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September 29, 2009

The Blakley Constitution, is it failing me?!

So I have this obsessive thing where I always say I never get sick due to the insanely strong Blakley Constitution. I scoff at people who do get sick and make fun of their week constitutions too which is fun and yet I am sure very annoying for my scoff-ees. Yet last night I felt a sickness coming on, and I was so flabbergasted!! Surely my Blakley Constitution could not be letting me down, less than four weeks from an A race! And yet I felt like crap. I had a sore throat, a headache, and once I took to my bed around 8:30 I could barely move. I whined and whimpered and generally made a simpering idiot of myself, I was so disappointed and I felt so crappy. I also changed my alarm because there was no way I could get up at 5:45 am to run, I would die.

Luckily, due to my awesome Constitution, today I do not feel too bad! I rode my bicycle at lunchtime and it was tough (speed workout) but I got through it. I have also been trying to notice the nice fall colors since I always take Colorado for granted. I think I did a nice job of that today between intervals. If I do not feel like crap after work I will be swimming and running. Um, yeah, we'll see. That may be a bit much, but I'll give it a try! Come on, Constitution, don't fail me now!

Posted by barb at 2:04 PM | Comments (2)

September 28, 2009

Four Weeks and Counting!

My last race of the 2009 season is coming up in approximately four weeks. I am getting so excited!! I cannot lie, I am looking forward to this taper. I feel like I've put in a solid training block over the last few months, and I know more what to expect from this race since I have the experience of Timberman behind me. I am also really excited to go to a new city! I am not really a huge Texas fan but Austin sounds great, a lot like Boulder but at sea level.

I had kind of a funny ride on Saturday so I thought I would chat a little bit about that. This was my last four hour ride/30 minute run brick prior to the big race so that was exciting. I don't mind four hour rides for the most part, but this was tough! We started in Hygeine, CO, which is about 30 minutes north (ride time) from where we normally start our rides. We headed North to Carter Lake and so far it was a great day. From Carter Lake we would normally turn around and go back, but we needed four hours and wanted to do something new so we kept heading north to Horsetooth Reservoir in Fort Collins. We made a wrong turn on US-34, which is a busy two lane road in Loveland, so that was a bit traumatic as we made a left turn onto 34, a U-turn, and another left turn off 34. That means we crossed it three separate times! It took forever! We were in good spirits, however, when we reached our turnaround at 2 hours and ten minutes. It was warm but nice and sunny and the leaves were just starting to change colors so we were excited for the slight downhill on the way back. Well, Mother Nature had something else in mind for us at that point. We started back a slightly different way but essentially we were going South/Southeast the entire way back to the car, into a HUGE headwind! Suddenly our dreams of riding around 21 MPH all the way back were shattered and we were pushing hard at around 14! Also, about half of the road on the way back was beautifully paved but the other half was fresh chip seal, which is the WORST! When we got off the chip seal our pace improved by 2 full MPH. It was kind of funny because we were both so SALTY! The only conversation we had on the way back went kind of like this:
Barb: This sucks!!!
Michelle: I know, I am so irritated right now!
Barb: Me too!!!
Michelle: I would so much rather be riding up a huge hill right now!!!
Barb: So would I!! At least I would be less irritated!
We kind of rotated like that for most of the ride! The worst part was that Michelle is tall and very slim and I am short and moderately slim so neither one of us gives off a draft. I was really wishing for a nice tall, broad shouldered fellow to pass us and offer us a draft for a while, but sadly none materialized. I did see a mirage a few times though!

After our long ride Michelle rationally said she was in no mood for a run and stayed at the car to stretch. I am a slave to my training plan so I headed out. It was so hot!!! After last week's 40 degree temperatures my poor body is so confused. I slogged for 30 minutes and once it was over I drank about a gallon of water which was so delicious. We didn't have time for lunch as we were running late to go up north to a baby shower, so I ate a power bar and we drove off to (almost) Wyoming. We were at the shower for a good four hours, it was a truly grueling and exhausting day. I wonder if the baby shower and all the driving can be considered part of my training, I think it did build a lot of mental toughness!

