Monday, November 26, 2007

Thanksgiving tri, training and Ironman 2008

The Thanksgiving Day triathlon went really well. Since the race was backwards I came in first off the run! It was so awesome running into transition having everyone cheer for me. On the bike only two people passed me and I guess I had a faster transition that the girl in second because I placed second overall female! The swim was in a 50 meter pool. Men started the run 5 minutes before women so by the time I got into the pool there were so many people swimming slow it was tough to swim around them. I really wish we had a 50 meter pool to train in at the Y, it makes such a difference.
Friday Brian and I ran 7 miles. We were going to take it easy, but I was feeling good and picked it up to about 7-minute per mile pace and faster at times.
Saturday we did the group bike ride with Tribe, giving us 70 miles on the bike. It was so windy I got blown off the road twice and one person crashed when we biked through the golf course. I had tears in my eyes twice and wanted to give up so bad. This kind of training only makes me stronger though, and I'm glad I pushed through. We had a nice cozy Thanksgiving weekend dinner in Prescott that night, and I was happy to fill up on turkey and stuffing after the long hard bike.
Sunday Brian and I ran for two hours at moderate pace. I think it ended up about 15 or 16 miles. I felt great. I am so ready for the marathon!
This Sunday is Tucson half marathon and my goal is to finish in under 1:40.
Oh... and I signed up for Ironman Arizona 2008 today. In one year I will be an Ironman...or woman!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Long time runnin'

20 miles is a long way to run, but I can honestly say Sunday was my best 20-mile run yet. Brian and I ran two loops from the YMCA to Lakewood Circle and back up to Chandler Boulevard. The weather was so nice that I didn't feel dehydrated. I hardly drank any water and felt fine the whole run. I had gatorade and gel at mile 10 and half a gel at about mile 15. I could have used more gatorade throughout the run, but I hate running with water bottles. We ran an average of 7:30 minute miles through out the run, with some slow times and some faster times. Overall, it felt awesome. I'm ready for P.F. Changs!
I took Monday off biking and running. Brian and I swam 1000 yards at the Y and it felt good to swim the day after a long run. Today I practiced for the Thanksgiving Day triathlon on Thursday. It is a backwards triathlon (2 mile run, then 12 mile bike and ends with a 400 yard pool swim). Today I biked to the Y, ran about 7 miles, swam 1000 yards and biked home. My legs are still a little tired from the 20-mile run so it wasn't my fastest day ever, but it felt good to get out there after a day off. A backwards triathlon doesn't thrill me, I would rather try and beat the turkey at a 10k turkey trot, but what the heck.. why not do something different once in a while?

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Thinking about race bikes and marathons!

This week was a rough work out week. I was tired all week, but still went about my normal schedule. This morning we woke up at 5:30 and went on the group bike ride with Tribe Multisport. Biking to the shop and home after the group rides puts us at about 70 miles for the day. I wish it would cool down, but it is still pretty hot today. I wore arm warmers for the first half of the bike, but I probably didn't need them. The weatherman said yesterday that the temperatures are about 10 degrees about average this year.
I won a $100 Tribe gift certificate today as well, which will go toward my triathlon bike fund. I've started researching bikes and have been looking at Felt and Kuota the most. I am SO excited to get a new bike because everyone at the races I do and on group rides has such a nice bike. However, it looks like I will have to save about $3,000 for what I want, not counting the wheels which are also expensive. I want to save enough to get a nice set of zipps or reynolds. I figure if I am going to buy a race bike, I might as well get what I want if I'm going to spend so much money. The only problem is after I get this bike, I won't have any excuses for a slow day anymore!
Tomorrow is a 20-mile run day. I am going to stay at around an 8-minute mile pace for this training run as my goal for P.F. Changs Marathon is to break 3:30. The Tucson half marathon is December 2. I hear this race is all downhill, which will be nice for a PR, but maybe not so nice on the knees. My new Newton shoes have been working out really nice. I have been picking up the pace on my week day training runs and it feels great.
On Wednesday Brian and I swam 2,000 meters together. We did sets of 250 and I would try to finish 200 the same time he finished 250. It's a good way for both of us to push ourselves. At the end of each set we were both breathing pretty hard. I wish I had the urge to swim more. I'm always itching to run, but never itching to bike or swim so I am improving pretty slowly on those two events.
Well, it's Saturday... time to rest!

