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May 28, 2008

new bike, new age group, things are looking up!

Well I tell you what, I am just having such a fun year so far. Now that I am focusing on tri's this year it is really helping me stay sane. Last year was just so tough, I felt like I did not really do as well in triathlon or running as I could have, because I had a split focus. But this year, it is all about the tri!

And it really is just a big year for me, I cannot wait to see how my first race goes. I am so nervous and excited about it. I am really afraid I may have high expectations which is always a problem. My college coach always used to tell us to have low expectations going into races. This was so that we would not get over-excited and go out way too fast. In triathlon, for me it is even more critical to lower expectations because if they are too high I will freak out in the swim and doggy paddle, which will pretty much ruin my chances for a good swim, and thus for placing high in my age group. So I am glad I am getting all my pre-race anxiety out now, while I am not in the water waiting to start. It is so weird, I can literally feel my heart rate accelerating and my stomach tying itself into knots just sitting here.

Also, in my pre-race anxiety or something, I forgot to announce that I am moving up to the 30-34 age group this year. How exciting! People are always saying that it's more competitive, but based on last year's results it is less competitive in Boulder than 25-29. It is also slower at age group nationals from last year. However, now that I am in the group, my luck may make it the most competitive age group ever :) Hopefully not! I am not really crazy about being 30, but I am excited about being in a new age group, especially because my Denver BFF is also in this age group. It will be fun to have someone to start races with (and hopefully use for drafting in the swim, ha!).

I am also super excited about my new bike. It is really sweet and although I did not expect this it seems to be making me faster, especially now that it is basically a tri geometry. I rode the course for the sprint triathlon I'm doing in 2 1/2 weeks on Sunday and averaged 20.8 mph, which is faster than my race last year, and it did not feel like a race pace effort. So that is pretty exciting! My stretch goal is to average around 22 mph in my first race. I'm not sure if I can do it, but it seems more doable after my ride this past weekend.

And since I am on a running blogs site and this blog did start as a running blog, I am enjoying my reduced mileage. I am running between 30 and 40 mpw right now on 5 days of running. It seems like nothing, but I do not seem to be getting slower so I am going to go with it, at least through my first race. If my run isn't any slower than last year, I think I will declare success!

That is about all for now. I am busting out a swim (hopefully outdoors, it has actually been freezing the last few days!) at lunch today and then tonight I am doing a ride with my friend Michelle after work. We are apparently doing a speed workout. It should be fun!

Posted by barb at 8:39 AM | Comments (1)

May 22, 2008

fortune cookie

I just got back from lunch at a little Chinese restaurant, and I thought I would share my fortune as it seemed apropos for my year in sports. It read as follows:

Do you believe? Endurance and persistence will be rewarded.

Pretty sweet, right? I mean the last week or two I have been struggling with faith in my fitness and abilities. And here is my nice little fortune cookie telling me that my training and mental toughness will be rewarded. Now I just have to hope that it's correct!

Anyway I am just rocking on through the week of training. It has been a really good one so far - I think I'm adjusting to the volume I'm doing right now. Yesterday I ran an easy 7 miles in the morning, and lifted with my friend Michelle and our personal trainer after work. It was a good session - it felt hard but not like I was going to be sore for days. And this morning I swam which was just a ton of fun. I did alternating 300's, swim/pull. That was kind of interesting as when I was swimming I felt super fast, and then when I was pulling I focused on form and extension.

Tonight the weather is somewhat sketchy but I am still hoping to ride for about 1:20-1:30 after work. I am excited to try a longer ride with more varied terrain on my aero bars. Hopefully it will not be too uncomfortable. I absolutely can't wait for this weekend, it should contain a lot of training and a lot of fun!

Posted by barb at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2008

sweet brick

Wow, look at me - two blog entries in two days! You may be wondering if I am feeling okay. The answer is that I feel fine, I am just super motivated!

Anyway I had an awesome brick workout yesterday. On Sunday I got my tri stem and aero bars put on my bike, basically to turn it into a tri bike temporarily (for race season). It is a more aggressive fit, meaning that my handlebars are an inch or two below my seat. So I am kind of angled down and forward. This fit will make me more efficient and more aerodynamic, and thus faster, supposedly. And it really seems to work! I rode for an hour and was able to average 20.6 MPH, while not exerting a ridiculous amount of energy. In fact I felt for the most part that I was riding pretty easy. This was exciting because last year my fastest race pace was 20.3 MPH. This year I would like to average around 22 MPH, at least for my shortest race. The ride yesterday gave me the confidence that I can probably do it. Of course anything can happen on race day, but hopefully it will work out for me. After the ride I came home, changed, and went out for an easy 30 minute transition run. This was also promising as I did not get that dead-legged feeling I used to always get. So overall it was a great day for me!

