which was totally not visible against the water.  So major sighting issues and I got quite a bit off course.  Oh well!  In the end, I swam fine but I exited the water with a major headache likely due to missing many breaths when I got smacked in the face with a wave.

- My transitions both seemed slow but no major issues.

I am sooo much happier on the bike than the swim!

 - The bike was fine, although my head was throbbing. 6 hairpin turns. I passed lots of people.  I had decided to put First Endurance EFS in my aerobottle (even though I usually just use water in it) because I wanted to make sure I took in some calories and electrolytes during the bike.  That worked well.  The bonus of the bike was knowing where you were at related to everyone else.  I knew going in that KS, defending champ and also a training partner would likely be the leader and that she was.  She had gained about 7 minutes on me in the swim and her lead appeared to stay pretty consistent throughout the bike.

- As I headed out on the run, it was very warm and humid.  I had tucked my inhaler for my asthma in my sports bra before the swim and I took a couple puffs on that...perfect location for that thing.  I might have to tuck it in there for some long runs and see if it bugs me as perhaps for REV3 CP, I will put it there as I feel safer having it with me and that is a convenient spot to have it.

- I had decided that I was not going to bother wasting time with my garmin and for some reason the only split times on the results page are for my swim and finishing time so I have no idea how my pacing was.  This was also due to the fact that there were not clearly marked mile markers at every mile.  I thought I saw a knocked over 2 and maybe a 3 but it was nothing that I could clearly track on my watch.  As I neared the first turnaround I passed S (who finished third female and I got to talk to her after as I did not know her going in) and then it was just KS waaaay out in front of me.  I think I just fell into I nice steady pace.  I guess I figured this would be my finishing position and instead of racing hard for myself, I just ran an easy tempo.

- I was very happy to finish 2nd overall female about the 7 minutes behind KS that I had lost on the swim.  All good, I was happy for her and knew that would be the outcome as she is a solid well-rounded triathlete who works hard. While everyone wants to win, I had no illusion that given my current swimming that it would be quite a stretch in an oly.  It was a good training day.  More than that, it was sort of a triumph to come back to a race after a bad crash and come in with a podium finish.

-  I suppose afterwards, I have been a little hard on myself as I just don't feel like I pushed as hard as I could have on the bike and run.  While it would not have mattered in my place, I should have raced against the clock for myself.

-  I will say this again as I say every year it seems, I really really need to focus more on the swim.  I am not concerned so much now as I know the shoulder is not fully healed and it is sort of a little too late for this season but in the off-season, I will make some big changes to my swim training...FOR SURE.

The start of the weekend....

It has been another whirlwind few days!

Friday evening I headed over to my sister's for a pool party and fortunately, I left to head home at a very reasonable hour.

Saturday morning came early and I hopped in my car and headed over to Edgewater to start my bike at 6:30 AM.  The plan was to ride over to Sweetwater Marina in Rocky Rocky River and do an out and back with the Vanuccis & Trisaratops and return to my car by 8:40.  I cruised back in 38 miles later which included a bathroom stop and some chatting at the turnaround.  It was a perfect morning for riding and was even better because of such fabulous company!

Then I packed up my biking stuff and changed into my running clothes to lend a hand with some friends (Espeed and GP's man) who were short a female runner for their 10K Corporate Challenge Relay team.  Always nice to help out a friend but with the oly tri on Sunday, I decided I was going to run a pretty conservative 1 mile leg.  So without much time to spare we all got lined up and I was going to be the second person on the relay leg.  I thought going in, the team was just picking up participation points.  Yet, as our first relay runner came into sight, he had opened up a big lead on the field and I was going to be heading out in first place.

I had my garmin on and I was thinking I would run something like a 7 min mile which would not feel too hard but was not super slow.  Yet, with the hand smack I was off and decided to just cruise and ease off if the effort started to feel too hard.  I did not want to overload my legs with running too fast and risk making them tired for Sunday.  Thankfully, my legs were nice and loose after my bike and before I knew it, I was cruising back into the relay exchange area, still in first.  I smacked hands, hit my garmin stop and walked off the course feeling pretty fresh.  I was shocked to see the average pace at 5:44....ooops!  Oh well, I was not overly concerned as I did not feel labored and my legs felt fresh.  So then it was off to rush to the Cleveland Triathlon expo.

I knew getting a shower before it was going to be tight time-wise and there ended up being no time for that as I needed to be set up by 10 am.  I did manage to do my third outfit change for the day so at least I was not in sweaty clothes!  Then I sat at the expo pitching the Cleveland Triathlon Club.  CTC has not had a presence there at the downtown race for awhile now, but it actually seemed to be a really good idea as we signed up several new people and I answered a lot of questions.  Always fun to talk the sport!  The expo was pretty small but I must say they had a really nice free pasta lunch setup.  This was not the normal, toss some already cooked noodles in the water with some generic marina sauce but a really good spread...nice bc this girl was hungry!

