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June 30, 2009

Back in the running (ha!)

Thanks to my amazing physical therapist, my hip is doing a lot better and I am running again. It is still very bruised and gross looking but I was able to run nine miles on Sunday morning with my friend Cathy, and that was awesome! I have not run hard yet after my crash (I aqua-jogged my speed workout last week, which was truly horrible, I hate aqua-jogging!), but I am going to test that out this evening and hopefully that will go okay! Luckily since I am in full swing of my taper for Lifetime Fitness I do not have any crazy workouts to do. Also luckily, my volume is so low that I don't have a lot of running mileage to worry about!

I have been jumping over the last couple of mental hurdles from my crash as well. The big one was that since the crash I had been afraid to ride my tri bike. Obviously this is not the best - I did not buy a fancy tri bike to ride my road bike at races. However, this morning I sucked it up and rode it for a speed workout. I was cautious, especially when I saw cars, but overall I was fine and I think the bicycle is fine too! Hooray!

I have three workouts today, and got derailed from a lunchtime workout by a meeting, so I am planning on swimming at 2:00 and running after I leave work. It is going to be hot but I need to run in the heat so I won't feel awful in my races this year. Should be fun! It will be good to get a nice sweat going, I love feeling like I am sweating out toxins!

It is almost time to go to Minnesota - one week from Thursday! I cannot wait.

Posted by barb at 12:47 PM | Comments (25)

June 25, 2009

Why are all races on the same day?

I am still in the throes of my quest for an additional race. What a mess! It seems like every race is either the weekend of July 11-12 or September 19-20. Also, I have learned that many Canadian races are very small. Apparently 'big' triathlon has not hit the Frozen North outside of a few 70.3's and an IM?! I think I will begin to term this my Quixotic Fifth Race Quest. Just call me Don please. Luckily, any time you can use the term 'Quixotic' is probably awesome, so I am grateful for that. Even though I am almost ten years removed from college, and my awesome days as an English major, I do still love certain words. Like Quixotic, germane, apropos, plethora, and so on.

Luckily my friend Jason (who just finished IMCDA, his first Ironman, way to go Jason!!!!) is sleuthing out some races for me. Hopefully he will be more thorough now that he is taking time off. I am too busy to race-sleuth to a high level right now, I am still training!

Overall my hip is improving. I ran easy for 30 minutes yesterday and it was fine. It does not feel awesome today, but I think it is getting better, and I have an appointment with my PT tomorrow so hopefully he will beat the crap out of me and make it feel even closer to normal. It has developed a nice bruise, it's pretty gross looking! I am so glad that I can ride and swim, if I couldn't I think I would be pretty upset. It is weird, riding does not hurt at all (except when I get off the bicycle and have to swing my leg up and over the seat, because I am not coordinated enough to switch sides). I was really glad I could do my speed bike workout without pain. I think I am addicted to the endorphins I get after a hard workout!

We are having some crazy weather this week, every day we have severe thunderstorms in the afternoon/evening. I like it because it cools things off, but it makes getting a longer ride in somewhat challenging. However, tomorrow before my PT appointment I think I can fit my mid-long ride in. I swear, as a triathlete I feel that every week is a big puzzle - I have my workouts, I have the times when I can do stuff, and I am always putting pieces in and pulling them out and moving them around to make sure it all gets done. Somehow it always does but I cannot lie, I am not immune to feelings of anxiety about it!

I think in general this week I am just an emotional basket case. I tapered last week which otherwise would have been a big week of training. That did not end with a race so I am edgy from lack of activity. I am going into my taper for Lifetime Fitness edgy instead of tired, so I am less excited about the taper. I am also nervous that no matter what I won't have a good run there because of my hip. Basically I am a mess! But I swear, I am getting better every day. Now if I can just find my make-up race...

Posted by barb at 3:59 PM | Comments (1)

June 24, 2009

who needs spanx when you have compression shorts?

I am having the most random experience today. Yesterday I bought compression shorts because I figured they would help keep everything in place when I try to run, so that my bruised muscles don't jiggle around. I decided to wear them under my dress today because more compression must be better than less. And they are just like Spanx! For those of you who don't know Spanx are expensive shorts that look like panty hose, that girls buy to wear under their dresses for fancy occasions. They cost like $70 and that is all they are good for. However, I bought these compression shorts for $80 and they serve the Spanx purpose as well as being athletic garments for running. Awesome! They are also super comfortable and for athletic shorts I think they are even somewhat cute. Hopefully they will be good for running. I do not generally love running in spandex because it rides up but these are so expensive that I think they had better give me a massage while I run!

As you may be able to tell I am trying to have an attitude adjustment after my crash. Fake it until you make it kind of thing - if I act really positive and excited then maybe I will become really positive and excited, and I will not dwell on the bad fortune of my crash. And honestly it could have been SO MUCH worse. So here goes! Oh I am so positive and excited I can hardly stand it!

