Ok, maybe not TOTAL. But I haven’t really started training for the tri like I said I would. I ended up getting sick last weekend (Jan 30-31) and it took me pretty much until this past weekend to fully recover. I went swimming and biking last Monday but then thought I should probably conserve my energies for getting well.

I haven’t been a total couch potato. I’ve been doing yoga and I went on a short run last Saturday with my dog. And I’ve actually been in the mood for strength training (so weird) so I did squats, pushups (the man kind!), shoulder presses, rows, hamstring curls, bicep curls, and bicycle crunches while watching 12 episodes of The Office last night (we’re borrowing the past seasons from a friend…that show is addicting!)

Anyway, my motivation for a triathlon is waning. I really enjoy having the time to do yoga and weight training. So my new idea is that instead of doing 2 of each sport a week, I will only do one. I probably won’t be as fast as I would be if I did more but I really like having a life.

So with my new plan of only doing one sport a week, I am going to alternate long and short workouts. One week, I’ll do a long bike ride, short run and short swim. The next week, I’ll do a short bike, a long run, and a long swim. I decided to do it that way since biking is the longest distance and therefore, takes the most amount of time. And by limiting each sport to just one a week (and doing more if I feel so inclined), I’ll have time to keep doing weight training and yoga. I really noticed last tri season that the weight training and sprints helped me increase speed so I want to make those a priority.

So I think I’m still going to go for the tri, just not as gung-ho as I was initially.

I have been horrible about updating this blog,  mostly because there has been nothing much to update. In the past 3 weeks or so, I have gotten back into the groove of running, biking and swimming. I had stayed active since the tri I did last Sept, but it wasn’t do much tri-related stuff. In fact, when I went swimming 3 weeks ago, it was the first I had gone since the tri. It was a much-needed break.

But now I’m ready to get back in it. I almost have my training plan done and it starts this Monday. I learned last year that doing 3 of each sport a week was way too much so I am doing only 2 a week this time. I am going to be a little more ambitious, I think, with more speedwork and fewer “easy” workouts. Above all, though, I am determined to not let training take over my life (like it did last year, when I lost all desire to grocery shop, cook, clean, read, write, etc). I am not that competitive by nature and I am definitely not fast enough to truly be competitive in a race! So why should it take over my life?

That said, I do need to get a new bike. I enjoyed doing tris enough that I think I’m going to stick with this for a while. So having an actual road bike (or gasp, a tri bike!) would be amazing. Some of our friends has a friend who has a tri bike he’d like to sell. Not sure if it’s the right size for me or what he wants for it but it’s definitely worth checking out. My friend, D, who I did tris with last year, bought a tri bike from an up-and-coming company for only $500. So if the bike from the friend doesn’t work out, I’m definitely going to check out the place she got her bike.

Just a little bit of good news before I go: I am finally getting to the point where I can swim the front crawl! It’s sweet! After my 3.5-month swimming hiatus, I got back into the water and it just felt natural. I’m still working on the breathing part but I’ve worked my way up to being able to swim 150 yards in a row without stopping. When I quit last year, I could only do 25 at a time! This is truly exciting for me. I have a real shot at being able to wear my wetsuit for the tri this year.

I should probably say which tri I’m doing, huh? Right now, I’m leaning toward the Boulder Sunrise in Boulder on June 5th for several reasons:

1) it’s in Boulder and I haven’t done a tri there yet

2) It’s at the beginning of June, perfect timing for me to have a few weeks off afterward before I start training for the Twin Cities Marathon that’s the first weekend in October

3) It’s a race through Your Cause Sports so I get to raise money for the non-profit org of my choice (I’m thinking either Life Choices Pregnancy Center again or Love, Life and Melody)

The only drawback I can see to that race is that the bike is 17 miles long. But maybe it’d be good to challenge myself with a little bit longer bike this year?

Or at least I feel like I am! I have gone running outside in the morning on Tues, Wed and Thurs of this week. Tues was about 25 degrees outside but Wed was 15 and today was 5. I still haven’t bought cold weather running tights but I put my longjohns under my regular running pants and found that that works pretty well! My legs haven’t been cold at all! (Although my butt did get a little cold today). My chin gets cold but that’s about it.

