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July 29, 2009

Turning the corner?!

So here is something weird. I am doing essentially the same exactly program for Longhorn as I did for Lifetime Fitness, and I have a freakily good memory so I remember doing my swim workouts before. Today I swam a 3500 meter workout that I swam several months ago. I remembered it especially because I swam it so well and I went into today's swim thinking I could never equal that especially since I have felt like garbage in the pool for two months. But I swam so well! The last time I did this workout I swam a 400 in 7:06 (okay, I pulled it, but whatever, I consider pulling to be eligible for PR's), and I was over the moon. Today I pulled the 400 in 6:54! So maybe I actually do not suck at swimming?! Could I possibly actually be IMPROVING?!?! Either way it was fun and exciting because every time I go to the pool these days I am so nervous and apprehensive and I expect to have the worst swim ever. However, the last two days I feel that I have swum well. Hopefully this streak will continue, and hopefully it will not set off a week or more of craptastic cycling and/or running!

We are having a string of cold, rainy weather so I am keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will not suck when I leave for my tempo ride today. I don't mind the temperature at all (in fact I find it delightful) but it has been pouring every time I leave work! So I will keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best, I really need to get a ride in this evening, and I do not want to turn into a drowned rat!

Posted by barb at 3:26 PM | Comments (1)

July 28, 2009

Training is good, my P3 is still toast, and I have a wacky new idea

I really want to have a very long post title today because I want to add 'and I have no self-control' to that title line up there, but that just seems ridiculous! See, this is what happens when one does not blog for a week and a half. That is bad!

So I will go through my title points one by one and then hopefully I will stop slacking on the blogging and stop having ridiculously long things I want to post.

Training is good. Yeah, I feel good!! Well let me clarify. In triathlon I have found that I never feel amazing at all three sports at once. It is a balance thing. So right now running is good, cycling is good, swimming is average. I had a great swim workout last Tuesday and I am hoping to have another good one today, keeping that Tuesday theme going. However, last Wednesday was positively dreadful. Usually it is easy for me to keep my pace under 1:00 per 50. I know this is slow but it's a good baseline for me. Last Wednesday that was only possible up to a 200 and after that I was just busted. But you know, you can't win them all! Luckily especially in half IM the swim is proportionally the least important so it's not really a big deal to have a mediocre swim, although a good swim would certainly help. I am feeling really good on all of my rides which is super fun. On Saturday I rode up to Ward and then around in the mountains a bit with Diana and Jen from MAO, and my friend Jason from work. It was an awesome ride. The weather was perfect and I felt great! I love that ride, it is very challenging (I think around 15 miles straight of climbing), but it rewards you with great views up top. On Sunday I had a delightful long run so that was a bonus too. So far this week I have already had one really good ride and two nice runs. Yesterday I lucked out actually, it rained all the way home from work so I thought I couldn't ride, but then it stopped for just long enough for me to get my ride in, and then it started pouring again! How's that for timing?! See, even the universe wants my cycling to go well.

On the P3 front I have now sent all my documentation to FedEx. Please keep your fingers crossed for me, I am a huge stress case about when I will get another bicycle (hopefully in time for Timberman but it seems doubtful). Luckily Timberman is hilly so if I have to ride my road bike it should not be a big deal. But still, it's the principle! What a pain. I would highly recommend not having FedEx put a big gouge in your fancy new carbon tri bike. It is really a huge headache, an administrative nightmare, and really just not a good experience!

That is enough whining about that. Now for my wacky idea. Boy I have just been training a lot, you can always tell because the more I train the more time I have to think up wacky plots and plans. So here is my wacky idea. I want to write a book about triathlon training - kind of a memoir of sorts. I think if I could beef up my writing skills it could be good! I am going to do some research and possibly write a chapter at some point to see if I can scare up any interest in the publishing world. There is more to it than that but hey, this is my idea, I cannot go posting on the internet all about it so someone else can do it! :)

And fourth I have no self-control. I have been buying these Kashi cookies that I like because I figure if I'm going to eat cookies I may as well eat cookies with whole grains and raisins and flax seeds in them. But I cannot buy them ever again as I cannot control myself. There are only eight in a box (they are not very large cookies either), but eight cookies usually only last me 2-4 days. Until yesterday when I ate a whole box! Oh I am so horrified by myself. To be fair I did split it up between 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm, but still. That is too much. I have decided that in the future I can only purchase dessert products in single servings. It may be more expensive but in the long run it will help me control myself. It is a really good thing I train so much, if I didn't I think I would weigh 200 pounds!

