"Never do an inaugural race" + "don't race with a broken toe"
It was ugly. At least I didn't DNF. Though i probably should have. i even tried to! Report to follow, after an ice bath and some Zzzzzz's.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
heat island
did anyone hear the piece on npr today about 'heat islands'?
they are essentially metro areas that are significantly warmer (1-8 degrees) than their rural counterparts. most of them are this way due to little tree cover. trees provide moisture as well as shade, which contributes a cooling effect.
three guesses which city is the fastest-temp-rising, hottest-city-of-the-summer, headlining-heat-island? the first two guesses don't count.
that's right. Louisville. apparently it has one of the lowest urban tree coverage percentages, around 28%. Atlanta's is nearer to 60%.
SUPERYAY for marathon running in a heat island in the middle of the summer.
seems like IMLou 2013 is shaping up to be HOTTER than last year. and last year had Lou's highest DNF rate at 14% (also a 14% DNS. that's 28% of people who signed up that didn't cross the finish line!)
i'm sincerely hoping that my genetic makeup somehow remembers how to handle this kind of ridiculous heat. i was born and raised in the south. played 3 soccer games a day for 3-4 days in August tournaments, with temps in the 100s and humidity in the 90s. in our last year in atx before moving up here to Yankee Land we had over 100 consecutive days of 100F temps.
at least Boston FINALLY got the memo about summer time:
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you may also notice from my fancy iPhone screen shot that there are tiny thunderstorm icons for Tu-Th. those icons actually stretch all the way into next week. looks like stormy weather for the 70.3 weekend. if it does storm, my two training triathlons for Lou will have been in the rain. such great training for a hot, humid, dry race :/
at least it'll make me tougher. right?!
they are essentially metro areas that are significantly warmer (1-8 degrees) than their rural counterparts. most of them are this way due to little tree cover. trees provide moisture as well as shade, which contributes a cooling effect.
three guesses which city is the fastest-temp-rising, hottest-city-of-the-summer, headlining-heat-island? the first two guesses don't count.
that's right. Louisville. apparently it has one of the lowest urban tree coverage percentages, around 28%. Atlanta's is nearer to 60%.
SUPERYAY for marathon running in a heat island in the middle of the summer.
seems like IMLou 2013 is shaping up to be HOTTER than last year. and last year had Lou's highest DNF rate at 14% (also a 14% DNS. that's 28% of people who signed up that didn't cross the finish line!)
i'm sincerely hoping that my genetic makeup somehow remembers how to handle this kind of ridiculous heat. i was born and raised in the south. played 3 soccer games a day for 3-4 days in August tournaments, with temps in the 100s and humidity in the 90s. in our last year in atx before moving up here to Yankee Land we had over 100 consecutive days of 100F temps.
at least Boston FINALLY got the memo about summer time:
you may also notice from my fancy iPhone screen shot that there are tiny thunderstorm icons for Tu-Th. those icons actually stretch all the way into next week. looks like stormy weather for the 70.3 weekend. if it does storm, my two training triathlons for Lou will have been in the rain. such great training for a hot, humid, dry race :/
at least it'll make me tougher. right?!
Monday, June 24, 2013
week in workouts
ready to start week 21 of training. here's what she'll look like:
M: rest day - taking kiddo to the pool :)
Tu: 1:15 bike, 3mi run [work nightshift 11P-7A]
W: anaerobic swim (4x300 VHI main set) and bike hill intervals (15x2min main set)
Th: 1:15 bike
F: rest day
Sa: 20min easy spin
Su: RACE DAY! New England Tri-Fest 70.3
after some questionable/probable/definite slowness on my long rides, but easily holding 17mph on short 1-2hr rides, i'm ready to test my legs out on a HIM course. i'm also volunteering on Saturday (for a registration fee discount!), and we're camping on site. should be interesting to see how the whole 'sleeping with 2 people and a toddler in a 2 person tent' thing shakes out. i may be doing this HIM on 2 hrs of sleep!
have my 3rd appt with the podiatrist this week. last time i was at 50% healing, and was given a tentative ok to try a 3mi run, with strict instructions to stop and not run again until this week if i had any pain whatsoever. thankfully there has been no pain, and i will have done three 3-milers since that appt two weeks ago. i sincerely hope the toe will be healed sufficiently for me to get the go-ahead for Saturday's 13.1mi.