I headed out just after 2pm to head home.  I had quite a few things to take care of, ate again and then spent the evening chilling on the course watching movies with my Recovery Pump pants on.

Commence Operation Wing It

So post crash on 6/14 just over 7 weeks ago, the state of the state is as such.

Running and road biking causes me zero issues.  I did feel a bit of discomfort back in the shoulder while mtn biking over the weekend.  When I say discomfort, it usually means a dull ache that feels like a pinch back there in the meat of my shoulder muscles right on the shoulder blade toward the bottom where it was clearly separated in my xray.

I have still not done pushups or any weight training since and have tried to not overdue the swimming (which has not been hard bc I tend to like to neglect swimming anyways!).

Yet, being I am doing an oly race Sunday, swimming gets a bit more important if you want to be competitive.  So I decided this latter part of the week, I would focus a bit more on my swimming to make sure I was comfortable.

So this morning I arrived to Lifetime to hit the pool for a good swim and was feeling highly motivated to really focus on what I was doing (as often my form just goes down the toilet easy!)

WU:  200 Swim, 2x200 (50SW,100Kick, 50SW)
300,200,100 Moderate with 20 RI
200,100,50 Easy with 25 RI
200, 100 Fast (or as fast as Daisy can swim which is not fast!) with 30 RI
then I did 50 easy out of plan bc I like round numbers
6x100 pull with 25 sec RI
100 swim, 100 kick, 100 swim, 100 kick
c/d:  100 easy pull
Total 3000 Meters

All in all, I would have to say it went pretty well.  It was my longest swim post crash as usually I put in exactly 2000 and call it a day (or rather have to rush to work).

I felt really good and thought I was doing a nice job with trying to glide a bit more and rotate.  When I did the 6x100 pulls, I was definitely working hard...maybe too hard.  I started to feel that familiar pinch back in my shoulder on the 3rd and 4th repeat and did the rest of the workout pretty easy.

It still feels a bit pinched albeit not too bad.  Hard to know if I am just thinking more about it now than usual or if it is actually bothering me more!  I don't know.  Yet now I am rethinking swimming any more until Sunday.  It is not that swimming a lot the week before a race makes me any faster, I just often find that it gives me confidence and makes me a bit more comfy.

So not sure what to think!  I guess I will just wing it Sunday.

As luck would have it, 4 or 5 weeks ago when I was at the Dr. last, I had set up a follow-up appointment with ortho doc for Monday.  It will be interesting to actually see what the scapula looks like then!

Cross your fingers for me please!!!!!

Tuesday Bullets

*  Super busy in Daisyland and just hoping everything falls into place.  Fingers crossed!

*  So the intent was to blog about getting to spectate at Fairport tri.  It was lots of fun and it seems so rare that I get to spectate!  I snapped lots of fun pics of my friends and had a great time.  Then I still had to do my own workout and things were heating up.  I was super thankful for my friends that morning as I had conned ET into riding the bike portion of the workout with me and then ESpeed ran with me in the hot humid sunny weather.  The run was rough as I had a pace goal and had it not been for E, I am certain I would not have been close or would have bailed early!

Swim and kayak start!

CTC peeps, Roger and Mike out representing!

ESpeed and I out watching!

* The thing about IM training is it seems so hard to ever feel fresh.  Tuesday morning I had did a speed workout and then in the evening I pretty much turned myself inside out trying to keep up with the fastest guys out at the Tuesday night 32 mile hilly ride.  Then Wednesday I was up at the crack of dawn to put in a 15 mile run before work.  This sort of thing seems par for the course!  So far that is the plan this week again...no slacking allowed ;-)

*As most my weekends seem centered around whatever I like to do, this past weekend the husband and I decided to take a break from it all and head out to go camping with some friends down at Lake Hope State Park down near Hocking Hills, OH.  It was a super fabulous weekend-good food, good friends, swimming, kayaking, hiking, mtn biking and more!  

First mtn biking since fractured scap!

At the campsite next door were these two...I wanted to pet them!

Fun times crawling around on the rocks!

We were a little nervous about bats, but anything for a fun photo!

*  It was a really nice change of pace but the problem was I was struggling with how I was going to fit in my workouts without a big chunk of weekend to do it in.  So I took off Friday to get in a long bike and then just had to run after mtn biking on Saturday.  Not perfect to the plan but sometimes you need to give and take!  