I am super excited for this weekend's training, I am doing my first organized ride. It is called the Copper Triangle and it goes between Copper Mountain, Leadville, and Vail up in the mountains. Hopefully the weather will hold, but it should be absolutely beautiful! I will take my phone and try to post some photos from the ride on Facebook.

Posted by barb at 8:35 AM | Comments (2)

July 21, 2009

the tale of barb and the haunted bicycle...

My P3 is cursed. Either that or the bike box I borrowed for the summer is cursed (which seems less likely since it has been used by its owner several times without incident. So I am going with my P3 being cursed. Which is so sad!

You may wonder what has led me to this conclusion. Well, on its way back from Minnesota (via Fedex because I thought it would lead to less damage than the airlines after my flight up which led to a few minor scratches on the head tube), my bicycle basically bit the dust. The frame is toast now that it has at least ten very bad scratches including one that went into the carbon in the seat tube, making it unrideable. I am so sad! And stressed out, because the Fedex claims process is very easy but it still requires me to pull together a lot of documentation. And who knows how long it will take to get the new frame, and Timberman is less than five weeks away! No need to panic quite yet though, hopefully I can get everything sent into them tomorrow and I should only have about a week to wait on the claim payment, then another week to get the new frame and to get everything set up. Now that I am thinking about this whole situation I think I'd better ride the bicycle up and down the block once or twice to make sure the front and rear derailleurs are okay - I have my doubts based on its condition when it arrived. Oh what a mess! It seriously was chaos in the box and it was just so upsetting. I know it is only 'stuff' but still.

Anyway due to my stress level which is monstrous I have not been in the mood to blog but I am trying to get back in the swing of it. Overall I loved my unstructured week (especially the Saturday trail run and the Sunday group ride which kicked my butt!!). Now I have started real training for Timberman & Longhorn and that seems to be going well so far. No 5000 meter swims for a week or two which I am very happy about! I do not seem to have lost much fitness in my never-ending taper so that is great too. I am feeling good on the bike - who knows, maybe I just really like my road bike. I am excited to get back in the pool with some workouts that someone else planned for me, and to get my meter-age back up. Hopefully I will pull out some decent swimming in my upcoming races. I am excited for a long ride this Saturday, I think I will be pulling a somewhat random group together for a ride to Ward, and I always enjoy climbing the Boulder-area canyons. I am still pretty tired from my trip to MSP but hopefully one of these days I'll sleep in and catch up!

Posted by barb at 2:55 PM | Comments (4)

July 16, 2009

The week of awesome continues...

I am still having a great time with my unstructured week. It is very low stress and enjoyable to do whatever I feel like doing, whenever I feel like doing it! Or not! Right now I am debating swimming after work. I am having fun swimming every day - yesterday I had a really nice 2000 meter random swim. I actually think I would be a great swim workout designer, I think my swim workouts are super fun. The only limitation to my swim workout design is that I like to do everything in 500 or 1000 meter blocks. For example, I will do 5 x 100 or 5 x 200 or something wacky like yesterday when I did 3 x (200 swim; 100 kick) followed by a 100 cool down. Even though the set part added up to 900 meters the whole thing was a 1000 which worked out perfectly. Also, I have no idea what I am doing when I design a swim workout so that is probably the other limiter to my new career.

It is finally hot here - we had the mildest June I can remember - and it is making my choosing to do workouts somewhat more challenging. Frankly during an unstructured week I will never make myself run when it is over 90 degrees out, because I hate that. Cycling is not as bad but there is still the battle to get out the door. Luckily, this week if I do not make it out the door, who cares!