When I got back from my run today, my eyelashes and cheeks had frost on them. It may sound weird but I really think that I can endure the cold better out here in Colorado than I did in Minnesota. Why would that be? I weigh the same so it’s not like I have more insulation (aka fat). Eh. I don’t know.

The funniest thing, though, is that Katy gets a little frost beard after going on a run outside. I need to bring my camera along to take a picture because the frost melts before I can get my camera from inside. It is hilarious though! She’s so cute.

I will say though that the cold weather is killer on my time. I’ve been averaging a 11:30-12:00 minute pace. But sometimes my time includes doodoo pickup and throwaway so that’s gotta be adding at least a couple minutes right?

Well, 10 days have passed since my eye surgery and 6 weeks have passed since Katy’s last heartworm treatment so I took Katy on her first run today. She did really well for her 1st time. I could tell that she got more tired toward the end because she wasn’t pulling me along anymore. She didn’t stop to smell anything while we were running, which was really good. She did get distracted and excited about some other dogs but other than that, she behaved. Good girl Katy!

For me, the run was decent. I was definitely running faster than I normally do, considering that I finished the 3 miles at a 11:30 pace and I probably walked about 3/4 mile or so (I did run/walk intervals so that Katy’s little heart wouldn’t explode, in case she’s not as in shape as I think she is). But I was running faster because I knew I could push myself before my walking breaks.

Speaking of walking, Travis and I are for sure going to walk the Turkey Trot next week with my parents instead of running it. I’m a little disappointed but it will be fun to be with my parents and I’m excited for them to experience a race like that. Maybe it will give them the fitness bug!

It felt good to get outside and run again today. Now the struggle is finding the motivation to get up and run outside in the mornings when it’s cold outside. I really need to buy some cold weather running tights. The ones I have right now are just Nike DriFit ones–great for days when it’s 40-50 degrees outside but not great for 20-35 degrees, which is what it has been in the mornings here lately.

But I’ve been thinking that I’ll plan to run outside with Katy Mon, Wed, Fri, and Sat and then do weights/yoga/pilates on Tues and Thurs. Rest Sunday. We’ll see!! It has been like pulling teeth to get me out of bed in the morning recently so I’m not holding my breath. Last year at this time, I was consistently working out in the morning 4 or 5 days a week. But I was also going to an aerobics class that was only held 2 days a week at 5:30 AM so that was motivation to get my arse out of bed and not miss the class. I don’t have any desire to get back into group aerobics right now though so that plan isn’t going to work right now.

Any tricks you have to get out of bed in the morning to exercise?

Travis and I signed up to run a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day and I was really excited for it. Finally a race! The Halloween one didn’t work out so I was really hoping for this one.

Then I had eye surgery.

I’ve known about the surgery for about month so I really have no excuse. The surgery was on the tear ducts in my right eye (they needed to be reopened) so I was hoping that I wouldn’t have any restrictions on my exercise routine.

No such luck.

I can’t do any strenuous activity for 10 days, which takes me until Nov. 20th. The race is 4 miles so I’m not worried about being able to complete it. I just won’t be setting any records for speed. On the other hand, my parents are going to be out here for T-Day and they’re actually thinking about doing the race too, though they would be walking. And I thought that it might be fun to just walk it with them instead of running. If they decide to do it, that’s the plan. But if they aren’t going to do the walk, then I’ll still run (after all, we already signed up!)

Before my surgery on Tuesday, I had been alternating between doing the elliptical and running at the gym. I even ventured outside one morning for a run! Once Katy can go on runs with me (in about 2-3 weeks), I’ll have more motivation to get out there and run in the morning. Katy will be a happier dog too!

I’ve been pretty bad about updating my blog lately. It’s a combination of busyness, laziness, and reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck (fabulous book!). But I have been working out!

Last weekend, I went deer hunting with Travis. I didn’t have a tag, nor did I want to hunt anything, so I just went along to keep him company (or else he would’ve gone by himself). We hiked up the mountains and around the ridges for a good 2-3 hours and then walked an easier trail for another 45 minutes. It was a pretty good workout–anything that takes the breath out of me after 50 feet is good. 

I’ve been exercising mostly in the late evenings recently because I don’t get to bed early enough to workout in the mornings, I have to come home to feed Katy and let her outside after work (not to mention the Rec is a zoo at that hour!), then there’s dinner. So it’s usually 8 or 8:30 when I’m heading to the Rec. It’s been working fine–I end up getting to bed even later than what late usually is–but in a couple of weeks (once Katy is better from her heartworm treatment), I’m going to start working out in the mornings again. Plus, then I’ll have daylight savings time on my side too.