*  This week will be a return to racing season.  Yes of course I am excited and NERVOUS!  My swimming is subpar and racing an oly will not suit my strengths as proportionately the swim is long relative the other legs but no matter as I am just going to go out and put my best foot forward!  I fully support the GCT race out in Mentor this weekend and especially MR and feel bad I am missing that (good luck to all friends racing there) but I'm heading up CTC efforts at the downtown Cleveland race this weekend and will be racing that...so stop by and say hi if you are at expo, race or finishline!!  

Cheers!

CTC - REV3 Cedar Point Training Day Recap!

This past Saturday was the first of two CTC-REV3 Cedar Point Preview Days for 2011.

Strong storms had rolled in late Friday and just before I got home from work, the storm had taken down a tree and all the power lines up the road so we had no power from 5pm until about 4:50am Saturday morning.  It had been boiling hot and my house was so hot, I don't think I slept at all Friday night.  I just tossed and turned sweating and then went downstairs to try to sleep on the uncomfy couch.  No luck.  All the windows were open and storms just kept coming through banging loudly and shaking the place.  I had planned to get up at 4:40am so I could leave at 5AM to make the 1.5 hr drive out to Sandusky and I went about that getting ready by candlelight until 10 minutes later when the power finally came on!  At least that meant I could have some much needed coffee for the drive!

The drive out there had me a bit concerned as it was quite an impressive lightning show and I wondered how many folks would stay away.  However upon arrival, I was happy to see it looked as though we were getting a break and got everything set up without any rain.  We had a nice little setup of a little bit of everything out there that morning including stuff from Fleet Feet, Muscle Milk, Bike Authority and IDUTRI.

After check in, I went down to the gorgeous beach at Sawmill Creek to get ready for the swim.  Today I was lube queen and started getting folks all lubed up with some TRISLIDE!

Then of course, I lubed myself up, tossed on my super awesome TYR Hurricane wetsuit and headed down to the swim clinic put on by Leah Nyikes of Liquid Lifestyles.  We went over sighting, the course, entering and exiting the water and of course got in some swimming.

We were fortunate enough to get in the whole clinic except for maybe 5 minutes when the storms again rolled back in and we saw a crack of lightning and it was time to get out of the water.STAT!

I was ferried via golf cart thanks to the awesome staff of Sawmill Creek to my car and headed inside their gorgeous facilities to change.  If you are looking for a place to stay for the race, I cannot recommend it highly enough as the place is gorgeous with restaurants on site and the staff really has embraced trying to help us (triathletes) out in any way they could with setting up tables, coolers, opening up the restaurants early, giving us lodging discounts and more.

We had a rain delay which pushed back the bike start by 45 minutes while it dumped some major water and lightning was everywhere!  Thankfully that gave my boy, MV, from Bike Authority time to tweak my ride (which was SOOO needed!).  Thank you Mike and Bike Authority for coming out!

I had plenty of time to make sure I had my nutrition ready.  Of course I was stocked with a couple bottles of First Endurance EFS fruit punch, an aerobottle with water and some First Endurance Liquid Shot!

Finally it was time to ride as it appeared storms were moving out.  Everyone grouped up in A, B and C levels based on the speed they wanted to ride and we were off!

We started on wet roads and down an alternate route which was fine and the weather just continued to improve.  The dampness kept things cool and the sun finally came out and warmed things up.  At least I think it was the sun but part of it could have been the fact that our group all tucked in behind AJ (our new Cleveland Pro who came out to ride and speak for us) when we hit 113 as he took a monster pull and we hung on for dear life.  YES, that was SUPER FUN!

I think the group was happy when around mile 42 we stopped in Berlin for the rest stop being staffed by SSSMT-members, Andy and Leah!  Huge thanks to you both!  Cold water, fig newtons, cookies, sports drink and more!!!  

And then again, it was TIME TO RIDE!  Most of us headed back to Sawmill Creek to wrap up 60 miles.  I had planned to ride 80 miles but the time was going to be too tight (due to rain delay) as I wanted to grab a quick shower before the speakers which started at 2PM.  

As a note for those who were interested, I would say the roads are in much better shape than last year.  The roads that had fresh chip and seal have all settled and smoothed out quite a bit.  Roads were in very good shape.  If you are not familiar with the course, it is pretty flat with some small rollers and the only thing that should be noted is you may be dealing with some nice headwind out there!

Post ride, I grabbed some post-workout nutrition and headed into Sawmill to grab a quick shower and most of us ladies were using...you guessed it....TRISWIM samples!!!

The group met up inside the nice air conditioned Big Bear Saloon and listened to the speakers.