I think the most shocking thing about my unstructured week is that I am lifting. I used to hate lifting with a fiery flaming passion. But now I think I have actually grown to like it! Either I like the act of lifting or I like my fully jacked appearance, I am not 100% sure what the true motivator is. But I am all excited to lift tomorrow, which is very unlike me.

Overall one thing I have noticed this week is that I am not any less busy. I just have a busy social calendar! I had social plans Monday and Tuesday nights. Tonight I do not have any social plans but I am in crazy catch-up mode with the million errands I didn't do when I was training all the time. Hopefully by the end of the week I will feel caught up and rested, and excited to start training for Timberman/Longhorn! Right now though I am rushing off to design an awesome 1500 meter swim workout!!

Posted by barb at 4:18 PM | Comments (0)

July 15, 2009

Fun Week!

I am having an unstructured week of fun and let me tell you it is FUN! I love heart rate training and I know it is awesome and everything but I have not even looked at my heart rate monitor since Friday. I must say I do not miss that little device! Not that I won't be excited to start using it again next Monday, because I will, but I am enjoying my monitor-free week.

I have made some decisions about the rest of the season - I have demoted Timberman from an A race to a B race, and I have promoted Longhorn to an A race. This approach is mostly due to timing, it seems silly to train for three more weeks and then have another huge taper (we have seen how insane I go when I taper too much!). Also, if Timberman is not a huge race as far as importance goes I think I will have more fun on my awesome trip to New England!! I got together with my friends who are going last night and we completed our planning. We are so excited, it is going to be great!! We bought tickets to the Champions Dinner on Friday night (whatever that is) as well as the post-race lobster bake. Yummo!! I cannot imagine a more fun way to cap an awesome race day than with a lobster bake. We decided we are going to spend the last night of our trip in Boston, which will be so fun. We are staying right on the Common so I think on Tuesday (the day we leave) I am going to make the girls go on the Freedom Trail just to be cheesy tourists. Oh I just love Boston!! I am sad Matt is not going because I want to convince him to move there. Hopefully my awesome snaps from the weekend will do the trick.

Speaking of snaps, I am probably not going to purchase my race photos from this weekend, because they are super expensive, but they got some good pictures. Here is the link:
http://www.asiorders.com/go.asp?57062669

I do not love how my wetsuit makes my legs look, but I think my MAO kit is super hot and fast looking!

This week has been mellow but I have actually been getting out quite a bit. Last night I rode my bicycle and ran into my friend Nelson. That was fun, I am always riding by myself so it was nice to have some company even though he is a bit intense. This morning I went for a nice easy run and ran into three friends, kind of funny! I really must say that I love running without a heart rate monitor. It just feels so natural, and fun, like I am just a kid out there running around for the pure joy of it. But I know I can get used to the HRM again, so I am not going to worry about it, I'm just enjoying it for now!

I am ridiculously excited about my trail run on Saturday. OMG it is going to be awesome. I am going to go pretty slow since my ankles are in a delicate state but it should be absolutely gorgeous. I will try to take my phone and post some pictures afterwards. I am also obsessed with swimming this week. I am not swimming much (Monday I swam 1000 meters, ha!) but I am getting in the water every day. I think I will swim every day this week except Sunday!

Upon further reflection I have decided that a 2:24 is darned good and I am going to be happy about my performance at Lifetime Fitness. Now I am just going to focus on 70.3 prep. I do love this sport, there is always something really fun to look forward to!

Posted by barb at 2:19 PM | Comments (0)

July 14, 2009

Lifetime Fitness Race Report

I have been so busy since I got back to Denver but I think I finally have time to write my race report. I am kind of glad I had a few days to reflect before I wrote it so that I could go through the post-race emotional roller-coaster and end on a positive note. No one wants to read a whiny self-pitying race report! So here it is.