Training is actually going pretty well this week in spite of my bum hip. I was able to complete my speed bike workout this morning with no pain, and I got my heart rate up to 187 which is really good for me on the bike. I actually rode part of the workout with a few random guys, they were really nice and fun to chat with although I had a hard time answering their questions since I was working so hard! I had also been worried about my ability to push off the wall in the pool, and to do flip turns in general, but that's been fine so my swimming is on track. I am going to attempt an easy 30 minute run today but I'll stop if it hurts. I think if I wear my new shorts and run very easy on a soft surface I should be okay though. Keep your fingers crossed!

As far as race planning goes I am thinking potentially southern California, I know some people in San Diego. It would be fun to race out there this year and then again next spring, I love San Diego! We shall see, once I have a new plan I will write about it because I will be very excited.

Posted by barb at 9:01 AM | Comments (0)

June 22, 2009

crash & aftermath

As most of my readers are also friends of mine on Facebook, you probably know that my weekend did not go as planned. However, I thought I would give a few additional details on what happened and how things are now. So Saturday morning I was feeling good and I was super excited to race. I did my 500 meter pre-race swim and that was fine. Then I headed home and got my bicycle ready for an easy 45 minute ride. This makes me kind of upset because I had planned on riding in Boulder but I changed my plans to go with friends who wanted to do their workouts in Denver. No big deal, just one of those things I wish I could change in the past which as we all know is fruitless! Anyway I was riding down the street towards Wash Park so I could do my easy ride and on the way a car didn't stop or look when it was at a stop sign, so I slammed on my brakes and fell over. Luckily it did not hit me. That is the good news. The bad news is that I fell with pretty much all my momentum and body weight on my right hip. I do have some minor road rash on my right elbow and it is pretty sore especially if I whack it on something which I do occasionally as I am clumsy! Also, today the left side of my neck is sore and my whole body just feels kind of off. My hip is still pretty sore but it is actually surprisingly not as bad as it was on Saturday. Saturday evening I did go to urgent care because my family said it would be a good idea, which I agree was even though it will cost a lot of money due to my craptacular medical insurance. It is reassuring to know that I do not have a broken hip! Also the doctor said it was good to keep the blood flow going so he said I could spin on my trainer yesterday, which was GREAT news.

So Saturday was not my best day. After my crash, I rode more just to see how things felt. It hurt a lot when I had to go uphill and it hurt a TON when I stopped and started. Then I tried to run and lasted about a minute. It was really painful and clearly there was no way I could race. I am not racing to finish. I want to be the most awesome and walking the run of a race just doesn't do it for me. Also I just didn't want to be around it, it would be too upsettting. I think the fact that the crash happened just a day before my race made it really difficult for me emotionally because I was so ready to race. After my aborted workouts I got into bed and watched Scrubs and pretty much cried. I will admit I was a total mess. People kept calling me which was so nice but every time someone did I would burst into tears. Also my hip really hurt any time I got up so I would burst into tears when it hurt a lot. What a basket case!

Sunday morning I figured that swimming in a wetsuit wouldn't aggravate my hip which oddly felt better than it had on Saturday (I had thought that like most soreness it would be the worst the second day). So I went to Grant Ranch which is a local place for open water swimming and swam a lot. I swam 5000 meters according to their buoys but I think it was probably more than that because I suck at sighting when I can't draft. That was good, I really needed some endorphins. I also figured out during the swim that I think my wetsuit is too big, which is weird. I think I am just very compact maybe? However I did just spend some time on the phone with a girl from Xterra who thinks the XS would be too small. Well who knows. Anyway that was good although I could not stop myself from re-living my crash and thinking about the race.

After the swim I went and lifted because I had missed a lifting session due to my taper and I figured I might as well see how it went. It didn't cause any pain so that was good. Then I went to lunch with Matt and Michelle after insisting that I would go if they really wanted but I didn't want to talk about the race at all. I felt really bad because after a race it is all people want to talk about. But I knew if they did I would cry. Just seeing their race numbers on their arms and legs made me cry. What a mess. I also told myself I would not look at the race results but of course I totally did, and I must say that first of all my age group is CRAZY competitive and second of all I really wish I could have competed against those girls. The girl who won my age group won the whole race and she rode the bike 24 MPH. Last year I had the second fastest bike split in my age group by 3 seconds and I averaged 22. Wow, holy competitive age group! So that was depressing, I really think I could have mixed it up with them. Oh well.

After lunch I rode my trainer for a few hours. It was almost 90 degrees outside yesterday and I do not like to use A/C so it was SO HOT. I think I sweated out like 20 pounds of water. My clothes were so gross afterwards. It did not hurt at all even when I got out of the saddle to rest my woo-hoo so that was really encouraging. I wanted to go outside but I did not think that would be a good idea, just in case I had to make a quick move. However, today I think I will ride outside after I swim.

