this doesn't have anything to do with triathlon, but

it should make you giggle. if it doesn't, you are dark and twisty on the inside and cannot be helped :)

(i promise we only let him do this on soft surfaces)

IM Louisville training races

Lately I've been trying to hammer out the details of my training calendar for next year. I know that my coach will have something to say about which races I should consider, but I want to know what's out there. So I've been doing tons of intertron research. 

I have a few ideas (pronounced 'eye-dears.' I am from Texas, after all.):

Run races:

B.A.A. 5k (Beantown, mid April)

James Joyce 10k (Dedham, end of April) 

Twin Lights Half Marathon (Gloucester, beginning of May) and/or 

Boston's Run to Remember (end of May) and/or 

???????????

Sprint:

Escape the Cape (first week of June) or

????????????????

Olympic: 

Mill City Olympic (Lowell, first week of July) or

Black Fly (Waterville Valley NH, first week of July) or

??????????????????

HIM:

Musselman 70.3 (Geneva, NY July 14) or

MuscomaMan (Enfield, NH end of July)

?????????????

IM:

Louisville, duh! I just wanted to put it on here again :) (Aug 25th, 2013)

I'm new to these here parts--what races do you recommend?? 

two things

#1): Get your flu shot! Flu season can start as early as October.That's next week, people. Don't know where to go?

Search here: http://flushot.healthmap.org/

#2): I decided on a coach--just need to have a conversation about the moolahs and I'll make the announcement. Yayhooray!

Happy hump day, y'all.

crit

Happened upon an elite women's crit race in DT Beantown on Saturday, and it was BADASSSSS. Got my heart a-pumpin. Those ladies were booking it! Very inspiring. I told myself I looked like them when I was out averaging 17mph in my spin around Concord today... hahahSNORThahah.

hey coach!

had (hopefully) my last coach interview yesterday. just have a few more references to follow up on, and then it's time to make a decision. the process hasn't been as terrible as i thought it would be. only a few awkward silences...

my gut made its decision a long time ago--now my mind needs to finish up the due diligence so we can get this party started!  the deadline i set for myself is October 1st. i know you'll be sitting on pins and needles until then.

focus on this sweet face for another week until i make my announcement.

in other news, i'm trying to think of fun non-triathlon related workouts to do next week. i've taken this past week completely off (other than the longggg walks i take with E and the pooch) and am really really REALLY looking forward to some cardio action. have a hike planned with a fellow tri mommy early next week, and was thinking of trying something new at the gym. ZUMBA, anyone?? i have absolutely no rhythm, and will probably stand in the back and giggle the whole time, but giggling = ab workout, right?

lobsterman race report

My virgin race at Lobsterman has come and gone, and it was HANDS DOWN the most gorgeous race I have ever done!

Pre-race:

The parking is tight at Winslow Park, so the race directors advised getting in early (5:30am) to find parking and then napping before transition opens (6:30am) and/or before the race start (9am, 9:25 for my wave.) The hubs, dudebaby, Rupert the Dog and I made it down to the park right on time. But, due to the two SBucks double shot espressos I downed from the comfort of our Econolodge bathroom (to keep from waking up the baby...sheesh,) there were no naps to be had for me. But I didn't mind, with such ugly views from transition to keep me occupied:

Everyone I ran into in transition was so nice. Might as well have been on another planet compared to the rays of sunshine you have the pleasure of meeting here in Beantown. Chatted with the girl racked next to me for a while, pretending to know about bike fit and components. She was wearing an IM Austria jacket, had an IM Cozumel visor on her transition mat, and was taking stuff out of her IM Florida bag. I'm not judging here. If anything I'm jealous. Shoot. That many IM's deserves that much shwag. You go.

Eventually I wandered back out into the park to look for my boys. Morgan tended to the kiddo while I scanned the water for shark fins/Jaws/blood sat back and enjoyed the view of the ocean. Rupert the Dog was extremely popular that day. Just about every person at Winslow park wanted to know his name, how old he was, and if they could keep him forever. We continued to dodge Rupert groupies all the way down to the swim start. Eventually I just started telling people he was going to win his race category (Clydesdale) and to back the F up so he could focus. Seemed to do the trick. 