Today I have a nice mellow day of lifting, work, Noodles for lunch (hooray!!!), a 2:05 ride, and possibly an easy 30 minute run. Compared to Saturday this is nothing!

Posted by barb at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)

September 22, 2009

List Day!!

I love making lists. I think it is the Type A personality within me (okay, all over me, because I am nothing if not Type A+++) - I love to make lists of things!! My work notebook is full of lists of tasks with little boxes next to them, and when I check off the tasks in a list I feel so good!! I am not making a to-do list today, but I am making a list of things that are currently AWESOME!!

Here it is - the list of awesome things!
1. I had a fantabulously awesome swim this morning. The pool was empty which was kind of creepy when I arrived as it was still dark out and I expected it to be full. But I love swimming in an empty pool because there are no other people making waves or trying to share my lane or other such things.
2. I have a new favorite sushi joint with the most amazing roll EVAH! OMG it is so good. They have this roll called the Tropicana Roll which is salmon, mango, yummy sweet citrus sauce, and a very thin lemon slice. It is totally awesome. The most awesome thing about it is that I have eaten half a Tropicana Roll twice in the last two weeks!
3. Longhorn is less than five weeks away!! Longhorn is going to be awesome! Oh I am so excited. I hope it is not too hot there.
4. I continue to enjoy lifting. This is still so weird to me. I used to HATE lifting with a fiery flaming passion. But last night? I was excited to lift! And I was sad when it was over.
5. My dog Bodie is awesome. She is the cutest dog in the world. She loves to spoon, it is adorable.
6. My brother and sister, they are awesome. We have been bonding over some rough times lately so that is not awesome, but spending time with them is great so I can't be too unhappy about that.
7. 2010 is going to be awesome! I have been plotting and planning away, I love to plot and plan. I think 2010 is coming together. I am still in the throes of indecision for my season opener - California 70.3 or St. Anthony's - but either one will be great. I just need to decide so I can finish the planning!
8. Fall Television is awesome. Just in time for the trainer, the DVR is filling up with great shows. I used to be too cool for TV but now I have embraced my love of that magical box. And thank heavens there are lots of shows because if I do California in March I will be spending a lot of quality time on the trainer this winter!
9. Speaking of fall, when the weather gets cold (and holy cats, it has done that with an unnatural speed, yesterday it SNOWED!!), that means it is butternut squash season!! I think butternut squash just might be my favorite vegetable. Oh it is so delicious. It is delicious roasted, or sauteed, or smashed up into soup, so many delicious ways to eat butternut squash. And it is a bonus strength workout to peel it!
10. Training in general is awesome. I am feeling fit and I think that by refusing to weigh myself I have de-stressed and possibly lost a pound or two, which I could feel when I climbed to Jamestown on Sunday. I feel really good right now! I am excited to ride my bicycle later on today even though I will be in full winter cycling garb as it is currently 46 degrees and I do not think it will get much warmer!

I hope you too can find ten things today that are awesome!

Posted by barb at 8:34 AM | Comments (2)

September 21, 2009

Crescent Moon Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Race: Crescent Moon Sprint Triathlon
Date: September 19, 2009
Location: Cherry Creek State Park, Denver, CO
Overall Place: 3rd Female Overall
Time: 1:07:29

I have decided to be a little more organized with my race reports, especially considering that I rarely write anything but race reports these days!! I guess that just goes to show that I like racing later on in the year, since this year I started in June and my season will end in October. Next year I hope to spread things out a bit more, but that is a subject for another post.

Anyway here is my race report from Saturday's race, enjoy!