Anyway, immediately after my accident I started to worry about the rest of my season. Obviously now that I know I don't have a broken hip it should not be too bad. Lifetime Fitness is three weeks from this past Saturday and I think if I can run by this coming Saturday I will be in good shape. I am going to see my physical therapist on Friday just in case. Now my biggest issue is that I need another race! None of the local races will work schedule-wise, they are all within one week of Lifetime Fitness or Timberman. My high school BFF lives in San Diego so I am thinking maybe southern California. Anyone know of any good races this year? My timeframes are late July, early August, any time in September except the 19th or 20th, or early October. Let me know! I want an Olympic but I would do a sprint. My only criteria is that it needs 500+ participants.

So hopefully things will look up from here!

Posted by barb at 3:19 PM | Comments (5)

June 18, 2009

Accountability

I often use my blog to tell 'the world' (meaning my readers, of which I cannot imagine I have more than ten, but who knows) things I plan to do or not do so that I will be held accountable. This seems to be a pretty good strategy except I think sometimes I get all fired up when I am blogging and then I forget about it 10 minutes later. But here is my latest wacky goal - I am not going to eat sweets until after my race on Sunday. Then after that (if I do not die, my afternoon 'I have not eaten any refined sugar' headache does feel somewhat life-threatening), I will not eat any sweets until the day of my next race on July 11th.

You may wonder, because probably two of my favorite things in the world are training and eating, why I would train all the time and deprive myself of cookies, candy, cake, and other delicious sweets that I must deserve. Well, that is exactly why - I have entitlement issues. It is true that I train more in a day than most people exercise in a week. But that does not mean I should be able to eat dessert after lunch and dinner every day. Even though I don't gain weight, these are not quality foods to fuel my athletic performance. Also, I know my power to weight ratio on the bike was better last year when I weighed a few pounds less. So I am going to curb my addiction to sweets and now I have told all of you so I have to do it.

Today is the first day of my no-sweets adventure. Except for the debilitating headache (okay, I am exaggerating a little), I seem to be doing fine. This will be a fun challenge! It may also help with my other addiction to Noodles - I don't know if I'll want to go there twice a week if I can't get an enormous rice krispie treat! Maybe I'll go on Sunday...

In other news I am in the first day of my taper for the 5430 Sprint on Sunday. Hooray for free time!! It is 4:06 pm and I do not have any more training to do until Saturday morning, and that is just a light pre-race swim, bike, and run. I am excited. Tomorrow I am sleeping until 6:45, going out to lunch, and running an errand after work. It will be so nice to get things done, and of course to sleep! I am also getting excited about the race. It is amazing what reduced volume can do to a person's feelings of well-being! I have put in a lot of work this spring and I am hoping to see a PR but who knows. I guess I will just be keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that I do not go into a sugar withdrawl coma!

Posted by barb at 3:44 PM | Comments (0)

June 16, 2009

Meltdown

I have been on the 70.3 plan for about 16 weeks, from my calculations. It took about 16 weeks for me to have my first meltdown. So I think that is pretty good! I did not feel particularly busted, or tired, or burnt out, until yesterday around 5:30 pm. I think what that means is that it is about time for a taper. The volume on a 14-workout, Mark Allen schedule is pretty intense. I think that especially with a full time, somewhat stressful job, this finally led me to crack a bit. I had been feeling for a few months, especially with working at the bike shop, that I basically run from one thing to the next. I wake up in the morning and run to the gym or out the door for a workout. Then I run to work because I am stressed out about getting there by 8:00. Then I potentially sprint out at lunchtime for another workout. Then after work I dash out for a workout. Then on Saturday I wake up at 6:00 and get something in before work. Then after work I rush back so that I can do something social. If my life was a workout it would be a frantically paced speed workout. And that is tiring! And not really sustainable. So after my meltdown yesterday I finished my swim, did not drive 80 MPH to get home, got some dinner (two things about this: first, I cannot just eat salad for lunch as I think part of my meltdown was due to low blood sugar after a light lunch, and second I think I may be too obsessed with Noodles as the guys was like 'I know I'll start remembering your name really soon'), and took my dinner to the couch and relaxed, and immediately started to feel better. I also went to bed at 9:00 and I did not get up until 6:30. This means I did not do my speed bike workout this morning but I am just going to have to be okay with that and hope that we do not have a tornado tonight! Luckily so far the forecast seems to be agreeable with this approach. I feel like I should also swim tonight but if I don't do it I just don't care. One swim will not make me go faster on Sunday, but if it makes me more stressed out it could make me go slower.

As far as how I am going to mitigate my ridiculous stress level going forward, I have figured out a few things.

First off, I am not going to stress out about my job at the bike shop. I am a perpetual overachiever so I always think I should arrive on time or early and be awesome. Realistically that is stupid. My bike shop boss does not even know what time it is most of the time. If I get there 15 minutes late, it does not reflect on me personally or make me a big slacker.

Second, I am going to say it's okay if I say no to things. I do not need to go to every social event that is ever offered to me.