Jumped in the water for a warm up, and just about thought I was going to die. Really. I was gasping/hyperventilating due to the massive waves of shivers that racked my body. Only got in about 5 minutes of warm-up, which was temperature wise more of a freeze-up. And there were people in the water gleefully splashing about, saying how the water wasn't that bad. I dunno, maybe they are Vikings? Or Inuit? Crazy for sure. 

Got out of the water, did my standard pre-swim freak out/complaint/sphinter dance, got a kiss from the boys, and went to find the rest of my wave. 

Swim 1.5km - 36:30 (2:14) a PR!

Previous posts may have clued you in to the fact that I have a completely rational irrational fear of being eaten by a Great White Shark during these ocean races. I was also terrified of becoming a human popsicle in the slushy-like water. Well, neither happened. Swim was actually rather uneventful, other than the wee little wet suit hickey I developed after forgetting to put body glide on my neck. 

There were no kicks to the chest, face, teeth, or boobs. No pulling or scratching. My goggles did start to leak about 1/2 way through, but it wasn't too bad so I just let them be. [Afterwards my red eyes made me look like a stoner chick. Eating everything in sight probably didn't help with that impression.] Before I knew it I was slogging up onto the shore and kissing my wee baby. Hooray! Another swim survived without a shark attack. 

Bike 40km - 1:32:54 (16mph) def not a PR

[Morg and I drove the course the day before the race and I was so glad we did. There were quite a few potential quad-burners out there. It reminded me of the Decker course, but with slightly shorter, steeper hills. I tend to attack hills like a crazy person. Back in Austin when attacking hills was routine, I could hammer away and suffer no ill effects. Since moving to Boston, I just haven't had the hill training I'm used to, so I wanted to be careful not to murder my quads in the first half of the race. Some of the steeper climbs were in miles 15-22. And the run is on the same course. Hills aside, folks, this course is insanely gorgeous. Fairy-tale gorgeous. Dreaming-of-winning-the-lottery-and-buying-a-summer-home-out-here gorgeous.]

Back to race day. Uneventful transition, survived the dirt path out of transition, and switched into an easy gear to spin up the first hill out of the park. Then I just sat back and tried to find a smart, happy pace that I could maintain throughout the hilly course and still have juice left in my legs. At some points I felt like I was taking it too easy--but once I hit those hills on the back half and started passing people, I felt much better about my pace! I turned it up with about 4 miles to go, and was happy to feel my legs responding without complaint. Made it up the last little bitch of a hill, and then enjoyed the sweet sweeping downhill back into the park. Saw my badass cheer crew, which really made me smile :)  I probably went 4mph on the dirt road back to transition, for what that's worth. I'm such a wiener about off-roading.

Run 10km - 1:02:14 (10min/mi) maybe a PR? it's close.

Felt fantastic coming out of transition. No weird twinges in the legs. Solid stomach. Decided to switch the view on my watch from time to HR, so I could just focus on staying in my zone and NOT worry about time. Got to see the cheer crew again on the way out AND steal another baby kiss. Baby kisses are better than caffeinated Gus. 

The run went similar to the bike. Just tried to keep an even pace and not wear myself down by blasting up the first few hills. I felt better than I EVER ever have in an olympic run. Steady, even, and solid stomach. On that hilly bia of a course, I consider that on par with winning my age group :) I had a song stuck in my head that the dudebaby and I learned in our last play group, and it carried me through the whole race. I had an inkling that I wasn't going to PR, but couldn't care in the least. The course was just too gorgeous, and I was having too much fun. I came through the finishing chute with no energy to spare, but still elated. I mean, who can be grumpy when faced with this:

Total time - 3:16:04 (32/39 AG)

Some of my tri friends would probably be horrified being so far back in their age group. I might have even been horrified by it a year ago. Do I care now? Eff no! 

I had an amazing race. And loved every minute. THAT'S WHAT MATTERS. I am lucky to have such a super husband and baby who support me in training. I feel lucky to be physically capable of doing triathlons. And glory be to mother nature for showing up in her prom dress that Saturday. 

Post race - 3 free beers, 1 giant plate of lobster-bake goodness, and a bag of kettle corn (a PR!)

I now have a new requirement for triathlons: must include a post race beer garden and lobster bake. 

All in all, best race weekend to date. We might even come back next year! I probably won't race it, being 3-4 weeks out of IMLou, but I'm trying to convince the hubs he could do it on only 3-4 weeks of training :)

If you're out there in the interwebs land and considering Lobsterman next year, do it. DOOO EEET. 

taper

This week is my itsy bitsy taper week before Lobsterman on Saturday. I am suuuuper stoked to race again, though I am slightly terrified of what awaits.

