« September 2008 | Main | November 2008 »

October 30, 2008

Race Registration Season

It seems to be the time of year when races start opening their registration. Which means it is an expensive time of year, as triathlon is definitely a more expensive sport than running. I guess this will be my third year doing tris so I shouldn't be surprised any more, but it seems like every year I want to race more and more, which means each year is more expensive.

Right now I am engaged in a raging internal debate between the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon in Minneapolis and the NYC Triathlon. I kind of want to do both but they are a week apart, they are both travel races, and I am not made of money. I am thinking I should do the Minneapolis one as it is way cheaper to travel there, but there's something about the NYC Triathlon that sounds so fun. I think ultimately I'm going to end up doing Minneapolis in 2009 because I could always do NYC in 2010. Luckily that whole series really works well for me if I do it that way, because it is also really cheap to travel to and stay in Dallas, so if I qualify for the Dallas Open that won't break the bank. How exciting! I can't wait to do some more races in different parts of the country. It seemed like in Oregon I really benefited from my altitude conditioning, so hopefully I can capitalize on that again next year and mix it up with some super fast chicks. Next year I will also have some long distance conditioning as well, since my A race is a Half Ironman, so hopefully I will be super fit!

I have not been writing about training all that much because it has not been terribly exciting. Maintenance training is all about consistency, without any crazy workouts. Last night I had my craziest workout in a while and that was just because I got a flat on my ride when I was less than 5 miles from home and it was getting dark. So I rode 5 miles on a flat. Um, whoops. That cannot be good for my wheel and tire. Luckily I need new tires pretty soon anyway so I'm not too worried about that. I really need to figure out how to successfully change a flat out on the road using a CO2 cartridge, I have never done it. This is the one thing I hate about biking - mechanical issues. The whole bicycle is kind of like this mysterious contraption that works for the most part but I just don't know what might happen with it.

I have also recently started using my heart rate monitor again as when I was doing my active recovery phase I didn't use it. It appears that I am starting over with that - the other day I busted out a tempo run and in order to keep my heart rate in the correct range I was running 10:00 pace. It is so weird. The good thing about this was that I ran after work and a lot of times if I run late in the day I get really bad acid reflux. I found that at this leisurely pace it was not an issue.

One other thing I have been meaning to write about, but haven't since I've hardly been blogging, is that this past Saturday I met one of my coaches! Only Beth will know who this is but I met Luis. Holy cats, he is so nice. I love him. He was at the MAO booth at this big event we have in Denver called Velo Swap. The rest of the Swap was kind of a bust but it was awesome to meet this guy that I email with all the time, and to get some face time and hopefully sell myself for the elite team! I am so excited about that possibility, anything that could potentially help me make it more of a reality would be absolutely awesome.

That is about all that's going on right now, hopefully I will motivate to blog again soon...

Posted by barb at 8:49 AM | Comments (1)

October 24, 2008

ah, off-season

I am kind of getting into this off-season thing. My volume is low, I am super chill about training, and I have lots of free time to work more, hang out with friends, and drink booze. All good things! I also have time to plan vacations which is super fun. I am going to New York and St Martin for the week of Thanksgiving with my friends Betsy, Laura, and Tom, and I cannot wait!! It is going to be awesome. My parents just got back from St Martin where they got to experience a Category 3 Hurricane first hand. Hopefully lightning won't strike twice in two months, as fun a life experience as that would be.

Today it is absolutely gorgeous here after some cold temperatures earlier in the week, so I am looking forward to getting out of here (here being work) and going for a run. Then tomorrow I am going to be super busy as I am going to this big event here called Velo Swap where I will hopefully not spend all my money on new biking apparel, gear, and components. And hopefully I will get a smokin' deal on a new trainer as I lost mine in the divorce. It is supposed to be really nice tomorrow so I am hoping to make quick work of Velo Swap and then get right on my bicycle for a few hours. Then if I am feeling really motivated I want to head to the pool for a swim, my Sunday is becoming busier by the minute! Obama is going to be in town so I may go see him speak, and I may also do some volunteering for the campaign. I figure if you feel passionate about something, you should really step up and do something about it. And then of course I will be busting out a long run Sunday morning. In the off season my long runs are so cute, they are like an hour. I think I should be able to handle it.