Third, although this would never happen in practice, in principle I am going to say that if I skip my easy ride and run it is okay. Also, if I cut a swim workout short once in a while, as long as it's not my long swim or my speed swim, that is okay too.

Fourth, even though I want to be awesome in my races, I also want to have fun. If I put too much pressure on myself, not only am I likely to go slower, I won't have fun. I am never going pro, so what is the point if it's not fun!

Wow, I feel better just listing this stuff out. Unfortunately I cannot give anything up right now so I am just going to need to give myself a break!

In random news, due to a new sponsorship for our team I had to measure the circumference of my calves today. They are 14 inches in circumference!! That is what I call FULLY JACKED. Now I think I want to measure my quads, I bet they are over 20.

Posted by barb at 2:49 PM | Comments (6)

June 15, 2009

Ride Drama, Pre-Race Nerves

I am not sure what is up with me but I seem to have a lot of drama in my training life these days. Either someone is running into me in the pool, or their dog is trying to kill me, or I am having dramatic rides. Perhaps the universe is testing my ability to zen myself out and not freak out completely when things do not go 100% according to plan. Yeah, I should work on that.

Anyhoo, here is the story of my long brick on Saturday. Matt was out of town so I got up early to cuddle with Bodie (she is a very needy dog) and let her out and stuff. I left Denver around 6:15 am. Somehow it took forever to get to East Boulder Community Park, which is in Southeast Boulder, so I took off from my car at 7:00. I was planning to meet Michelle and a bunch of girls from my cycling club at 7:30 in North Boulder, I was running about 5 minutes late but they never start on time anyway. However, about five minutes into the ride I realized that my hair was blowing around an awful lot and had the very strange realization that I had left my helmet in the car. Whoops! I knew this was no ride to not wear a helmet for, there are some crazy descents. So I rode back to the car and got it. This put me about 15 minutes late so I knew my best bet was to try to catch the club on the ascent to Ward (Ward is up Lefthand Canyon and then up some other road about 17 miles maybe). Luckily I don't mind riding by myself because I didn't start to catch them until about four miles from Ward, and I didn't catch the main group until they were hanging out in Ward. I said hello and that was pretty much it, I thought I would be slightly over four hours riding time with the additional ride from the helmet debacle. I started down and immediately noticed that my computer had stopped working. Fabulous. I knew I averaged 12 MPH for the first half of the ride but I didn't get to see my average go up as I descended, nor did I get to see how fast I was going! So annoying. Also I had accidentally reset my heart rate monitor watch about 15 minutes into the ride, so I didn't really know my total time. I think it was about 4:10 at the end but realistically it could be anywhere from 4:00 to 4:20 riding time. I cannot express how much I hate not having these statistics! Oh well, not much I can do about it now. The next dramatic event was my flatting, in the rear, about 10 minutes from my car. I had never changed a rear flat outside of the privacy of my home or without some overbearing dude doing it for me. Which I did not mind! The worst part was frankly that I really had to pee, so I was changing the flat and kind of dancing a jig. However, I did it!! I only had about 5 tons of bike grease all over me by the end! Shockily after all that drama when I got to my transition run I felt pretty good!

You know it's a really really good ride when in spite of drama, you really have a great time. And I did. I don't mind riding by myself for a long time for some reason. And the ride to Ward was really, really beautiful. I think I will always love running the most of all sports because it has been with me for most of my life (now that I am 31 I have officially been a runner for over half of my life, crazy!), but I am growing to enjoy cycling quite a bit. Cycling allows us to go so many places! If only I knew how many miles I rode, that would have been perfect :)

Yesterday was such a great training day as well. I got up early again and went down to Littleton for a 2000 meter open water swim. OMG I love my new wetsuit. It is awesome. It feels really fast and it is SO flexible. I am a little concerned that it took me a few tries to unzip it but I will probably put it on Saturday and practice some. I felt strong in the water but my times were not amazing. However, I talked to a friend about it and he said everyone thinks the buoys are set up a bit long. After the swim I showered, ate a snack, and went for my long run. I felt really good and covered around 12.5 miles in 1:50 so I felt great about that. I ran one of the routes I used to do all the time and my long run pace has definitely improved, so that is awesome! It was kind of warm at the end and and I noticed a definite correlation between shade and speed, and no shade and fatigue! Sadly for me there are no races here where we have abundant shade. Anyway I felt really good about the run and it was generally an awesome day! I even worked out all the fatigue in my legs by taking Bodie on a nice long walk, which I think we both really enjoyed. What a fabulous weekend of training!

Now that my first triathlon of the season is less than a week away I am having some pre-race nerves. Every time I think about the race I get really jittery and I feel like my heart rate goes up. Now that I am on the MAO team I think I am putting a little more pressure on myself, and I think generally I am feeling the fact that I have less room for improvement than I did last year. Last year I improved by over 10 minutes in all my races. However, I was coming from not doing tris to being a somewhat reasonable triathlete. Now, I am looking at three minutes and thinking it would be amazing. It's a smaller gap and thus there is less room for error. I am worried about my top end speed on the bike, and I'm worried about the swim even though somehow i seem to have decent swims even when I am not awesome at swimming, so I know I should stop worrying. I think what I need to do is visualize the race going well, and let go of my expectations. Now I just need to do that!