I've never done a swim in water colder than 68 degrees (Barton Springs Pool), and even at 68 degrees it takes me 10 minutes to get in and 20 to stop complaining... Current water temps in Portland ME are 64 degrees! And my wetsuit is sleeveless. And I don't have any of those fancy booties or other 'cold' weather gear. Either I'll be so cold I'll work harder to warm up (and get the EFF out of the water) or I'll freeze up (pun intended, sorry), have a panic attack and have the slowest swim of my life. Considering I'm still afraid of sharks, lets go with option one.

Also, I haven't been training with the consistency I usually do. For Boston Triathlon, I don't think I missed a single workout. For Lobsterman, notsomuch. I've missed on average one workout a week. So, I'm nervous about my fitness for race day. Well, let's clarify. l'm nervous about my fitness not being what I want it to be to PR the way I want to. I know I am fit enough to do the distance and have fun.

But I don't want to just have fun out there.

I want to HAMMER and HURT. This is my last shorter distance race before off-season and IMLou training. Training for IMLou will be entirely different from training for short course races, and I won't be doing much ballstothewall racing efforts. So I want to make this one count.

I suppose the hiccups in my training schedule could make this race hurt alright...just not the way I want.

Here's the week in workouts:

Monday: OFF
Tuesday: PM swim 1600m
Wednesday: tempo ride 1hr
Thursday (today): PM tempo run 35min
Friday: AM swim 1250m before schlepping to Maine
Saturday: Raceday!!!
Sunday: recovery ride. or brunch. probably brunch.

I still have yet to decide on an off-season training schedule.  What are y'alls favorite off-season sports/classes/routines??

racing voicemails and other blargh

JSwan left me a 'regret face' pic AND voicemail today during the run leg of her tri in DC. Something about semi-regretting the decision to race due to lack of training. She is definitely in the lead for the most awesome voicemail award, no matter how her her race ends up.

Speaking of regret and lack of training....was feeling some of that nasty beast today before my 2:15 ride (which ended up being a HORRID 45min spin/cryfest), after staying out late drinking and watching the Texas game. And since Aunt T is over, the dudebaby slept in our bed last night. Well, slept is the operative word. He was awake cooing,crying, teething and farting from 3am-6am. So, from Beantown to DC, the blargh faces were out in full effect today:

Happy blarghing, everyone. 

this is not my week

Just got kicked out of the pool due to lightning.

The INDOOR POOL.

Blargh!

yesterday's not-so-tempo run

Yesterday was supposed to be my tempo run day. Usually, I wait until 30 min before E's nap time to head down to the river for our run. That way, he heads off into the land of nod right as I'm starting, and stays asleep for 15min or so once I'm done. Sometimes he wakes up towards the end of the run--during cool down--and watches the ducks/trees/great outdoors from the comfort of the jogger.

Well. Not yesterday.

He fell asleep as usual right before I got started. I was all set to do a 10min WU, 20min tempo, and 10min CD. I was only 9 min into the tempo portion when he woke up and started SCREAMING. Sometimes he does this at home, and he promptly falls right back asleep after 20 seconds of wailing.

Well. Not yesterday.

I ran for maybe another minute, hoping he would be lulled back to sleep by the motion of the jogger. No dice. Okay, maybe he's hungry. So I stop and try to feed him. Nope. Still crying. Dirty diaper? Just wet. Changed it anyways. Still crying. No little hairs wrapped around his tiny digits. No toys will soothe him. So what to do?

Keep running, I suppose.

I tell you what--I got LOADS of dirty looks from other runners/walkers/parents/ducks, running with a wailing kiddo. Like I wasn't aware of it. I'm doing my best here, people. Sometimes the kid just cries. And sometimes he just wants to cry AND throw all of his toys/bottles out of the stroller. Run. Run. Pick up toy. Run. Run. Pick up bottle. Run. Untangle blanket from stroller wheel. Run.

With about 2 minutes left in the cool down, he suddenly calmed down. By the time we made it to our lunch spot, he was as happy as he always is. Such is life, I guess.

he looks SO innocent here. "me, crying?? PSH."