Overall I am so excited for this weekend. I think I have a good balance of having enough things planned that I won't get bored, but I don't have so much going on like this past summer where I felt like I was going crazy and did not have a minute to chill out. And now I am off to enjoy this beautiful day!!

Posted by barb at 2:51 PM | Comments (0)

October 18, 2008

Indian Summer

I don't actually know what the term 'Indian Summer' means. But I think it means that it's fall but it's really warm. If that is correct, that's what we've got going right now. It is October 18th and the high today is going to be in the low eighties, I believe. It is awesome! I am going for a ride this afternoon and my sad lack of winter riding gear is not going to be a problem at all. Now come Monday this may change, but whatever. Monday is far away right now.

I have had a random week this week. Training has been good although I am still in mental/physical recovery no man's land. But I think that's going to change soon, I can't wait! So I've been riding, running, swimming, and lifting (i.e. getting Fully Jacked) on a moderately regular basis. I am really enjoying having time to lift twice a week. Which is surprising to me as lifting has generally been the bane of my existence. However, I think this is because in the past I would wander around the weight room, feeling intimidated by all the strapping men there, and not really know what to do and how much weight to do it with. Now I have a nice program that is very easy to remember and since I worked with a trainer in the summer I know the approximate weights I should use. It is highly empowering!

Anyway, this week was marred by an episode of possible food poisoning. I'm not really sure what was up but Wednesday night I had the worst stomach ache ever. I couldn't fall asleep until 3:00 am because it hurt so much. So Thursday I didn't go to work as I am not very friendly when I get 7 hours of sleep instead of 8, so 4 would have made me a big mean disaster area. I did register my car and go for a short ride instead. That all went fine but then I ran 4 miles which could have been a bit of a mistake. Oh my, it really kind of hurt! But I was really concerned about pacing my friend Laura in the Denver Marathon tomorrow, I wanted to get whatever was in my system out, and I thought running would help. If you know what I mean. I think it did.

Things were still a little touch and go yesterday as I had to make several stops on my run but today I am doing pretty well and I think I am approaching 100%, which is great because pacing someone through half of a marathon is a big job and I need to be at the top of my game! When you pace someone, you have to be part running buddy, part cheerleader, and part Regulator. When the pacee gets to mile 22 and wants to stop, you have to regulate. I have been practicing a little. I always think at these times of the year when I dressed up as a Marine Drill Sargeant and I had to get up in everyone's grill and say stuff like 'I HAVE THE AUTHORITY!! IT WAS GIVEN TO ME!!!!' and 'YOU PANTY WAIST!!!' At times pacing is kind of like that. But it's hard to get in someone's grill and point at their chest when you're running side by side, which means the words have to be even more authoritative. Kind of like 'YOU ARE QUALIFYING FOR BOSTON AND I WON'T ACCEPT A 3:41!!!!!' It is going to be awesome. Laura is totally going to BQ and it is going to rock.

It is also good, after Kona fever overtook me, for me to hang out with someone in mile 22 of a marathon, to remind myself why I never actually want to do an Ironman.

And now I am off for a swim, then to my mom's to watch Grey's Anatomy (I still have no cable at my apartment), and then for a ride with my friend Robb. It's going to be a great fall day!

Posted by barb at 7:58 AM | Comments (0)

October 13, 2008

IM Fever, Hot Marathons, and Frostbite

It has been a strange couple of days as you may be able to tell from the randomness of my post title today. I am going to tackle this baby in three paragraphs as my thoughts are random although I guess they are all related in some strange way.