Pre-Race:
My alarm went off at 5:15 am and needless to say I was not delighted! I was TIRED. And this race is so small (562 participants), and it is so SHORT (a real sprint!), I was tempted to turn off my alarm and go back to sleep. It's a good thing I dragged myself out of bed though! I got up, put my race kit and some other clothes on, and headed to Starbucks. I was super excited that the Starbucks near me opens at 5:00 am every single day!! That is awesome. Also, there are not a ton of customers there at 5:30 am!! I got a coffee and then went next door to the bagel store for a bagel with peanut butter. Oh how I love bagels with peanut butter, nectar of the Gods! Then I drove down to the race site and picked up my packet at my high school (the race was about a half mile from my high school). It was kind of chilly, so I had a nice brisk walk down to the transition. Oh my goodness this transition was hilarious! It was about half a mile long by 30 feet wide. So there were very good spots (as bike in and bike out were at one end) and very bad ones. Luckily transition rack space was not assigned so I got a decent spot closer to the bike in/out. I chatted with a few friends and took my bicycle out for a very quick (freezing!!) spin to make sure I put my race wheels on correctly. Then Michelle and I did a quick run warmup as well. We saw some weird stuff on our way back - one lady was warming up on the bicycle with her wetsuit on, and another lady was going for a jog in her wetsuit. Strange, strange behavior!! It was cold out, but not that cold. After our warmup we headed down to the beach for a swim warmup. It was a beach start so I told the other girls to keep their knees up and lined up to start.

Swim - 12:00, 750 meters
I am so excited. I definitely think the swim course was short but I don't care because it was a PR!! My swimming has been so frustrating this year, so it was a really nice mental boost to get a PR and to finally feel like I had a really good swim. The waves were nice and small so there was a refreshingly small amount of contact at the start also, which was nice.

T1 - 1:31
I had a moderately slow T1. I do not know, sometimes I just get discombobulated and don't move very fast! It wasn't bad, just about 10-15 seconds off from where I'd like to be.

Bike - 30:22, 12ish miles, 22.7 MPH
I am also convinced that the bike was short. How's that for some self-confidence, ha! I really am though. But I also don't care because even if it was short I know I averaged over 22 MPH and I am super stoked about that!! I haven't felt great on the bike all year until this race. I was trading spots back and forth with another girl until I dropped her with a few miles to go so that was exciting, I was pretty sure I was in the lead coming off the bicycle. The course was not flat but not super hilly with a bad, super rough road surface so I feel really good about my speed.

T2 - 1:17
I knew the girl from the bike was not far behind me so I tried to book it out of there and I think my T2 was pretty solid. I did lose a bike shoe in my flying dismount so I am going to try to figure out how to stop doing that! They just fly off the bicycle after I fly off!

Run - 3.1 miles, 22:22, 7:13/mile
Oh boy this was not the best. I swear, triathlon is the most frustrating sport!! And let me tell you why. One day you have an awesome run and a crappy swim and bike. Then the next day you have a great swim and bike and a crappy run! It is so hard to get all three sports to go perfectly. On Saturday my swim and bike were great and my run was decidedly not great, as you can see from my pace which was 5 seconds per mile slower than a 10k I ran at Wild on Windsor. The run was pretty hilly (it was basically our high school cross country course, which brought back some memories), and the girl who got second overall that I was playing cat and mouse with on the bicycle blew by me like I was jogging. I did have another girl really close around mile 1.5 and I dropped her (I ended up beating her by almost a minute), so that was definitely good. It was kind of frustrating that I think I could have been second overall had I had a good run, but you know I can't expect to have a 100% perfect race all the time and I do feel that considering the course I ran fairly well. I was super exciting coming into the finish because I knew at worst I was second in my age group.

Overall...
Overall I am delighted about my performance. My age group is always the toughest, as was evidenced on Saturday when I was second in my age group and third overall! It was also my first time winning money - third place was good for 100 dollars! I also never thought that I would break my sprint PR, I was so fit last year when I set it. But I broke it by 40 seconds! And I think I can go faster too. If I can just put it all together... ;)

Posted by barb at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)

September 17, 2009

Productive Taper Day

I am tapering for Saturday's race so today I have a day off from training. I do enjoy the odd day off here and there, it makes it easier for me to do normal stuff other people always do like going to the bank, running errands, sleeping, wearing makeup, etc., etc. Today I have done all of those things. I have purchased my first wetsuit repair product, which is kind of scary - my wetsuit sustained a travel injury on the way back from New Hampshire so I am going to try to fix it up tonight. I am not really the most detail oriented person so hopefully I can focus on the details for long enough to get it back in swimming shape before Saturday!

I am not sure what is up with me but I am SO TIRED! I have been sleeping a ton this week, yet I do not feel rested and in fact I have been fantasizing about falling asleep at my desk almost all day. I did not even do something crazy like giving up coffee. I wonder if it is the reduction in volume of the taper that is somehow making me more tired rather than less. Weird!