Monday, November 12, 2007

Blue Water Triathlon

On Saturday Brian and I drove to Parker, Arizona to do Mountain Man Events' Blue Water Triathlon. Let me tell you, there is nothing in Parker, but the race was very fun. The 1000 meter swim was in the Colorado River, which was clean and clear! It was nice not having to swim in Tempe Town Lake where it is so dirty you can't see your arms or hands in the water. I could even see the feet of the people kicking in front of me. The sun was out of our eyes until the last 250 meters where we turned east to swim back to the transition area. The 33 mile bike was very hilly and bumpy. At one point I thought I had a flat tire and almost started crying because I forgot to put my flat bag back onto my bike after transporting it in the car from Phoenix. I didn't have a flat, the roads were just so bad they made my tires start rumbling and making strange noises. I still was slow on the bike, and the hills killed me. I don't know what my actual time was because I forgot to start my watch before the swim and they didn't record my swim, bike or transition time, just my run and finish time. When I finally got back to the transition area, Patrick was already done with the race. He took pictures of me in transition and ran with me taking more photos during the run! He also took photos of his girlfriend and Keith! I ran a 34 minute 5 miles and I had the 17th fasted overall run split with both men and women. I am always happy to get to the run! What I learned from this race- get faster on the bike!
Overall time - 2:52. I got second in my age group.
Click here for photos

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Feeling Good!

Yay! I am finally feeling better today. I swam at the Y and ran a pretty fast (7:30 pace) 7 miles today. My legs are finally feeling good again!

Two days ago I received my new Newton racing flats in the mail! They are awesome! Bright pink, super light and fast! I actually almost kept up with Brian on Tuesday when we ran and today I felt awesome. I know most of it is mental, but man I love these shoes! They are designed by runners in Colorado and aren't sold in Phoenix so I had to order them on the internet. They are super expensive, but well worth the money!

I am getting excited to head out to Parker for Blue Water. I want to get out of Phoenix for a while! Plus, a little colder weather would feel too bad as it is still in the 90's here.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Training sick

So for the past couple days I have not been feeling too good. My throat hurts, my head hurts and I have been sneezing like crazy! Tuesday I biked 20 miles, swam 1500 and ran about 8 miles. Wednesday Brian and I moped-ed to the Y and did 7 miles of run speed work. My stomach cramped up from eating a giant bag of dried cherries before the run and I didn't feel like swimming, so we went to Ausler's! Today I biked to the Y and home (20 miles) ran 10 miles and swam 1000. I still feel tired and I hope it's just because I've been sick. I'm going to take it easy until Blue Water on Sunday.

Ironman 70.3 World Championships is on Sunday. That would be fun to qualify for and I hope I do someday! I always get jealous when I hear local athletes talking about amazing races they qualified for. Someday I will be doing those races, but for now I will concentrate on building my base without killing myself!

Monday, November 5, 2007

Weekend after

On Saturday I biked about 70 miles with the Tribe Multisport group. I was surprised I could almost keep up this time. At one point I was even biking 27 mph and keeping up with the lead pack! On Sunday morning my legs were feeling the pain from last weekend's race followed by the long bike, so my 12 mile run didn't feel too great. Next weekend will be a little break with Blue Water, then I will start doing 20 mile runs (2 or 3 of them) every other week for the P.F. Changs marathon.

Brian's birthday weekend was fun. We rode the moped (which he named Piglet) around everywhere. We only ran out of gas and had to walk it to a gas station once.

I am not feeling too good today. My throat hurts, I have a runny nose and I keep sneezing all over my desk. I might skip the bike today and just swim and run after an interview at 4. We'll see!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Happy November

I think I am finally almost recovered from SOMA. Yesterday I biked to the Y, swam 1,250 yards (I know, I was feeling ambitious), biked home and ran (more like slowly jogged) about 6 miles. I was feeling it on the run, but everything else felt fine.

Blue Water Triathlon is coming up on November 11. This is a bikers race (1000 swim, 33 mile bike and 4 mile run) Too bad I still SUCK at biking. I don't know how much my run will save me with only a dinky 4 miles to catch all the fast bikers. How the heck are people so fast on the bike? For now I will blame it on the fact I don't have a $4,000 race bike yet. Someday... :)

Grey's Anatomy is an hour and a half special tonight. I am excited! I am going to swim 1000 yards at the Y and run 7 miles before it starts. Happy Day after Halloween. My office is overflowing with everyone's leftover candy!