Today I have a birthday dinner (my birthday was on Saturday, yet the celebrations continue), so I could not make it to Tri club practice. The workout was 2 x (1600/400), which I did on my own this morning. It was somewhat boring but much cooler than the workout would be today at 5:45, as the high is in the 80's today I believe. I also swam outside at lunch which was just awesome. I love swimming, especially outside! It is the most refreshing way to spend my lunch time.

That is about all, I am off to pick up Bodie and head to dinner!

Posted by barb at 4:13 PM | Comments (0)

May 19, 2008

4 weeks to race day!

Well, I have been faithfully doing this tri training thing for about a year now, and I am getting very excited for my hard work over the winter and spring to pay off. Last year I was a runner who did a few tri's for fun, but this year, I am a triathlete! Or at least I'm training like one. How exciting! The best part is that I am really, really enjoying tri training. It is so time consuming but it is also a ton of fun. And there is so much variety - even though I am training way more than I used to for running, I am running a lot less. I can think of myself as a hard core swimmer when I swim 4 times a week, which realistically just isn't that much! Anyway I am basically just having a great time.

Yesterday I went on a really fun ride with the guys from the bike shop where I bought my sweet new bike. We started in Boulder and rode up to Jamestown (you basically go north a little and then head west up a really pretty canyon), then back over Lee Hill (a really steep hill!) road. I hit a new top speed of 51.3 mph. That was pretty fun. And only a little scary! My legs were pretty toasted when we got back to the shop, but then the fun began as we swapped out my road stem for a tri stem, and put on my aero bars. I am going to ride for an easy hour or so tonight just to get used to the new setup.

I am starting to obsess about my races for the year, especially the first one. I am very worried about the swim as last year it was just awful. I feel a ton faster than I was last year but I am still going to need to do a decent amount of practicing in open water. Thus I will be heading down to the gravel pit at one of the local reservoirs this Saturday, to get my wet suit and open water swimming skills going again.

That is about all the news. Hopefully I will write again soon!

Posted by barb at 8:24 AM | Comments (1)

May 8, 2008

i'm back!

Yet again. I do not know what is up with me and why I cannot write in my blog more than approximately once a month! Oh well. Anyway I am training a lot. My first race of the year is in about 4 1/2 weeks. How exciting! It is a sprint triathlon. I am doing almost all tri's this year except for maybe one half marathon and another running race if I can find one. I am having so much fun with tri training, though, so I am glad I can focus on it this year. It is weird to run so much less than I have been for years, but it is weird in a good way. I am actually finding myself looking forward to swimming 3 or 4 times a week which just sounds strange! That could be related to the fully jacked appearance of my arms however.

I am also really enjoying riding my new bike. I upgraded from a steel to a carbon fiber bike and it is super sweet. I picked it up last Sunday and it is just a joy to ride. I am really looking forward to a nice long (for me, meaning like 2 1/2 hours) ride this Saturday morning. Through buying my bike I have made some new friends at the bike store where I purchased it, which is kind of cool too! I got to go for a ride with the guys who work at the shop last Sunday, which was a ton of fun. I always enjoy riding in Boulder (where the shop is), and it is also fun to ride with some cool new people. It's very distracting to chat with a new person when you are riding up a big, steep hill!

I feel that in spite of my decreased (significantly decreased in fact) volume, I am actually running pretty well. We did some bizarre tri coach's idea of a workout on Tuesday that involved 600's, which I had not run since high school. I came through them in about 2:22 - 2:24 which for me is very solid. Of course they were followed by 100's which I have definitely not done since I was a sprinter in high school, probably the first year of my running career. I am getting advanced in age which means that my last 100 repeats were almost 15 years ago!

Right now I am about to install my old bike computer on my new bike. I re-programmed it (based on my new wheel size) myself, which I am quite proud about, and now I just need to get it set up on the bike and hope that it works. It is always cool as a girl to do something that I would normally ask a guy to do. I find it kind of empowering. After that I am off to a swim workout with my tri club. It is only my second workout with the group as it is in a bit of a dodgy area (insofar as Denver has a dodgy area), and the pool is so tiny (25 yards!). Hopefully it will be fun - I know it will make me swim farther than I otherwise would have today, which is always a good thing.

I hope everyone is doing well - even though I don't write much, I do read everyone's blog every day. Happy training!

Posted by barb at 5:38 PM | Comments (0)