Pre-Race:
I had an awesome time in Minnesota and since I was not supposed to do much on Friday I had a very relaxing and fun day. I read 2.5 books over the weekend, I napped, I chilled out. OMG it was awesome. I never read books because I am always training, so that was great. Right now i am in the middle of Julia Child's memoir from living in France, and I have decided I need to brush up my French skills and somehow move to Paris. Anyway, I digress. I was very rested before the race but I was tired when I woke up Saturday morning as my pre-race nerves were awful and I barely slept. I got up at 3:45 am Central so that was really early! However, the parking situation for the race is non-ideal and I had never done it before so I wanted to arrive when transition opened at 4:30. I did and I easily found a place to park so that was great. I got marked and got a pimp spot in transition - I would say it was the second-best spot on my rack. I warmed up on the bike and the run, wandered around getting water, checked out the ins and outs of the course, and chatted with a few girls. I found that I was really really far from the bike out so I decided in a bold move to put my bike shoes on my pedals and start that way. Luckily I had practiced a bunch. I got my wetsuit and did a short swim warmup and then waited to start on the beach.

Swim - 25:53, Rank 20/26
I felt good during the swim. I felt strong and my strokes were long and fluid. The start was a running start on the beach which was kind of insane. I had water in my goggles forever, oops! I still do not feel great about my swimming. I swim a lot of meter-age or whatever and I am still fairly slow. I feel like if I could get my swim in an Olympic down into the 23:00 range it would really help me to be more competitive. So I am going to work on that. I need to talk to my coach about how best to accomplish it but it may involve going to Masters at a very early hour, or hiring a swim coach, or something. Anyway the swim was nice but slow.

T1 - 1:54, Rank 9/26
You can see how big the transition area was! This transition was pretty smooth for me although I did struggle a bit with my wetsuit. There were not very many bikes left on the rack so I knew I had to ride hard.

Bike - 1:09:14 (22.1 MPH), Rank 9/26
I am not sure how I feel about the bike. On the one hand I feel like with this course it was a big disadvantage not to have done it before. It was very technical, there were a lot of 90 degree turns. So that was not really expected. I was riding well when I was going straight and no women passed me. However this is slower than my bike split in Oregon last year and I do think that course was harder. It is weird, doing the Half IM training I feel like I can go for a really long time but I do not feel sharp at all. I felt like I could have ridden the course twice at the same speed which is not great. However overall it was a good bike split and it was my highest non-transition rank! I am excited to get race wheels because I do feel that they will help. I was probably the fastest bike split of anyone who does not have race wheels.

T2 - 1:27, Rank 16/26
Not much to say about this. I do feel that I executed my flying dismount very well which was fun!

Run - 45:34 (7:20 pace), Rank 17/26
This is probably the most disappointing aspect of the race to me. The run course is pancake-flat and I know I am a stronger runner than this. I did not feel good at all. After the first mile my right IT band completely locked up so it really hurt to bend my knee and I did consider DNFing. However, that would have sucked! So I kept going but I never felt like I could push the pace without really damaging my knee and putting the rest of my season in jeopardy. Luckily after some aggressive foam rolling and compression sock wearing it feels fine now. It was cool watching Rebecca Wassner pass me. She is so tiny and cute! And fast!! I somehow was actually only passed by three women (including Rebecca) during the run, and I do not think any of them were in my division although looking at the results I think one of them was. This is a huge area for improvement for me so I know I need to work on running hard. I may try to find a 5k or 10k to enter in the next few weeks just to get used to running hard again. I have had several issues that have prevented me from running over the past six months so hopefully I can just build my base again and start to feel stronger, and start to run under 7:00 pace like I know I can. It was fun to run through the finish and I did think it was kind of funny when the announcer announced my finish and went on for a good 30 seconds about how awesome my running form is. It was really funny, I felt like he must be a runner! He said I have excellent turnover and look really strong, blah blah.

Overall - 2:24:04, Rank 13/26.
So overall this race was not great for me. My fastest Olympic time last year was 2:18. I was hoping to go 2:17 here and that did not happen. However, I am confident that at some point I can PR in an Olympic. I cannot wait to do this race again next year and improve. I feel that knowing the bike course will be a huge advantage. Also, I am just a nervous nelly so I think if I know the ropes of the race I will not be as big of a head case which should also help! My biggest takeaways are that I need to continue to work on swimming and I need to build my comfort level with running fast. Also I am thinking about doing one half next year and then focusing on Olympics, I like feeling sharp!