I am proud to say that with my free time I will be.... (dramatic pause)... cooking dinner tonight!! I absolutely love to cook yet I hardly ever do because I am always so busy. I am not making anything too exciting - salmon with a lemon thyme rub (that I bought), and squash and tomatoes. I think I will broil the salmon with some extra lemon juice and saute the veggies. Nice and healthy and hopefully delicious! I am super excited for November when I take the month off from training and just walk and do yoga and whatnot. I am planning to cook a lot of good, healthy stuff. Potentially I could make my own rubs instead of purchasing them at Whole Foods even! Oh the possibilities... ooh I could even bring my own lunch to work and save money! Well, let's not go too crazy with that, I don't think I will motivate that much!

Anyway tomorrow I have three short workouts and then it will be race day! This should be a fun little race. I will try to post a report while I still remember everything :)

Posted by barb at 3:04 PM | Comments (1)

September 16, 2009

Nutrition Sponsorship!!

Just a quick announcement, I am now a proud member of the First Endurance team for nutrition. I am obsessed with their products and I think they are the best. I am super, super excited to be on the team!! I have been using their stuff for most of this year, including at Timberman where I only used EFS Drink and EFS Liquid Shot, and I had a very happy stomach. Go Team First Endurance!!!

Posted by barb at 3:45 PM | Comments (1)

My swimming mojo, it has returned!!!

Oh I am so relieved, my swimming mojo appears to be back!! I am not sure if I ever blogged about its disappearance, but for several weeks I felt AWFUL in the pool. I swam really slow, I felt inefficient and clunky, and my left shoulder would hurt for the first 10 minutes of any workout. I also swam positively dreadfully in my last race so I was really upset. So I emailed my coach and we modified my workouts for two weeks as he agreed I was clearly overtrained. I did what he said and over time I started to feel better, but yesterday I felt awesome! Oh I was so happy. I was really worried that my swimming mojo would not return until next year.

I feel like a racing fool right now, I am starting a short taper for a little sprint this Saturday. I am excited, sprints are fun but painful! Hopefully I can go really hard and do pretty well. I feel like I've gotten a decent training block in over the last few weeks and I am feeling good. It took several months but I finally feel as fit as last year. After this race I will have five weeks until Longhorn, my season ender, so that is exciting too! I am really pumped to tackle the 70.3 distance again and hopefully bike and run a little faster. I am also really excited to go to Austin, I have never been! I am hoping to get a slot for Clearwater in 2010, so hopefully I will have as good a race as I had at Timberman if not a slightly better one. Here's to hoping!

Posted by barb at 9:20 AM | Comments (0)

September 8, 2009

Long Weekend Report!!

Oh how I love long weekends!! I wish every weekend could be a three day weekend. It would make training so much easier! However, I would like that to happen while I am still making the same amount of money and not working any more when I do have to work. I guess I'll have to keep working on getting a trust fund! It is slow going but I am staying positive :)

Anyway, this was kind of a strange weekend because almost all of my friends were vacationing in Milwaukee (don't ask - I think it's a weird place to go for a vacation too!). So it was just me and Bodie, a little bachelorette's weekend! I did have some quality time with family and with my high school BFF Kim who just moved back into town. But I had all the time I wanted for training within reason as I did not want Bodie to have the worst weekend ever. She is far too cute to be neglected! So here is how the weekend went!

Saturday:
Long Brick - 4:00 ride (ended up riding for 4:25 because I cannot estimate how long rides will take), 30:00 run (I estimated this fine, I actually ran for 30 minutes). OMG it was awesome!! The weather was fabulous. I did start out with knee warmers on because I climbed to Ward, CO, which is pretty high up and I did not want to freeze my leg muscles. They were not really necessary but better safe than sorry! I don't think I took enough nutrition with me as by the end I was starving, but that was a good lesson for a training ride rather than a race. My run felt pretty good even though it was pretty warm by that time. Overall I felt good about the workout.