Okay, I am off to swim and then to try to lower my heart rate while visualizing a totally awesome race on Sunday!

Posted by barb at 1:56 PM | Comments (2)

June 12, 2009

I can see the taper...

I think when we get going in heavy training it develops a rhythm of its own, and we almost wonder, do I just train for training's sake? Does the thought of a taper make me feel happy and excited or nervous and worried, like what will I do with all my free time?! Will I buy more jeans? This could be bad! And expensive! What if I don't race well? Will it be worth it? If I just train, and never race, I can never underperform to expectations. There could be something to this not racing, just training thing.

But then I start to think about that first big race of the year, and it all kind of floats away into the recesses of my brain. I was running this morning, just a nice mellow moderate run, and I started to visualize my first race. I saw myself kicking at the end of that run. I even saw my splits at each mile of the run and I got so excited that my heart rate went from 142 to 150. Whoops! But that is it, the desire to race is beyond mental, it is physical. I need to race. I need to test myself against those other girls who have been training for months too, and see how I measure up. I need to cross a finish line. And then I think to myself, it is ON! Race day cannot come quickly enough. And I know I'll be ready. Heck, I can even do a flying dismount now!

Oh I am so excited. Nine days till my first triathlon of the year. This will also be the tri-versary of when I first attempted to get into this sport, two years ago. I love this race, it is so much fun and since it was my first tri ever it is really special to me. I remember when I finished - I crossed the line and found Matt and said 'holy cats that was harder than a half marathon!' Then I immediately started plotting how I could get faster for next year and I knew that I was really going to like this sport. It's like running but you can improve in three sports, not just one!

Now that my first taper (just three days, even though I love this race it's probably a B or C race to be honest) is so close, I am excited about that too. I will have a day off from training and another really easy day! I may get antsy but I will also feel rested, which is pretty exciting. This has been a big week so far, and I have a 4:30 brick tomorrow so it will get bigger, and I feel good, but I know I'm tired. I am excited to sleep until 7:00, it's been a while since I've done that! Oh boy, race season just makes me feel giddy.

In other news I am sad to report that after my dramatic rules of open water swimming post, I was rained out! I will be trying out a new open water swimming venue on Sunday morning. Hopefully it will be fun. I will try to remember all my awesome tips :) Also, I would just like to say that yesterday I had a totally awesome track workout. It was hard and I wasn't sure how it would go, but I absolutely nailed it. That is a great feeling. It was one of those workouts that made me feel like I could do anything. And hopefully next Sunday I'll have that kind of race!

Posted by barb at 4:11 PM | Comments (1)

June 10, 2009

Open Water Day!

Oh I am so excited to swim in my sweet new wetsuit!! Today is the only day I really have time before my first tri next Sunday. So I will be braving the afternoon thunderstorms we've been having for a week, crossing my fingers for decent conditions, and heading out this afternoon. I actually really enjoy open water swimming, so I am looking forward to it on a couple levels. First, hopefully my new wetsuit will be FAST! Second, it is so much fun to swim and not have to worry about turning, swim team, sharing lanes with weirdos, and all the drama that comes along with swimming in a pool. However, after chatting with Beth and Chad about their swimming situations this weekend, I feel like we have fewer weirdos than most pools! Last, swimming in a wetsuit in open water reminds me that race season is here!

Since I am a know-it-all and I am trying to write my entries with more of a theme instead of rambling on about what I did all day, I am going to share my open water swimming wisdom. I am not a great swimmer but somehow I always swim faster in open water than I can in the pool, despite having a crappy catch (which I am working on, and which will hopefully narrow the gap between open water and the pool for me). Here are my tips for being a better-than-skill level open water swimmer in a race situation.

Rule Number One: Be Aggressive, But Don't Be That Guy/Girl
It is really important to be aggressive in open water swimming. However, I draw the line at pulling someone's leg, kicking someone in the head (on purpose), pushing someone down, etc. Don't be that guy (or girl) just because you have anonymity in the water. Women are usually pretty good about this, but still I think it's an important point. Now if you are not going to be a raving a-hole, what does being aggressive mean? Essentially, it means starting out in the mix. Just because you are not the fastest person in your wave doesn't mean you need to start at the back. Get where you think you will be slightly slower than everyone around you. Practice this if it makes you nervous, just get a group of friends/teammates together and simulate a wave start. Once you do it a couple times you realize you won't drown. And if you are surrounded by people who are slightly faster, it will encourage you to follow the next awesome open water swimming practice...