This week I am taking an unstructured week which is really nice. I am swimming a lot as far as the number of times I get in the pool, but I am swimming low meter-age. I am going for a group ride this Sunday which should be fun and right now I am planning a trail run for Saturday morning. I love trail running. This week for me is basically all about having fun and recovering, and mentally getting ready for another training cycle for Timberman/Longhorn. However, realistically I had a great time and I cannot wait to race again. I love this sport, and racing made me remember why! Thanks for reading my report.

Posted by barb at 10:09 AM | Comments (3)

July 10, 2009

Pre-Race!

Good news - although my bicycle did not emerge from the airplane completely unscathed, it is not in bad shape at all. And I rode it this morning and didn't crash! Hooray! I am feeling good about the fact that I am actually going to get to the starting line in one piece tomorrow which is awesome. I am super nervous - my first race in the elite amateur division, new course, new city to race in, etc. But I am having a great time and taking it easy today. I am really glad to be staying with people, they are so nice and it makes me be inside my head less if that makes sense. I am going to bed pretty soon as I have to get up at 3:45 am central which is 2:45 mountain, ouch!! But on race day it's not a big deal, it's not like I feel sleepy. I just feel pumped. I am still not feeling really lean which is something I want to change before my next race. But I can do that. So we'll just have to see how it goes tomorrow! Bye from MSP, I probably won't post anything until Sunday about the race.

Posted by barb at 6:17 PM | Comments (0)

July 8, 2009

I took my bike apart!

OMG I am so nervous to fly to Minnesota tomorrow. I am absolutely convinced that my bicycle will come out of its box in more pieces than I packed. I hope that will not happen! Packing a bicycle takes FOREVER by the way. But hopefully it will be worth it when I get it in the airport and don't have to deal with shipping and whatnot. My flight is at 10:20 tomorrow morning and I have yet to pack anything but my bicycle but I am not too concerned about it. I am still feeling dramatic about my wetsuit situation but I think that will also work out. I am so excited for Minnesota! The race should be really fun. And it has just become obscenely hot here, so I am really glad that I'm heading up to the Frozen North for a race (frankly it will not be frozen at all there but the high should be in the low 80s as opposed to here where it will be in the 90s for sure for Boulder Peak). This whole situation has made me wish a little bit that we lived on the East Coast where states are so much closer together and people can drive to races. Oh well!

As far as everything besides my bike drama, I am feeling pretty good. I am nervous about my running fitness but the only way to test that is to race and see how I do! I am also going to be annoyed if I don't swim any faster than I did last year, since I swim like twice as much now, but I am just going to have to get out there, draft like crazy, and swim hard!

With that I am taking to my bed to get some good rest before I go to Minnesota! Have a great weekend everyone!!

Posted by barb at 9:42 PM | Comments (1)

July 6, 2009

The never-ending taper

OMG sometimes I really hate tapering. I feel like I have been tapering since June 17th (I pretty much have, since I didn't race on the 21st!). That is a long time! However the good news is I am feeling REALLY rested and REALLY sharp! Well actually let me rephrase. On the bike I am feeling very rested and very sharp. From a running perspective, and swimming, I am just feeling really RESTED. Too rested to be totally honest. But I think I am just getting the taper crazies, so I am not taking those concerns too seriously. Especially since I have legitimate travel ISSUES!! Here are my big nerve wracking stressful things.

First off I do not know what to do about my wetsuit situation. My fancy new wetsuit I fear is too big. However, if it is not too big, it should be faster than my old non-fancy wetsuit. I think I should have just exchanged it but I am a slacker, and the customer service rep was so CONVINCING when she said the XS would never fit me. Oops! Right now my plan is to take them both to open water before I leave town (or just take them both to MN although that is not my preferred option) and time myself to decide. What a headache.

Secondly I have a bike box for the season thanks to my awesome friend Scott (who also provided us with Boulder accomodations for camp, so he is just awesome on every level). I have never removed my handlebars or packed a bicycle into a box before. It is going to be nerve wracking. I am going to make sure that I write everything down so that I put it back together correctly, and hopefully I will not end up with any random extra parts!