IM Fever
Well, Kona was on Saturday so of course I want to do an Ironman. This is crazy. I hate marathons. After Chicago last year I swore I would never do another. So why in the heck would I want to run one after biking really, really far? I wouldn't! And as I know from my Boulder Peak experience this year, I am a really bad hot weather runner, so I would never do well at Kona. And yet it just looks so exciting and amazing! Thank heavens I am broke from signing up for Timberman and buying two pairs of shoes on Saturday (I was out of work shoes that I didn't hate for winter and then I found these super cute casual shoes). Otherwise God knows what race I would sign up for today. Seriously, IM athletes, you amaze me. And once the gloss of Kona fades over the next few days, I hope I will no longer think longingly of joining you. However, as I may not have mentioned, I am very excited to spectate at IM Wisconsin next year as Betsy is doing it. Luckily there has been lots of talk of spectathlons in the tri blog world, I should be well prepared.

Hot Marathons
Yesterday my friend Laura ran 13 miles of the Chicago Marathon. I guess it was really hot. That sounds familiar! It brought back my own memories of Chicago from last year. Luckily I had just become obsessed with triathlon so the fact that I DNFed wasn't a big deal, but this was Laura's big focus for the year and I know she has a BQ in her. Luckily for her, the Denver Marathon is this Sunday so she has a great chance at redemption and her BQ. I spoke to her when (I think this is irony) I was in the middle of a 2 1/2 hour ride wherein I was freezing my toes off almost literally. So in Denver it was too cold for biking but it was great marathon weather, and in Chicago it may have been a bit warm for biking but not really, and it was bad marathon weather. Very bad. I don't know how they will continue to hold that race in early October. I felt so bad for Laura, she was pretty upset. All I could do was tell her that she did the right thing with her DNF and that I knew she would BQ this weekend. And I know she will. She is a strong runner and she put in months of very solid training. This is why I hate marathons - you focus all year on one race, and if the weather isn't great, it's so hard to recover.

Frostbite
Yeah so I rode for 2 1/2 hours yesterday in approximately 40 degree temperatures. I am cheap so I don't have a ton of winter riding gear, as in my curmudgeonly mind I feel that I have a bunch of winter running gear and really these things are almost the same. Um, that may be true to a point, but my feet were frozen ice blocks after my ride (especially after giving Laura a pep talk for 15 minutes in the middle of the ride). In fact my left little toe was white. I think it may have had a bit of frostbite. But the rest of me was perfectly warm so I feel generally pretty good about my cold weather riding gear. Nonetheless since I have a holiday today, and I want to ride today, I bought a pair of thicker riding socks and some windproof/warming toe covers yesterday. I hope they will keep my feet nice and toasty as I still have not bought a trainer (I lost it in the divorce) and I think it will build mental toughness if I ride outside more this winter. Also, 2 hours seems to be my trainer threshold and I am pretty sure I'll have to do some longer rides this winter what with 70.3 training.

Anyway I haven't written much about specific workouts recently since I am still doing active recovery but yesterday I rode for 2:30 (45 miles or so), and then I swam 1800 meters. It was so fun! I love swimming. I had a hard time convincing myself to get in the pool yesterday as I was still semi-frozen from my ride, but once I got in and swam 5 laps or so I was fine. I wanted to run for 30 minutes too but I kind of ran out of juice and since I am still in recovery mode I didn't really care. Saturday I had an awesome 10 mile run up in Boulder on the South Boulder Creek Trail, my favorite place to run in the world outside of Wolfe's Neck Woods in Maine. It was so beautiful. And after that I froze myself for a while at my friend Scott's cross race. Cross looks SO FUN. Oh my gosh, if I was not obsessed with getting a tri bike next year I think I would definitely get a cross bike. It's like cross country running but on a bicycle and it was so muddy!

So that is about all, I think my ride procrastination has reached a ridiculous point now. I am off to try out my new socks and toe covers!

Posted by barb at 8:07 AM | Comments (1)

October 10, 2008

Winter Riding

Well, it is becoming that time of year when I have a ravaging internal debate about where I should ride my bicycle - inside or outside. It is currently 47 degrees and I should ride for about 90 minutes this afternoon. But where? I have been freezing all day. There's an Office and a Grey's Anatomy on my friend's DVR that I can watch. However, on the flip side, riding on the trainer is really boring no matter how much TV I can watch. And I don't think I get an awesome workout on the trainer, or at least as good a workout as I would get outside. I guess I'll just have to get out of here and see how cold 47 degrees feels, it's been a while since it's even been that cold!