Rule Number Two: Always Draft
To me this is common sense but I think it doesn't hurt to emphasize. If you catch someone's feet, especially the feet of someone who is slightly faster, it is a great way to have a faster swim and to keep your head in the game. Also, as long as you validate that the person you're drafting swims straight, you don't have to sight as often. However, the caveat to drafting is that you should validate pretty early that the draft-ee or whatever is swimming in the correct direction!

Rule Number Three: Keep Moving Up
If you are drafting off someone and he/she is not going fast enough that you can barely keep in the draft, try to move up and draft off someone faster! If you see someone passing you, just hop on.

Rule Number Four: Practice!
It is so much easier to do things in a race that you have done before. That is why people practice transitions, running off the bike, etc. - all kinds of stuff we have to do in races. If you can practice awesome open water swimming techniques, and get a comfort level with swimming in a wetsuit, you will just be that much more awesome when you have to use your techniques in a race situation. If you can find a buddy to practice with who is just a little bit faster than you, that is bonus - that way you can practice hanging onto someone's feet.

Now that I have shared my wisdom, I hope others can also try to become better swimmers in a race than in the pool. Just stay off my feet, please! I'll let you all know how my swim goes tonight.

Posted by barb at 10:51 AM | Comments (2)

June 9, 2009

I am a technique machine!

Here are my goals for this week.
1. Blog more. Stop slacking! I am a huge blog slacker. I have never been the one entry a day type, but once a week is just stupid! I have so much going on that I can easily write once every two days or so.
2. Work obsessively on swim technique. Every day is a technique day. Now that I have seen my total lack of catch on film I am determined to FIX it.

So far, let's see how we are doing.... well this is the second day in a row I've blogged, so that is awesome! Go Barb!! I think I can continue my streak except for Thursday which will be positively hellish. And on technique, yesterday I swam 3000m and worked on my catch every lap, so that was awesome. Today I swam 3000m again (speed workout!!), and I did it again! I was worried that my form would go to heck if I tried to swim fast but it really didn't. I sacrificed a few seconds to make sure my form was good but I think it's worth it. I actually think that even the swim team coach noticed my improved mechanics, he kept looking at me like 'is this the same girl who is always here and who has busted form?!' That could just be me thinking the world revolves around me though. He was probably just staring off into space.

So far I am loving my new form. It makes me feel way more powerful and now I think that the improvements I can make are less limited. It also makes me feel a bit more smooth in the water, like there is a rhythm to the stroke instead of a flailing about motion. I was also really happy that it hasn't destroyed my speed. It's not like starting over - it's just making improvements. So that is great! I am ready to try it out in open water tomorrow, hopefully I will be moving along pretty quickly now that I have a sweet new wetsuit and an actual catch!

We are still having bizarre weather - it has been cloudy for two days in a row which is unheard of here. We have also been having some severe storms including a few tornadoes on Sunday afternoon (luckily in Boulder we didn't have anything like that, I would have been really worried about having bicycles on my car). I am planning to ride my bicycle for 2 hours and 15 minutes tonight, I am done with the trainer until this winter so hopefully the weather will hold! Luckily it looks like we will break out of this pattern for the weekend, if I have to ride the trainer for 2:15 tonight that is not the end of the world but there is no way I'm riding it for 4 hours this weekend!

I have been obsessively plotting and planning all my training for the week (which I found out this weekend is not abnormal - I guess Beth and Chad both do it too!), and I think I will be in good shape. We are really getting down to the end of my plan for Lifetime which is crazy exciting. When we get into taper time, this nervous energy about 'when will I possibly fit in all this training' comes to and end. I cannot wait to race, I am getting the itch!! Less than two weeks till my first sprint of the year, just over four weeks till Lifetime. It is ON!

Posted by barb at 10:49 AM | Comments (2)

June 8, 2009

Camp Report!!

Or, What Happens When Tri Geeks Meet and Go To Camp...

Wow, I cannot believe it is Monday already and I am back and work and Beth is on her way back to Pittsburgh. This weekend absolutely FLEW by! Most of my weekends happen to go really fast because I am so busy, but this one was even more crazy than normal. It was so fun though!! I love camp. This is going to be a long report, so brace yourselves...

Friday morning arrived and Beth got in around 9:00. We had actually never met althoug we have known each other for probably five years - we started our blogs when Alison first had the idea to start a blogging community, before blogs were really mainstream. Thank you Alison!! I was kind of nervous to meet her because you never know if you'll have anything to talk about with someone you've never met but that did not seem to be a problem! Beth and I went back to my house and she put her bicycle together and I watched, I have to fly with mine to Minnesota in July so I wanted to see how much trouble I'll be in. So far I am not too nervous, she made it look pretty easy! After that we got a quick lunch at Tokyo Joe's, one of my favorite places, and then came back and packed up the car. We headed to Boulder to my awesome friend Scott's house (or as we like to call it Hotel Scott), and took a few things inside. Then - we started camp early I guess! - we rode our bicycles over to a local park and practiced flying dismounts. We had never done it but I am obsessed with learning. It is actually surprisingly easy, I think I will definitely do a flying dismount in my next tri. We also learned the flying mount, those are much more fraught with peril but I am going to keep practicing.