I wasn't too bothered by it all--1 year ago this would have totally irritated me. Maybe it's because he's so dern cute. Anyways. I didn't think or worry about it much until today, when I realized how much more difficult it will be to train for an Ironman. The dudebaby will have just turned 1 when I start my serious training. What if he starts to hate the jogging stroller, and won't sit in it when he's 1?

Now the doubt/fear starts to slide in. How the EFF am I going to do this, with a little man to care for?? I know I thought of this before I signed up--and I was sure I had the answer. It just seems to be evading me this morning...

There's always daycare (but it costs about as much as our rent a month. Rigoddamndiculous.) And I can do a lot of training in the evening once he's gone to bed. And there's always the weekend. But boyhowdy do I wish I had family up here in MA to help out.

But you know what? Doesn't matter. We will figure this out. Morgan is a rockstar husband, so incredibly supportive. And the dudebaby is a good baby--we got lucky. One way or another, we'll make it work!  I think of it the same way I thought of having a kid when I was pregnant: I know it's going to be hard. I know I actually have NO IDEA of how hard it will really be. But I know I can--and want--to do it. And I know it'll be one of the best decisions I've ever made. The end. :)

this week in workouts

My plan for the IM training season is to post these on Mondays. But for now, I'm going to post them whenever I want. So there.

This week is my last full week of peak training for Lobsterman. The schedule is a bit off from usual, considering the Labor Day holiday and my Aunt T coming in town this weekend. 

Monday: 1900m pm swim after a cluster-fuck of a day trip to Gloucester. Usually take Mondays off, but decided to do this one on the holiday with the hubster around to watch the babe.

Tuesday: OFF (well, it's my 'clean the house' and 'do a zillion loads of laundry/diapers' day. if you count that off.)

Wednesday: 1:15 min tempo ride @ gym

Thursday: 40 min tempo run with the jogging stroller (and baby. duh.)

Friday: 2000m PM swim 

Saturday: 1:20 run on Charles river WAYYY early in the AM so I can pick Aunt T from the airport 

Sunday: 2:15 bike around Concord, ending with splashtime fun @ Walden

Next week...TAPER!

training hiccup

About a week ago I hit a little bump in the road to training for Lobsterman.

Out of the blue, I started having sharp, stabbing pain and a weird rubbing sensation to a localized area in my right chest. It only hurts at the bottom of a deep exhalation, but it's intense enough to cause me to jump and/or make my arms to tingle. I took a few days off of working out (stabbing lung pain made it REALLY HARD to do swim intervals anyways), popped a few Advil, and hoped it would go away.

Being an RN, I was pretty sure of what it was, but when it didn't go away after a week, I made an appointment with my PCP. They did an EKG, took some blood for coags to make sure I didn't have a PE (pulmonary embolism), and a physical examination. Basically everything was negative except she auscultated a slight friction rub.

MD said what I had been thinking: pleurisy. I'm still not quite sure where it came from, because I haven't felt ill other than the chest pain. And I've had my share of PPD tests for TB, all of which have been negative. So, pleurisy out of nowhere?? Super?

Apparently Advil is curative for my type of pleurisy, so I've been keeping on top of them. For the most part, I've been able to complete my workouts. Did 2:15hrs on the bike, a 1hr swim, and a 1:20 run this weekend. The only one that hurt was the run--I even started to feel light headed from not breathing deeply enough around mile 7. But I toughed it out, and the pain went away with another few Advil.

Here's hoping the lung friction subsides in time for Lobsterman! Otherwise it's going to be a painful fight for that sub-3hr PR I'm chasing...

the new steed

After 10+ years of riding the ol' beater (2002ish Iron Horse road bike), I've gone and done it.... bought a fancy-pants new tri bike, that is. This bike was a push present of sorts from the husband (I guess only tri-geeks get gear as push presents? The rumor is other ladies get jewelry. Weirdos.)

JSwan and N helped me name her the 'Black Widow 36,' where the 36 represents how many hours I was in labor with the dudebaby.

Thus, may I introduce to you, BW-36:

BW-36 is a TREK Speed Concept 7.0. Had to do some modifications to get her to fit, but now we are besties. Bought her back in June, and have ridden 100+ miles since. I am in love. To pay tribute to my new city--the bike is WICKED fast.

Stay tuned for PR bike splits from this season's two races (Boston triathlon & Lobsterman)!