After my ride I was dying for some non-sports nutrition food so I headed to the Walnut Cafe in Boulder. I absolutely love that place and it is one of very few places I will go by myself - I have a complex about going to places with waiters on my own. I think the waiters will think I am weird. I know, who cares what waiters think about that, but I do! Anyway it was so delicious that it made up for my feeling like a weirdo. Then I went home, showered, collapsed for a few hours, and walked Bodie. Then I met Kim for dinner. It was a great day!!

Sunday:
Long run with my friend Cathy in Boulder. I love running with Cathy, she is awesome! We had a great run. It was a rolling route which I always enjoy, they are hard to find in Denver. It was great catching up with her. After the ride I got a quick breakfast and headed to the gym for a 2500 meter swim. I met a nice guy at the pool who is also a triathlete. He had his AG Nationals swim cap on so I picked his brain about that crazy swim for a bit, that was fun! After that I headed home, ate lunch, walked Bodie, and relaxed.

Monday:
This was a busy day for sure! I got up and did my moderate 70 minute run. Then I walked Bodie to a bakery for coffee. Then I headed to the gym and did my speed swim workout, followed by a quick snack and weights. I picked up lunch and headed home to rest for a few hours. I wonder if this is what pro triathletes' lives are like! Once I felt energetic again I busted out a 1:40 ride. It was windy and hot but I rode pretty well so I was happy with it. Then I came home, showered again, and relaxed with Bodie for the rest of the evening, passing out at around 9:15!

This morning I ran easy for 30 minutes and then took Bodie to my mom's for the day. She is having a great day I am sure! Now I am back to the grind, better head to a meeting!

Posted by barb at 8:46 AM | Comments (0)

September 2, 2009

Training!!

I am so happy, now that my two late August races are over I am TRAINING again. And I mean that in all caps, we are getting serious again and the volume is going up! I am riding 4 hours this Saturday with a 30 minute brick run and I cannot wait! It has been several weeks since I rode 4 hours. It is most likely going to be a solo ride, and I am excited because I like those. For some reason I just don't get bored on the bicycle, even if I am riding for a long time by myself. I never take an iPod or anything because I don't really think it's safe on the bike so it is just me and my thoughts. I wonder if my thoughts are all that interesting or if I am just anti-social! Either way I absolutely cannot wait until Saturday morning.

After my frustration following Sunday's abominable swim, I emailed my coach and I am relieved to say that he did not tell me to harden up - rather, he said I definitely sounded over trained. Hooray! I am not just a lazy slacker who can't get faster in the pool. Now that I think about it, this seems really logical. Two years ago I probably swam 1,500 meters per week. Last year I averaged maybe 7,500 meters per week. This year I have gotten up to 15,000 or 16,000 meters per week more than once. That is a huge difference for someone who never swam before! Coach said I should dial the swimming back this week and see how I feel. I still secretly want to get my swimming limited to a 4,000 meter long swim because I don't think that me swimming 5,000 meters at a time at this point in my development is helping me. But we shall see how it goes after I dial it back for a week! Yesterday I did swim and I felt so much better than I have recently. My times were not amazing but they weren't awful like they had been, and I felt like I was fighting the water less so that was a big relief. I am sure part of this was psychological - I literally had a weight lifted off me, the weight of expectations and a negative attitude. This in and of itself was a huge lesson for me. I like to do everything exactly as it is stated in my plan and most of the time I wish my plan had more training. But that is not always what I should do and I need to take a step back and recognize that, without beating myself up. I'm working on it, but it's a process for me - I am a classic perfectionist and overachiever, and sometimes those 'good' qualities can really mess me up. Hopefully I can learn from this experience and be a better, smarter athlete (and person) going forward!

Today has been a good one for training so far, I did a speed bike workout this morning that hurt. Oh my goodness it was so hard! I also had to deal with some guy who decided a girl could not pass him so he had to hang on with me when I was doing my intervals. So annoying. I am so glad he proved that he is faster than me :) I am actually going out for lunch today (at Tokyo Joe's, one of my favorite places!!), which is very rare for me but should be fun! Then later on I am swimming and then making dinner - Dover sole with a lemon thyme rub, grilled bell peppers, zucchini and yellow squash, and grilled potatoes. Yum!! It is looking like one heck of a great day!

Posted by barb at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)