I am excited to go to Minnesota though and to finally race. I have been training for so long and my last triathlon was in September 2008! Luckily this year my season will extend through late October and next year I am planning to start my season in late March. Since I don't just train for fun, and I really like racing, I think that will be awesome! It may sound ridiculous that I am already planning my 2010 season, but lots of races fill up early so it is good to be prepared.

My heart rate does seem to be doing really well on the bike right now so I am pleased. I am going fast with a low heart rate which makes me think that just maybe I will be able to go faster on the bike this year than last. With everything else who knows but I have had a few obstacles in my way so I think the best plan would be for me to have a really great time and hope that the result is good, but to avoid disappointment if it is not as good as I would like. So that is the plan right now, we'll see how it goes!

Posted by barb at 4:51 PM | Comments (2)

July 1, 2009

BAM!!

I cannot believe I was so distracted by my crazy day that I have not written about my awesome BAM experience yet. OMG BAM (Boulder Aquatic Masters) totally blew my mind. I had gone to Masters once before, with my friend Jen. That was a fun experience and I learned how amazing college swimmers are! However, that did not blow my mind like BAM. And let me tell you why. It all comes down to one drill and to an awesome coach. But I will start with the whole experience because it was kind of funny and I am proud of myself in a weird way.

So I ran with Cathy Sunday morning and that was awesome. Cathy is a friend I have run with for years - we both started out in the Boulder Striders club maybe six years ago, we both moved up to Running Republic (another more intense club with the same coach), and there we really bonded because we liked to run slow during our warmups. Cathy is one of my personal heroes because she is just awesome. She is a great runner, she always has a fun and positive attitude, she has a great career, and I just admire her a ton. She also gives me great advice on my life which I appreciate because I am always a mess! I was able to run 9 miles with her which I was super excited about. So overall I was having a great morning (oh, and we had a triathlon/running star sighting as we saw a Lovato and a Torres).

I went to the pool and I was going to wait and see if there was a free lane after the Masters group started but I got there just in time for them to start another session or whatever they call it so I decided to be brave and ask if I could join to check it out. Note that I may seem outgoing but I am terrified of new people. Especially Jane Scott who is a legend. But I went over to her and asked her about it and she was SO NICE!! She said to jump right in and give it a try, no I would not even be the slowest person in the pool. I love her! She was not coaching the session but she introduced me to the coach and she was so nice too. I jumped in the slow lane and warmed up.

When we got ready to start I realized that I actually knew two of the other three people in my lane, so that was funny! One girl is in my cycling club and the guy I knew from the bike shop. See, I am meant to live in Boulder, I know everyone! Ha! Anyway right away I felt more comfortable. We did some swimming and some drills and whatever, it was fine. But then we did this CRAZY drill. We had to pull a 25 with someone hanging off our legs and that person would kick. I ended up pulling a man who must weigh 160 pounds at least. I felt like I could barely move! At the 25 we switched and that was fine, I was not really frazzled by that at all. After we did the drill the coach told me that was a great drill for me because I have way more power than I use. And I swear a light bulb went off in my brain! I do have power, my lats are strong! Why do I flail around in the pool and not use them? The whole workout was different after that. I PRed in the 50 twice! I felt awesome! And it was SO FUN. It is just nice having people in my lane to chat with during breaks. So I am hooked on BAM. I am hoping they are training on July 4th so I can go again! I swam yesterday and I did feel a difference in my stroke so I think the gains I made at BAM are here to stay.

So that is the BAM story. This week is driving me crazy with my insane amounts of free time. I asked my coach if he would set up my plan between Lifetime Fitness and Timberman and he said no! It was kind of funny. He was like 'Barb you need to focus on this race. Stop looking past it.' Good advice really. So I am trying to do it! I am so excited for a long weekend without bike shop, it is going to be amazing. I am just excited in general which is good because I think I am over the crash! I am ready to RACE! Bam!! (and now I think I just sound like Emeril, so with that, I say, kick it up a notch people!!)

Posted by barb at 4:09 PM | Comments (0)