This week, I did Pilates on Monday, 30 Day Shred Level 1 on Tuesday, nothing yesterday, and then a 3 mile run tonight. The Halloween 10K isn’t happening BUT Travis and I did just register today to do our first-ever Turkey Trot through Washington Park in Denver on Thanksgiving. My parents are flying out for that weekend so it will be fun for me (and hopefully for them too!) to have them see me race. 

I’m  hoping that my pace improves by then. I’ve been trying to run regularly (only opting to do strengthening exercises as an alternative) so that I regain some of the progress I had made but it doesn’t seem to be working very well so far. It’s really weird–my legs feel great, like I could run a 9:30 pace no problem. My breathing is slow and even–I don’t feel like I’m gasping for air. Yet breathing is sort of painful, like my chest is really tight. I just had a physical last week so it doesn’t seem like I should have a heart condition. I have 2 theories that I’m going to test out: it may be acid reflux (I had acidic food for dinner both nights I experienced this) or it may that I’m going out too hard (starting off at a 9:51 pace and ending up at a 11:00 pace). So I’m going to not eat acidic food for dinner and go out slow and see if that helps.

I haven’t mustered up the motivation to get in the pool to practice my front crawl yet. It really feels like the last thing I’m interested in doing at this point but it has to happen sometime… Oh and I’ve only ridden a bike once (and that was a stationary one!) since the tri back in Sept. I just can’t get excited about biking in the winter AND biking on my POS. Hopefully I’ll get a new job early part of next year and start training again then.

So I finally started exercising again this week after getting sick the last week of September. That took me out for about a week (I got the flu) and then Travis’ family was here part of last week and this week for elk hunting.

I got back out running on Monday–did 3.04 miles in 33:52. Not a great pace (11:07) and the run didn’t feel good. Tuesday, I did a pilates video at home called Burn N Firm Pilates with Ellen Barrett. In 45 minutes, I burned 350 calories! Not bad for Pilates! (The video incorporates a lot of squats and lunges so that’s why it’s so high.) Wednesday, I took off because Travis and his family were back from the mountains. Then yesterday, I ran 4 .1 miles in 46:23, a 11:19 pace. Still incredibly slow but my legs felt great.

So I find myself back to square one with my running due to my pathetically small VO2 max. I had gotten a lot better when training for the first tri this year because I was doing speed work and hills. I went from topping out at 10 minute miles to comfortably running 9:30s. But holy cow, now I’m back to over 11s!!! That’s the pace I ran the half marathon 1.5 years ago but after I did a 10K in 62:36, I pretty much stayed around 10s. It’s a major bummer that I’m slow again.

But nothing that I can’t reclaim. So D and I are going to go run stairs at Red Rocks Amphitheatre tomorrow morning. I am also going to try to incorporate some speed work into my workouts 1-2x a week. I can’t decide whether or not the 10K on Halloween is still a go or not. No one has fully committed to running it with me (though Travis said he will if I want him to) and getting sick totally derailed my training plan. I had already cut 3 weeks out of it as it was and then I lost an additional two. I’m sure that I could run the whole 10K, just not sure I could beat my last time.

And who wants to come in slower than they did before? Not me.

I decided to go with Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 10K training plan instead of creating my own–partly because I was too lazy to type mine out in Excel and partly because I’m pretty sure his is better.

Since his plan is an 8-week plan and I only have 5 weeks to train, I had to cut 3 weeks out of it–weeks 4, 5, and 7. No matter! I’d like to better than the 10K I ran last year (62:36) but I’m not out to win a medal or anything (mostly because I know I’ll never be a fast enough runner to win one regardless of how much I train).

I’m excited for the run! Travis is thinking about doing it, though he said last night he doesn’t have time to train for it. D is also thinking about doing it and is going to ask her hubbie, Doug, if he wants to. I hope they do! Even if they don’t, though, I’m going to!

Usually after a race, I’m so relieved and excited for it (and the training schedule!) to be over that I can’t even think about doing another race for a good 8 months. This 2nd tri has been the one exception, not only because it followed 2 months after my first but also because I am excited to do more races! It might also have something to do with timing that 5K with D and just being around the race culture.