After flying dismount practice we met Chad from our team (who is so nice!! and I think I may have convinced him that he and his wife need to move here!) for an early dinner at Noodles. People from the East Coast like to eat early I have noticed :) But I think that was good for me because I always eat too late. Then we registered at camp and headed to Colorado Multisport for bike fit, which is funny since it's the shop where I work and I just got a fit. Luckily Luis proclaimed that my fit is good! After that we were exhausted so we went to our 'hotel' and passed out.

Saturday morning we had breakfast and a lecture, then we headed to the pool. We did a short-ish workout (okay, I am just jaded from my crazy long swims, it was probably around 2500 yards), which was fun. It seemed kind of like Masters, having a coach on the deck telling us what to do. I was really excited because I started in the slow lane and Luis moved me up, hooray! I think I PRed in the 100 yards (this is easy to do since I never swim in 25 yard pools!) so that was cool too.

After the swim we showered, stuffed a quick snack into our faces, and got ready to ride. I was super excited for Beth and Chad to see the type of rides we get to do in Boulder, especially since it's been raining constantly here so everything is green and beautiful. We headed out of town and north to Lefthand Canyon and then to Jamestown. I must say that Beth and Chad are awesome cyclists. They absolutely killed the climb! It is really inspiring having amazing teammates like them. We descended a bit and then took the turn for Lee Hill Road. I had never climbed Lee Hill, which is short but STEEP, with my tri bike and its 12-25 cassette, that was tough! There was no hope of keeping my heart rate in check so I said to myself that I may as well just not fall off my bicycle and let it rise. The views from the top are so nice it's probably worth it though! It is always fun riding or running with people from out of town because it makes me look at our surroundings with a new sense of appreciation. I am so lucky to be able to ride in such beautiful, unspoiled places.

Chad and I both needed to add on mileage so at the bottom of Lee Hill we took a left while the rest of the group took a right to head back to town. We rode north on 36 again to Lyons, took a right, and then went to 75th Street and rode back through Hygiene. It was a really nice mix of rides actually because Jamestown was a bunch of climbing and the rest of the ride was flat and rolling. Chad was nice enough to let me draft for a while to keep my heart rate normal - after the first part of the ride I told him no matter what my ego said I needed to stay in my zone! We rolled in at around 3:31 and although my computer said 47 miles which I thought was annoying and wrong! Chad had 60 on his, so I am calling it a 59 or 60 mile ride.

We were late for our next event so I ate the rest of my bar and we headed to the Newton Running store in downtown Boulder. It was really cool - what a swank store! - and I learned a lot more about how to run in their shoes. I have a pair and I like them but I don't think I was running in them correctly. I changed (but did not shower, gross!!!) and we headed to dinner with the group. Dinner was really fun and I enjoyed chatting with the other campers and hearing about races they've done, places they've lived and traveled, all kinds of fun stuff. Then we headed back to the Scott Hotel and passed out, we were so tired!

Yesterday we woke up at 5:30 which was absolutely brutal. I knew I would be a mess! We went to breakfast and finished up the lectures. After that we all changed and headed to the Boulder Rez for our long run. I was so excited to keep up with Beth for a little over two hours! And I was totally in my zone except for twice when we ran uphill. We didn't start running until a little after 9:00 but the weather cooperated perfectly, it was in the 60s and cloudy. Thank goodness, I do not love running long in the heat!

After our run we were late again because we ran longer than the rest of the group, so we drove back to Boulder and I took Beth and Chad on their first trip to Whole Foods. They loved the fresh fruit but Beth was devastated to find out that Whole Foods does not carry Diet Pepsi. At first she didn't even think I was serious, it was kind of funny! When she got over her shock we went back to camp headquarters for swim video taping. This was definitely worth the price of admission for the whole camp. My catch is absolutely a disaster. In fact, calling it a catch is pretty generous. I have a lot of work to do but I think it will really help me to improve and to achieve my crazy swimming goals. In fact if I can fix my catch I do not think they will seem too crazy at all!

The rest of the day was pretty mellow. We went to Boulder Running Company just so Beth and Chad could see it - it is huge now! - and then wandered around on Pearl Street for a bit. Then we met Luis and his daughter (who is SO cute!!) for another early dinner, and after that I drove us back to Denver. Luckily we chatted the whole way so I could stay awake! I unpacked, Beth packed, and we went to bed. This morning I drove her to the airport and now here I am!

If you made it through that, congratulations. It was a long one. It was an awesome weekend. I had a great couple of workouts, learned a lot about swim technique, and best of all got to hang out with my teammates and coach. Thanks for a great camp you guys! I am off to practice my catching motion.

Posted by barb at 8:21 AM | Comments (4)

June 4, 2009

Drama!