lord, who knows if i'll even be able to do 13.1??? my last long run was Boston's RtR 13.1--the day i broke the stupid toe--and that was 5 weeks ago!!
i've also come up with some A, B, and C time goals for NE Tri-Fest. even though this race is just a long training day for me. IRONMAN Louisville 2013 is my only 'A' race. so why do i have A, B, and C time goals set for myself? is this normal? i haven't forgotten that fun is the over-arching goal. but i believe i can have fun AND hit the A goal if the stars align. B is somewhere between where i think i can finish and were i have finished in the past. C is finish with no injuries.
i'll share the actual times once i finish... i mean, i've got to keep some suspense here, right? if i want to keep my thousands of readers interested. HAHAHAHAHAHAsnortHAHAHAHA
happy training, everyone!
M: rest day - taking kiddo to the pool :)
Tu: 1:15 bike, 3mi run [work nightshift 11P-7A]
W: anaerobic swim (4x300 VHI main set) and bike hill intervals (15x2min main set)
Th: 1:15 bike
F: rest day
Sa: 20min easy spin
Su: RACE DAY! New England Tri-Fest 70.3
after some questionable/probable/definite slowness on my long rides, but easily holding 17mph on short 1-2hr rides, i'm ready to test my legs out on a HIM course. i'm also volunteering on Saturday (for a registration fee discount!), and we're camping on site. should be interesting to see how the whole 'sleeping with 2 people and a toddler in a 2 person tent' thing shakes out. i may be doing this HIM on 2 hrs of sleep!
have my 3rd appt with the podiatrist this week. last time i was at 50% healing, and was given a tentative ok to try a 3mi run, with strict instructions to stop and not run again until this week if i had any pain whatsoever. thankfully there has been no pain, and i will have done three 3-milers since that appt two weeks ago. i sincerely hope the toe will be healed sufficiently for me to get the go-ahead for Saturday's 13.1mi.
lord, who knows if i'll even be able to do 13.1??? my last long run was Boston's RtR 13.1--the day i broke the stupid toe--and that was 5 weeks ago!!
i've also come up with some A, B, and C time goals for NE Tri-Fest. even though this race is just a long training day for me. IRONMAN Louisville 2013 is my only 'A' race. so why do i have A, B, and C time goals set for myself? is this normal? i haven't forgotten that fun is the over-arching goal. but i believe i can have fun AND hit the A goal if the stars align. B is somewhere between where i think i can finish and were i have finished in the past. C is finish with no injuries.
i'll share the actual times once i finish... i mean, i've got to keep some suspense here, right? if i want to keep my thousands of readers interested. HAHAHAHAHAHAsnortHAHAHAHA
happy training, everyone!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
OWS
got my first open water swim in of the season (excluding the mess of a race swim @ the season opener tri.)
at walden pond.
i'm not going to take back all of the horrible things i said about cycling in Mass, but. summer open water swimming up here is ridiculous, in the best way. walden pond is 0.25mi from my hospital. this makes my insides happy. i got in a solid 50min swim before my evening shift yesterday. and it was the best shift i've had at this job (yet.)
i think i'll make it a 'thing.'
at walden pond.
i'm not going to take back all of the horrible things i said about cycling in Mass, but. summer open water swimming up here is ridiculous, in the best way. walden pond is 0.25mi from my hospital. this makes my insides happy. i got in a solid 50min swim before my evening shift yesterday. and it was the best shift i've had at this job (yet.)
i think i'll make it a 'thing.'
Sunday, June 16, 2013
some things i cannot recommend
this week has been full of some awesome things, and some not-awesome things.
awesome:
awesome:
- the new apartment! it's in a yuppie dorm, but it's nice and the neighborhood is amazing.
- running! i ran 3 (slow/clunky/awkward) miles on the track, with zero toe pain!
- swimming! i actually, straight-up, no qualifications needed, LOVED my swim workouts this week. and one of them was 4000m o_O
- summer weather! after days of cold rain (59F seriously, New England?) we actually had some sun and 70F temps. yay sun!
- !! exclamation points !!
not-awesome:
- moving across town with a toddler. cannot recommend it.