At any rate, I scoped out races and have decided (almost for sure) that I’m going to do a 10K on Halloween morning (and dress up in a costume!). That gives me about 5 weeks to train. In training for the tri, I got up to 4.5 miles so I’m going to concentrate less on distance (though I need that too) and more on speed.

So this is my plan: 3 days of running per week–1 day of speedwork, 1 day of hills, and 1 day of slow distance–interspersed with weight lifting and yoga/pilates 2 days and 2 rest days (probably on Mondays and Wednesdays, because of House and church meetings respectively). If I think that’s too much training, I’ll cut back but that’s what I’ll start with next week.

I did a 3 mile run today, first one since the tri. I had wanted to go on Tuesday night but it was gross outside and then I totally ran out of time with having to go grocery shopping, make dinner, make soup for Weds night, and make zucchini bread (delicious!). I think my legs are still weak from the tri because even though the run started strong, about halfway through, I just felt like I didn’t have the leg muscles to propel my body forward (one reason why I want to get back into weight lifting).

Anyway, that’s what’s new with me! I’m trying to convince Travis to do the 10K with me. And if we don’t go anywhere for Thanksgiving, I think I might do a 5K that morning (I’ve never done a 5K OR one on Thanksgiving! I think it would be fun!)

I did really well (for me) at the race yesterday–I came in 1:01 under my goal time (1:45:00). The weather was perfect: sunny, warm but not hot, and no wind (meaning the water was smooth). I drove up to Longmont with D and Doug (D’s husband). We got to the reservoir around 6:30, picked up our packets, and then grabbed our transition spot. We stayed closer to the swim in again this time, which I really like. Our bikes were easy to find and we didn’t have to run across tons of asphalt with bare feet.

I was a little nervous leading up to the race but I felt more confident than before the last one because I wasn’t wearing my wetsuit. It really was just like swimming in the pool.

Getting ready to get wet--the water was 74 degrees

And my swim went great. If I started getting slightly out of breath, I slowed down and relaxed. There was one girl doing the backstroke near me who was pretty much in my way the whole time (as she couldn’t sight and go straight) but other than that, it was one of the best swims I’ve had. I got out of the water after 750 meters in 19:00 (1 minute under my goal time).

Getting out of the water after the swim (I'm the one without a wetsuit!)

My T1 took 3:11…but it took me a full minute just to get from the beach to my bike! And I was jogging–not running but not putzing either. My T1 went fairly well. I jumped in the water buckets to get the sand off my feet but ended up getting more on them on the way to my bike so I had to douse my feet with water anyway. Then I put on my socks, shoes, race belt, sunglasses, and helmet and away I went.

The bike went well considering I beat my goal time by 3:26. But for the first 4 miles or so, it did not feel good. My legs felt tired and weak, like they had during my training rides over the past month or so. But about halfway through the 12.4 mile bike, my legs started feeling better and I ended the bike on a good note, making sure to take the last leg easy and let my heart rate come down some so I didn’t start the run being totally and completely out of breath like I did back in July. I finished the bike in 46:34.

Coming back in after the bike

My T2 was uneventful. I racked my bike, took off my helmet and sunglasses, and put on my hat. I walked to the run start just to collect myself and get ready for the next leg. T2 took me 1:09.

The run, unfortunately, was pretty bad. I never got my running legs or stride. It was out of sheer willpower that I ran the whole thing, albeit at a VERY slow pace. My calves were so tired! I really felt like I could not propel myself any faster. But I ran the whole thing, which I am proud of. Many people around me were walking. I finished the 5K in 34:07 but I crossed the finish line strong. And when I looked at my watch, it said 1:43:58, 1:02 under my goal time (my official time was 1:43:59).

Coming in strong

Mine definitely wasn’t the fastest pace out there but it made me happy to achieve my goal. And I knew going into it that I wouldn’t be very competitive, doing the breaststroke for the swim, biking on a crappy mountain bike, and not having trained for the run a ton in the past month or so.

My overall ranking was:

224 of 288 overall

116 of 172 of females

20 of 27 in age group (25-29)

1st in personal best

It was a great experience though and I definitely will be doing at least one triathlon next year (depending on what I decide about the marathon)!!

And since I won’t be doing another triathlon in 2009, I have changed the name of my blog. Check it out!