Oh I have had the most dramatic last twenty-four hours, and it all revolves around training. Since most of my readers are runners or triathletes you can probably relate to my dramatic encounters, and I am so annoyed that I need to vent about them, so I will relate them here.

Drama Number One - Last night, 6:00 pm, the outdoor pool at my fancy gym
I often get my long swims out of the way in the evenings even though the swim team is taking up all but two lanes, because I am slow and it takes a long time for me to swim 5000 meters. And I do not love taking 2 and a half hour lunches or waking up at 5:00 am! What can I say, I am just weird. I do sometimes have to share a lane for part of my swim which is not a big deal. The procedure (which is in fact POSTED in several places at the gym) for lane sharing is that the person who wants to share should ask and then split the lane.

So last night there I was, swimming along, almost done with a 1000. Literally in the last lap. All of a sudden about halfway down the pool some old guy swims right into me! I am totally freaked out and stop, take off my goggles, and look at him in distress. WTF!! He does not apologize but says 'Hi, can I share your lane?' I said 'well yes but you need to ask first!! You can't just run into someone!' Of course apparently for not being delighted by my crash I am a nasty lady so he gets really bent out of shape with me. Um, really? You RUN INTO ME and then you think I'm the jerk here? You must be joking. I carry on and luckily he is about as serious a swimmer as I thought so he is gone by the time I finish my 800. I finish my workout without further incidents, thank heavens, and head home for a nice evening.

Drama Number Two - This morning, 7:00 am, the outdoor track at the middle school about 1.5 miles from my work, in a fancy neighborhood
This morning I headed down to work, left my car, and trotted over to the track at the nearby middle school for my track workout. I was having a really solid workout - feeling strong and running fast! I started at 6:30 pace and by the time I was doing my final 2 x 200 meters I was running a little under 5:45 pace I think (I am bad at math). When I was about done with my first 200 I saw an older man come to the track with his little dog and take it off its leash. Hmm, I thought, well if he is not the only person here and he lets the dog off its leash it must be well-behaved. So I start my last 200 and hope the dog ignores me.

Sadly this did not happen. I was about 85 meters into the 200, fully in pain, and all of a sudden the dog runs at me and stops directly in front of me. I am really lucky it didn't bite me - little dogs always make me really nervous because I've been bitten and almost been bitten several times. I yell out 'Excuse me, please get your dog!' and try to keep going. The dog then runs along side me for maybe 25 meters, gets in front, and stops again. I stop and run around it. At this point I am running fast enough that I can get to the end of my 200 without having to stop again. The old guy is just slowly jogging towards his dog - in lane one, because clearly that is a good lane for slow jogging - saying 'Poppy, poppy, come here please'. He does not apologize of course. The funny thing was that as I kept jogging, because I did not want to stop for long enough to be bitten, the dog kept following me at a much faster pace than his owner was running, so that was kind of amusing.

Now this is actually even worse than drama number one to me for a few reasons. First of all, I could have easily injured myself (or the dog). Secondly, I do not think it's too much to ask if I think that people who are in their sixties should understand common courtesy, and if they understand it but fail to abide by it, they really should apologize and not act like I am in the wrong. Third of all, REALLY?! Two times in twelve hours I have to deal with this?

Anyway I am off my soapbox. I do feel better though, there is nothing like a good vent to get all that negative energy out of my system. And now I am focusing on the positive!! In fact here is a list of awesome positive stuff that is going on right now:
- I totally had an awesome track workout this morning! I am running faster each week and I am feeling more fit each week. I think I will be back to running mostly 6:00 pace in no time which is great!
- I am getting used to swimming 5000 meters. In fact it really isn't that bad. I feel strong and my arms look fully jacked which is great.
- I had a great speed workout on the bike yesterday morning. It is finally warm enough to start riding outside in the mornings which is awesome for my schedule!
- I have just about done enough this week to guarantee myself a day off from training tomorrow! That will be super convenient since I do not want to leave Beth to amuse herself at my house while I go off and train, and days off are awesome!
- Speaking of that, Beth is coming to town tomorrow morning!! Hooray! Oh I just cannot wait.
- Beth will be in town for TRI CAMP!!! I am so excited!! I have not been to camp in years and years. It is going to be so fun!!
- I am racing in just over two weeks! Bring it on, I am READY! I am getting that itch in my bones and my mind that says I need to RACE. I need to see my hard work start to pay off. I am fired up!
- I am seeing improvements in the pool and I really think that some day I will reach my crazy goal. I can see a 45-second 50, it is so close. That is a huge step towards a 90-second 100 and after that I just need to build another 5 seconds in for rest and I will be able to do 5 by 100 on 1:30.
- Life is generally awesome. It has been raining which means it is green and beautiful here. I get to spend hours a day outside doing stuff that I love. Life is good!!

Accentuate the positive, and laugh off the negative, readers!

Posted by barb at 10:01 AM | Comments (1)