Coach Angela Forester offered up a lot of tips and things to think about!

Fleet Feet Cleveland owner, Jody Herzog, explained all about compression and answered a lot of questions about it.

Cleveland's newest pro triathlete, AJ Baucco spoke about his training and things he has learned  training on his own and as a part of  The Triathlon Squad.  Also entertaining was the shared memorable quotes from his Coach, the infamous Paulo Sousa.

It was truly valuable to hear what they all had to say!  It was another super awesome training day and I got the opportunity to meet many new people who I will again see on race day, several of them from out of state who had made the journey out!  Now I will be looking forward to the next CTC-REV3 Training Day which will be Saturday, August 20!

Friday, Friday, Friday!!!

So I sit here today having a hard time focusing on work, because I am really looking forward to the weekend!!

My husband is going to be pretty occupied with his own stuff as he is attending a class on one of his hobbies (which he is super excited about) so that leaves me to focus on my own things (not that hanging with him is not fun ;-) .  Two other guys also attending the class are staying with us so this required a fair amount of house cleaning this week.  Yuck!  But it is always nice to have a clean house!

So tonight will be dinner out with the hubby and our company.  Then of course I will be packing up my First Endurance, TYR wetsuit, Avia shoes, samples from SBR SPORTS (guess who will be lubing up swimmers with TRISLIDE???) and the rest of my never ending tri-stuff, shower stuff and ctc stuff, etc!!  Then tomorrow will be a bright and early wake up call to head up to Sandusky for the CTC - REV 3 Cedar Point Training Day.  Last year these easily ranked as some of my favorite training days of the year for so many reasons-

1.  Preparation on the course:  I felt so prepared on race day knowing where false flats were, where I was, what the roads were like and it was just a great confidence boost.  It is so nice to do a key race and you have an opportunity to get out on the course ahead of time.

2.  The people:  Lots and lots of friends, other REV3 CP racers and other triathletes that just want to get in a quality training day.  It made race day even better to see so many familiar faces.  Each of the training days last year were easily in excess of 100 people so everyone had people to ride with at a variety of levels.

3.  Lessons learned:  It was great to share stories from others that had went the 140.6 distance.  Angela Forester, an esteemed area coach and triathlete spoke last year and is returning this year who offered phenomenal tips.  I am also very excited that Pro Triathlete, AJ Baucco will be speaking about how his training has changed over the years and training with power.  Another huge powerhouse to the lineup is Leah Nyikes with Liquid Lifestyles who will be putting on an open water swim clinic for anyone who is interested.  Hands down I can say, when you get the chance to learn from Leah, you should definitely take advantage of it as she is awesome!

There are a million other reasons why I love these days.  As Cleveland Triathlon Club is such a big part in my world, these training days do a nice job of showcasing what the club prides itself on, which is offering area triathletes training opportunities, promoting local races, getting triathletes out there doing what they enjoy and having a sense of community.  AND also near and dear to my heart is REV3 through my relationship with the REV3 / Trakkers team.  I totally love the idea of getting people excited about REV3 and hope that the Cedar Point Race Venue will be around for a long time!

Recap on Saturday will be forthcoming....

Then I will rush home for a cookout at my place Saturday evening.

Sunday's training plan calls for a 35/40 mile bike and then 6 m run at medium pace.  As I might have mentioned, I am a people person so I was scratching my head trying to figure out who I could do this workout with and after lunch with my friend, ET, I found a taker.  So the plan is we are going to hang out at the Fairport Harbor Tri which is a sprint that starts at 8.  I will cheer and hang out (which it seems I so rarely get the chance to do) and then commence workout.  I will at least have company for the bike!  I had thought about racing Fairport, but for now I just want to focus on high quality workouts and the sprint is not exactly what I need.  I am guessing I will have time to kill when I am done before the husband gets home so I might just bring my bikini and hit the beach!

GONNA BE AN AWESOME WEEKEND!

I hate being "that guy"

I hate being rushed.  I hate being the one that shows up to a group training session at the last minute or being unprepared.

Last night it was me.

I had got off work with plenty of time to spare and I was excited to head out to Chagrin Falls to do the normal Tuesday night ride.  I left downtown Cleveland at 5 and had made it out to Chagrin Falls at 5:45, with plenty of advance to the 6:30 start time.  So I hit the grocery store to buy a pack of buns, something cold to drink and change my clothes and then headed over to the parking lot at about 6.  I cleaned the trash out of my car and walked over to Starbucks to hit the restroom and braid my pigtails.

About 6:15 or so I started pulling out my helmet and shoes and the bike, which should've been all set to go.  But of course that would be too easy!