- unpacking whilst simultaneously caring for/feeding/changing/entertaining/keeping said toddler alive. cannot recommend it.
- passing a virus around the family, one at a time, for two weeks.
- cycling in Massachusetts. the summer beauty just doesn't quite make up for the lack of road signage, or the fact that IF the roads are labeled, they all have the same GD name [eg Spring Ave, Spring Ln, Spring Ct, Spring St, Spring Dr. I kid you not. All within 8 blocks of each other. wtf.]
- doing a century (105mi to be exact) in 8.5hrs. that's 12mph, folks.
- why am i so slow?? what happened? i've done centuries averaging 15-16mph on a much heavier bike, when i was in poorer physical condition, on more challenging courses. what gives? i can't use getting lost as an excuse forever.
though i don't feel especially tired, or burnt out--i still look forward to my workouts every week--i'm looking forward to the upcoming rest week. fo sho.
here's what this week's and next's workouts look like:
this past week-
M: rest day
T: 1:15 spin
W: anaerobic swim (6x200 VHI main set) + anaerobic bike (12x2min VHI main set)
Th: 3mi track run :)
F: loooooong aerobic swim 4000m
Sa: 105 shittttttay miles
Su: febrile, nauseous, light headed, ie no 2hr recovery ride :(
next week/rest week:
M: rest day
T: 3mi track run
W: anaerobic swim
Th: 1:15 spin
F: loooong aerobic swim
Sa: rest day
Su: rest day
anyone else out there in IM interweb training blog world having trouble with speed? i am FAH-reaking-OUT. halp.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Sunday, June 2, 2013
week(s) in workouts
well, i survived the elliptical 'workouts' and the 5 hr trainer ride.
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it doesn't seem to matter how hard i push on the elliptical, i can't ever get my heart rate up. highest resistance? check. highest incline? check. HR? 112. pbbbbbbbbbt. oh well. it's better than sitting on my coach, self-medicating with trader joe's chocolate ice cream... hypothetically.
5 hr trainer ride was fine until 2.5 hrs (when my iPad farted out.) i had to spend the next 2.5 hrs in 93F, 88% humidity weather (read: feels like 104F) staring at the side of my house, in full sun. occasionally the kidlet or the CTO would rap on the window and smile, but otherwise it was just me and my thoughts. so i basically went bananas. it was not a pretty sight up in my synapses. but i stuck with it and finished. this is me looking about as good as i felt in the last 15min of the ride.
will someone tell me how/why the stomach pooch always shows up for photos, even though it doesn't really exist in real life? sasquatch stomach pooch? spandex is not ego friendly, that's for dernsure.
all pooches aside, the trainer ride was great practice for the heat, as well as for practicing my nutrition. i'm not going to train in the heat allll of the time, because that would totally wipe me out, but i am going to do it occasionally to make sure my nutrition plan is nails.
how do y'all prepare for the summer heat?
oh yeah. week(s) in workouts!
last week:
M: rest day
T: rest day
W: anaerobic swim (4x325 HI main set) + 1:15 spin
Th: anaerobic bike (10x2min hills main set) + 50min elliptical
F: long aerobic swim (500wu, 5x500 main set, 200 cd)
Sa: 5hr trainer ride
Su: 50min elliptical
next week:
M: rest day
T: 1:15 spin + 50min elliptical
W: anaerobic swim + 1:15 spin
Th: anaerobic bike (12x2min VHI main set) + 50min elliptical
F: rest day (moving to a new apartment...so not especially restful but whatever)
Sa: 50min elliptical
Su: 1:15 spin
oh yeah. week(s) in workouts!
last week:
M: rest day
T: rest day
W: anaerobic swim (4x325 HI main set) + 1:15 spin
Th: anaerobic bike (10x2min hills main set) + 50min elliptical
F: long aerobic swim (500wu, 5x500 main set, 200 cd)
Sa: 5hr trainer ride
Su: 50min elliptical
next week:
M: rest day
T: 1:15 spin + 50min elliptical
W: anaerobic swim + 1:15 spin
Th: anaerobic bike (12x2min VHI main set) + 50min elliptical
F: rest day (moving to a new apartment...so not especially restful but whatever)
Sa: 50min elliptical
Su: 1:15 spin
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