I am so excited for this weekend. Not only is it a three day weekend (Thank you Columbus Day!!), but tonight I am going out for sushi with one of my best friends, and sushi is awesome. I am also staying up in Boulder tonight and going for a ride and watching a cyclocross race tomorrow. I have never seen one, they sound so fun! And the weather is chilly so it's a great time for hot coffee, long runs, and sweat pants. I may be sick of winter in another two weeks but right now it is just so exciting. My only other plan for this weekend is to fit a swim in somewhere as I was busy with the dogs this morning so I didn't have time for one. And I will enjoy my dog-free existence because although the dogs are super cute, they are not conducive to sleeping and training.

And of course it is almost Kona time, how exciting!! I cannot wait to see the results. I would also like to mention that Laura, one of my best friends, is racing at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. If you are around Sunday morning, think some fast thoughts for her. Go Laura!! I am off to pick my bike workout.

Posted by barb at 2:55 PM | Comments (0)

October 8, 2008

Dog Sitting

I have been dog sitting for six days. I have two days left. I think it's looking like I may survive, but nothing's certain yet. I will tell you what, taking care of two dogs, and working, and trying to do some training, is exhausting! The dogs do not like it if I leave the house at 6:00 am and return at 7:00 pm. They seem to prefer my being gone for less than eight hours at a stretch which with my schedule is almost impossible. And they are so cute that I feel bad if I leave them alone for a long time!

So life has been really quite crazy lately. I have been in meetings almost non-stop all week, which means that I sometimes have to get actual work done outside of my normal working hours. I also have to be way more disciplined when I am at my desk and I cannot be messing around or chatting too much. I have also had two work lunches in the last two days which means my days are booked solid from beginning to end, with no breaks to get out and relax (or train!).

I have continued to be pretty mellow with my tri training as I am still in physical and mental end of season recovery mode, but I am pleased by my swimming right now and everything else seems to be just fine. I am focusing on lifting twice a week which is really fun - I love getting fully jacked!! I am working on increasing my weights a little bit. So far I cannot say that it's going that well but I am having a pretty good time with it regardless so I don't really care.

A few cool things have happened recently, namely signing up for Timberman!! Oh I am so excited. I went to college in Maine, which is close to New Hampshire, which is where Timberman is, and I have not been in New England (outside of Boston) in probably four years! I love it there so much. It is going to be great. A group of us is all signed up and we also found a cottage to rent which is going to be totally awesome and also cost effective. I can't wait to give the 70.3 distance another shot when I have actually trained for one appropriately (i.e. when I have actually ridden 56 miles or possibly more in training). I am also excited about my prospects for qualifying for Clearwater which I think would be fun.

I am also in the throes of decision making about Age Group Worlds. When I initially qualified at Nationals I thought there was no way I would actually go and I actually assumed I had given up my spot as I did not tell anyone I wanted it. But I just got an email from USAT saying I could still have my spot. So I am thinking about this a lot right now. Here are the pros and cons as I see it, hopefully putting it in writing will help me decide.

Pros:
- Being on Team USA would be cool
- Going to Australia would be cool, and if I don't have a good reason to go, I would probably otherwise never go
- Competing at Worlds would probably be really cool
- I could go to Sydney afterwards, that would be fun
- My bicycle would be very well travelled
- Olympic distance races are fun
- If I don't qualify for Clearwater I will have another cool race to do

Cons:
- Australia is very far away
- It is hard to get to
- It takes a long time to get there, and I imagine it takes a long time to get acclimated
- It is very expensive to travel there
- I do not have a ton of vacation time to take 2 weeks there
- I could potentially get totally schooled by all the fast chicks at Worlds
- The race timing is not awesome, I believe it is only 3-4 weeks after Timberman

Well, that is some good food for thought. I have until October 20th to contemplate my existence and decide.

Now it is time to get back to my productive frame of mind, and to have dreams of Kona! Clearly I am a true tri geek now as all I really want to do this week is obsess over Kona and hear awesome stories about all the famous triathlete sightings!

Posted by barb at 3:38 PM | Comments (2)