Flat rear tire.  CRAP!  So I go into rush mode.  I am doing my very utmost to change this stupid tire which I HATE doing and really probably have rarely did it by myself.

BUT, everyone should be proud, I got it all changed ALL BY MYSELF pretty quickly but now I am just dripping sweat everywhere, covered with grease and already stressed out.

I did not have time to fill my bottles properly as I had planned (and it was crazy hot) but it was time to go.

Just as the large group was ready to roll, I went to pedal only to realize my chain was not put on the front ring. so I had to stop and fix that.  Holy crap I was crazy covered in grease.  Ughhh!

The group went out and caught the light right away and several of us missed it.  You know those stupid lights take 4EVER when you are in a hurry and by the time we finally got the green, the group was long gone.

I led out straight up the hill for a ways.  Near the top another rider took over the front but now I was tired after the ascent at the start and those 3 were on a mission to catch up and I needed a minute to recover.  I felt like the air was thick and my asthma was right on the edge.  Yet, I did not have a minute to catch my breath and got dropped.

Discouraged, I sulked and pedaled up the road.  I was trying to figure out what my problem was.  Have I just lost it with the injury setback?  Clearly circumstances to start this ride were just not ideal.

I knew my husband was pedaling from home out to Chagrin Falls so I just called him and diverted course to meet him.  Upon seeing him, I settled down and started to again enjoy the ride which was when I realized my front brake was rubbing.  So I stopped to fix it.  As I got going again I still heard rubbing so I stopped again and realized my rear brakes were really rubbing and waaay out of alignment.  Perhaps this had something to do with the rough start to the night and not being able to keep up.

Anyways, I guess it worked out ok in the end (although I was still mad at myself) as I got home earlier than usual and had an easier night, which probably made this morning's early 12 mile run a little bit better.

So on the plus side-
+ Good tiring changing practice and pretty successfully fast for this girl
+ Good 12 mile run this morning

Let's just forget those negatives and perhaps keep in mind in the future to-
*  air down tires when the bike is going to bake in a hot car forever
*  take the time to check the brake positioning (and give it a good once over) before riding
*  always nice to save a few minutes to cruise around parking lot before getting going on a group ride to make sure everything is working as it should.

Hopefully I will not be "that guy" again for awhile!

Getting the job done

Sitting here in a pretty good mood for a Monday.

Coming off another fun sunny warm weekend in Cleveland which is what I live for!

The weekend was a nice mix of family and friends, sister's pool, rolling around on the scooter and of course squeezing in some workouts.

Since last post, I got in the 10 miles at lunch Friday (as planned) which was supposed to be done at an easy pace of 8:45-8:50 (ended up 8:34 avg).  I had went out by myself which is not my preference and I knew I could have joined my lunch time group but I knew I would likely end up running way too fast so I opted for the solo run with my DJScene podcast!  I actually enjoyed having a nice easy run along Lake Erie.

Saturday I planned to get in a 30/4 brick.  I knew sis and her friend were meeting out by Hiram to run on the Headwater's trail at 8:30 so I planned a route to end there, so I could wrap up with them.  I left out by myself at 7AM and rode 700N to Gville, 88 to lover's lane to 14 to 44 in ravenna, then up 44 to mantua, then 82e to Hiram and back down 700 to the start to finish just over 30 miles by myself.  I kept a steady pace and while I never prefer to do my workouts solo, it was nice to just feel very focused on doing what I needed.  Then I changed into my shoes and pulled on my headphones and started running along.  Wrapped up my 4 miles with a 7:13 avg pace which was a little fast (target was 7:32).  Then I backtracked a bit to finish up the last mile ez with sis and AP.

Sunday I headed out with the Cleveland Touring Club for their 77 mile Ravenna Arsenal ride.  My schedule had an 80 miler on tap so I figured this would work well.  The ride started in Burton and I left from my house to ride the 8.5 miles to the start.  I hate when I don't give myself plenty of time and then feel like I have to hammer to get to the start on time which of course included the steep climb up Huff.  I did make it in time and there was a decent turnout including 7 others that maintained a decent clip for the most part.  So it made the ride very enjoyable as it circled through all my old stomping grounds that I know very well.  I am beginning to feel my biking legs coming back.  Too bad my seat area still seemed a bit aggravated which was likely due to not lubing up on Saturday and then adding insult to injury on Sunday.  Oh well, if that is the least of my issues, I am not complaining!

I already nailed the key run for this week's training schedule this morning which was 3x1.5 mi at tempo.  So check that one off the list and onto the next one!  Looks like a warm week on tap but thankfully at least I do most of my workouts in the morning!

Super excited for the REV3 Cedar Point Preview Day coming up this Saturday!!!!

Back to the regularly schedule program

This week I have jumped back into the training program at week 9.  Back to figuring out how I will fit it all in and having to make sacrifices to make it all happen.

Monday was a nice easy day after all the biking over the weekend.  I slept in and worked through the day before heading out for some hiking with the husband in the evening.  We went over to Nelson Ledges which is only 3 miles or so from my house.  I have wanted to go there forever now but just never had made it there.  It was gorgeous and a lot of fun to check out.  Nelson Ledges is known for its spectacular rock formations and sandstone cliff formations and the scenery did not disappoint!

Tuesday was back to the grind and my 4 week mark post crash.  I did my interval run speed workout for a total of 6 miles and then I did my first swim since I crashed.  I just swam a nice easy 1000 m outside in the gorgeous lifetime pool.  It was nice to not have any pressure to go fast and just to be thankful I was swimming.  It seemed to go fine and was not aggravating my shoulder.  That evening I went out to ride the with Cleveland Touring Club Tavern Ride.

It was quite enjoyable to be back and many were surprised to see me back so soon.  I did feel rather flat on that ride as though I was working harder than I wanted to stay with the folks I usually rode with.  I am not sure if it was the 149 miles over the weekend, the tough interval run in the morning, that I am not back or if it has to do with my intake (more on that later).  Regardless, I pushed through the 30 miles and was glad when I was done as I was tired.

Wednesday, got up to run my 10-12 mile run and after 7 miles, I decided I was done.  Thursday, I hopped in to pool for a nice swim.  It felt awesome.  I just swam a nice easy 2200 meters, feeling rather refreshed when I was done.  Friday am, I did my focus bike on the computrainer which had me sweating bullets and I am beginning to think the computrainer is a torture tool but they say it makes you stronger.  Planning to get in those 10 miles from the other day at lunch today.

All I know is that I am guessing that this weekend might seem tough as I got two pretty hard days on tap but the plan is to get them done.  No one said coming back was easy.  I am trying to take it in stride and put in the work now and know it will come.  I would be lying to say I did not feel a bit behind where I was before I crashed.  I really had wanted to race Milton Man tri next weekend but I think the smart thing would be to focus on my training for now and hold off racing a little longer until I feel more confident that I can race to my ability better.

The other thing is the husband has become very focused this week on nutrition and we have been eating much healthier.  He has been pretty closely following the Paleo/Primal 'diet' and has been much more active and already results are a bit amazing but I suppose when you get active and clean up your diet, it is bound to have a noticeable effect.  I have been sort of loose with it but have really enjoyed getting in more fruits and vegetables and have not had much in the way of bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, etc which is different.  Thankfully, the many Amish produce stands out by us are really coming into all of the produce so it is really easy to get lots of fresh stuff easy right now.  My husband's mom also is letting us use her Vitamix blender so we have been making up some really good stuff in that like our Peaches and Ice dessert thing last night-YUM!  I have already dropped off weight this week which is likely due in part to this and in part to the increased exercise volume.  Now to make sure the intake is sufficient to keep me fueled on workouts and not leading to me feeling flat during them.  To be continued...

Game on!

Tomorrow will mark the 4 week anniversary to my crash.

Today I returned to the doctor.  It was kinda of comical in my opinion.  The radiologist remembered me and asked if  I was the one that had the bike crash, right?  She said they had not really seen the broken scapula from a bike crash before and went on to ask about if I had seen my Xray.  Guess I made an impression with that last one!

Then I went upstairs to see my ortho doc, Mr. Susan Joy with the Cleveland Clinic who I had picked when I broke my radius last year (mtb crash at Ray's MTB).  She has been great if anyone ever is looking for someone to go to as she specializes in women's sports injuries.

She had a couple other people shadowing her and pulled up my Xrays and asked what I had been doing activity wise.  I mentioned I was biking indoors, running and I could not take it anymore and rode my bike outside this weekend (I left out the fact that it was 149 miles of riding...more on that later).

I was shocked that my xray really did not look that different than before.  It was still very visibly apart on today's Xray but you could see some light shadowing where it must be healing.  They felt my shoulder blades and clearly you can still feel that the left had a bone still sticking out a bit.  Then she put me through some tests: both arms out, push my hands up as she held them down and similar other ones to see where I was at.  Those got a few comments like, "Wow, amazing", "Unbelievable," and "You're tough!".

She said obviously I was healing fast and that I could resume activities but of course told to listen to my body and probably would want to hold off weights and be careful with yoga type stuff like planks as that would load the area too much.

She also said I could start swimming again and in fact it would probably be good for it.  They also gave me exercises to use with a band to build those muscles around the scapula area.  Follow-up in 4-6 weeks to make sure healed properly.

So pretty good news there!  I was already thinking swimming was in the near future after playing around at my friend's place (pictured) below where I had taken some strokes without difficulty on Saturday.

So back to the biking...I RODE MY BIKE OUTSIDE THIS WEEKEND!!!  (Picture me doing cartwheels about that).  I had planned to wait until after today's Dr. visit but I could not wait any longer.

The plan was to do a test ride by myself to make sure I could ride with a group over the weekend.  It was not much of one as the storm decided to blow in right as I was clipping in but I decided I figured that I was ready!

Some local Bike Authority Fleet Feet teammates were all riding early Saturday and I really wanted to ride with my ole riding buddies so that was the plan.  Yes, this ride would be one of those "straight into the frying pan" days, being it was my first ride back and most of these people were in peak cycle but I did not care.  I just wanted to go!

I met ST out in Mantua just before 5AM.  I hooked up my lights but it was a bit darker (or shall I say, pretty much pitch black) when we started.  To be honest, it was slightly nerve-wracking not being able to clearly see the road, hoping to avoid any issues.  In the end it was fine, fresh pavement on 82 led to a nice smooth ride out to meet the rest of the gang.   Then the 5 of us made our way out towards Brunswick where ST and ES really started their hammerfest.  I hung on with some effort, so I was pleased that perhaps I did not lose too much over my little hiatus.  Over the course of the day, I mainly hung back trying to make sure I did not overdue it and was just content to get the miles in.  ST and I peeled off so we could make the way back to Mantua and before 9:30 am, we had rode 78 miles!  It was GOOD TO BE BACK!

My legs definitely felt a bit tired and heck I was tired from waking up at 4AM in the morning to ride that day but after a rather late Saturday, I was determined to ride again on Sunday with the Cleveland Touring Club.  The plan was 75 miles of hills but at a relatively conservative pace.  I really thought my alarm clock was playing a mean joke on me when I awoke, but I wearily got up and dragged my heavy sore legs down the stairs to head out for more biking fun!

A few definitely seemed shocked to see me there so soon.  We rode out of Mentor Memorial Middle School and I think we rode every single nasty hill around the greater Kirtland area.  It was a great morning to ride and I got to ride a lot of hills I have never rode, along with quite a few other hills I remembered altogether too well as they had left an impression on me before!  I really had no zip but I pushed through the miles, taking care not to overdue it and just trying to get in the miles.  As we made a stop at N Chagrin nature center where I was gulping down my favorite, First Endurance Fruit Punch EFS, I learned the route was 86 miles, not the 75 miles I thought.  So in the interest if time, GG and I split from the group and made our way back.  I wrapped up with 71 miles Sunday for my grand weekend total of 149 miles.  Not too shabby for my first outdoor biking weekend back!

I really need to get my garmin plugged in to see Sunday's elevation profile!  The biking did not bother my scapula to speak of, so that is good!  Now I just need to get back to full strength as I do feel a bit behind with the intensity of the workouts, but I'm trying to get my base back safely first and most importantly not overdue it.  Super stoked about all the progress!  I think to mark my official 4 week anniversary, I will have to head out with the Tuesday night group tomorrow night!

Last but not least, congratulations to all my Trakkers teammates on REV3 Portland finishes!  Sounded like an awesome race!

TGIF!!!

A short week still goes by to slow!

I am so excited for the weekend!  I am totally going to have to ride the bicycle outdoors this weekend.  I cannot take it any longer!  I went for a short test ride and I think things should be ok.  I am planning to ride with some BAFF friends tomorrow so that should give me a good gauge as to where I am.  Time to again break out the First Endurance and get in some good seat time!!!

My running form seems back.  I was short on time this morning but decided to do my tempo run with a very short warmup and cooldown and put in the 3mi at 6:58 pace without much difficulty.  I have been running completely normal this week and my arm swings just as it always had :-)  I have also been ramping up easy base running miles a lot.  Happy to say with the easy miles and quite a few of them on soft surfaces, the build has also went well.

This weekend looks to be a quiet one which is fine by me after the whirlwind last weekend.

My garmin 305 arrived yesterday which brought on the happy dance!  How do people live without these things?!

In other news, the Cleveland Triathlon Club in conjunction with REV3 Tri rolled out the REV3 Cedar Point Preview Dates in case anyone is interested.  These were a HUGE hit last year bringing out over 100 people at each and were a fabulous way to familiarize yourself with the course and also fun in that you meet many others that you will see again on race day.  I am also pretty excited about the speakers which include a very popular local coach and accomplished athlete, Angela Forester and local triathlete, AJ Baucco who recently went pro and got picked up my a new team!  So mark your calendars for Saturday 7/23 and Saturday 8/20 and check out all the latest information here!

2 Tired Today to Think of anything clever

This morning I slept in instead of waking up early to workout.  I was SLEEPY and decided I deserved to stay in bed longer and so I did and it was nice!

As I noted last week, my consistency in workouts has been pretty good.

M: 18 mile bike, 5 mile run
T:  3 mile run
W:  20 mile bike, 4 mile run
R: 6.5 mile Run
F:  30 mile bike
S:  13.3 mile run
S:  6.2 mile run, 28 mile bike
Week Totals:  96 miles biked, 38 miles ran 
Notes:  Pretty significant bounce back to training after not doing much the first 9 days after I crashed.  No swimming which means my legs are getting some serious mileage.  All runs were easy except Thursday.


This week has started off a little slow on the biking front, but I will work on that the latter part of this week.
M:  8.3 mile run
T: 8.1 mile run
W:  8.5 mile run

My legs were feeling quite tired today and I almost gave myself an easy day, but when I got a window to get out at lunch time to get in some miles, I seized the opportunity to get it in with the downtown boys.  I paid for that a bit as I just felt hot, tired, borderline asthma and just was not really feeling the pace even though I doubt it was all that aggressive.  Perhaps tomorrow will need to be an easier day!

Oh I cannot wait for my new Garmin 305 to arrive this week.  I hate training without it and have missed it so!!!

The one good thing about being able to swim is getting in exercise without giving your legs a beating...that is lacking at the moment!

It was amazing over the course of the past week how much strength has returned to my left arm.  Last weekend, sitting on the computrainer and moving around was awkward but felt good to go this past weekend.  DYING to get back outside on the bike with all this gorgeous weather!!!  I have a follow-up appointment Monday 7/11 with more Xrays.  Question is can I wait until after that to ride outside?  I was thinking about an easy test ride tonight with the husband to see how it felt.  Hard not to be outside riding as I am oh-so-inspired with watching the tour!!!

Way to go Cadel yesterday....!  Love watching the American teams do well (even if Cadel is Australian, he is totally kewl by me and even shares my maiden last name!!!)

Oh and I rode my motorcycle for the first time post crash on Monday.  It felt ok but turns and stops could have felt better.  Thinking I will give it a little more time before riding motorcycle far or much.

Ok, back to work for me!

Fast Friday Thoughts

*  Why do pre-holiday weeks seem to to drag on even more slowly than normal?  I am literally the only person in the office today!

*  My garmin 305 was also a casualty of my bike crash.  How do people live without them?  I ordered a new one today!  THANK GOODNESS!

*  The garmin ordering was compliments of the insurance check I got from Aflac.  That accident policy paid off. Funny, I never had given it much thought but I am actually really thankful that my boss had got it set up for us.  There was a waiting period on the policy and mine went into effect 6/1/11.  I crashed 6/14.  I guess the timing could've been worse!

*  Arm movement is returning more everyday and the shoulder hurts less and less. Ribs still ache.  Running motion is becoming more and more natural which leads me to...

*  Yesterday I went out at lunch to run with the Cleveland lunch run guys.  They were doing tempo.  I did not run with the fastest ones but ran with another guy at I'm guessing was a respectable pace (SO WISHED I HAD MY BELOVED GARMIN).  It was probably the first time I ran sub 8:30 since I got hurt.  Actually it felt very good, albeit a harder effort.  Sort of felt like a breakthrough confidence run and I was incredibly pleased with it...actually it made my day!  (Yesterday also seemed like a good day as I have a few other irons in the fire that I am crossing my fingers on and feeling slightly optimistic about...more on that if one of them actually pan out!)

*  My training efforts and consistency this week have been pretty good and I have been actually doing well dragging my butt out of bed early.
M:  50 min bike, 5 mile run
T:  3 mile run followed by some squats and lunges (easy day)
W:  60 min bike, 4 mile run
R:  6.5 mile run
F:  90 min bike

*  I got the worst blisters on my feet from my shoes yesterday.  :-(  SO NOT COOL.  I know they say not to pop them but I just cannot walk on those water bubbles so I did it anyways!

*  Super stoked for the long weekend.  Yeah I might be more excited if I could ride bicycles outside but I will get in a couple longer runs and a solid computrainer workout or 2!  Tonight will rock with dinner at our favorite Mexican joint with ESpeed and SSquirrel and the men before we go see Transformers!  Oh and I will be hitting sisters pool and lots of parties..of course!!!  BRING IT ON!